tea always helps when i’m thinking too much.

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.

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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.

friday dispatch v7.0

Some weeks it seems like I just blink and it’s Friday already. And I’m still stuck in this jobless quagmire, daydreaming about full-time flaneury and Walter Benjamin while keeping my head in the real-world that is more than full of pointless and thankless jobs.

Happily, things are the job front are not as bleak as before, or maybe I’m just fooling myself. Regardless, here are the Friday links, v7.0:

*Das Erste Weiner Gemuseorchester is proof that what is in your vegetable bin might also produce some amazing music.

*Although I couldn’t get some of the videos to work, I was astounded by the wealth of information over at emplive.org’s Riot Grrrl Retrospective!

*I am completely in love with the cuteness that is Jotto and can hardly believe no one has ever shown me this before.

*Ditto for Rawr.net. Even though it hasn’t been updated in awhile, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still loads of adorable monsters!

*While my love for Walter Benjamin, Mr. T and Roland Barthes is highly documented, I rarely express my blatant adoration for Alain De Botton, do I? His Consolations of Philosophy is one of my favorite books in the world. I still need to read Status Anxiety, though!

*If you’re melting in the heat, try making a few snowflakes.

*When you’re unemployed, nothing makes you feel more inadequate than celebrity gossip, which you can read a host of places, like The Bosh.

*Living stateside, I miss reading the paper version of The Guardian. Happily it’s online, and you can learn more than you ever wanted to know about globalisation here.

*You can plan your next road trip here from the comfort of your cubicle!

*Lots and lots of textiles links from the Textile Society including one right near my backyard!

sew what?

Joblessness has led to insomnia.
Insomnia has led to reading.
Reading has led to thought.
Thought has led to wishes of artistic autonomy.

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The other day I bought this sewing machine for $5. It needs to be reconditioned, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less in love with it. Mint green reminds me of my childhood and carefree afternoons spent running around my backyard with our black lab, Missy, playing tag and devouring popsicles.

But it’s no longer 1985, it’s 2005 and I’m drinking loads of tea with valerian and spearmint and chamomile. Reading lots of artists statements and wondering at once why anyone does anything, then knocked back with the notion that creativity sets the world in motion, creates the beauty all around us.

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When I finished this small cross-stitch piece last week, I started to come up with more political art ideas. It’s a cross-stitch of a screenprint of a stencil by Banksy, the pattern made possible by knitPro. With every stitch I made, I kept thinking about all the history and sweat and toil that encompasses needlework’s past.

I have some larger pieces in mind, but lately have started to doubt my entire line of synchronicity between art and politics. But, I know that I will press on, and hopefully won’t end up covering my walls with frame after frame of weird political art hybrids, stacking up like dolls on the Island of Lost Toys.

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The man I spoke of the other day is still in grave condition in London, and I’ve thought much in the past few days about dreams deferred by coincidence. And how delicate everything really is, as well as how beautiful.

concentricity.

About an hour ago, I found out that an acquaintance I met in London was hit by a motorbike yesterday and is in very serious condition. So I’m sitting here in my apartment, soaking up the sun that is filtering in the windows, feeling the sweet breeze of the ceiling fan above, feeling somewhat ill.

During my tumultous teens and early 20s, I lost so many friends and acquaintances that I became numb to most of them. What has struck me about this is not only the goodness that he possessed that will be greatly missed, but the way that information is passed along so quickly via the interweb.

How we structure friendships and networks of trust via words only using keyboards and jpgs. How much it has enriched my life as well as introduced me to so many amazingly kind people due to little more than a beautiful coincidence. My inbox is full of incredible stories, notes of kindness, reminders of strength and interspersed missives from people all over the world. While not only reminding me how the world is full of beauty, it also reminds me how people can touch our lives without really knowing it.

So, even though I don’t say it often enough, thank you.

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xo

friday dispatch v6.0

Cross your fingers, knock on wood, spit…all of those things you do for good luck. I will be doing as I rewrite my research proposal. I have to write another one, so if you see me hunched over my laptop drinking coffee at the co-op, please wake me up if I have fallen asleep, okay? I need to start from scratch, review past and current research in my field, conduct a literature review, and read lots of university-written guidelines.

But seeing that it’s Friday once again, here are some links:

*You can never know too much about fruit in my opinion. Lately I have been obsessed with strawberries and mangoes.

*Admit that her “How to be an Artist” poster made you dream again. Go to Planet Sark.

*Ever since I signed up for the free daily email at Daily Om, checking my email every morning has made get in touch with my inner hippie.

*As well as doing political needlework, lately I’ve been working with old skate photos. These old Powell-Peralta ads are wonderful! (And this has nothing to do with a recent Sony release, either. Although I did finally see Stoked last month!)

*Be forewarned that if I am ever in a band, I will make it my mission to go on stage wearing knitted full-body outfits like these guys:

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Only with more hot pink and less beardy.

*Fall in love with the work of Ham and Enos. And then go make your own art.

*Even though I’ve never considered moving there before, The FACT Centre makes Liverpool look enticing.

*Sites like that of the Billboard Liberation Front never cease to make me happy.

*Same for the work of Ron English.

*On a less controversial and happier note, this site makes me happy because it’s called “Lionel Richie Worldwide Headquarters.” Go Lionel go!

I can’t stop listening to Ted Leo’s cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.” Hot damn!

p.s. Firefox is doing weird things to the sidebar. I’m working on it.