I wonder how much of the infrastructure our new administration will really be able to change in four years that will encourage us to give him another four. Many of the fundamental changes that need to be made to bring American back into the realm of integrity will cause dramatic economic hardships to much of America through lost jobs. The last time we faced a crisis of these proportions, we voted for 16 years of leadership to guide us through a prolonged struggle. Can anyone accomplish anything like it in eight? Will American continue to choose to go down in a blaze of glory rather than make the sacrifices necessary to stay the course and rebuild from where we are now?
The Ships Project sends hand-knitted items to service people serving worldwide. Their hats, in particular, have become popular and sought-after items on ships serving in the Gulf. Not only do they keep the ears warm, but they reassure those serving that there are Americans at home who care that their ears are warm. While I am in no way ambivalent about the wars the US is currently engaged in, my feelings about the soldiers are more… slippery. I grew up in a military family. Every man in my family until the current generation served at least one tour, always as a mechanism for improving their life circumstances, obtaining the opportunity for a college education, and providing for their families. Many of the soldiers in today’s all-volunteer military joined up for the same reasons, only to be caught in a never-ending cycle of extensions for a war that was largely unforeseen at the time they joined up. I’m sure many of them, faced with the alternative of poverty stateside, would have, or have, joined up despite ambivalent or negative personal feelings about this conflict. This has been true for as long as men have left home to seek their fortune because “home” held no opportunities for them. Can a cycle that has been repeating since antiquity be broken? If not, is it the most I can do to help keep those ears warm?
- Music:Why We Fight
America has largely forgotten about HIV/AIDS since the introduction of antiretroviral cocktails. Americans with HIV can now live long healthy lives without displaying evidence of Kaposi’s Sarcoma or Wasting Syndrome; Pneumocystis rates have declined sharply and is largely treatable. Among young Americans, in particular, there is a perception that it is no longer a public health danger, and the current state of sex education in the schools does little to dispel that notion except to preach abstinence. Worldwide statistics are another matter. (for information on this, see aidsinfonet.org) When I think about the sorrow and grief suffered by those who believed they were vaccinating their children to save them, and instead must now watch them die, it breaks my heart – and putting a little bear in the hands of one of those children seems like the least I can do, First World as that response may be.
Sheila’s Shawls is an organization started by Sheila Wellstone, a domestic violence activist. Sheila was killed in a plane crash in 2002, but her legacy lives on through the Silent Witness National Initiatives. Read more about them at http://silentwitness.wordpress.com/. The mission of Sheila’s Shawls is to put a handmade shawl into the hands of a woman who has lost a loved one to domestic violence. While many volunteers work with local shelters and police organizations to distribute shawls, many people don’t have to go looking for a victim’s family, because they know one personally. That is unfortunately true in my case. I knit this shawl for the mother of a former coworker who was brutally beaten to death by her husband one night for staying at work for mandatory overtime after he told her to get her ass home and make his dinner. Yes, he was a combat vet. I couldn’t tell you if that was a coincidence.
For several years now, I’ve wanted to knit a scarf for the Red Scarf project, but they got so inundated by items after a viral PR campaign a few years ago that they’ve had to limit contributions recently. This year they are accepting donations of less than five items per individual/organization, and competition can be fierce to get your scarf in early, and to meet the specification challenges in a way that means your scarf will be well-received (there are size limits, and pleas for “gender neutral” or “masculine” items as opposed to frilly “girl” scarves, or anything involving “fun fur”). This year I think I’ve managed to hit the mark, and will manage to get the thing shipped before the October 31 deadline.
The documentary was a classic modern tragedy, made up of archival footage (including some of Third Reich anthropologists who had to measure everything) documenting the shift of Tibet from an ancient Feudal society to a modern, ostensibly socialized one. It is notable that Tibet was abandoned and ignored by the west as they were invaded, colonized, and annexed by China; the dalai lama’s repeated requests for help from neighboring India were flatly refused, as they were engaged in their own struggle for independence – although they graciously allowed his exile there. The destruction of an entire culture in the name of progress, modernization, and the cultural revolution over the short period of 50 years was stunning to watch. Tibetans are now a minority in their own land, and live in appalling conditions of poverty that were inconceivable before development.
Inner Journeys does direct action missions to Buddhist convents in Tibet, and seeks to provide the nuns with the basic necessities for survival. While there is great need for projects that will provide access roads, water, and food to this population, the gift of this hat will ensure at least that one woman’s ears will be less cold this winter. It’s a small thing, but a tangible one.
- Location:Home
- Music:Tibet: A Story of a Tragedy
What I found when I researched silk production is that the smell I encountered is partially the result of sericin the gums used by silkworms to seal their cocoons. Silk production basically consists of boiling silkworm cocoons and unraveling them into strings, which are then spun into fiber. If all the gum isn’t carefully cleaned from the cocoons, the resulting fibers will have an unpleasant smell. That all made sense to me, but didn’t explain the overt chemical smell I was sensing from my sari silk. Further investigation into silk production (see www.wormspit.com for everything you might want to know) determined that the chemical smell is likely a result of modern (post-industrial) processes to clean the gum from the filaments and to dye the fibers in the gorgeous jewel tones sari silk is known for, and almost undoubtedly due to poor industrial hygeine. What surprised me to find was that when more traditional processes (such as clean hot water baths) are used to clean the fibers, silk has the potential to be a truly environmentally friendly fiber. Keith Slater’s excellent book “The Environmental Impact of Textiles” describes the process and its potential benefits and pitfalls to the environment.
Pictured here is my shopping bag. The smell is fading with repeated washings, and isn’t that big of an issue for a bag, though I wouldn’t want to wear it.
- Location:Home
- Music:The End of Suburbia (film)
The pattern for Clapotis can be found at Knitty.com.
- Location:Cohort
- Music:Grass Roots PostModernism
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