i want to focus on my Up and Down Town blog more. i think in some ways, though more slowly, i can say what i want to say here, there. so posts here will be less frequent.
tidying up
i want to focus on my Up and Down Town blog more. i think in some ways, though more slowly, i can say what i want to say here, there. so posts here will be less frequent.
socks
my dirty but nevertheless favorite new sock.
napkins
sorry, i've been missing.
first i learned how to crochet, sort of.
and then i got very involved this morning with making a set of napkins using a stitch that i learned about:
Sashiko (pronounced: SA-Shi-KOE' - the "Shi" is almost silent) is a form of quilting originating from Japan centuries ago when farmers and fishermen practiced a running-stitch technique to patch torn or worn clothing. As cloth and thread were scarce, it was vital to mending.
(definition from here.)
necessity yielded a very very beautiful craft (not illustrated here). i hope something good comes from the new economic situation we find ourselves in.
first i learned how to crochet, sort of.
and then i got very involved this morning with making a set of napkins using a stitch that i learned about:
Sashiko (pronounced: SA-Shi-KOE' - the "Shi" is almost silent) is a form of quilting originating from Japan centuries ago when farmers and fishermen practiced a running-stitch technique to patch torn or worn clothing. As cloth and thread were scarce, it was vital to mending.
(definition from here.)
necessity yielded a very very beautiful craft (not illustrated here). i hope something good comes from the new economic situation we find ourselves in.
swap
values are bouncing all over the place.
sales suddenly feel perennial rather than annual.
brands cannot rely on their cache to move merchandise. nothing is worth what it once was, and now even words are losing their meaning. full price is negotiable, moderately discounted prices are regarded with suspicion and 80% off is viewed as almost reasonable.
retailers are scrambling to figure out what we want, but as far as i can tell, many many people are suffering from just truly not knowing themselves what they want. they might have a list or know what they like, but they do not have a deep conviction, independent of popularity/status/media messages, about what something is worth (to them). hence the freeze up.
the value of money has changed. people have lost thousands or millions seemingly overnight. employment, and with it income, has evaporated. houses have depreciated in the blink of an eye. lifestyles, once easily maintained and enjoyed, become horrible deadweights that must be unloaded if catastrophic sinking is to be avoided.
but we are still buying things with the same looking money. it looks the same, but it's been acting different. so people are using it differently. but one thing hasn't changed - money is still a representation of labor. you work (for money), therefore you earn (money), therefore you have (money), and with that (money), you may obtain (stuff).
what if we took the money out of the equation? what if you worked directly for stuff?
think about the hourly fee you can get paid for work, and then decide if you would work x hours to buy y.
it is interesting to me to know that this process does not increase my appetite for cheaper things.
the idea of having to work less to acquire something (through less work) is not a motivation to adjust my values.
i would, on the other hand, most definitely want less (and this is something that i am actively working on), but of the things i did want, i would want the very best, and i would be willing to work for it.
i'm off to scrub my bathroom now - because i clean my own home, because i always have, because money spent paying someone else to clean my home is less money that i have, and it is not worth it to me to work one job so that i don't have to work another (cleaning my home).
sales suddenly feel perennial rather than annual.
brands cannot rely on their cache to move merchandise. nothing is worth what it once was, and now even words are losing their meaning. full price is negotiable, moderately discounted prices are regarded with suspicion and 80% off is viewed as almost reasonable.
retailers are scrambling to figure out what we want, but as far as i can tell, many many people are suffering from just truly not knowing themselves what they want. they might have a list or know what they like, but they do not have a deep conviction, independent of popularity/status/media messages, about what something is worth (to them). hence the freeze up.
the value of money has changed. people have lost thousands or millions seemingly overnight. employment, and with it income, has evaporated. houses have depreciated in the blink of an eye. lifestyles, once easily maintained and enjoyed, become horrible deadweights that must be unloaded if catastrophic sinking is to be avoided.
but we are still buying things with the same looking money. it looks the same, but it's been acting different. so people are using it differently. but one thing hasn't changed - money is still a representation of labor. you work (for money), therefore you earn (money), therefore you have (money), and with that (money), you may obtain (stuff).
what if we took the money out of the equation? what if you worked directly for stuff?
think about the hourly fee you can get paid for work, and then decide if you would work x hours to buy y.
it is interesting to me to know that this process does not increase my appetite for cheaper things.
the idea of having to work less to acquire something (through less work) is not a motivation to adjust my values.
i would, on the other hand, most definitely want less (and this is something that i am actively working on), but of the things i did want, i would want the very best, and i would be willing to work for it.
i'm off to scrub my bathroom now - because i clean my own home, because i always have, because money spent paying someone else to clean my home is less money that i have, and it is not worth it to me to work one job so that i don't have to work another (cleaning my home).
line up
a quote from neiman marcus group, chief executive burt tansky, speaking at a retail convention recently, as printed in the wall street journal magazine:
“we have to get back to the good old days when buying was a joy, and for our customers, a sport.”
how nauseating.
“we have to get back to the good old days when buying was a joy, and for our customers, a sport.”
how nauseating.
suits me
i wore a suit today, casually. i wore it with a favorite top, and favorite shoes.
and i felt utterly me and utterly comfortable. it felt as though i had found freedom - and at first i thought it was objective, that everyone might be this happy if they switched to suits. but then, discussing with a friend, we concluded that she would not be comfortable in the same suits that i was because our body shapes were very different.
so then my satisfaction came from simply wearing what felt very perfectly and honestly me.
don't men have different body shapes as well?
and i felt utterly me and utterly comfortable. it felt as though i had found freedom - and at first i thought it was objective, that everyone might be this happy if they switched to suits. but then, discussing with a friend, we concluded that she would not be comfortable in the same suits that i was because our body shapes were very different.
so then my satisfaction came from simply wearing what felt very perfectly and honestly me.
don't men have different body shapes as well?
for art's sake
i signed up for a short art workshop, just 6 classes. we're halfway done. it's my first art class and it is incredibly fun and interesting.there are about a dozen students and for the first half we've been working on a still life of an arrangement of vases. we sat at our easels, positioned around our subjects, so we all had a different perspective. but we all used charcoal, all used eraseres, all used the same paper, all saw the same vases, with the same light sources (creating different highlights, of course, depending on where you sat).
it was incredible how different everyone's work was. it wasn't about experience level but about how we saw and how we interpreted. not one drawing looked remotely like another. not remotely.
we managed, through so much sameness, down to how we were instructed to hold the charcoal, create so much individuality, express something so personal.
why does fashion, so often, obliterate the individual?
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