This is a quickie, for whoever has been searching the blog for Boston stuff and Woo info and names of people who may or may not be you or somebody you knew in another lifetime -- leave me a comment already ya loser!
If you are who I think you are, then you are welcome here, and you might as well just make time to read all of the archived entries instead of just searching for what you think you might find. It's mostly fun stuff, even if it isn't about you. And yes, I was in Boston fairly recently, and no, I didn't call anybody 'cause there just wasn't time. Don't get all bent out of shape about it, I can make you a long list of the folks I didn't call, it wasn't just you.
So there. Now quit lurking, all of you. Comment already. Sheesh!!
Okay, for a week that started out really crappy on the craft front, this has turned out to be one of my most amazing weeks of all.
I finished the dress (I'll try to get Bill to digi-cam it for me so I can post a photo that doesn't include the cute flowergirl) and it's incredible.
I had my yarn store revelation, and kept working on Matthew's hat.
And just today, completely out of my own head, I designed and built and then "dressed" a playhouse/puppet theater for the kids. I used PVC pipe for the frame and then made curtains and drapes and stuff out of the fabric I had originally bought to use on the windows in the playroom. It has a little stage area, complete with curtains and backdrop, and the backdrops are going to be put on with velcro, so the kids can change the view behind the puppets if they want. The one drawback is that the stage area is fairly small, but I could remedy that just by cutting the pipe differently, so no big deal really. And it's going to have hanging pockets for the puppets and backdrops to live in, but I have to make that part yet and now I need to go to bed. I'll try to get a photo uploaded, because it's really super cool, and pretty cheap too and the kids are going to LOVE it! Hee hee!!!
Now somebody tell me how I am supposed to market these skills!
Okay, I still don't want to talk about it overall, but part of my recent depression has stemmed from several creative crises of late, and since I had a kind of a breakthrough today, I thought I would share.
I've been trying to knit a hat for Matty and couldn't decide on a pattern I liked, or a yarn that I liked (in colors that match his new navy and yellow coat), or even the right size needles. And I had been working on a scarf for my dad last Christmas and then realized his new forest green coat was exactly the wrong color for the closer to olive-green yarn I had picked out (which I can't return), so I was going to make it for Dan instead, but decided I hated the pattern I was using (it's too wide in 44 stitches, but too narrow at 22, and it has to be a repeat of 22 stitches soo...). Then decided I would make the yarn into a sweater for Matty, but I can't decide if the color is too bleechy, so I've been stalling on that...
I've also been trying to knit socks for almost a year now and I just can't get it right. Some of the problem is that I am too impatient to knit with regular sock yarn, another problem is that I want to make sure I have room for a big slouchy ankle on my already large ankle, but I can't get the transition to the foot right, so all my socks are ending up too big, even for wearing with my Birks. And that's frustrating, because I've made this huge investment in beautiful double-pointed birch needles and I hate the idea of never using them...
Then a few weeks ago, I splurged and bought this really fantastic yarn which is made up with recycled silk. The single hank I bought was incredibly expensive --more expensive than any yarn I have ever purchased -- and the colors are just gorgeous: all jewel tones in blues and reds and purples. And I was really excited about making a scarf -- obviously a very narrow and mostly decorative scarf, because it's silk and too expensive to buy more. But I can't get the damned stuff to work up the way I envisioned. I've tried all different needle sizes and a variety of stitch combinations, and everything looks AWFUL. Not just me being picky kinda not perfect, but truly awful. The color of the yarn gets muddy and the weave ends up too thick and glumpy looking... it was just a complete disappointment.
I've also been working on a flowergirl dress for a friend's daughter. Now the dress is done (and fabulous), but it's been really stressful -- partly because I wanted it to be right, partly because I haven't had lots of time to get it done (and the wedding is very soon), partly because my friend is paying me by the hour and I wanted to get it done fast, but was feeling bogged down by also wanting it to be perfect. A perfectionist customer and a perfectionist seamstress ought to be a good match, but somehow it doesn't feel that way when you are the seamstress -- at least it didn't this week. And the fabric is very fine and expensive, which means it's slippery and hard to sew (it won't hold a pressed fold at all, so the hems took just hours and then had to be re-done when our initial measurements proved to be too long after all) and I was really afraid of making a mistake and having any picked out parts be very visible... so that was a stress inducer.
And I bought yarn for a sweater for me, but didn't like the needles I had (and anyway they're too short for the number of stitches I'll need) and I'm nervous about tackling a sweater that's me-sized, not to mention the pattern alterations I'll need to make to get it gigantic enough. I think I've mastered the pattern changes, but I've been anxious about it all week, esp. given my other recent knitting disasters. I'm also worried that the pattern is going to look silly on me, but that's a whole different story.
So today I decided I would haul the kids up to Columbus (Dublin really, which is even further north than Columbus proper) and use some of my dress-making money on a pair of Addi Turbos to make my new sweater. Now, for the non-knitter or those only recently inducted into the sisterhood, these needles are the ultimate. They're like the Ferrari's of knitting, especially if you have a big project and need to go fast. They have some kind of coating on the needles and they just slither over each other as you knit. Forget the click click of ordinary metal needles, forget the clatter of wooden needles -- with Addi Turbos, you don't hear nothin' except your own gasps of amazement. These suckers are FINE! And I got me some now. So that was cheering.
But even better was a conversation I overheard while I was sitting there doing my gauge swatch and testing out the needles I eventually bought. A very stylishly dressed older woman (obviously not hurting for funds) was telling one of the shop owners about the scarf she recently finished, using none other than that same recycled silk that's been driving me crazy. She was talking about her frustration and the mohair she eventually chose to go with it and and and. So I waited until she was done and asked her how it turned out and showed her what I had been doing with the same yarn and told her how frustrated I was. And she agreed that it was just dreadful and disappointing and when I asked her what she thought about some mohair I was going to buy to try and finish my scarf she said, very nicely, "You might consider just cutting your losses and saving it for something else. The scarf I knitted ended up costing a fortune and never did look like what I had imagined!"
And it just felt so good to have permission to just set the damned stuff aside! And to know that I wasn't nuts, that it IS really annoying yarn and it just flat DOESN'T look like it ought to when it's knitted up. And suddenly my mood lifted. Not all the way, because I'm bothered by plenty that doesn't have anythign to do with yarn, but I also figured out a plan for Matthew's hat, which made me feel better, and I found some yarn for another thing I'm working on and I got the Turbos and cannot WAIT to start zipping along. But it was just great to know I wasn't a moron or an imbecile about the yarn. And everything else will work itself out in time. The silk will do nicely for a weaving project or for trim on something larger and the sweater for me is going to be fabulously enormous and the eighties are "retro" now, so I'll look wicked cool.
So there you go. Thanks to everyone who has been worrying about me and I want to just say that I really appreciate everyone respecting my need to just talk endlessly, or sometimes to not talk at all. Sometimes you need both options and I'm so grateful that I have the support network I do. Thanks!
As a postscript: Today we went to open gym at the Y with some buddies. The deal is that you pay a certain amount per kid and they get to mess around in the gym and play on the balance beams and the tumble track and the climbing stuff -- it's not structured at all and medium sized as well as littler kids can be there at the same time, so both my kids can play together instead of needing to be in separate groups.
And while I knew Math would love it, I had no idea how much fun Mara would have. She was just on FIRE today -- she somersaulted all the way down the tumbletrack and walked all the balance beams, even the really high ones, had a ball! But she got very very hot and tired. So we went to lunch and the whole way there she was lamenting about how hot she was and how much she would like to drink some lemonade, "with ice!" and we get to the table and sit down and Mara declares, with some frustration because the lemonade is not appearing fast enough, "I'm just freakin' hot!" And I just cracked up, which made her cry, and then I had to apologize and tell her that she didn't do anything wrong and it was okay and we could maybe both try to say "extremely" instead of "freakin'" in future... but I just thought that all of you who think I am a raunchy potty mouth should see that I can rein it in. I mean, just think how much worse it could have been right?
I gotta go to bed. I am way too freakin' tired to write anymore.
Night all!
Just in case you were wondering.
And I don't want to talk about it right now.
The title of this entry is for my dad -- Hi Poppy! -- because I'm pretty sure this entry is gonna get him all riled up and I thought I might as well just start out by admitting that I am leaning towards the conspiracy theory approach on this issue.* Okay? I admitted it. I see a conspiracy and it makes me mad and I want something done about it.
But that's not really the point.
The real point is that whenever there is any question about the veracity of the vote count based on
and whenever the system is set up in a manner that offers even a temptation to corruption and tampering, such as
and whenever it appears that folks (with brown skin or less education or a life-philosophy that doesn't jive with that of the powerful) have been even somewhat discouraged from participating in the process by means of
I say again, whenever any of these things happen, we as a nation have to stand up and say,
Which is why I am taking Deb's suggestion and advocating that all of you at least visit Bev Harris's Black Box Voting website, and see what's going on there to discover the truth. Because it's not really about wanting to change the outcome -- I've gotten over that particular dream by now -- it's about the simple fact that we all deserve to know exactly what happened in this election.
We have the power NOW to examine the events of November 2, 2004 and make sure that any disenfranchisement that occurred -- whether through nefarious schemes or just unforgiveably poor planning -- doesn't EVER happen again!
Make no mistake about it, not everybody's vote counted, and for a nation that seems to have as its goal the "spread of Democracy," that fact is just ridiculous! (not to mention unforgiveable, unacceptable and, most disappointingly, entirely preventable).
So groan about conspiracy theories if you must, but then join us in making sure it never happens again. We can't fix the system if we don't expose its flaws. And trust me, there are flaws galore! If the election wasn't outright stolen, vast swathes of it were severely botched, glitched, and ill-managed. And we can do better!
My next rant will be about the Electoral College. It will go something like this: why is the philosophy of one person one vote direct presidental elections okay for Afghanistan and not for the United States of America? Why are we so gung-ho on spreading democracy when we can't even get it right in our own country? Why are we hanging onto a system that makes one idiotic state "responsible" for making or breaking the election to the extent that not winning that one state makes ALL the rest of the states that haven't been called yet irrelevant? It's bogus and it makes me mad, and not just cuz I live in Ohio at the moment.
But that's another rant. Right now, just focus on the massive number of voting problems in 2004 and we'll get to the "electrical college" later.
*See how I got through this whole entry and never mentioned the word "fraud" even once. Oh damn, and I came so close...
and you'll get to see my husband compete on Jeopardy! And that's all I can say about that, for fear of jeopardizing (get it???) any prizes he may or may not have won while competing.
He's back from L.A., I am delighted and exhausted, and that's all I can say about that because I need to go to bed. I will write more later, especially about how I now know why they make 2 year olds extremely cute: namely that otherwise their mamas would actually strangle them, instead of just thinking "Ooooooh, I'm gonna STRANGLE him!!!!" Details will follow as soon as I get some sleep.
Peace!
But the lyrics are actually Bernice Johnson Reagon's, and you can read them here.
So what are YOU gonna do about it now? I'm not trying to be sassy, but I do want everyone to keep on feeling challenged and inspired and ready to re-group and get back out there and keep on fighting.
This entry is essentially the letter I would have written to all of you, if I hadn't written it to Jim & John first. And the only reason I wrote it to them first is that I was responding to an email John sent my dad, which Poppy then forwarded to me. It just saves time to post it here instead of writing it all over again to everyone individually. I hope you will forgive my laziness in this regard and will understand that right now I am working hard to conserve my energy and regroup. I'm okay, but some moments I still feel myself hanging by a thread, and in those times I have to just say that I can't talk about it, because I can't afford get upset all over again.
I love you all and thank you so much for your support in this dark and painful time. We will go on from here, because we must, but it seems not entirely unreasonable to take a small space of time and acknowledge how much this hurts and will continue to hurt on a global level. It does make it easier, however, to know I am not alone. And I thank you all for that!
[For readers who don't know them, Jim & John are our wonderful friends who used to be members of my parents' church in Nashville. They had to move to Florida for health reasons about five or six years ago, but still do a pretty good job of keeping in touch. And John's email said essentially what we have all been saying to each other in these hard two days -- that we have to keep fighting, that we cannot give up and sit and cry because the stake are just too damned high.]
Dear Jim & John,
Thanks so much for your email, which Daddy forwarded to me this afternoon. Like you, I grieve for our nation today, and I feel so much shame for my narrow-minded fellow Ohioans -- and also anger on behalf of the people in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties who stood in line for close to 10 hours -- apparently for nothing. I worked really hard on this campaign and I truly believed we would win. I believed this country would not stand up and vote for sheer meanness all over again. I thought, naively perhaps, that this country was better than the pettiness we've seen from this administration. I believed that when so many people were coming together and working so hard, we couldn't lose.
So in many ways, probably like yours, my heart is broken tonight. But I agree with you that we cannot sit at home and cry about it. Some of this pain is never going to heal -- I feel so personally betrayed by the actions of our countryfolks -- and yes, I need a little time to get angry again, but I don't think it'll take much. I was pretty angry to start with, I just need to remember how to focus that anger for good. And while it's really hard to see it right now, I do still believe in the goodness of this nation's humanity, and I believe we can fight to take back our country.
As you point out, a part of what we have to do now is put a face on it and start really holding people accountable for their choices, actions and words. In 2000, maybe there were excuses for voting for Bush. Maybe folks didn't really see what was happening there. But there are no excuses now. This time around his agenda, his philosophy of exclusion and his just plain mean attitude are pretty transparent. I disagree with you when you say the country is not smart enough or not educated enough to see through the slanted ads. I think they saw through it and just didn't give a crap because the meanness wasn't impacting them yet. But I don't think it will take very much longer for the trickle down to start making even some rightwingers feel uncomfortable and that's when we have to be stalwart and remind them, EVERY SINGLE DAY, that unless they voted for Kerry, they too are responsible for this adminstration's actions.
I was working with the campaign here in Fairfield county -- and as we all remarked late [Tuesday] night, one of our triumphs this week was the simple recognition that there ARE committed Democrats in our county and our town. Before this week, you couldn't find a phone number, a website, a single person you could reliably contact to work for progressive democratic change and now, even though the loss is devastating, we have a base of operations and a place to start TOGETHER. And I'm proud (and determined) to be a part of that change on a local level.
Despite our efforts (and not all that suprisingly), my county went 63% in favor of Bush and I'm working on a letter to the editor to explain my perspective on that 63% and their shared culpability for every single one of Bush's subsequent actions. I firmly support their right to jump up and down and share in any of his genuine successes. But I also want each of them to understand that now his failures are their fault too. There is no longer any separation of guilt, because they KNEW what he was, and what his plans were, and they voted for him anyway. And it literally makes me sick (though I'm gonna try to keep that feeling out of the letter if I end up writing it at all).
The results of the election have forced me to the realization that I can't live in Ohio for much longer without going insane. We're now working on a 3 year plan (due to house equity issues) to move to Mass. where Meg and Dan are living now. If I can't have Kerry for my president, I will at least find a way to make him my senator! We'll probably have to live in a cardboard box, but at least the neighbors will be poor liberal comrades in their boxes too!
I've also found a new focus for my career questions. I've been an at home mom for five years now and wasn't at all sure what I would do next. Teaching seemed like the most logical idea, but I am frustrated by that prospect and I just don't know the subject matter as well as I think I should to take that route. But I do have incredible organizational, motivational, and clerical skills, so I am going to look for a way to put those to work on the non-profit circuit -- the ACLU is probably my first choice, or NARAL or Planned Parenthood, or indeed, the Human Rights Campaign. One of those groups will need an office manager or an intern supervisor or something I can do brilliantly. So perhaps it is just as well. If Kerry had won, who knows, we might have cheered, sighed with relief and then sat around complacently and not done the rest of the work that so much needs to be done.
I know you must have been as slammed down there [in Florida] as we were up here, so in many ways the end of the campaign is a relief. Now we can get to work on the next bigger things -- like making sure EVERYONE's rights are cherished and protected, like making sure EVERYONE has a real opportunity to get educated, like making sure EVRERYONE is safe and fed and warm. And also, although I hate saying this, making sure the Democratic party gets a grip on who the base REALLY is -- because this year, a shameful lot of people were forgotten in this campaign, and we must make sure it never EVER happens again. We have to keep on holding folks accountable and being honest about our own goals and ideals and for me, a big part of the coming fight is about living my life with transparency and making my actions and my words match my beliefs, morals and ideals.
Thanks for keeping up the good fight, and just know that many of us in Ohio are just as committed to the work of solidarity as you folks in Florida!
So much love,
Katye
My destiny for this campaign seems always to involve food! Tonight we needed someone to drive up to west Columbus and pick up the sack lunches that were available for tomorrow's volunteers. So, in an odd twist of fate, I ended up driving food FROM Columbus TO Lancaster -- exactly the opposite of what I've been doing for the past three weeks. (And duh, I almost didn't have room for all the stuff since I forgot my car was full of carseats, kid crap, my crap, strollers, detritus from our painting expedition two weeks ago, and so forth...)
Anyway, I was driving home with a car full of food, listening to 'The Majority Report' with Janeane Garafalo and Sam Seder on Air America, and I was suddenly struck by the perfect analogy for this election.
Here's the deal: America is the weird middle child.
(with many apologies to middle children everywhere for the comparison and the use of the word weird in an obviously derrogatory way)
John Kerry is the oldest child -- the big brother you look up to and admire and realize you could never quite be like, even if you tried your whole life long. He is the one who made perfect grades, volunteered for civic service projects, made sure you got to play pick-up basketball even when his friends thought you were just a geeky little kid. He's the star quarterback, the first chair violin, the valedictorian, the guy who helped you with the science project you left to the last minute. He's the one all the teachers compare you to, the one you know your parents must love best, but you can hardly blame them because he's just your awesome big brother and when he's not driving you crazy by never getting to the point, you're just so proud of him and you know he's looking out for your best interests and you could ask him all the hard questions about why life is so crazy and he would answer you and take you seriously and even admit it when he didn't quite understand the world himself.
George W. Bush, on the other hand, is the youngest child. He's a whiner, a trickster, the kid who tries to get out of chores by faking sick. He's a cheater, a bully, a mean kid who stops the mean stuff whenever he figures anyone important is watching. He's the one who finds your science project from two years ago in the garage and passes it off as his own, somehow winning a better score in the science fair than you did with the project in the first place. He "borrows" all your stuff and breaks it and never apologizes. He spends all his allowance in advance and then expects you to share the treats you bought with money you saved by scrimping all month long. He says things like "that's not fair" and "I did NOT" and because he's the baby, people somehow believe him. He gets you into trouble just by the fact that he's related to you and you can never completely dissociate yourself, even though you'd really like to. He thinks he has all the answers, even when you can actually prove him absolutely wrong. He loves dodgeball and thumping people in the head for fun. He's a champ at the locker room towel snap, but somehow never ever gets caught, even when he leaves a welt. He's the kid sitting beside you in the car, his finger 2 centimeters from your nose, sneering "Does this bother you? I'm not touching you! Does this bother you?" The one who quickly pipes up, "But I wasn't touching her! I promise" He always gets by on a technicality. The one who never does his share of the dishes or raking the leaves, who reads your library book on the back porch and forgets to take it inside 'til it's warped with rain and you get stuck paying the replacement fee. He's the smart-ass, the butt-kisser, the one with the quick glib answer. He's a baby and he likes it that way.
I could go on for hours because it just fits so well. Sure, John Kerry isn't perfect. He's human. He's flawed. He may even be ambitious and striving for greatness. But at the heart of it all, I believe he's got my back. And the other guy? He's never going to grow up, so why do we keep letting him scam us?
Go vote. As soon as you can. Because I don't want a comfortable margin of error folks. I want a freakin' LANDSLIDE. Get out there and help me make it happen! We can do it. We MUST do it. Really!
And hey, in case I haven't said it lately, Thanks! Together we can make all the difference.
Dar Williams is the coolest!!!
I received this message today from the DarUpdates list. I hope it's okay to post it...
Dear Friends,
We the undersigned singers/songwriters/strummers and dreamers believe that the upcoming presidential election will have an impact on our country and the world community for many decades to come. We believe that in order to reach the positive goals of peace and unity, George Bush must go. To this end, we support JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT. We urge you to join us and do the following in order to ensure that Kerry wins back the White House in 2004:
1. Vote for John Kerry
2. Contact your local Democratic party and offer transportation assistance
getting Democrats to the polls.
3. If you are voting in a swing state, vote for John Kerry. Ralph Nader is not an option in a race this close. Winner takes all in American elections.
This means that if Ralph Nader gets 3% of the vote, he doesn't get 3% of the voice. The president gets 100% of the voice (and cabinet selections).
If you are planning to vote for Ralph Nader, you can sign up at VotePair.org, where people in non-swing states agree to vote for Nader in exchange for Kerry votes in swing states. It's legal, and VotePair's founder (and Dar Williams' friend), Jamie Raskin, says that Ralph Nader has endorsed it this time around.
4. Don't give up on trying to bring one more vote to the Democratic Party.
Talk it up!
Thank you for being part of our community. We look forward to working with
you for a better tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Patty Larkin and Dar Williams
Merrie Amsterburg
Anonymous
Karla Bonoff
Jonatha Brooke
The Burns Sisters
Catie Curtis
Peter Gallway
John Gorka
Tracy Grammer
Pat Humphries & Sandy O
Janis Ian
Lucy Kaplansky
Christine Lavin
Peter Mulvey
Holly Near
Carrie Newcomer
Nerissa & Katryna Nields
Tom Rush
Chris Smither
Marc Schulman
Ben Wittman
------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
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And we know what that means, right?
It's really late and I need to get to bed about two hours ago, but I wanted to send a shout out to everyone who is making a contribution to John Kerry's victory on Tuesday!
My folks were here and helped do a literature drop and then phone calling. I'm pretty sure Meg and Dad were able to convince a couple of undecided voters to swing on over our way here in the swing state!
Kym, Sarah & Andrea (and kids) canvassed all day Saturday and most of Sunday, with just an amazingly valiant effort! I was really only asking for a couple of hours, but damn how they stepped up and took that MoveOn list and just ran with it!
Jodie let us lit droppers use her bathroom and baked pumpkin bread, Melanie baked and cooked and bought paper goods and donated Tastefully Simple Stuff, Tim's mom did lit drop with us and baked and cooked, Sarah made the most gorgeous macaroni & cheese anybody ever saw (and it was yummy too!), Kym made soup and soup and bread, Tim and the kids made cookies and Diana is gonna vote Kerry because we convinced her!
So this is my shout-out! I give you all a HUGE thanks and so much love!!
We have two more days, and Tuesday is the most important. Keep believing. Keep seeing it in your mind! If you're reading this from a blue state, if you're reading this and you've already voted, your job is to keep seeing that Inauguration in your mind. Don't just hope for it, see it!
And keep your fingers crossed for me, cause I'm poll-running for a bellwether precinct and I'm a little nervous I'm gonna screw it up. Kym is keeping my kids to set me free to volunteer, so that's her end of my effort, so have a thought for her too!
Thanks for all you've done, and all you keep on doing. Go vote! And if you've already voted, I thank you again and ask you to keep focussing on victory. If you are a praying person, pray. If you're a meditation person, meditate. Whatever it is you do, start doing it. Because this is a battle for our lives and we have got to win it, and win it big.
Now I'm going to bed. Please forgive me if I am rambling more than usual. I'm really tired and should have gone to bed HOURS ago!!