Being in a hospital is kind of like being in a really really depressing casino. You’re left in this timeless space where night and day mean little. Somewhere in my wake-up at 3.30am sleepiness the other morning, I decided to take photos of two of the three waiting rooms we spent time in.

I keep on writing little bits and pieces over the past week and then losing track of my thoughts. All I can think about is healthy thoughts and make sure no machines are beeping weird and staying awake while keeping them company, even when I’m not here at the hospital. A true one-track mind.

Just keep busy. Keep moving. Keep pushing forward. Go, go, go, make sure everyone’s eaten, slept, taken care of themselves. It boils life down to just the essentials, and makes the rawness and fragility of life clearer than you ever thought imaginable. And, of course, a few months from now we’ll get complacent until something else happens, then life will go under a microscope again where every thing’s cherished and sacred, as it should normally be.

Soon we shift from pinpointed to easygoing and become predictable. Is it possible, however, to have that point illuminated and in the forefront at all times? Or would the sheer weight of the quickness and realness of it all make us crumble? If we truly cherished our loved ones and life long-term and not just in these moments of chaotic and palpable clarity, who could we be?

I’m betting that at first it would seem daunting to truly and honestly as Emile Zola wrote, “live out loud,” would seem out-of-control and visceral in the stark reality of our lives, that they’re passing, moving, marching on. But I also think that if we dare ourselves to hold firm and stick with it, it would eventually show us the strength we thought we didn’t have, love so deep it seems boundless and the wide open joy we deserve. It would make us who we would truly like to be, but never quite fully seem to embrace and unveil to the world. It would help us remember that due to the passage of time and intricacies of life, we owe it to our loved ones to show them the best, the brightest and the boldest we can be.

The lamp painting was the first pass on a piece that will be in The Scrap Exchange’s show, Domestic Spaces: Art and Artifacts for the Home, which will be up March 20 through April 11.

Have found some lovely new links lately discovering all sorts of people who are merging creativity and politics! For starters:

Art Threat
Eyeteeth
Just Seeds
Groundswell Collective
Irregular Rhythm Asylum
Tel Aviv Graffiti and Street Art
And check out this link to some amazing craftivist works, link thanks to Toronto Craft Alert!

*And on the subject of waiting, Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” won’t stop playing in my head. Thankfully, it’s one of my favorite songs.

And in Knitting for Good book news, there was a lovely post on Whipup about it yesterday, which you can read here!

And if you’re curious about what’s in the book, look no further than The Unique Sheep blog as Laura has posts about the first five chapters! Chapter 1! Chapter 2! Chapter 3! Chapter 4! Chapter 5! Wow!! Thanks so much Laura!!