The Garden State and the Big Apple

I realize this is a cliche, but I have to say it. I love New York!

Last week I visited friends who live in Englewood, New Jersey. We went into New York city three of the days that I was there. I immediately fell in love with the city. I wasn't really sure how I would like it, but I think that I could move there tomorrow and be happy.

The first day we had lunch at Azuri Cafe, which has amazing falafel. It is a tiny, hole in the wall sort of place on a narrow side street. My friends have been to Israel, and they said that the falafel was the closest they've ever had to the falafel in Israel.

That day we also went to Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and the Empire State Building; we walked by the library and got cupcakes from Crumbs, which were amazing.

That day we had sushi for dinner, which was really good. It was only my third time having sushi, and I liked it the best. I guess it really is better when you are close to the ocean. I especially liked the blackened pepper tuna roll and the spicy tuna roll. I have determined that I don't like raw salmon though.

The second day we took the ferry from Wehawken to Manhattan. We then caught a shuttle to the Village, where we did some shopping. I think we found one of the few inexpensive streets in
Soho, where I bought a few things. From the Village, we got on the Subway and rode over to Brooklyn. From there, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan.

After we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge we went and saw the World Trade Center site. We then walked to Battery Park and walked along the river to where the Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty ferry is. We didn't have time to go to either of those places, but I did get to see the Statue of Liberty from the park.

The first 2 days were a lot of fun and a whirlwind of activity and sightseeing. More to come about day 3.

Family History and the Indie Craft Movement

I was introduced to the world of craft fairs at a young age. I come from a family of artistic and creative people, so I feel as though I’ve always been part of this crafting world, even when I was only a spectator. My grandpa (my mom’s dad) was an artist, although not by trade. (I think that was probably natural for his generation. He had to drop out of art school because his work hours changed, and he had a family to support.) His particular specialty was drawing cartoons, the great 1930s- and 1940s-style cartoons, featuring his friends and family. Both of my grandmothers were also crafty. My closet still contains several dresses my mom’s mom sewed for me. My dad’s mom taught me to crochet, to cross stitch, and to make decorated cakes, and she always had some sort of project for me to work on at her house. I still have the afghan she made for me when I was a kid (all the grandkids got one). She was the one who really introduced me to craft fairs. She and my dad’s sister always had some sort of project going and were always selling things at craft fairs. I think they have done or tried just about every craft known to woman (or man) except knitting, which is a bit surprising, considering that knitting is my craft of choice.

Later generations have continued the interest in arts and crafts. My mom has painted, crocheted, and quilted. My mom always encouraged us to make things ourselves, telling us that a gift we made was better than anything we could buy. My cousin is studying to be an art teacher. My sister has a BA in Graphic Design, an MFA in Visual Art, and a Certificate in Fashion Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After exploring cross stitching, crocheting, card making, jewelry making, and other things, I finally came home to knitting.

So, as I said, I have been familiar with the art and craft world for quite some time. The DIY ethic is pretty well ingrained in my psyche. Despite my familiarity with this world, I was surprised to discover an entirely new world of indie crafters. While these crafters share some traits with the crafters I was introduced to in my youth, there are many differences, which I believe is why indie craft has become its own movement.

In the more traditional crafting world, the main focus seems to be one of having a hobby and selling the things you made with that hobby. Some creativity is definitely present, but often things are made directly from patterns with little or no alteration. Many things are old-fashioned. I’m not taking a negative view of the traditional crafting world. How could I? This is the foundation on which indie crafting is built. Without our grandparents and parents instilling that DIY ethic and exposing us to that world, it may have taken many of us much longer to come to it. It is my heritage, and I’m proud of it.

I am equally proud to be part of the indie crafting movement. I am incredibly impressed with the crafters and artists I have discovered in this world. For many, this is not a hobby; it is a lifestyle. I think the difference between the traditional crafting world and the indie crafting world is that indie crafters infuse their worldview into everything they do; for example, if you are a crafter who cares about the environment, you make environmentally friendly products. While the people in this indie craft world are as varied as the people of the wider world we are all part of, there seem to be commonalities that many of us share.

These commonalities include social responsibility, political activism, and environmentalism. People in the indie crafting world care about the world around them and about making it a better place. They try to do that through their art or craft, even if it is only by hoping that what they make makes someone else happy or brightens someone’s day. Many take it even further by donating profits to charities, scholarship funds, or ill friends or family members. I don’t mean to imply that people in the traditional crafting world don’t care about these things, but having been exposed now to both worlds, I can see that these ideas, these visions that indie crafters have of a better world, are infused into everything they do.

And when you care about the world, the world knows it. I can’t describe the feeling I have when I send one of my creations off into the world with a person who has purchased it partly because they value the love, time, and energy that I put into making it. I think that most crafters understand that feeling. My love goes with that item, and it sends my love out into a wider world than I could ever touch in any other way. When I purchase a handcrafted item, I think about the person who made it and the love and effort he or she put into it. If it is yarn or something that I use to make an item to sell or give away, I think about my additional love and effort that has gone into it and how all of these threads of love stretch out as these things get given and sold to other people. We are creating connections between us, even if they are tiny. I think that all of these connections are being stitched into a great afghan that can blanket all of us with hope and optimism. Perhaps I am beginning to sound like a sappy Polyanna, but I really do believe that what you do matters and that the love you put into something gets carried along.

I think that is why indie crafting is a movement. People are tired of the impersonal, corporate goods. Where is the love in a scarf made in a factory by machines that is exactly like hundreds of other scarves made in the same factory? Who wants to give their money to huge corporations that continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Indie crafters care about those things. The people who buy indie crafts care about those things. I care about those things. And perhaps you should too.

I think that all of the things happening in the world today are leading to a return to more traditional handcrafts, updated to reflect a greater awareness of the world around us. Just as the traditional crafters built a foundation for me, I want to build a foundation for future generations. I want to pass on the values that I see reflected in the indie crafting movement. I want others to understand the joy of making something with your own hands and of seeing that item bring joy to others. My dream is that this hope, love, and joy will be instilled in others, that it will spill out into the wide world to cause positive change. Perhaps that is a tall order, but I think we are up to it.

Iron & Wine and Funeral Songs

The Iron & Wine concert last Friday was a great show. As I mentioned in the previous post, the concert renewed my love of this band. Sam Beam's lyrics are simply amazing, when you really take the time to listen to them. That is probably why I love so many of the songs. Every time I listen, I find something new to ponder in the poetic lyrics.

At the concert they did almost every song I would want to hear, even Woman King, which is one of my favorites. My other favorite song, which unfortunately they didn't do, is Passing Afternoon. If I had the opportunity to chose the one song that would be played at my funeral, Passing Afternoon would be the song. There are several others that I would pick if more than one were needed, such as something by Lizzie West (Prayer is the obvious choice, but I think I'd go for Holy Road instead), Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin, and something upbeat, but if I really could only pick one song, Passing Afternoon would be it.

Here are the lyrics:

There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn but the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from the piles of fallen leaves

There are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last
And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds

There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers, rolling around the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned

There are names across the sea, only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone

Forgetting what you love

I saw Iron & Wine in concert last Friday. I love this band, but I hadn't listened to the CDs much in a while. The concert was amazing, and I started thinking about how I had forgotten how much I love them. It happens...I discover new bands/singers and spend my time listening to them, and sometimes the old loves don't get as much play time. Then something happens, like going to a concert or hearing a song on the radio, and it reminds me how much I love that band, and then I want to listen to them constantly for a week or so.

That made me think about how that happens with other things in life. Like when you have a friend who you love to spend time with but then you both get busy and don't see each other as much and you start to forget how much you loved spending time with them. I have a friend I met at work; we bonded over a shared negative experience and became good friends. Last year she moved away; at first I really missed being able to talk to her nearly every day. Then I got used to it and started to forget what great conversations we had. We still talk on the phone occasionally, but it isn't the same. I'm going to visit that friend soon, and I can't wait to have the opportunity to spend several days together talking like we used to.

That sort of thing doesn't just happen with friends either...it can be a hobby, a book, or some other thing. (I realized that it is about time for my every-5-year-re-read of Lord of the Rings.) Then something happens to remind you of how much you love that thing, and you suddenly have a renewed interest and love for it. But why do we wait for something to remind us?

I think that this world is so crazy now, we are constantly bombarded with new and "better" things, and it makes it really hard not to develop a little bit of AD/HD when it comes to friends, dating, music, books, hobbies, etc. But I think it is important every now and then to remind ourselves that sometimes no new thing can compare with the love that we had for the old thing. Yes, sometimes the new love can become stronger, better, but I think it is still a good idea every now and then to go back and revisit the old thing and start a new love affair with it.