... words of wisdom from my friend Eulalia:
"Irregularly unscheduled reminder about how to endure the world you’re in right now:
- Survival is an act of resistance under fascism. If “all” you can manage is keeping yourself alive, you are still in the fight. It still counts
- If you have capacity to help others in your direct circle survive, that’s a radical act. Mutual aid is real. It can be very small. It still counts. Tell a trans person how much their friendship means to you. Deliver a meal or send a gift card to a disabled friend. Offer to run an errand. Buy a little extra on your next grocery trip. (If you don’t have capacity for any of that, go back to point one and keep yourself alive!)
- Part of why we are so fractured is a lack of opportunities for the small, repeated interactions that build trust. Being nice to people is a step towards demolishing structural oppression. Thank a worker doing a hard job. Give a kind word to a parent with young children at the grocery store. Be thankful and open-hearted as you walk in the world.
- Arguing on the internet burns your energy with very little impact. If you are someone who is recharged by arguing on the internet, go ahead! But if you aren’t, there are plenty of other ways to channel that urge. I recommend choosing an issue and working on it locally — you’ll make actual progress and you can use that to build momentum. If you don’t have capacity for any of it, go back to mutual aid or keeping yourself alive and celebrate what you can do, because it also counts.
- When you have the opportunity to talk to someone in the real world who has a radically different perspective from yours, if you actually want to change their beliefs and actions, questions and personal experiences will go farther than tirades, no matter how well researched and reasoned. You also don’t have to - revisit point one as often as you need to: survival is a radical act, if the only person you save is yourself that still counts."
- Survival is an act of resistance under fascism. If “all” you can manage is keeping yourself alive, you are still in the fight. It still counts
- If you have capacity to help others in your direct circle survive, that’s a radical act. Mutual aid is real. It can be very small. It still counts. Tell a trans person how much their friendship means to you. Deliver a meal or send a gift card to a disabled friend. Offer to run an errand. Buy a little extra on your next grocery trip. (If you don’t have capacity for any of that, go back to point one and keep yourself alive!)
- Part of why we are so fractured is a lack of opportunities for the small, repeated interactions that build trust. Being nice to people is a step towards demolishing structural oppression. Thank a worker doing a hard job. Give a kind word to a parent with young children at the grocery store. Be thankful and open-hearted as you walk in the world.
- Arguing on the internet burns your energy with very little impact. If you are someone who is recharged by arguing on the internet, go ahead! But if you aren’t, there are plenty of other ways to channel that urge. I recommend choosing an issue and working on it locally — you’ll make actual progress and you can use that to build momentum. If you don’t have capacity for any of it, go back to mutual aid or keeping yourself alive and celebrate what you can do, because it also counts.
- When you have the opportunity to talk to someone in the real world who has a radically different perspective from yours, if you actually want to change their beliefs and actions, questions and personal experiences will go farther than tirades, no matter how well researched and reasoned. You also don’t have to - revisit point one as often as you need to: survival is a radical act, if the only person you save is yourself that still counts."
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~ next up ~
an example of the kind of detail possible
Back in 2015 I made a set of very tiny ½" enamel brooches for Tullia, as seen above, then added a few more to her collection in in 2019... ~ next up ~
an example of the kind of detail possible
I will be starting on pair of ¾" enamel award medallions (Golden Torc, and Purple Fret) for my next workshop project, with the hope of completing the enameling before the temperature shifts back to dreadfully warm. Running the 1500°F oven is lovely in the winter when it becomes a sort of electric hearth, but less lovely at the other side of the seasonal calendar. Looks like about another 4 days of reasonably cooler weather, fingers crossed; it is at least a two to three day process. First the base disc gets enameled with the background color, then the various painting enamels get mixed up, sampled, and placed as desired. They need to dry fully before they are then fired in place, then any further layers or details get added. Finally the settings get built, but that doesn't require the use of the kiln. Stay tuned...
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Just about finished with carving both the border block and the corner block of the Bujold 5th god motifs, intended for a decorative design along the edge of a new cotton voile headscarf. Once the rolled hem(s) are done, it will be fun to start using them. The white voile will be overdyed, probably in a pale turquoise/teal/indigo before printing. If I can
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As jasmine will always be for me the delightful scent of our travels in Berkeley in January, so is linden the scent of early summer here in Portland. Not all the linden trees are blooming at once, but today, while riding my bike, I passed beneath one and it was magnificent! Might be worth riding over to the park near the closed public pool, which had a number of venerable linden trees, to see if they are in bloom as well. (hmmm... autumn's best scent might be glorybower, and I'm still mulling over what to pick for springtime...)
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June SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | Babs brooch | thinned apples | greenwaste bin |
| 2 | 5th god lino block | - | - |
| 3 | 5th god corner block | - | - |
| 4 | - | - | - |
| 5 | - | - | - |
| 6 | x | x | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
- being really nearsighted helps with my enameling work
- the scent of linden tree flowers
- the Clover third hand aka modern sewing bird
Time of Isolation - Day 2159
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