(brought to you by the girl who killed air fern)
See more progress on: grow houseplants
Says it all, really…
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Author Archives: trasie
Market Collective Moment
Even though I’m swamped as usual (papers! reports!), I did take the time to visit Market Collective today – and got there just in time to see Transit perform a couple of songs, including I’m So Indie. Don’t know what I’m talking about?
Market Collective runs tomorrow from 11-5 with many more artists on stage, not to mention all kinds of artisan’s tables and installations. If you’re in the neighbourhood, check it out!
Offering to Brigid
Blessed Imbolc!
Today marks 20 years since I was called to serve the Goddess, since I named myself Witch and took my place amongst those reclaiming, remembering and revisioning a new world into being.
In that spirit, I make the following poetry offering to Brigid on her sacred day, as part of the Seventh Annual Brigid Poetry Festival. The words are a scrap of poetry by Sappho, translated by Anne Carson. Blessed Be!
stars around the beautiful moon
hide back their luminous form
whenever all full she shines
on the earth     Â
       silvery
February Letter Writing Challenge
Mary Robinette Kowal is challeging people to to write 24 letters in February (one for each day the post office is open that month) and to write back to everyone that writes to you (which can count as one of the 24 pieces).
Anyone up to joining me?
See more progress on: write more letters
I never liked that ringtone…
…until now.
Things I Like: Pinterest
I love that technology keeps getting better at supporting what I’m already doing (as opposed to making me adapt to include it). One of my newest excitements is Pinterest:
Pinterest allows users to create boards (based on themes like “Books” “Food and Drink” and “My Style”) and “pin” links/images to them from online sites. Users can also follow each others’ boards (a great way to find people whose style matches your own) and comment on individual pins. Users can also created shared boards to post pins together.
I’m hoping to use Pinterest to keep track of projects (crafts, recipes, etc.) and to connect with similar style folks. It’s a very visual record-keeping tool, and I can see opportunities for work: planning event together, for example, would be very different if people could share from where they are. Feel free to take a look at my Pinterest account (http://pinterest.com/trasiewitch/) and if you need an invite let me know.
Sometimes…
… you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. (Thanks to @pinkgecco for the reminder.)
The Head, The Heart
And her life in beauty, by my faith, shows that she is in God’s grace, and therefore one accords more faith to her deeds. For whatever she does, she always has God before her eyes, whom she calls to, serves and prays to in deed and word; nowhere does she let her faith decrease. ~ Christine de Pizan
Joan of Arc was born 600 years ago today – January 6, 1412. Peasant, mystic, warrior, saint – she was not a feminist, not a witch, not a pacifist, but certainly a woman who embodied courage as telling the story of who you are with your whole heart.
I’ve not been good at embodying my own courage of late. Instead I’ve struggled to hold the vision in the midst of unsuccessful activism, unsupportive dichotomies and unconnected communities. I don’t know how to engage people with a vision they don’t want, and I don’t know how to create success with a less encompassing worldview in mind. I feel imposed, uninspired and defeated on a community that has been fraying decades longer than I have been alive.
I came home for two weeks of healing and soul repair, but worry that it wasn’t enough to make me want to don my armour come Monday morning. Where’s the courage in that?
My tarot reading for the evening ended in The Star, reversed, which speaks of healing energies that cannot be felt and being afraid to open to love. The courage I need to continue holding the vision, even as it continues to wound me, needs to come from that place of healing. It’s also where others need to find the courage to hold the vision with me. If it’s the community’s vision – and I’m not sure it is – then others need to hold it with me. My whole heart needs it to be so.
iPhone: Be the Change
Remember when I got an iPhone? One of my main concerns about getting a new phone in general, and an iPhone in particular, was the issue of conflict minerals used in their production. (I held onto my “old” BlackBerry right up until the morning when I dropped it and watched pieces of it fly off in all directions. My phone before that was pretty much in the same shape when I traded it in.)
Addressing the issue of conflict minerals itsn’t an easy one. In a 2010 post about the situation, Steve Jobs himself noted that Apple was insisting that its suppliers use conflict-free minerals but there was no real way to know if they were telling the truth.
But the only guarenteed way to ensure that nothing changes is, of course, to do nothing. So tonight I’ve signed the petition on Change.org calling on Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, to make a conflict-free iPhone by 2013. Apple has been a leader to date in this area. I believe,as Delly Mawazo Sesete writes:
So mote it be.
Ready for 2012?
Photobombed, Xander-style.
My Twitter/Facebook feeds seem to have an overarching theme tonight: 2011 sucked, bring on 2012 already! I’ll admit that 2011 was an extremely challenging year for me, what with taking on a new position, struggling through a masters’ class on grounded theory, being elected to two new boards and still making time to parent/game/eat/sleep as needed (or not, as the case may be). But I don’t feel that 2011 was a particularly hard or terrible year in my corner of the world.
3 Things for Calgary
Now 2012 could be a stressful year – or it could be a year filled with opportunity My new position will continue to push people’s boundaries about collaboration, community building and leadership, but I anticipate continued support from current partners and the opportunity to develop new supports through an increased staff team. I have to complete two masters courses this year, with one focused on organizational development starting in a few days (I’m already behind on my pre-reading – only 1500 pages to go), but completing them will bring me two classes closer to attaining my degree. My life seems to be spent in meetings, but I’m excited about what the boards will be doing this year (including the upcoming Project Ploughshares Calgary workshop “Non-Violent Cultures – from Antiquity to Contemporary Times” and a spring Federation of Canadian Carsharing Cooperatives conference in Winnipeg, which happily coincides with my father’s 70th birthday).
CSRS "Dream a Little Dream" Event
Meeting the new year with gratitude, acknowledging that nothing gets done without hard work, and setting clear personal goals so that I don’t lose sight of what matters – these are the strategies that will help me thrive, not just survive in 2012. I’m looking forward to visits with family and friends, listening to good music and having Xander make me a meal from what he learns in his food and fashion class. I have a lot of great books to read, movies to watch and music to enjoy. And I can’t wait to see what “the first” is going to turn out to be. Any ideas?