By Julie Finn •
November 22, 2008
“I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me.”
Dear Mom,
I know that this is coming a little late for you, since you’re the kind of woman who starts asking everybody what they want for Christmas back in June, and wrapping presents in August and just sticking them under the side table because the tree won’t be up for another three months, but still, you should know: I took the handmade pledge, and I wish that you would, too.
By Julie Finn •
October 21, 2008
We zoo. We’re lucky enough to live an hour from the Indianapolis Zoo, and it’s the regular destination for a day trip when preschool is canceled, or dad’s got a day off of work, or a co-parent just absolutely has to have the house to themselves for at least eight hours or someone will have to shell out for marriage counseling.
We zoo, and so real-live lemurs and ostriches and boa constrictors are a familiar sight to my little Midwestern girls. They know about different environments, because the tigers live near the cafe over in the jungle habitat and the giraffes live way past the playground over in the plains. They know that different animals live together differently, because they saw the meerkats in the desert habitat all playing and fighting and humping each other, while the sharks in the oceans exhibit basically just ignore each other while swimming around looking predatory. They can tell which elephants are which in the elephant habitat, and which dolphins are which in the dolphin dome.
But at what price does this manufactured intimacy come?
By Julie Finn •
October 21, 2008
Do you have a manifesto? I mean, do you have a clear, guiding philosophy through which you can mediate between your sometimes competing identities as an environmentally conscious person and as a person who thinks crafting up cool stuff is awesome?
I’ll tell you–a manifesto helps, because sometimes environmentalism and crafting don’t play well together without forethought. For instance, do you prefer wool felt, which comes from animals, or acrylic felt, which is synthetic? How big is that fabric/yarn/bead stash, all consisting of items you bought brand-new and are now just sitting on? Do you think it’s okay to craft with vinyl or not? It’s important to think through the environmental/ethical issues behind how you like to craft, so that whatever you do, you are working in harmony with your beliefs.
