The Persistence of Beauty and The Resistance of Cute

The last week has been a low point for the women and girls of America.  If we have learned anything it is that sexual assault survivors are treated and viewed no better now than they were thirty or forty years ago.  How do we look at our daughters and explain that we have not come so far, in fact we are falling backward at a dizzying pace. 

It has also made realize I have to stop directing my rage, my disappointment, my frustration at random strangers on social media.  Not that I will cease to step in when I really feed the need, but no more engaging with the toxicity that provides a temporary release of anger without accomplishing anything meaningful.
With that in mind I've been spending more time reading for pleasure - yes, kids, that does mean I re-read the entire Harry Potter series again, next up, revisiting Little Women and maybe some Jane Austen.  Stories shape our world, they give it life.
My other approach has been to spend more time making things, specifically pendants and pins that feel like little talismans to me.  Tiny fiber shields against the darkness swirling around us.

They are not political in and of themselves, yet.  I have a tendency towards pretty and cute when I am making. I struggle with the idea of what place that tendency has when what I feel is so ugly, what I see happening is even uglier.  I don't have an answer yet. I may not get one anytime soon. What I will say is that humans crave beauty even in the darkest places.  To create something pretty, to make someone smile and feel uplifted is its own act of resistance. 

There is also room for the occasional silly self portrait.