Mostly this week I'm trying to stay warm, and stay away from news headlines. Although I must admit I was a little disappointed to not wake up to snow this morning! Some of my friends who live near the Pensacola area have been sharing photos since last night, of the snow they're getting. And my friends in New Orleans have even more snow! All I'm saying is that if we get this cold, and it rains, we should have snow. Anything else is just mean!
All of my pets have been extra-EXTRA snuggly because of the cold this week, but I have been able to get a little work done.
In ceramics, I'm loading up the kiln with greenware, getting ready for a firing. And I'm loading up a table with bisque, ready to be glazed. I'm also catching up on some delayed custom orders, so that makes me happy!
In yarn, I wrote a post the other day about yarn club; it's been dyed and I got it in the mail yesterday. I'm excited about this theme, Protest in Creativity. It's probably going to be a more multi-color series than my usual solid/semi-solid colors, if that matters to anyone. Mostly because there's so much going on with the theme.
In Patreon, it's not much, but I worked on a few categories, and also changed the header photos for my different tiers. I had originally put photos of me at different ages, at different science fiction conventions (having grown up at them - my first con was Philcon '69, when I was five or six weeks old).... one of those photos included someone who I have recently cut ties with due to their ... shall we say, "behavior". I don't want to be associated with him any more. Changing out photos with him in them might be a small thing, but sometimes small things are all we can do when things are this huge.
Behind the scenes, I've been working on my quarterly sales tax, I've been trying to clean up spaces in the studio where previously I've just put piles of things, and then moved piles of things, and then moved them again... all the time those piles getting larger and more precarious. Would it be kind of weird to take a week off to do a deep clean of my studio? I used to do that in the week between Christmas and New Year's, but the last couple of years I've taken so much time off during the rest of the year, I feel like I need to work that week to make up for things!
In HaldePets, like I said, everyone is pretty snuggly, and Big Mad about the cold. Especially the Spoiled Princess Dog, and the Old Lady Cat. I don't blame them, though. If all I had to do was snuggle on the couch all day, believe me, I would! Alas, there is work to be done. Fortunately the two of them have figured out that they can snuggle with EACH OTHER, which leaves me free to actually do some things, haha.
What I’m reading/watching/listening to... I'm still following along with the Boneheads podcast, and watching Bones. It's slow going, of course, because they do maybe one episode a week, but it really is fun to hear all the behind-the-scenes info about the show. I'm also finally finishing the Snowpiercer series, and getting caught up on Ghosts (or am I finishing Ghosts? Was it renewed? I never pay attention to what's just on break vs what's been cancelled, because it seems to change almost weekly).
That's about it for me. What about you? What are you working on this week? Are you even able to get work done, or are you, too, lost in a war between news being everywhere and also trying to avoid the news like the plague (although we've proven we don't avoid those very well, haha haha sob).
Lastly, I have some jumbled thoughts that I want to try to mush into shape. I think that taking a political stand, as a small one-person business (or as any size business, really) is at least, a poor choice, and at worst, dangerous. At the best, some customers or potential customers will just walk away... at worst, someone will decide to start a hate campaign against you either online... or even worse, in person. And human rights these days seems to be even more political than ever. Am I afraid to say something? Yes.
That's not going to stop me, though.
If those of us with an ounce of compassion in our bodies don't stand up and say "this is not right," we make it okay for people to keep behaving in belittling and marginalizing ways. Most of us, personally, don't write or pass laws. But we can call or write the people who do. We can, as the saying goes, speak the truth even when our voice shakes. There are people - human beings - children, young adults, real live people who are hurting, who are afraid, who are maybe even frozen in fear. And they see us. They hear us. And they need to see and hear us speaking up for them, even when they're not in the room.
Billionaires? They don't need to hear that they're important. They hear that every day like the sound of a cash register dinging a sale, in their own heads. The young person sitting alone in their room or their car or in an alley, contemplating ending it all or texting 988 so they don't end it all? That person needs to hear us saying that we hold space for them. They need to see us loving them for who they are. Their lives might depend on it.
So, here's this.
You, beautiful, unique, important person. You are valid. You are necessary. Your worth, your humanity, who you are at your core, is not decided by an executive order. I see your trauma and your hurt and your hopelessness and I hold my hand out to you, while my other hand holds a candle that lights our way as, together, we navigate the darkness of the next however many years.
I might not be big and I might not be strong and I might not be a billionaire who can make sweeping changes to the government just by signing a check, but as long as there is breath in my body I will be the best ally I can be.
The world is better with you in it. My world is better with you in it. You are loved, you are enough, just as you are.
xoxo y'all. Hope most of you are still with me.