Author: Betsy

C’mon, North Carolina, we’re better than this.

| Betsy

pee near me

 

While I love that my home state has both the beach and the mountains, I don’t love that currently we’re the butt of every joke in the country given the passage of HB2. It’s embarrassing. And makes us look like the hayseeds some people think we already are in the South.

So I made a little something that I’m going to share. Because I am a trans ally. And I want anyone that is trans to know I support them. And they can pee near me.

There are enough problems in the trans community to worry about (high suicide rates for one) that having to add peeing to the list is infuriating. So I thought I’d make a little something that says not everyone agrees with the law. Because we support your life, your wellbeing, and your light. We need your light to continue to shine, too, because you are braver than most, and we need all the brave people we can get.

Who’s not brave? The governor. And this is all the more frustrating because chances are high Governor McCrory is just doing this to get the vote. He’s making people feel less than human to get re-elected.

He’s getting his Christian friends to say transgender individuals shouldn’t use the bathroom of the sex they identify with and making it a religion thing. Meaning if a transgender man comes into the women’s bathroom, he is risking being treated badly, with no due recourse, even though he’s upholding the law. Low blow. And the governor and his pals are like, “Yes, this is the way forward. This is the way we should be.”

But how can it be the way forward if it is a decision based on fear? And, as Austin Fonville rightly points out in this video, there is no actual precedent for it?

Fear brings hate. Fear breeds fear. Fear cancels out kindness. Fear gives people reason to hurt other people because it puts people into fight or flight mode. You get scared, your amygdala goes haywire, and you do something stupid. (Or something selfish in case of the governor.)

The Boss and a Beatle cancel concerts; companies everywhere don’t want to do business within your borders; and the state loses money. All because one jackhole wants the vote. And whips the Christian right up in such a fury that they don’t even see how un-Christian the intolerance is. Fear is not the way forward.

But speaking out about it is. Saying you don’t support HB2 helps make transgender individuals feel safe and wanted. (And before you say, “I don’t know anyone transgender,” are you sure? Because I’m willing to bet you’re not really all that sure.) Embracing individual choices is one step closer to stopping the madness. Making sure people know where you stand means letting someone trans know that you don’t agree with the law.

My North Carolina is a free North Carolina. One that accepts and welcomes and loves people for who they are. Yes, #wearenotthis, but we are also more than fear.

So if you need to, you can pee near me.

Because Getting Others To Help You Doesn’t Mean You’re Less DIY

| Betsy

 

This monkey was kind of my breaking point, where I realized that if I make everything, I won’t have time to enjoy truly delightful things like this little guy here. So recently I have come to realize why I have only hired two people to help me. In thirteen years. One to set up my site (2003 represent!) and one to help move things to WordPress (2014?).

And I was determined not to hire anyone because being a part of the DIY craft community was my identity, which I thought meant having to do everything alone. My hands needed to make it or else I would be caving. (Even after some thought, I still don’t know what I thought I’d be caving to, other than a better life?) But keeping a site that looks like drunken elves made it because you want to stick to your teenage principles? Worst idea ever. Because I’m not 18 wearing clothes three sizes too big (ah, the 90s!) and dying my hair pink so badly I looked like I maybe had mange and thinking that I was cool (I wasn’t, I was still a total dork).

Because the real DIY scales to where you are now, not where you were. The real DIY believes in helping other people live lives on their own terms (whether that be touring in an old van or working in a cubicle) and supporting them. It does not mean suffering and now growing. It means taking your inherent skills and running with them, not ignoring them because you think you have to *literally* do everything yourself.

Being involved in the punk scene didn’t help in this capacity, as hiring someone through that lens, too, felt icky and wrong.

So I did the best I could, but it was always less than because I didn’t have the requisite skills. It’s like when I see something at the mall I could make* and then buy the materials and never use them, adding crap to my house and in almost all cases spending more time and energy than it would take to just buy the darn thing. Because I’m DIY! Thread runs through my very veins!

Then the supplies I bought sit in a box that makes me feel like guilty because I know it’s full of ideas of things I didn’t do. Knit cute covers for wood beads to stuck into a necklace? That sounds fun and looks easy! However, there is not “this took 15 hours” footnote, so I think I can just whip it up in an evening and fail, so it goes into the box.

That box is a bummer. It is the worst for real, man.

So I don’t do all I could be doing in the fields that I rule at because that box and other related things I could make but don’t need to are an albatross on my neck… because I’m DIY, damnit. Hear the mighty force of the sound of my knitting needles work, that is my Helen Reddy roar.

But you know what? Getting a small biz or individual to help you out is also DIY, because it is supporting the community. DIY isn’t about going without, it’s about celebrating your community, which you can’t do because all of your money is going to things in that damn box.

So let’s burn the box and go do all the things we’re good at and let people help us with the rest. That’s DIY too.

*If you do this with handmade things you should definitely just buy the thing- you’ll be supporting someone like you, which is DIY, yeah! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

Craftivism’s Cover Story in Australia!

| Betsy

This happened today, which has made my weekend! It’s a cover story about craftivism in Australia, complete with interviews with Sayraphim Lothian, Casey Jenkins, and Tal Fitzpatrick!

Also, I’ve been lucky enough to have been asked to participate in a show at the Fuller Craft Museum this May! For my piece, I’m going to be sending in YASVB signs that will be displayed during the show then given away to the community for free when it is over.

Here are some shots by my dear friend Cynthia to get you thinking…

Cynthia 1

Cynthia 2

 

And since this is in a museum show about the DIY craft community, I want to spread the word as far as I can within it. Therefore, I would love it if *YOU* helped spread the word! How can you do so? By clicking either over here (how the project came together, with a link to details) or here (just the details themselves_, which share project information, then clicking on one of the share buttons on the side of your screen!

This Is About Acceptance

| Betsy

Months ago, I had a crazy little idea to make affirmation signs. Because there were things that I needed to hear. Because there were things I wanted to tell other people but also chickened out on. Because I want everyone to feel worthy, even though I know that society often tells us we are less than.

You can read a rundown of how things went in Baltimore over at Uncustomary, Mary did a fantastic job both helping me with this project and writing about it! You can see more photos over at Instagram at #yasvb.

Here are just a few photos that came from February 7th, and they all show that we all need to hear these things, say these things, share these things. Time and time again, when people finished making these lil’ signs, they would write or say things like, “I really enjoyed making these!” or “That felt really good!” And they’re right, it just feels good down to your bones when you make something that reminds you of how awesome you really are.

So, this project is about acceptance. Acceptance of who you are, of how you feel about yourself. Or about saying the things you want someone else to hear and accept, but they’re just not ready. It’s about saying what you really want to say, and then sitting with the poignancy of the moment, whether that’s in the making or in the giving away.

Personally, it took years for me to destroy the negative tape loop in my head, the one that tried to size me up next to people in magazine ads and on TV. And doing projects like this? It helps combat that negative loop by feeding it positive thoughts, the ones that should have been with us the one darn time. (Like it says in the “two wolves” legend.)

Since putting the signs up, we’ve heard from a few people who found them… who told us that they were going to put the signs back out for someone else to find, which is kind of the best. And the loveliest.

Thanks to interest from people in other places, I already have dates on the calendar for Atlanta, GA and Cary, NC, and I heard word there’s going to be a drop in Melbourne, Australia too! Therefore, we’re (okay, I’m) still collecting signs, so if you’d like to send them, please go here and follow the teeny-tiny instruction list.

And remember, you, yes you, are so very beautiful.

Want to join in the fun? Go here. Comment. Get our your stitching. Or your paints. Or your oyster shells (yes!). Or your balloons. Because you deserve that time for yourself, that moment of kindness that you need to let come.

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You Are So Very Beautiful is TWO WEEKS away!

| Betsy

You Are So Very Beautiful commences TWO WEEKS from today!

A photo posted by Betsy Greer (@craftivista) on

I’m super stoked to be working with Mary on this, and for there to be coordinating drops in both London and Vancouver on the same day we have our event in Baltimore! To learn more about getting involved, have a look over here!

People have also been kind enough to write posts about it on Mr. X Stitch, Katherine Diuguid, Kurbits, Crafting A Green World,  Monica Miller and Catherine West from Significant Seams also wrote posts here and here, respectively, and are the ones coordinating drops in Vancouver and London, yeah!

This project has reminded me of how important it is to bring joy into what you’re doing, and how sometimes all it takes to switch a bad mood to a good one is some peppy music. (For the past month, I’ve been listening to the 50 Most Blogged (Indie!) Songs over at Google Music as it changes each week!)

For a long time I thought that to create also meant you had to suffer. (I read a lot of stuff by the Beats in college, coincidence?) It took *this very project* to realize how much better it feels to create from a place of joy than a place of sadness or angst or lack. Although I’ve crafting and making for years, it wasn’t until I sat down and literally stitched dozens of affirmations onto cloth that I began to realize how that kind of making resonates on a higher level, a different plane. And it feels good.

I’ve written more about it in my weekly newsletter, that just came off a hiatus. You can sign up for it in the top righthand corner of my blog; I hope to see you there!