Author: Betsy

To Be Fearless, Margaret Moth: 1951-2010

| Betsy

I have to admit, it was the picture (above) that first intrigued me. Part rock, part glam, with awesomely coiffed hair and a news camera, I had to find out more. When I did it was a reminder that once, I was fearless (we all were!) but it, like so many things, went by the wayside as daily life snuck in. But where did it sneak off to? Needing to find the fearless side of you again, too? Read on.

Like many of us, when I was little I had several different professions to note when asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” by an adult. Veterinarian. Marine biologist. Writer. There was one anomaly that didn’t fit- war correspondent. Early on I wanted to tell the stories behind the bombs and the violence and the rage and the horror. Maybe it was the excitement, too, but it was always about the stories. I wanted to see life beyond the television screen and the backyard, peel back what I’d been fed by the media and see life in its full breadth and unsteady boom. But I didn’t.

So reading today about the death of camerawoman Margaret Moth I was awed by her story, her bravery and her passion for that career she had when she grew up. I came across these three videos below (forming one 25-minute CNN documentary) accompanying a post about Moth over at Amazing Women Rock.

So today, I just wanted to remind you (as well as myself) about that fearless part that lives inside, maybe even deep down hidden in the middle of that secret place you put it so it wouldn’t get lost. And despite your best intentions, it got lost. May you find it, dust it off and put it somewhere sensible this time. May you remember the passion and truth and call of what you wanted to be, and find some of that fire alight within, however faint. May you just simply remember it’s there, ready to be called for duty.

For me, it’s personal stories that make me want to jump in and ask and hug and run and cry and love and laugh and fight and learn and be. Ironic I’m in the job search process now as I write this, able to shape the answer to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question, if only a little bit. Here’s to you finding that, too. Perhaps this time, we’ll be courageous and passionate enough to get on the path we should be on, instead of one more tame and familiar. We just need to keep that bit of fearlessness in our hand as we proceed, instead of trying so hard to keep it safe. Maybe by letting it guide us instead of thinking we know best, it will land us just right where we truly need to be.

Thanks, Margaret.

Want more fearlessness? Check out the super inspiring online magazine, fear.less.

War and Knitting. In Verse.

| Betsy

Many of you who know about knitting for soldiers overseas during the World Wars have seen the poster below. Cool, but nothing new. But about a poem about knitting for war? The poem below is by “The People’s Poet” Edgar Guest, published in 1918.

To a Lady Knitting
Little woman, hourly sitting,
Something for a soldier knitting,
What in fancy can you see?
Many pictured come to me
Through the stitch that now you’re making:
I behold a bullet breaking;
I can see some soldier lying
In that garment slowly dying,
And that very bit of thread
In your fingers, turns to red.
Gray to-day; perhaps to-morrow
Crimsoned by the blood of sorrow.

It may be some hero daring
Shall that very thing be wearing
When he ventures forth to give
Life that other men may live.
He may braver wield the saber
As a tribute to your labor
And for that, which you have knitted,
Better for his task be fitted.
When the thread has left your finger,
Something of yourself my linger,
Something of your lovely beauty
May sustain him in his duty.

Some one’s boy that was a baby
Soon shall wear it, and it may be
He will write and tell his mother
Of the kindness of another,
And her spirit shall caress you,
And her prayers at night shall bless you.
You may never know its story,
Cannot know the grief or glory
That are destined now and hover
Over him your wool shall cover,
Nor what spirit shall invade it
Once your gentle hands have made it.

Little woman, hourly sitting,
Something for a soldier knitting,
‘Tis no common garb you’re making,
These, no common pains you’re taking.
Something lovely, holy, lingers
O’er the needles in your fingers
And with every stitch you’re weaving
Something of yourself you’re leaving.
From your gentle hands and tender
There may come a nation’s splendor,
And from this, your simple duty,
Life may win a fairer beauty.

Also, check out this awesome article about green knitting!

The Invisible Sisters!

| Betsy

As happens often, I have a new crafty crush, Ann Wizer.

How can you not be enamored of someone who writes that:

“instead of making more waste, we REUSE waste. Instead of employing highly skilled experts, we TRAIN the unskilled. The aim is not to make more stuff quickly and cheaply, but to address problems through CREATIVE experimentation.

Where there is garbage, there is always poverty. A large part of the world – primarily in developing countries – continue to live in extreme poverty within huge global economies of waste.

I design products from waste and the production methods that include the poor. In waste reduction and social business, the more challenging aspect is to instill a sense of possibility and creative experimentation in this mix of artistry.”

Invisible Sisters is a project set up to help women in Manila who can’t work outside of the house earn an income. They crochet items from city refuse, bags, wires, computer parts. Seeing this creative reuse of trash is not only uplifting, it is also inspiring and providing us with another example of what we can do with this mountain of trash we’ve collected over time.

Even though we may not be able to see the heaps and heaps near our houses because they’re tucked far away in a landfill (out of sight out of mind), they’re there. And one day we will not just have the option, but will most likely be forced to deal with them. Why not start now?

You can read Ann’s inspiring vision for the project here.

Also inspiring and crafty:
*Schoolchildren reuse fabric for charity weaving project
*Harris Tweed weavers start course to help bring back dying industry
*Women in England knitting real-life size house to raise money for church
*European Relief Society members knit 4,400 hats for newsborns in Guatemala

Bonus! If you can read Greek, you might want to read about their introduction to craftivism over here. Thank you, Greece!

Bags into (Soccer) Balls.

| Betsy

Words cannot express how much I love this video. Garbage reuse, singing, the crinkling of bags, soccer, this has it all!

Also inspiring, this 5-part video series of the documentary Threads of Hope about the Chilean arpilleristas.

Bonus: The narrator, Donald Sutherland, schools me on how to properly pronounce the word “arpillerista!”

FEMEN & Bikini Kill (Craftivism Hits the Ukraine!)

| Betsy

The photo above changed my life. No, really. It was the beginning of my discovery of Riot Grrrl and DIY ethics. This picture made me realize that it was okay to be angry and confused and frustrated and loud as a teenage girl. It made me not feel so alone at 16 when I was angry at all the world’s problems and violence to women. Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna (the women in the photo above) had a scream that enveloped many of us in the early 90s.

Seeing these photos below made that 16 year old in me smile and wish nothing but happiness and strength to these women. I may not be wearing the same stomping shit-kicking boots and holding the same angst, but the part of me that knows what it’s like to be set free and not be scared to speak out feels like it’s just like 1991.

Ok, so technically it’s craftivism. FEMEN’s fighting back against the sex-trade industry. The sign above says “Ukraine is not a Brothel” and the bikinis below are not bikinis, they’re H1N1 masks sewn into bikinis as a statement against the H1N1 hysteria in their country. From their website:

WE ARE THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT:
*We unite young women basing on the principles of social awareness and activism, intellectual and cultural development.
*We recognise the European values of freedom, equality and comprehensive development of a person irrespective of the gender.
*We build up a national image of feminity, maternity and beauty based on the Euro-Atlantic Women’s Movements experience.
*We set up brand new standards of the civil movement in Ukraine.
*We have worked out our own unique form of a civil self-expression based on courage, creativity, efficiency and shock.
*We demonstrate that the civil movements can influence the public opinion and lobby the interests of a target group.
*We plan to become the biggest and the most influential feminist movement in Europe.

Want more? Go check out this interview with FEMEN’s leader, Anna Gutsol. And read more about FEMEN here.