hope

The Dream Rocket!

| Betsy

About a year ago, I heard that the amazing and talented Jennifer Marsh had an eye on her next project. Covering a rocket with crafted goodness and hope. After tackling an entire gas station (above) and a giant tree (below), what’s a ginormous rocket? Well, the other week, I was so excited to get an email that included the press release for covering that rocket- a project called The Dream Rocket! Following the amazing Gas Station Project and Tree Project, here’s a brand new project that’s as equally as inspiring!

From the website, this project aims to:

The Dream Rocket is reaching out to students, teachers, schools, individuals, groups and organizations to create and submit over 8,000 “Dream Theme” or “Visionary” panels that will be sewn together in Huntsville, Alabama. This historical 30,467-square foot quilt will represent dreams from all over the world. During May and June of 2010, (60 days) this quilt will completely wrap the 363-foot vertical Saturn V Rocket which stands in front of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® in Huntsville, Alabama.

I also love love love what Jennifer had to say about this endeavor, “The Saturn V Moon Rocket is the ideal example of achieving a dream that seems impossible. Whether your dream is curing cancer, going to Mars, or ending world hunger, the Saturn V is an inspiring visual reminder that any dream can come true. If we can work together to put a man on the moon, we can do anything.”

Want more information? Find out more on the Facebook page, through Flickr photos, on Twitter, and the website. You can also sign up for their newsletter here.

And for all you fellow kids of the ’80s, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® Space Camp is what the cinematic genius that is Space Camp is based on!

CODEPINK. Collecting Knitted Squares For Mother’s Day.

| Betsy

CAMPAIGN: CODEPINK is collecting knitted squares for a cozy (see photo above) for the White House fence for Mother’s Day as a protest against war. All war.

WHAT TO MAKE: The squares need to be 4″x4″ and tightly knit, in the stitch of your choice. The donations need to be received by May 4th, as the U.S. observance of Mother’s Day is May 10th this year. If you’re a knitter, then you know that your average swatch takes little time, and so will these squares!

WHO TO CONTACT: If you plan to make squares, please email Janna at CODEPINK with the number of squares you plan to make and in what colors.

WHERE TO SEND: Once completed, the squares can be sent to:
CODEPINK House
712 5th Street NE
Washington, D.C.
20002

WHY TO SEND: Because war effects everyone. Even if you or your family haven’t been effected personally, someone you know has a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, cousin or best friend who has been effected by war, either directly or indirectly. I come from a military family. I am an ardent supporter of our soldiers and the sacrifices they make for their jobs. I am not, however, always a supporter of our foreign policy. In the future, I’d like nothing more than to raise my children in a world without war. No one, anywhere, should have to make those choices that are sometimes made in conflict. For a list of current ongoing conflicts and the estimated numbers of casualities, see here.

That’s a lot of chairs left empty at the dinner table and thousands fewer hands to hold. Even if you don’t make squares, consider spending some time this Mother’s Day doing something to make this world a little nicer and a little kinder because we need all the help we can get. In honoring the kinder maternal sides of this world, you are also honoring all Mothers, who all bring their children into the world with the greatest love, the fiercest protection, and more hope than they ever thought possible.

Perhaps with enough little kindnesses, we can slowly begin to reduce the numbers of those effected by war by bringing about a few more smiles and discussions, leading to more open communication and if we’re lucky, a little less strife. We can honor all Mothers throughout the world by perpetuating tiny acts of gratitude and kindness that echo those of every Mother. Their dreams, strong wills and sacrifices made worldwide in the name of creating love, hope and peace in the lives of their children are examples of limitless love and open hearts that we all can learn from, remember and pass on.

P.S. I’ve emailed Janna (at the email address linked above) and will be donating 4 pink squares and 4 green.

The Dream, 45 Years Deferred.

| Betsy

Before today, there was only one other MLK Day weekend that had stuck in my mind. We were on a family ski trip and on the ride north we stopped at McDonald’s. They had the radio on announcing that the United States had just invaded Kuwait. It was a bit surreal being in McDonald’s of all places, hearing George Bush instead of the ka-ching of the registers.

I was in 11th grade and confused how we were going skiing and going to have fun when our country was doing something really not fun. I guess you could say that was the first day I started to think about that continuum we all live on, that small space where we exist and thrive despite all of the horrors and evils and disappointments that life can bring. We thrive because we can see the other end, the end of possibilities and newness and happiness. In order to keep moving forward, we perch ourselves delicately between the good and the bad, aiming more towards hope than towards despair.

I’ll also remember this MLK Day and its long weekend, but for a better reason. Today at 12pm EST, CNN rebroadcast the entirety of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

When the speech started, I had my laptop on in my lap thinking I would be able to tinker away at some things I needed to do, as not to waste a chance to multitask. About a minute into the speech, I closed my laptop and set it aside. Some things need your full attention, this is one of them.

And a few minutes in, I started crying and felt so very different than I did around this time 18 years ago. Instead of feeling estranged and wondering what the hell was going on in a McDonald’s in Virginia, I felt happy and hopeful. I know that tomorrow the wars aren’t going to stop and the economy isn’t going to right itself and that millions of people will still need food, water and shelter.

But today there’s a sliding towards the plus end of the scale away from the minus. Not because tomorrow we’re going to go to bed richer or kinder than the day before, but because tomorrow, for the first time in a long time, we’ll see our country move forward along with us.

leaves, knitting awesomeness and the marshall tucker band.

| Betsy

Above you will see a photo from the November issue of Ode magazine, which I took in the bookstore, while it was on the shelf with people looking at me weird. You can read the review online right here. Thank you Ode! Thanks also to my friend Jeff for taking this photo of me on his front porch one afternoon in Durham!


Today is one of those days when it’s lovely and perfect to sit outside drinking tea with your feet up and no shoes on, even if your neighbor insists on listening to The Marshall Tucker Band* really loud and leaves keep falling on your keyboard and in your tea. I secretly wish it was like this outside everyday.

In knitting news, I found the most amazing article about how knitting can change lives today! It’s the story of my new favorite knitter, Tonks (aka Jessi Rose), and how knitting both saved and changed her life.

After battling mental health issues for years, Tonks saw a way out as she planned to commit suicide one night after the mandatory group therapy class at the halfway house where she was living. What she didn’t plan, however, was to learn how to knit during the class. As she watched the slow and steady progress of the instructor’s work and picked up the needles herself, she began to see how she could slowly rebuild her life bit by bit, just as the scarf progressed row by row. That was 7 years ago.

She is now preparing for her full knitted wedding vow renewal ceremony in 2010. You can follow her progress on this project on her blog! Go Tonks! Her story is one of hope and persistence and love and creativity that makes my heart smile.


*“In My Own Way” seems to his favorite, generally closely followed by his second favorite, Can’t You See.