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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
August 17-18, 2003:

 
Sex On A Stamp


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


When you first see the new Ogden Nash stamp, all you'll probably notice is a
middle-aged man wearing glasses. The poet and gentle satirist is looking at
the camera with a half-smile on his face. It's based on a 1952
black-and-white photograph.


But for the first time, the word "sex" appears on a U-S stamp. 


You'll have to look carefully. In the background of the new stamp's design
are parts of six of Nash's poems, including "The Turtle:"


The turtle lives twixt plated decks  
Which practically conceal its sex.  
I think it clever of the turtle  
In such a fix to be so fertile.  


The three-letter word is on the far left, just under the "O" in "Ogden.
Never mind that it's "sex" as in gender. The Postal Service's chief stamp
designer told me he expects to hear protests.


By the way, one of Nash's last published writings was a letter to the New
York Times, complaining that stamps he'd purchased wouldn't stick to his
envelopes.


The new Ogden Nash stamp is self-adhesive.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 


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