Breaking & Mending

 Murals have been going up all over in the past couple years. Often they're political. This new mural a few blocks from the thrift store continues on the other side of the building with a celebration of cultures, picking up the multi-ethnic patterns on the bottom.

I. Breaking

I'm going to stop blogging here--take a break, at least for a while.

I'm trying to hash out what's going on in my city, to the people around me, and to me, and to figure out what my role is.
This just isn't the place for me to do that.

II. Mending

There's lots going on right by me.

1. I'm thrilled that a new sewing & mending store--Rethink Tailoring––has moved into a nearby empty shop (it used to be a quilting shop).

They're "new" in a way that reflects the times:

"We opened our storefront on March 14th, 2020 and had to close the next day due to the pandemic." [blog post about their history]

"During this very unique year, our community helped us help people. We donated over 700 masks to hospitals, homeless shelters, the Sanctuary encampment, George Floyd Memorial, childcare facilities, and to the community in our free mask box."

Their emphasis is on recycling and environmental sustainability, and they hold classes to share knowledge about doing that.
Their mission: "to keep as many garments out of the landfills as possible".

The owner says:

"There is only so much one person can do alone, but by building a community around reuse and upcycling we can do so much more, together."

I've signed up for a couple classes with them--first one is tomorrow.

I'm hoping besides making personal connections, I might be able to link them to the thrift store--
soooo many clothes there go to textile recycling that could be repaired or remade instead.

(I've also long thought I should teach a class on repairing stuffed animals. Maybe this would offer the space)


I get the feeling it's a very "give your pronouns" place, so I'll get ("get") to deal with that IRL too.
Oh, joy.
But, you know, it's one of the conversations of our age, so I'll do it.

I need and want to do some mending and restructuring . . . of myself.

2. Also, the guy who'd written the Guide to George Floyd Square that I'd edited contacted me about another round of it...

LOL. This is classic human behavior--the square is going to get taken down at any minute, but the guide is still being rewritten.

3. AND, I've joined the Friends of Lake Hiawatha, who clean up the lake shore every Saturday morning. Turns out that this lake a few blocks from me is the final repository of storm-water runoff before it hits the Mississippi River.

Every year the Friends pick up by hand hundreds of pounds of plastic stir sticks, snack wrappers, golf balls from the lake's golf course, cigarette butts, etc. etc.

REAL LIFE IS SO ANNOYING!
But, . . . it's where I live.

Penny Cooper approves. "And you could repair bears in coffee shops again," she suggests.
Well, okay then.

I'm turning off comments on this post, but email or snail mail me, blogfriends, if you want.

Love you! Best wishes to you all!
XO Fresca