The Secret Life.

 

Pssst, dear Sewist,

Well, I have not, in all my miles of sewing, ever understood how the heck the two threads get looped around each other. 

Until.

Now.

A Dodo reader suggested this excellent show about the sewing machine- please enjoy it!

containers

 

                                       Containers, ceramic and mixed media, 2020; a collaborative                                        artwork by Elliott K. Perkins & Marcia Harvey.

Sky Writing.

 

Dear You,

I wrote you a love note, on the sky; I hope you had a chance to read it before it dissolved.

A weeping song.

 

Dear April,

Here is a song, for one of your days. 

A connected thought.

 

Dear Reader,

Several months ago, there was this post, and a response to that writing came a few weeks later; a poem by K. C. Trommer, titled The Couple.  Now, after a long time, I send it to you, too.  It's a fine poem, and I hope you enjoy it.  Long may we continue our conversations about love & care!

Spring, again, unbelievably.

 

Love this now.

 

Dear Friends,

Love this now, with me, won't you?  Watch it, and then read maybe, or maybe not, my list of reasons to love this.

tenderness

humanity

horn

chair

room

movement

brevity

intention

simplicity

sorrow

joy

dancing

reason

existence

music

echo

love

Two posters, two questions, no answers.

 

Barbara Kruger, silkscreen, 1989.

Dear To Whom it May Concern,

I am not always sure who you are; I am not even sure who I am, so forgive me for sending you things you don't agree with, or things you don't even know exist.  

I remember, more than ten years ago, explaining why a particular woman (Ms. X) was wearing a close-fitting dress to a woman (Ms. BB) of an older generation.  I said that wearing tight clothes like that, revealing clothes like that, body-conscious clothes like that, was a kind of rebellion, an act of resistance.  This made very little sense to Ms. BB, because Ms. X didn't 'have the body for those clothes.'  Ms. X was supposed to use pleats and tailoring to hide her shape.  Ms. BB was raised on pleats and tailoring, as tools to present her body in the "best" way possible.  Of course, the rebellious act of wearing clothes you are not supposed to is not just about refusing to meet people's expectations; there is an unspoken idea that women with the wrong kind of body are not even sexual beings; they are aberrations on every level.  They cannot 'control' themselves (I know!  Isn't that just great?  Wild, out of control, so best stay out of my way!) and they refuse to be 'good' (again, so delightfully delinquent!).

Well, that is your introduction to the following two articles, which I have been considering carefully, and asking myself two questions:  Do they hate my joy?  Do I want them to touch me?

Article One.

Article Two.

Ellen Hochberg, 2012.

That's Ms. Mustang, to you.

Dear Sally,

All you want to do is ride around!  Will you put your flat feet on the ground?  I think not, maybe, because they don't own you.