Episode 15: Unraveling with confidence and hope
Kia whakairia te tapu
Kia wātea ai te ara
Kia turuki whakataha ai
Kia turuki whakataha ai
Haumi e. Hui e. Tāiki e!
Restrictions are moved aside so the pathway is clear to return to everyday activities. Join! Gather! Unite!--Maori invocation
Peggy Orenstein has this cartoon pinned to the board above her desk. Lynda Barry reminds us that when you focus too much on people's judgment of what you do, it becomes all about the end result and not the process.
The Lynda Barry comic reminded Bootie of something Kurt Vonnegut once described:
“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of ‘getting to know you’ questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
“And he went wow. That’s amazing! And I said, ‘Oh no, but I’m not any good at any of them.’
“And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: ‘I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.’
“And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could ‘win’ at them.”--Kurt Vonnegut
A few pictures from Orenstein's book, Unraveling: the sheep that she sheared, the wool that she processed, spun, and dyed, and the final product which Frenchie Danoy helps her design (which for the record, we do not think is ugly, but you know we're here to make you feel better about your projects).
The recipe to "Preserve Children" which our mom put in the cookbook she gave us many years ago. This too stands the test of time, although you probably want to add some sunscreen. Note the Doctors (that delivered our mom and our aunt!) can be found at "Office in Hospital" and you just need to dial 45 to reach them. This came from a cookbook that our grandmother owned when she lived in Lovell, Wyoming.
No cats were harmed in the making of this podcast and Ella was compensated generously for reluctantly participating in Bootie's efforts to pretend to shear her.
And whatever you do, don’t knit like my sister! But as Elizabeth Zimmerman said, do "knit on with confidence and hope through all crises."
