I am so bored with my own blog that I’m not sure what to do. Certainly not complain about it or do some sort of mea culpa — one of the biggest (and most boring) blogging errors out there, in my humble opinion. (Is that because I was raised Catholic? “Bless me Father for I have sinned. I have not blogged in 10 days…. “)
Here are a few “what if’s” just to gauge the energy…
Kitty Oracle — eyes and ears to come
What if I blogged about race — as a way to educate myself, be educated, and to produce conversation about something that matters in American life, and matters a lot? Really being prepared to be wrong. Something of the sort is already happening over on FB and I am finding it interesting, gratifying… the exchange of good links, etc. (Oh GAWD, I take that back. Just looked at recent comments and feel literally sick to my stomach). Why would I want to open myself up to THAT?!
What if I blogged about parenting? Not the gushing prideful ‘they’re turning into men’ kind of commentary but the ‘oh my god here we go again?’ kind? Including hand-wringing prognostications about the future — not just theirs but humankind’s? (I’ll tell you right up front, this one is out. Not for my sake, but for theirs. And besides, gloom and doom is its own version of boring).
What if I blogged about pork?
Or noise intrusion in the suburbs? Or about how I hate themes, focus words, perfect studios, and one upmanship around sustainability practices (even if I think they matter and matter a lot?) In short, would it really be so bad to RANT once in a while? I could bolster this idea with a long-remembered quote by Audre Lorde (that’s her face) who said, “Anger is loaded with information”… and with the feedback from my writing group that I rant with a certain amount of –what?– energy? volume? aplomb? (Here, I will note my Irish blood).
What if I blogged about what it means to support a person with disabilities? A person completely ill-equipped to deal with being an adult? And how it feels when that person is your sister.
What if I blogged about writing — even though I have no idea when or if I will finish the novel I have so publicly set out to complete?
Or (and this overlaps with the above), what if I posted about synchronicity? This with the idea that noting it accelerates its occurrence. Just in case coincidences are God’s way of texting.
Oh well. Who knows? I’ll end with two snippets.
Three quilts near completion. This one is called “Ferguson” and while I only walked about a mile and a half for Michael Brown this morning (far short of the five that I pledged), I AM quilting for him in a consistent and thoughtful way.
Day two of no sugar.
Oh dear, you sound like I feel sometimes, or should I say that, I don’t know how you feel, frustrated, ill at ease, unsettled?
also hungry for something else
the only blogs I enjoy reading are written straight from the heart about making art and yours is one of them Dee!
really? I feel like I censor so much (for obvious reasons)… so I’m glad that it doesn’t come across that way.
i have limited my blog postings to the projects i’m working on. my experience has been that the only person you can change is yourself and writing about specific topics only brings peoples opinions about what they believe….and not always in a respectful way….and, in most cases, your opinions will not change anyone’s mind. i have forced myself, in the past few years, to try and understand both sides of an argument. i mean ‘really understand’ to the point where i can believe both sides to be true. when i reach that point, i feel like i’m capable of making an objective judgment. not sure any of this will make sense to anyone but me but that is my process. i love seeing your work and find it motivating and inspiring…especially love seeing your dolls. hope you will continue to post your work.
Thanks for your long and thoughtful comment, Deanna… I try to limit my blog to my craft projects, but find that it isn’t quite sustainable in terms of my own interest and then I get a little stuck. As for wandering into controversy I should be cautious because unlike you, I am less inclined to be respectful of certain points of view. I find this gets more so with age, and not less. For instance, must I abide the opinions of others who will not acknowledge that Fox News is fast and loose with facts? They do NOT present a well-reasoned, moral counterpoint to liberalism. Why does that kind of anti-intellectual approach deserve my respect, particularly when it is so often in the service of racism or to bolster diatribes against the poor? With regards to the latest heated political situation — the shooting of Michael Brown — I am willing to debate the correctness or lack of correctness about the judicial process — but I am not going to abide opinions that are hateful at their core (i.e. one of my relatives suggesting that Michael Brown’s murder was really his own fault because he’s a big guy and ought to moderate his behavior accordingly…. that is WRONG on just so many levels and I don’t feel the need to nod politely when I hear it). Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts and enjoy checking in on your many projects!
i understand, Dee….i think your response made my point.
well, that comment could be taken in any number of ways… but I’m happy to leave it ambiguous!
it was meant in a most respectful way….just that we can’t change anyone’s mind but our own as i initially said. we all see things from a different point of view.
I laughed out loud at your blog “confession”, having been raised Catholic myself and finding that obligation laces through my activities like a poison. Fuck that.
I’m with Mo in voting for whatever comes from your heart. Just don’t stop, okay?
I find the poison of early religious training has pretty much leached out (unless I’m reading about priest/child abuse cases), leaving echoes and impressions…
Since it is so highly formative I think we never escape completely, but it is all probably how it should be. We become who we are by grappling with and accepting the marks these experiences make upon us. As you say….echoes and impressions. Some of my Catholic memories are very positive.
it probably matters, in terms of being a ‘recovering Catholic’ that I was ‘Catholic lite’. My mother was raised Christian Scientist and was a-religious, while my father (who had been an altar boy growing up) realized he was an atheist somewhere along the way. On one of our many moves, we simply stopped going to church. I was never confirmed. But! I keep seeing things lately about genetic memory, and I think this operates here, too.
i wander down this shady (double entendre intended) lane more often than i would like to admit. though not for the haunting reasons you have expressed. when i stop and look around, realizing that i have found myself ambling into this place of overgrown doubt and confusion, it is because i have stopped paying attention. lost awareness of when i am. yes, when, not where. where is always here…where ever i am at this moment. but “when” because i usually find myself in this where whenever i forget to be in the moment and begin rabbiting after various distractions. i have only just caught myself traipsing down this twisted path. again. and am gently nudging myself back into a more aware state.
in any case, i do so hope that you find your balance and continue with sharing your manifestations in cloth. like deanna, and so many others, i always enjoy your posts and meanderings…
Thanks so much, Joe. I will ponder your thoughts about when vs where. That is interesting to me. You know I didnt posy these frustrations for any reason beyond pushing through something. But the encouragement is very nice.
pushing through. it has a way of facilitating change. those things that brush past us in that act leave their mark. adds to our journey in subtle, and sometimes less so, ways. it is what makes our small and great journeys more interesting!