All posts by witchyrichy@gmail.com

Finding Community

community, Meditation, Vision, ,

My inbox was a source of solace and inspiration this morning:

Jose Vilson provided perspective on this time and the need to grieve but also to continue to join together with others to fight for our values in his blog post, Don’t Obey in Advance.

The Center for Action and Contemplation is hosting a Virtual Sit Meditation next week:

In this space we will gather in simple presence, bearing witness to each other and to the complex realities we face without needing to resolve them. In stillness, we will honor our shared humanity and the grace that exists, even amid our collective uncertainty. Together, we’ll pause to breathe, reflect, and embrace whatever feelings we bring, knowing that we are not alone.

We invite you to join us on YouTube for a time to be together in stillness and reflection on Tuesday, November 12 from 7:30 – 8:00am PT (3:30 – 4:00pm GMT).

Join the Livestream

Dan Harris, founder of Ten Percent Happier and now out on his own, has been hosting meditation get togethers every day this week over on Substack. The next one is at 11 AM today. He will continue to be a source of wisdom and comfort to the community.

This song has been going through my head:

What I Made This Week

art, books, creativity, tinkering,

While I have a little “real” work to do, it can be done in an hour or so a day or a one-day sprint, which is my preferred approach. My syllabus is ready for my graduate class, I have finished up a project for a client and I get to spend next week vacationing with family and friends.

I have committed to do some kind of creative work each day: doodling, journaling and lots of paper craft from books to cards to gell printing. Being part of a monthly book making group has provided inspiration and motivation as we share resources and then do show and tell at our meetings.

This week, I worked on my art journal, using a combination of paper and sewing to create quilt-inspired art:

Mixed Media Journal

I also ended up making an accidental craft: I planned to sew together some crochet squares to make a box. But I thought it might benefit from some cardboard on the inside. Then, I thought it would be nice to at least cover the cardboard. By the time I did that and assembled the box using my own design, I realized it was too cool to cover up. It needs some tweaking so the lid is either held in place with side pieces or can go all the way back. That’s the beauty of making: designing and tweaking things using knowledge you have gained from others and other projects. Here’s the box:

Simple Box

At our August book club meeting, we made books using Japanese stab binding. I brought the directions and everyone worked on their own project. I didn’t take a picture of my little notebook but here are other examples of these kinds of books I have made:

Japanese Stab Binding

I am grateful to have the time to lose myself in this kind of work.

Grumpy Old Childless Cat Lady

art, politics, thinking out loud, ,

I am going to keep this short and sweet: the notion that I don’t have a stake in the future because I did not give birth is laughable. Also, I am not miserable. I certainly do not want others to be miserable. What I really want is to be left alone to make personal, private decisions.

I could go on but, thankfully, Moira Donegan from The Guardian said it perfectly: we are looking directly into the face of patriarchy.

Meanwhile, I am actually feeling more optimistic than I have for some time. I have made creativity a priority this summer so spend less time doom scrolling and more time creating. I turned some of my gel prints into zines, and then was inspired by a variety of Instagram accounts to add interactivity. Here’s what I created: