I Can't Stop Making Things
People in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark
Musicians know how to write silence
Artists know where to put the shadows
I always increase the contrast in my photos
then make the shadows even darker
Emptiness and isolation
bring attention and focus
to the subject
Absence creates presence
The negative creates clarity
It is
what it is not
Nothing always means something
Hear the silence
See the darkness
The first step to seeing
is seeing that
there are things
you do not see
Who are "they?"
exactly who "they" are usually isn't defined
shadowy forces
"They" are a single target to demonize
Words have meanings with real effects
Language has tremendous power
Every group of people
thinks the world is
more frightening
more violent
more hopeless—
in short, more dramatic—
than it really is
They hate the idea of you
Your task is a simple one
Show them that you are not that idea
How many other people
are living lives
outside of what I imagined for them?
Probably all of them
We are all the same
All one
That is the greatest wisdom I can give you
Great acts of kindness
will befall you
in the coming months—
Usually bad things befall you?
Just saying
The world is much
friendlier and kinder
than most people realize
because of our proclivity to
focus on the negative and dramatic
How many sides does a circle have?
Zero, because sides are straight
and circles aren't
Two, an inside and an outside
Two, a top and a bottom
Infinite, because it goes around
and around facing all directions
forever
All of them, all at once
Most questions have
many correct answers
Celebrate all of our
different perspectives
Whose responsibility is it?
All of us
Celebrate
the things that make us
us
You have an amazing eye
Fantastic details
Visual textures
Even the weird ones
The goal is
always to be
a little bit weird
to capture things
in ways we don't normally
see them
To have novel perspectives
To make the mundane stand out
It's all interconnected
Each comes from
and flows into
the others
I can't stop making things
I feel the urge constantly
Always becoming
Streamline the procedure
for charging librarians
with a crime
The library is a commons
the heart of the fight
for the world we want
Patriotism
should be about love
the people
all of us
The world is too vast
to fit into
just one mind
It needs millions of them
to consider itself
from every possible angle
The difficulty with minds
is that each perceives itself
as a separate thing
alone
And so the minds
spin stories
to bridge the gaps
between them
Like a spider's web
There are a million stories
and yet they are all one
Ever since quarantine and shelter-in-place for Covid four years ago, I've had this constant urge to make. It started with trips to the ceramic painting store to glaze pre-made pottery. I tried molding some clay myself, then glass fusing. Then I bought some cheap knives and started wood carving. I've put together a few keychains and a variety of other crafty things. I've shared pictures of many of them in previous posts. Here's my latest.
I stumbled upon this giant mug during one of my wanders through the woods a couple of months ago and have been working since to help it gradually realize its potential. It didn't always agree with me, as there were some cracks and splits and holes along the way, but in the end it achieved both form and function.
Thanks to a class at the library's Maker Space, I've learned you can melt pewter on the stove top and cast your own shapes with the right molds. I filled the holes in this mug and coated the inside bottom with pewter, and, in the last picture above, you can see an area where I let it retain the flowing form it cooled in.
I've also tried making my own pewter coins.
I made one prior mug last year.
And just today I'm using my free time and an old belt to feature on a bracelet this heart-shaped rock we found on the beach during our recent family trip.
Plus, of course, all the photos that I can't stop taking. I feel the urge constantly. I've made the conscious choice to share most of them on Facebook to help populate people's feeds with enjoyable images in addition to all of the divisive rhetoric and memes. I've received sporadic compliments and gratitude in response. Most recently, this one:
You have an amazing eye. Fantastic details . . . Visual textures.
And this from my aunt:
I enjoy your pictures, even the weird ones!
I responded with thanks and, Now I just need to figure out which are the weird ones . . .
Though, of course, the goal is always to be a little bit weird, to capture things in ways we don't normally see them. To have novel perspectives and make the mundane stand out.
For a teambuilding activity, the manager of my new workplace team gave us a list of suggested values with the instruction to "pick your top 5(ish)" and share with with group.
Like most people I had trouble limiting myself to just five. I started by going through the list and circling ones I wanted to consider (plus marking through a few I felt were anathema). Then I identified the similar ones and grouped them to the best of my ability. That process is below.
I'm sure on a different day the nuances would land a bit differently, but that's what I came up with. Here's an attempt to put it into an outline format that indicates which concepts I couch inside of others:
Connection
LoveCompassionEmpathyKindnessUnderstanding
Wisdom
CuriosityGrowthKnowledgeLearning
Well-Being
GratitudeHumilityHumorWholeheartedness
and
AuthenticityCompetenceIntegrity
Spirituality
PurposeMeaning
Ethics
DiversityInclusionJusticeMaking a Difference
Nature
Interconnectedness
Peace
And it's all interconnected, as each comes from and flows into the others.
Great acts of kindness will befall you in the coming months.
The other night we had Chinese takeout and this was my fortune. I decided to have fun by posting the picture to Facebook with the following lead:
All right, people: this is your time to shine - Which of you can commit the greatest act of kindness toward me to help make the fortune come true?
No one took me seriously, of course, though my aunt (the same one from above) did leave an intriguing comment:
Usually bad things befall you???Just saying.
To which I spontaneously replied:
The world is much friendlier and kinder than most people realize because of our proclivity to focus on the negative and dramatic.
And it's true.
In a similar vein, I'm reading a book that described the author learning a circle has no sides. Intrigued, I googled. Some of the responses agreed, some claimed two sides, some claimed infinite. I decided to put it to an informal poll on my Facebook feed. All three responses showed up, including some that clearly felt they were correct.
My favorite response to "How many sides does a circle have?" was All of them, all at once.
I concluded with the comment: Just
to be clear, I am a believer that there are many correct answers to
most questions, so celebrate all of your different perspectives.
Some of the sources for my word collage above, starting with this poem.
Chera HammonsMusicians know how to write silence,how to lay lines and measures across a white landscape,to show where music is and where it can’t be,where notes should swell and where they should rest.If I were a musician I might write it this way:empty measure after empty measure, then the cymbal left ringing out.Everyone would know what I meant then.But poetry doesn’t speak with silence the way music can.It can give you images: the slow drop through a tent of cloud.The way the land stretches forever in veins of rock and snow.It can put spaces in between things to spread them out.The baby’s cry hanging in the air, caught as in a photographwith the same strange stillness as a horse caught mid-stride.The metal glittering sharp as ice around the flanks of the Alps.The fragments of bodies gathered and lifted outof where they fell, as gently held as early asters,or love letters smuggled through a war.If I were a musician I could write it another way, too:I could unroll the lines of the staff like a fence.The notes would settle all over it like wrens.Then they would sing, if they felt a song there.March 29, 2015
And quotes from books:
That's the difference between artists and the rest of us, I think. Artists know where to put the shadows.― John David Anderson, Ms. Bixby's Last Day-----People in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark.― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse-----You cannot hate what you do not know. They do not know you, therefore they are incapable of hating you. Perhaps I might concede they hate the idea of you. But if this is true, then your task is a simple one. You merely have to show them that you are not that idea.― Tom King, The Vision, Vol. 1: Little Worse Than a Man-----Nothing always means something.― Rob Davis, The Can Opener’s Daughter-----The first step to seeing is seeing that there are things you do not see.― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet-----"I am not alone," said Tadis. "You are not alone. No one is ever alone, because that is not the human condition. Each of us is unique, different. Yet we are all the same, all one. That is the greatest wisdom I can give you.”― Kate Banks, The Magician's Apprentice-----Every group of people I ask thinks the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless—in short, more dramatic—than it really is.― Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think-----For the entire bus ride back to my apartment after the field trip ends, I think about our conversation. Elena is nothing like the story I made up in my mind. How many other people are living lives outside of what I imagined for them? Probably all of them. I wonder how two people from such different parts of the world can have so much in common. And I wonder how two people from the same neighborhood can be so different.― Echo Brown, Black Girl Unlimited-----The world knew nothing at first. Then it gave birth to plants, who noticed what sunlight tasted like, and worms, who reveled in the luxuriant touch of soil. Soon the world's bright birds were perceiving the color of sound, its playful quigutl discerned the shapes of smells, and myriad eyes of every kind discovered sight and saw differently.Behind these senses were minds--so many! The world was too vast to fit into just one mind; it needed millions of them to consider itself from every possible angle.The difficulty with minds is that each perceives itself as a separate thing, alone. And so the minds spin stories to bridge the gaps between them, like a spider's web. There are a million stores, and yet they are all one.― Rachel Hartman, In the Serpent's Wake
I am proud to be a librarian.
Often we are the only indoor public space in our communities and provide the only accessible public bathroom. We provide broadband internet to people who can’t access it otherwise, and assistance with the email addresses and online forms required to access public welfare programs. Extreme poverty, unaddressed mental illness, the opioid crisis — all of it walks through our doors and makes itself at home. . . .The materiality of public libraries were clear examples of the state’s commitment to public ownership of the public good, to circulating public resources equally among the people, to access for everyone to everything. Public libraries may have emerged from a grotesque concentration of wealth in the hands of a few industrial magnates, but they also established what we might call the closest thing to a socialist institution in the contemporary United States.In most communities, the public library is funded by a mix of federal, state and mostly local coffers — our taxes. Public sector employees manage and staff libraries, and pool these public funds to purchase materials to be held in common by the public and shared among members of the public. Everyone can share in resources that far exceed what any average individual could collect for their own use.As exemplars of what the state can provide to the public when it chooses, libraries are wildly popular. . . .And for good reason. Librarians spend public resources in ways that benefit the public, making highly local decisions that reflect engagement with the communities they serve. . . .Library workers . . . secure public institutions, public resources and public ownership of the public good. When library workers open the door in the morning, they give the public access to public space. When library workers check out a book or check it back in, they circulate public resources. When library workers screen movies and run book clubs, they produce a public good, again and again, every day the library is open. Library workers must be at the heart of the fight for the world we want.
I've said many similar things myself.
Though not everyone likes us.
[An Alabama State] House bill that could have led to the arrest of librarians narrowly missed becoming law last session, but sponsors have already filed a follow-up for the session that begins next February. . . .With nearly half the House signed on as co-sponsors and the bill filed more than six months in advance, it appears the bill is poised for smooth sailing through the lower body in the next session.The bill is facially similar to its predecessor, but has been streamlined to better detail the procedure for charging librarians with a crime. . . .The objective is in line with Project 2025, a policy playbook by the influential conservative nonprofit Heritage Foundation. In the foreword of the 900-page plan, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts conflates pornography and “transgender ideology” and calls for librarians to be registered as sex offenders for distributing such materials.
Being a librarian can be a crime.
Democrats do this also:
In Trump's MAGA world, exactly who "they" are usually isn't defined. But it's typically some combination of Democrats, the federal government, what the former president's supporters call media "elites," and other shadowy forces. . . ."They said [Trump] was a tyrant. They say he must be stopped at all costs," . . ."They literally shot him," . . ."They use the unelected bureaucracy to impose their will on us without our consent, and they weaponize political power to target their political opponents, like they've done to our own nominee," . . ."First they tried to silence him. Then they tried to imprison him. Now they try to kill him," . . .In reality, "they" are a composite of real but distinct controversies — often the most radical or exaggerated elements of the left — that together offer a single target to demonize.
So who is "they?"
There is a better way. This post . . .
Words have meanings with real effects. Language has tremendous power. In these tense days, let’s choose our words and language carefully and wisely.
. . . includes a link to this post:
Stopping political violence, I believe, starts with how we see each other as Americans and the language we use to describe one other. . . .Whose responsibility is it?All of us.Every one of us—from politicians to citizens—has a role to play, and a good place to start is by avoiding rhetoric that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence. . . .Our diverse society of more than 300 million people is not something that any one group owns or can “take” from our neighbors. . . .There is no “us” vs. “them.” There’s only “we the people”—Americans who rise and fall together. . . .As divided as we may be on specific issues, surveys show that, as Americans, we’re still overwhelmingly united around basic freedoms and core principles like responsibility and freedom.
There is no "them," only us.
This is from the political campaigns eight years ago, yet is just as true and relevant now. From the organization Love Has No Labels, a video with John Cena called "We Are America." A Screenshot and my transcription:
"We Are America"Patriotism.There’s a word thrown around a lot.It inspires passionate debate andis worn like a badge of honor.And with good reason.Because it means love and devotionfor one’s country.Love.For a word designed to unite,it can also be pretty divisive.You see, there’s more to patriotism thanflag-sequined onesiesand rodeosand quadruple cheeseburgers.Patriotism is love for a country,not just pride in it.But what really makes up this country of ours?What is it we love?It’s more thana huge rock full of animalslike cougars and eagles,right?It’s the people.Do me a favorand close your eyes for a second;I want to try something out.Picture the average U.S. citizen.Think about it.How old are they?What’s their hair like?How much can they bench?Got one?Okay.So,chances arethe person you’re picturing right nowlooks a little differentthan the realaverage American.There are 319 million U.S. citizens.51% are female.So, first off,the average American is a woman.Cool, huh?Is that what you pictured?54 million are Latino.40 million senior citizens.27 million are disabled.18 million are Asian.(That’s more people in the U.S.than play football and baseball combined.)9 million are lesbian, gay, bi, or transgender.More than the entire amount of peoplethan live in the state of Virginia.Around 10 million are redheaded.5.1 million play Ultimate Frisbee.And 3 and a half million are Muslim.Triple the number of peoplecurrently serving in the United States military.Almost half the country belongs to minority groups.People who are lesbian.African American.And bi.And transgender.And Native American.And proud of it!We know that labels don’t devalue us,they help define us:keeping us dialed in to our culturesand our beliefsand who we are.As Americans.After all,what’s more American thanthe freedom to celebratethe things that make usus?I mean, it’s stitched intothe stars and stripes of this country,from the Constitutionto Gettysburgto our motto, E pluribus unum,"from many, one."It’s even in our country’s name:the UNITED States.This year,patriotism shouldn’t just be aboutpride of country.It should be about love.Love beyond age,disability,sexuality,race,religion,and any other labels.Because the second any of usjudge peoplebased on those labels,we’re not really being patriotic,are we?So,let’s try this one more time.Close your eyes,picture the average Joeor Joanor Juanor Jean-Luc.The real people who make AmericaAmerica.And this year,whenever you feel the urgeto don those star-spangled shortsor set off fireworksthe size of my bicepsto show love for our country,rememberthatto love Americais to loveallAmericans.Because love has no labels.
And, if it embeds properly in this old tool, the video itself:
To love America is to love all Americans.
To love humanity is to love all humans.
To love the world is to love all of nature.
Spirituality, connection, ethics, nature, wisdom, well-being, peace. It's all interconnected.
The world is too vast to fit into just one mind; it needs millions of them to consider itself from every possible angle.
The difficulty with minds is that each perceives itself as a separate thing, alone. And so the minds spin stories to bridge the gaps between them, like a spider's web. There are a million stories, and yet they are all one.
posted by Degolar @ 5:56 PM
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