Ever since realising last week that I’m going to be hanging out in North Carolina for another year and not returning to academia right away, I’ve been a bit of a mess. And by “mess” I mean I’ve been looking at all my options dervish-style, not that I’ve been hiding under the covers eating biscuits. Even though the latter option seemed momentarily appealing, I’ve been reading too much online regarding the recent death of musician/artist Andy Roberts to consider it. Andy was an acquaintance of mine, and I have been reminded this past week (as he was in a coma for several days) of the influences people can have on others, even though it may seem trivial at the time.

I’m heading to the beach until Friday tomorrow morning, as my whole family is there and I need some time to write and work on my proposal and figure out what direction I honestly want to take next. It’s a little over 3 weeks until my 30th birthday and if I’m not going to return to another thankless and pointless job, I’m going to have to make a new gameplan and brainstorm some new routes. Some of my more illustrious job titles in the past have included: stable cleaner (summer job, I got to ride horses everyday), bill processor, outreach worker (I got to take wayward London kids canoeing!), secretary (5x), cashier, data processor (200+ pages of data about trees) and organic grocery store barista.

It would be nice to actually hold a job title that I adore, and would be the best birthday present that I could ever imagine. However, if I sit and daydream about all the jobs I could be doing instead of working towards it, I might as well head back to the stables I started at when I was 17.

However, I do know that I have a political cross-stitch series in the works along with a project documenting the recent craft resurgence. Tenatively called Work/Shop, it is my aim to collect 2 photographs from the participants (one portrait, one of their workspace) as well as a paragraph about themselves and their work. I’ve been thinking about it for months now, and have finally decided to start working on it. So far, I have a list of people wanting to participate, but if you know anyone who might be interested, please get in touch!

The aim of this project is to put a face to all of the craft businesses that have cropped up- because although I ‘know’ many of the artists in question, I may not necessarily recognize them on the street. Thanks to the internet, a robust community has been created and allows for the opportunity to circumvent the mainstream and directly support someone’s pocket instead of a already gigantic company’s coffers.

While I hope that the craft community can continue in perpetuity, it may just burn for awhile and fade away. No matter what happens, I want to document “my community” as it exists now. Because I do think it’s important for people to realise that by making art/craft and daring to step away from the 9-5 vacuum, we are influencing others and making a mark on the cultural landscape.