I had a serious deja vu moment a few weeks ago.
I posted on LinkedIn about a networking group I attended that was focused on sustainability. A friend who works with a festival organization commented that they are interested in exploring sustainability and wondered if we could help.
Now, I've been telling people in the city he’s from how to have more sustainable festivals for almost 20 years. And they still seem not to have any idea how to do it. Not only that, but the information is readily available for anyone who wants it.
Maybe I have lived in a bubble, but it boggles my mind that sustainability is still such a mystery!
I'm not picking on my friend. He's asking for help. But the fact that only now does the festival association want to pursue this is troubling.
Every year, we talk about sustainability and climate change as if they are brand new topics.
I will offer my services to my friend, even though that’s technically not part of my repertoire. I did help out for several years with an alternative energy festival, and they knew how to do it.
Here are some things to consider:
A bus from a local population center that runs to and from the festival throughout the day
A discount if you show up by bike or bus
Bike valet
Recycling containers and compost containers that are manned to ensure proper use
Compostable dishes and utensils used by all food vendors; arrangement with local farm or compost operation to use the compost
Minimize “swag” that is given out by vendors
No plastic water bottles. A water bottle filling station instead.
Carbon offsets for things that cannot be avoided, including people’s transportation to the event.
Think about the foods offered and merch for sale with regard to the source of ingredients and materials
That’s an excellent place to start.
😥 What's Keeping Me Up at Night
How It Started and How It’s Going
The first time I knew that I needed to research what was going on with Israel was shortly after October 7th when I followed a link to a video that was posted in a social media comment. A young boy in the West Bank took the video. Israelis had apparently repossessed his house, and they were showing it to a group of people who had arrived by bus. The boy and his brother were shouting to the people that that was their home and it had been stolen. One of the women looked at the boy and called him a murderer. And that wasn't even the most confusing part. The most confusing part was that she had an American accent. She was a middle-aged white woman from America. Why was she looking at stolen houses in the West Bank?
That video started an education that has left my entire worldview changed.
I used to think what was happening in the Middle East had nothing to do with me. Boy, was I wrong.
From that video, I had to answer the question, “Why are middle-aged white American women buying houses in the West Bank?” (Half the time, I doubt they even have to buy them.) “Why would you call a 10-year-old boy a murderer?” “Why are these boys afraid to walk down certain streets in this video?”
Then, I had to deal with the crazy reality that Israel wouldn't exist without US funding. That the most violent settlers in the West Bank are Americans. That American teens in Jewish schools are indoctrinated into the Israeli cult(ure) and even attend military boot camps. That American teens graduate and join the IDF, where they harass and kill Palestinians. That instead of healing a generation, Israel continues to instill fear and toxic trauma into each successive generation so they can fulfill their dream of an ethnostate that requires ethnic cleansing, genocide, or both. It's not shocking to me at all that the descendants of genocide survivors would go on to commit genocide. That's basic psychology. But that so many other people would buy into it as “necessary” is genuinely mind-boggling.
As someone who is neither Jewish nor Christian nor Muslim, my unbiased research into this issue brought me to the place I am now. I and many people in the world can clearly see the power imbalance in this situation that has existed since Israel forced Palestinians from their land for the first time in 1948.
There has been racism in Israel since the start, even toward other Jews. But the way they dehumanize Palestinians, much like the US has historically dehumanized Black people, is the primary source of hatred and violence in Israel. The lies, propaganda, and myths feed into this dehumanization of the people Israel oppresses and wants to exterminate. The fact that Israel accuses Hamas of what Israel is actually doing and what Hamas is not capable of doing is mind-bending. Every accusation is a confession. That’s the reality. Do you know who else accuses others of things they do? Trump and his supporters. The parallels between the cult of Israel and the cult of Trump are many. But some supporters of Israel still refer to themselves as “woke” or “progressive.” As I’ve already stated, progressives care about people. Their primary platform is justice and autonomy for all people, especially those in situations of oppression. You cannot be progressive and support occupation, colonialism, apartheid, or 30,000 people as collateral damage. The only people using Palestinians as human shields are Israelis. And half the time, they don’t even use them as a shield; they use them as target practice.
People can hold two opposing views, but you don’t get to call yourself a progressive if one of your views is that the mass extermination of Palestinians by an occupying power that imposes collective punishment is OK under any circumstance. Full stop.
I have resigned myself that I’m going to have to keep watching these people get killed every day on Instagram. I don’t live in a city big enough for protests to make a difference. I do share the truth about Israel on Facebook constantly. People are probably sick of it, but Palestinians are sick of being occupied, harassed, and murdered, too.
I recently started following this woman, Morgan Cooper, who is married to a Palestinian man. They live in the West Bank with their children. She talks about how difficult it is for them to move around and how scary it is for their children.
I’ve actually started to learn Arabic on DuoLingo. I don’t know why. Maybe I can use it someday to help people. It’s fascinating to learn about a right-to-left written language. At the very least, it will be interesting to see how far I get.
🧵 Cross-Stitch
Tatreez
I'm heading into the home stretch on the Tatreez. I can't believe I'm going to finish this project before Israel finishes devastating Gaza.
This piece feels like a tattoo in that the creation of it is painful, and the sight of it is a reminder of the experience and circumstances surrounding it. It's a souvenir, if you will, of this genocide. It's something I will never forget the experience of. Something that has changed my life in ways I don't even know yet.
Bridge to Rutland Fundraiser
I'm getting excited about the upcoming Bridge to Rutland fundraiser. I've received the fabric I ordered for that piece, and it's fantastic. Soon, I'll investigate the best floss… maybe something different than DMC, which is the default.
I've created a YouTube channel to share my daily updates with people who sponsor me in the Arts Marathon. It will be a private channel throughout the fundraiser, and then I'll open it up and share it afterward. I haven't made videos in a while, so it will be fun. I'll try to make them between 15-30 minutes each.
This will be the biggest cross-stitch piece I've done, and I might not finish in a month, but that's OK. It's about the process, the sharing, and the fundraising.
In-Between Piece
I will likely have a month between finishing the Tatreez and starting the fundraising, so I'm contemplating what piece to work on in that time. It will probably be the Russian design that's next in line. I already have fabric and almost all the floss. It’s another bigger piece that will require framing.
I've also got a bunch of new patterns in my Etsy cart that are round and will fit in standard round hoops to frame them. After the framing debacle with my sister's gift, I realized how expensive framing is! So, I'd like to be able to make more pieces that are easy to finish for gifts. I found on Etsy that there are thin wooden backs for standard hoops that “finish" the hoop. Some of the sellers will even engrave on them for you, which is incredibly cool.
⏰️ Currently
🤕 Last week was a bad week for migraines for various reasons. Probably genocide is one of them. I hope this week will be better.
🐞 Trying, as always, to figure out how to be most helpful to the world.
🦥 Feeling as though my ego is stripping away. This makes me feel good but also makes it even harder to exist within the confines of capitalism.