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Friday Links
The last couple weeks have just been deeply weird…anyone else? I was introduced not as a “writer” but as a “naming girl” (???) and also learned the Department of Labor gets involved if money is missing from your 401k (!!!). What a time to be alive.
1. This is honestly how it still feels being a female creative doing business in Utah:
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2. Might as well embrace the witch vibes:
Another Freelance Hike
We went on another weekday afternoon hike on Tuesday, even though it was wet out and it was tempting to stay in. But we have good gear and getting out got us into some very Zen misty forests–plus we saw a bunch of jays! (This is Neffs Canyon for a change; Millcreek was closed for weekday road construction.)
Never Too Late
The She’s a Beast newsletter pointed me to this story about a Redmond woman who, at the age of 94, is setting powerlifitng records:
At 90, she could deadlift 93 pounds clean off the mat. That’s in the record books. And this weekend in Reno, Nevada, she’s going for another world record — lifting 104 pounds at age 94.
…This extraordinary ability came late in life. Kuehn said she never worked with weights, played sports or even did much exercise until she was in her 60s.
“Oh heavens no,” she said. “Never. But I did like to sew.”
Delightful!
Election Day Poem
This is by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre and is part of a longer prose poem called, “To Throw a Wrench in the Blood Machine.” That last line–let it motivate you:
Voting As Fire Extinguisher
When the haunted house catches fire:
a moment of indecision.
The house was, after all, built on bones,
and blood, and bad intentions.
Everyone who enters the house feels
that overwhelming dread, the evil
that perhaps only fire can purge.
It’s tempting to just let it burn.
And then I remember that there are children inside.
After the full poem, the author adds “additional commentary,” which includes this realistic look at how things are (and why voting still matters):
We already know that status-quo loving liberals aren’t going to save us. But for organizers, having a status-quo loving liberal in office is materially different than having an open fascist–especially when it comes to trans rights, reproductive justice, climate, and other issues where there is real daylight between the two otherwise-aligned capitalist parties. Elections aren’t just about choosing your allies; they can also be about choosing your opponents.
Time Change Vibes
Friday Links
1. Whose land are you on? This interactive map will help you learn.
2.Yep, this is true:
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3. Can’t wait for the time change!
Thursday Poem
I saw this on the Poetry Is Not A Luxury Instagram and it really hit me: I, too, was an indoor child, and “I never wondered. I read.” This is by Dorianne Laux.
Moon in the Window
I wish I could say I was the kind of child
who watched the moon from her window,
would turn toward it and wonder.
I never wondered. I read. Dark signs
that crawled toward the edge of the page.
It took me years to grow a heart
from paper and glue. All I had
was a flashlight, bright as the moon,
a white hole blazing beneath the sheets.
Wednesday Project Roundup: Fleece Season
It got cold here and I needed a hiking layer. I just couldn’t get excited about the performance flannel options and already had two yards of this chartreuse Polartec and all the notions for it, so I sewed up a zip jacket:
I used the “Adult Plush Polar Jacket” pattern from Green Pepper, which is very similar to the pullover fleece pattern they have. The pockets on the Polar Jacket actually encompass the entire lower front; that seemed like it would get way too bulky for this fleece so I subbed in the pullover pockets and made them out of supplex.
I also wanted to try binding the edge of the zipper in foldover elastic for a nicer finish, but I was rushing/treating this like a wearable muslin so it’s not the most professional. (It’s not the most professional in general; the fleece is soft and warm and light but was really hard to work with due to the lack of stability. Also it made a mess.)
But it’s good on the trail, warm but breathable, plus I’ve been wearing it at home a lot. Not bad for a project that was “free” [bought last year] and a couple sewing sessions.
Witches New Year
(collage from Moon Studio)
Happy Samhain, everyone. Today marks the beginning of the darker half of the year, and–in Neopaganism, at least–the start of a new one.
In a dramatic example of a new beginning, the agency I just left ceased all operations yesterday and declared bankruptcy (!), and if that’s not a lesson from the universe to move on to new things then I don’t know what is.
So happy new year, witches, and happy dark times. Embrace the slowing down of this season, light a candle, and feast on the harvest of your efforts.