The True Start To My Year

The Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend is usually the "start" to my year. The first two weeks in January are usually a time of reflection, as well as planning things for the upcoming year - and 2023 has been no different. 

Service has been an animating force in my life - the logo on that bag represented pretty much most of my 2022, including last year's MLK, Jr. service project with my VISTA team. While the logo may have "updated," the goal behind it remains the same - the eradication of poverty in the United States. 

As I have turned to a different type of civilian service, I find it relevant to look back at my previous blog posts on this service weekend. I am amazed at the consistency of purpose and how notions of social justice have animated my personal evolution. My design life is certainly a creative outlet (!), but it has changed in the face of my commitment to treating the environment with more mindfulness. My two moves in the last two years have shown me all that I carry (and it is clear, I have an awesome yarn problem), and how I can walk with a lighter footprint. The increased making of my own wardrobe and home textiles, as well as the re-use and re-imagination of what I already own remains an area of personal growth and change. Of course, I want to do this all well and with my own personal style - good, bad, or indifferent. Good or bad - well, on that I will let others decide, but I am indifferent to outside critics. I remain committed to following my own north star.

So on this long weekend in which everyone is urged to be "on" and not take the day off, serve justice according to your own conscience. For me, I have started a new pullover (using my own design as well my own hand-dyed yarn I have in stash), am communicating with friends, and strengthening my continued commitment to community in all its forms. Building community takes work and commitment in a world of skepticism, deep distrust, and constant motivational questioning. I hope, in the process, I am not misunderstood.

In these times of division, this seems incredibly appropriate.

For more information on the above call, head on over to my Ravelry group,
or check out the call's comments here on Instagram.

Another Day "On" is Marked

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." 

Quoted in Let the Trumpet Sound : A Life of Martin Luther

King, Jr (1982) by Stephen B. Oates

I have used the above quote in a previous blog post commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and it remains as relevant as ever at the beginning of this new year and decade. At a time when some are still fighting to be treated with dignity on public transportation:

I can’t get over this. After all ⁦@Sifill_LDF⁩ has been through with ⁦@Amtrak⁩ they need to do more than apologize. I’m still mad. https://t.co/xawGEEcTCh

— Angela J. Davis (@angelajdavis) January 20, 2020

and

Amtrak has reversed course — at least partly — on its plan to charge two wheelchair users $25,000 for a two-hour train ride that usually costs $16.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said she will ask the company's CEO to meet with her to discuss its policies. https://t.co/hQTieJrtvn

— NPR (@NPR) January 20, 2020

I never take my privilege for granted. I was involved in a service project today, and it filled me with happiness to see so many showing up in my community (many with their small children in tow) to mark all that MLK, Jr.'s work stood for.

Of course, as Bernice King talked about today, it cannot only be about just one day, right? I have been involved in a long-term service project, and trust me when I tell you it is difficult to show up every day and do emotionally difficult work, but I do so precisely because it is difficult, despite my white, cisgendered privilege (though, as a female, gender equity remains unfinished business, but that's for another day). 

I hope each of you commemorated today in a way most relevant for you. Never take your own privilege for granted, yet never give up hope that one day we all will sit in the privileged seat.

Remember This House

This is my first blog entry of 2019, and as is customary for me most years, I am usually fairly silent during the first few weeks of any new year. I have been busy with other things and on other social media, but somehow this first long weekend in January, when we remember and celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., it seems fitting to break the bloggy new year ‘s fast and put some thoughts to screen.

As many of you may know, MLK, Jr. figures prominently in my own notions of social justice. In my second year as a VISTA (Volunteer In Service to America) I, along with a group of other local VISTAs, spent our entire year dissecting institutional racism – what it was, how it manifested itself in our respective work sites as well as our everyday lives, and what we might do about it. King featured prominently in the supporting works I read, as well as my taking note of his own thought evolution on social justice. Along with a handful of undergraduate courses, that year-long inquiry, more than a decade ago, stays with me to this day. I still feed off the lightening-bolt moments I had as a result of an off-comment here, a well-placed paragraph there, as well as the memories of intense conversations we had as a group.

While my days of direct service are all-but over, my willingness to continue to dig deeper into the entire history of this country remains strong, and this weekend is always a personal reminder that I still have much to learn. In that vein, I highly encourage each of you to find and watch Raoul Peck’s excellent I Am Not Your Negro, his 2016 ode to James Baldwin, via one of his unfinished works, Remember This House. Using (as Baldwin was intending) the deaths of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and MLK, Jr. as a thematic link and backdrop, Peck masterfully brings to life Baldwin’s unfinished last work. Through it, Peck also (as he admits in an interview included as a video extra) keeps Baldwin alive through the current medium of choice – video and cinema. It is, of course, a meta nod to Baldwin’s final written material, as the writer was attempting to do the same (as well as so much more) with the examination of the referenced deaths.

Undoubtedly, this 2016 documentary also makes a singularly powerful statement on the current issue of race in today’s America. Using archival footage of Baldwin’s own speeches and talks (he died in 1987), it shows how far we’ve come as a nation, and yet how easy it has been to fall back. There is, also, a 1969 Dick Cavett show exchange between a white professor and Baldwin that is not, absolutely not, to be forgotten. Talk about not missing his shot.

There is so much more to say – both of Baldwin and King. However, it would be just my thoughts and impressions, and that is not what I want to convey. Read any King writing this weekend; watch this masterful documentary based on and inspired by Baldwin, himself a slave’s grandson. Determine how best you might be as light a societal presence as possible, and then live it every day. That is a legacy King (and Baldwin, I expect) would encourage.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: On Self-Importance and Fools

We are, in the United States, once again celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have commemorated the civil rights leader twice previously on the blog. However, since this year - 2018 - marks the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader's assassination, I wanted to dig a little deeper, so I went to my personal library to see just how many publications reference, in one way or another, MLK, Jr. Of course one would expect to find him in history books dealing with the relevant time period (I did); my literature readers were the most heavily dotted with King references (which makes this liberal arts major and literature junkie very happy). However, I also took a fair amount of religion courses as an undergrad (mostly plot, plot, plot; history, history, history), and I found one of my old religion texts (appropriately entitled Living Religions) contained a King reference relating to liberation theology. 

That led me to one of King's lesser read pieces on self-importance with which, as a man of the cloth rising in popularity and fame, he internally struggled. On this day, at this particular moment in time, when some pay lip service (and much worse) to civil rights and then hit the golf course, this extremely personal essay from King hits all the right bells and whistles. I leave you with the last two sentences which, when I re-read them, was a goose-bump moment for this very lapsed and definitely non-practicing Catholic:

"This is the prayer I pray to God every day, "Lord help me to see M. L. King as M. L. King in his true perspective." Because if I don't see that, I will become the biggest fool in America."

It Is Again Another New Year

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of
justice."  Quoted in Let the Trumpet Sound : A Life of Martin Luther
King, Jr (1982) by Stephen B. Oates

The beginning of every year is usually a time of contemplation for me, so it doesn't feel all that late that my first post of 2017 comes two weeks into January. This is also a holiday weekend in the United States, when we mark the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. What does amaze me is that I have only managed to previously mark this date only once here on the blog. I have been a U.S. VISTA member (twice), and for all CNCS members (Corporation for National and Community Service, which incorporates all of the various U.S. service programs, including Americorps) this weekend is a fairly big deal. During my last VISTA year I participated in a community service project on the actual holiday that was different from the site at which I was stationed. I remember it being not only personally fulfilling, but generally a lot of fun, as I was alongside all of my VISTA mates as well as other active members of the CNCS community in my area. Many past presidents, as well as policy wonks and other pundits, have each advocated for some sort of term of public service for all Americans, whether volunteer or mandatory (gasp!), as a way to create a common cultural experience. As someone who has voluntarily given up almost two years of my adult life in just such pursuit, I can wholeheartedly speak to the cultural learning curve involved and the cultural understanding gained since, in many instances, volunteers serve in communities removed from where they grew up or lived at time of enrollment. It is a difficult financial challenge (especially for someone of modest means), but the rewards are many. 

Of course, I came to MLK, Jr. initially through his writings and speeches. No student of literature and liberal arts can escape reading the "I Have a Dream" speech. During my instructor stint in the classroom, I taught the speech both from the page as well as the screen. (NB: For an absolutely amazing treatment of the speech, check out Ho Che Anderson's graphic rendition, written about rather extensively here, which includes some of the comic graphics). King's Letter From Birmingham Jail is a primer on non-violent protest (as well as a slice of political history). I can hear King's voice and cadence when I read many of his writings; he was that powerful an orator. 

I cannot help but be inspired by MLK, Jr.'s ultimate message of hope. 

Behind the Scenes This Fee-Fi(ber)-F.O. Friday

I haven't been around my blog too much in the last few weeks (although I've been busy on Ravelry). I have been working on finishing up some projects for publication. Shameless plug alert - And, if you were already on my newsletter mailing list, you would know the yarns I've been working with - so if you're not on it, go on and sign up right now. End shameless plug.
 
I'm almost finished with a design that's been donated for a charity publication. The yarn is yummy and I am really excited not only about the project, but the fact that all the designs, as well as the yarn used in the publication, have been donated. It's very appropriate that I am slated to finish my design this holiday weekend when the U.S. celebrates the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
 
This time each year is always contemplative for me, and working on this charity project has really focused my hands and mind, once again, on the true meaning of this holiday. Being of service to others can take many forms, not the least of which can be a donation of one's time and talent. I was honored to have one of my designs chosen for this project, and despite delays due to unforeseen acts of the universe, everyone has managed to stay focused and perservere. I cannot wait to see the final result, and to be able to share the design and the entire project with all of you.
 
In the meantime, please head on over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check out what everyone else is working on (of service or otherwise) this Fiber Arts Friday.  And if you have the opportunity and are so inclined, get out in your neighborhood and engage in a service project. Knitters and crocheters are such a giving bunch.

Image from www.martinlutherking.org