Tuesday, February 23, 2016

I'd rather talk DIY than Religion...



I've never been one to be very loud about religion.

That's not to say that it isn't important to me. It is. Very much.

But I feel enough people today are spending far too much time screaming, and not enough time living quiet, sacred, productive, loving, lives. I'd rather be the latter. (I hope) Saying little, but doing lots.

But, on the other hand, DIY adventures are easy to share, and connect me with people on both sides of my life. I can talk canning with my conservative homeschool Mom friends. I can discuss organic produce with my parents. I can talk DIY bath and body recipes with my actress friends who are all (seemingly) doing the same thing. I can discuss zero waste and anti-consumerism with the Seattle contingent, and kiva loans and child sponsorship with the Yakima/YWAM/WYCLIFFE people.

The DIY movement - whether you're in it for the organic food, the holistic lifestyle, the thriftiness, the "use it up, wear it out", the "back to basics" or any other reason - I find this ideology reaches across political/social/religious divides, and gives us all something that connects us.
The Homeschool Mom sharing tips with the Urban Homesteader. The Pinterest savvy and the Preppers. The Etsy sellers, and the chicken farmers, and the kitchen gardeners, and the young women making homemade tinted moisurizer in the bathroom can all learn from the women who made it through the great depression. The Hippies and the Catholics trading natural birth control tips. Everyone sharing, everyone trading tips, everyone pointing someone else to new information.

Liberal and Conservative. Religious and not.

What a relief in this day and age to have something we can all talk about.

Saturday, February 06, 2016

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

I caught this on Facebook this morning, and wanted to keep the link around. Who knew there were words for all of these feelings?

http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/


Favorites:
Vellichor
(n) The strange wistfulness of used bookshops.

Jouska
(n) A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.

Sonder
(n) The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own

Language is just cool.