It is useless to attempt a linear progression, to hold myself to following through on what was supposed to come next. Linear progress is over-rated anyway. And that connects to something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. At any rate, the fabric shown above was woven using my handmade Japanese bamboo reed - woot! But before anything else happens, I have to quote Marwa Al-Abouni, from her book The Battle for Home. The book is excellent overall - I'm only halfway through - but what she says about craft is one of the best things I've ever read. In the fourth chapter about Baba Amr, she says the following (excerpted and emphasized based on the bits I want to broadcast everywhere.)
Craft and agriculture are not to be considered mere means of production that allow people to enter the city on their own terms; they are real-life schooling tools, and bring with them a special sense of decorum that is only understood in their performance.
The work of the craftsman lifts objects into a world of meaning that we risk losing in our totally mechanized age.
I believe that the social importance of such a way of production far exceeds its economic benefit, and that its true value is even greater for the producer than it is for the consumer. The value of craft doesn't reside simply in providing essential products for city life; it lies in the way the products are made, and the subliminal education that emanates from them, which is in my view essential for any flourishing society. Such craft production broadens our sense of the universe as an arena for inspiration and creation. Realizing how much it takes to make something teaches us the perfection that we can aim for, even if we can never achieve it.
- Marwa al Sabouni
Thank you, Marwa. Keep your faith, your strength and your voice.