Bless This Mess.

| Betsy

This post is a weird one, admittedly. But, over the weekend, I wrote a short short story (yep, no typo) about an elderly Japanese woman who decided to stay in the 19-mile radius evacuation zone despite the warnings. The other day on Twitter, I tweeted about being messy, about scribbling in between the lines, spilling my tea, about breaking things. I am so sick of everything so perfect perfect everywhere online, perfect photos, perfect lives, perfectly-placed items, everything perfectly curated purposely to show the absence of mess, chaos, confusion, and in some senses, life.

To me it’s the imperfections that lead us to perfection. I.e., there is no perfection until we unleash and embrace and lay bare our imperfections. Perfection isn’t the lack of life, but the celebration of it, in all of its messiness, noise, stress, love.

It’s where it’s okay to miss a stitch, to have an imperfect seam, to have a hair out of place, to not know what to say. The other day I realized that after I had run an errand that my lipstick was totally on askew, and wondered what the people at the vet thought when I went inside. I sat in the car and in the tiny mirror couldn’t see much else other than my lips, the lipstick a little above my cupid’s bow, some had even slipped a little below my bottom lip. And I laughed at the part of me that was immediately horrified by two tiny smudges.

I’m always the one with slightly crazy hair or an earring half falling out or a laugh that’s too loud, never perfect, despite my best intentions. I’m clumsy, I can’t wear anything white due to my penchant for spilling my tea and coffee, there always seem to be some cat hair hitching a ride on the back of my skirt or coat. I once stained my entire face using a coffee scrub. And that’s okay.

I’m okay with that. Because it’s these little foibles that bring me back to the imperfection of life and the true beat of living. I don’t want to see your projected life or what you wish your life was like, I want to see your life. I’m not saying bring on the wreckage, I’m saying show me your messes. That’s where creativity lies.

So, in that spirit, I’m posting the story here. It’s not perfect,* or even necessarily good. But it felt good to play around with fiction as I haven’t in years. It felt good to stretch my brain even though the outcome wasn’t stellar. And it’s imperfect. I share it with you as a reminder that life is messy, our creations are messy.

Bring on the mess, bring on the scribbles, bring on the experiments, bring on what you really see, instead of what you wish us to see.


*I’m resisting the urge to edit the typo right now, though…


When I was a kid and wrote fiction, I used to write things like “This is not about real life!” on the cover of my notebooks so people wouldn’t think all the weirdness was autobiographical. This story is pretty much the same thing. I just started wondering, what if you couldn’t leave the area? Or had no reason to leave? How many people would that be? What would they be thinking? Doing? Seeing?

JR, Women, Strength, Our Own Two Little Hands

| Betsy

The trailer for JR’s Women are Heroes and his TED talk.








There are no words for the beauty, depth, perfect timing, honesty of this work. I dare you to tell me art (craft!) can’t change the world. I dare you.


Your hands, your two little hands, have more power than you may ever even know.


So, today, go challenge yourself. Go find out what changes you can make. For yourself, for your neighbors, for your friends, for the world.


Not sure where to take the first step? Go check out JR’s international (free!) project: Inside Out.




It’s a Railway Adventure!

| Betsy

And who doesn’t like adventure?!

From Sarah over at Craftivist Collective:

Craftivists hold protest stitch-ins at railway stations across the UK- please support them! :)

At 1pm on Saturday 10th April craftivists across the UK will join a nationwide protest to demand a halt to rail fare increases. Currently the coalition Government plans to hike fares by 31% over the next 4 years. This is a huge issue and the Craftivist Collective would love you to support them.

The Craftivist Collective are supporting Climate Rush on the Railway Adventures campaign. Hundreds of craftivists (activists who protest using scissors, thread and fabric) will converge on railway stations across the UK for a super cute kitsch protest picnic and stitch-in. They will be creating 4inch deep x 7inches wide fabric train coaches covered with statistics, facts, quotes and consumer views on our Government’s carbon-friendly transport policy, whilst drinking tea, eating jam sandwiches and talking about the issues. The various panels will be collated into a petition-train which will be taken on a Fair Fare Railway Adventure on Saturday 16th April. It will be delivered to Philip Hammond MP (Minister for Transport) by direct action group: Climate Rush.

So far we have craftivists coordinating stitch-ins in
Brighton, Hastings, Coventry , Birmingham, Dorset,Leeds, Bristol, London, Manchester, Devon andCornwall.
If you want to do coordinate a stitch-in near you please email craftivist-collective [at] hotmail dot com

Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Transport, said:
“Whether we like it or not, the ability to travel point-to-point on an individually-tailored timetable [i.e. in a car] is one of the great quality-of-life gains of the second half of the 20th century.”

Sarah Corbett, Founder of the Craftivist Collective, said:
“As the Craftivist Collective we are passionate about showing our love for local and global neighbours. These unfair fare increases will stop people using trains when we need help keeping our carbon footprints down. The increases will hit people living in poverty the most and stop them getting to their jobs and alienate them even more from society.

“Short-haul flights and cars shouldn’t be the cheapest most convenient option. Philip Hammond MP wants to hike fairs a massive 31% over the term of this Government. We’re here to demand fair fares and a sustainable alternative.”

On Saturday 16th April Craftivists with join Climate Rush on a Railway Adventure. For more information please visit: Railway Adventure.

A Fluffy Teddy Bear, Beck and the Seaside.

| Betsy




No, this has absolutely NOTHING* to do with craft, activism or craftivism. It’s a little tale about a teddy bear, the seaside, Brighton, love and hope.

Lately every time I turn on the news I feel like this video. Which is pretty much summed up as “WTF. Seriously?” There’s too much sorrow, fear, death, blood, strife, anger, hatred, ego. It’s making me wish there was more front page coverage of Justin Bieber’s haircut or more pissy First World anger over TSA scans.

But, like the fluffy teddy bear in the last scene, I do what needs doing and carry on… hopeful, moving forward and when I’m lucky, I do so extra warm and cuddly-like.

And to the best that I can, I take that warmth and those cuddly notions out into the world around me, in the face of so much tragedy, a smile here, a hug there, a thank you. And so often it feels like so very little. And like the bear, I’m still raw, vulnerable and scared, but nonetheless, we carry on. In hope, in love, in peace.

May you carry on, too.

xx



More Misery Bear here.

*Ok, not NOTHING. It’s a very well-crafted video by the people over at Roughcut Presents and Worm Hotel. That’s adorable. And features a teddy bear running down a beach. Yes!

International Women’s Day!

| Betsy

Today is the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day!

While the day (read some Wikipedia info over here for starters) can be celebrated in whichever way you choose, the international theme for today is Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.

For highlights on International Women’s Day, read a timeline of the history here.

Here’s what the timeline says for 2000 and beyond:

WD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

I started off this post with a photo of a young Sri Lankan girl as not only should we continue to help girls and women realize their strength, beauty and power, but also because for the past year, I’ve been volunteering some of my time with Emerge, a wonderful non-profit that helps young Sri Lankan girls start their own jewelry businesses to teach them about having a bank account, keeping savings and business skills. Happily, today, a link to Emerge is featured on Google’s list of women’s organizations that help to empower girls and women. So proud of them! To take care of my mom and this beautiful day I gave her from https://joyonproducts.com/ a special gift for her own health, check it out these products for all women.

Photo above by Flickr user