Despair and Cupcakes

Some overlooked and discreet ways to practice:

-drinking tea, then reading the leaves.

-spending time in nature (walks, hikes, etc) this could mean the park, a nature trail, or a spot of grass in your yard with a book.

-keeping a house plant or garden. One small potted plant is enough.

-if you meditate, lay in bed at night before going to sleep. Theres no noise or distractions, and if someone walks in they’ll just think you’re sleeping.

-decorating with nature. Dried flowers, wood/sticks arranged nicely.

-lighting candles. Color, smell, and arrangement can be meaningful and discreet.

-burning incense. A lot like candles, smell and time of day have meaning while retaining a mundane appearance/purpose.

They tried to kill us, but they did not succeed. And we owe so much thanks to the other oppressed peoples, in particular the Choctaw Nation and the Masai, who sent money and grain to us.

Let me repeat that. The Choctaw Nation who had just gone through the Trail of Tears sent us money to try save Irish lives. It’s led to an understanding between Irish people and Native American tribes, most recently when we donated to the Navajo and Hopi fundraisers for COVID-19 relief, because while it may be a different tribe, Irish people will never forget those who helped us and we’ll help back.

The entire population of the island is less than seven million people. We’re still a million less on this island than pre famine. And it’s not that long ago. My grandmother’s grandparents lived through it. We’ve told the stories, it literally changed the DNA of the country. We have a national fear of renting, because so many people were evicted. People joke about Irish people always offering loads of food, but it’s because there’s that cultural memory of not being able to.

Once I finish the blue fish, I’m planning to do a yellow and brown pair. Pretty much as many pairs as it’ll take while I wait for yarn for the Halibut sweater set I have planned.

Here’s the pattern, for anyone who wants to make their own school of goldfish mittens.

It's getting some traction on Twitter but hasn't made its way to TikTok so it would be wonderful if people could share there or engage with current videos about it.

Raegan,

You previously tendered your resignation advising that you did not intend to return next year. However, as a result of your refusal to remove pronouns in your email signature in violation of institutional policy, and false and defamatory statements attributed to you in the recent Star article, please be advised of the following:

You are being relieved of your duties effective immediately.

Your email and network access will be terminated immediately.

All keys (other than your personal apartment) and University property (laptop, credit card, etc) must be turned in to Marc Smithers immediately.

You may not use any institutional social media account you may have access to.

All remaining contractual salary will be paid on May 19th.

Health and other insurance benefits will cease May 31.

You will vacate your apartment by the end of the day on May 19th.

Your presence on campus should be limited to your apartment, to get your mail, and to get meals in the dining hall on a "to go" basis only. If you wish to be in any other parts of campus, permission must be recieved from Marc Smithers.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Nancy Stanley

Associate Director of Human Resources

End Description]

Linked above is the article the letter refers to. I've quoted the relevant passages below.

"Women’s Area Coordinator Raegan Zelaya remarks that while she understands the reasoning behind closing the Mosaic Center, Houghton–as an institution–can’t claim to value diversity if we aren’t doing everything we can to safeguard and develop it.

it’s a not for profit that’s gathering books, patterns, and other materials related to crafting that are out of copyright (or getting permission from copyright holders in some cases) in order to share them online. they scan items, clean them up, then make everything available for free!

free things are great, especially when you’re just starting to get into something. like oh, i’m supposed to spend money on this hobby i just picked up 20 minutes ago???

the first time i ended up on the site, i seriously spent hours just trawling through everything. there’s the usual suspects like knitting, crochet, embroidery, but there’s also woodwork, calligraphy, and books on things like how to mount and frame pictures. with cross stitch patterns, they also make modern charts with the dmc colour codes available.

links to their webbed site and instagram:

https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/

https://www.instagram.com/theantiquepatternlibrary/

behold, a glorious cat cross stitch pattern (link goes to antique pattern library page):

I was reading this book where this guy argues that people should develop areas of “micromastery” when getting into a hobby. Find one small, achievable, but still impressive task to master, so you have a cool skill to show off (and the sense of accomplishment) without having to master an entire huge area of knowledge. Instead of learning to cook, learn to create a really good omelet. Instead of learning an entire new language, learn to count to ten. And then you have a knowledge base to help you if you want to explore further. Seems very common sense. Very accessible. Learning is for everyone, not just people who want to devote tons of time to a new hobby. But even that guy, in his instructions, keeps telling people to buy the most expensive equipment to have the best possible results. There’s even a point where he says “the more expensive, the better”!

That infuriates me. I am enraged. The guy who’s trying to make learning accessible to the masses is now saying this is the realm only of the rich! It’s telling people to buy into the marketing ploy that more expensive is automatically better! It’s absurd. It’s insane. There probably is equipment that improves the outcome of the final product, but it’s not necessarily the most expensive stuff, and you certainly don’t need the expensive stuff when you’re just starting out!

Yet, tutorials and craft books keep pushing this message. If you want to start drawing, you need an expensive sketch book and seven different pencils and different weights of pen, and the right eraser. If you want to bake, you have to have the best flours and the appropriate sourdough technique. If you want to knit, you better have the expensive yarn. That’s garbage, and it makes things more difficult than they need to be.

When you’re just starting out, you’re learning if you even like the activity. Do I like spending time drawing? Do I even like the process of knitting or woodworking or building model airplanes? It’s pointless to spend tons of money on good yarn only to find that you hate the process of knitting. Pointless to get the good pencils when the process of drawing makes you want to crawl out of your skin.

If you want to try something, just try it! As simply and cheaply as possible. Want to draw? Get a free pencil and a bit of notebook paper. Want to knit? Get a pair of knitting needles from the thrift store and some dollar store yarn. As you get deeper into the hobby, you’ll probably want to upgrade your supplies–but now that you know more about the process, you know what problems can be solved by better supplies.

2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia (c.400-300 BCE): crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This artifact was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artifacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.