Ways of Seeing: Take care of society’s fabric

When I was about 4 years old, my mother taught me to sew on a button. Likely, she too was sewing something, and I expressed an interest. While it was a useful skill, I never became a dedicated sewer. In my early adulthood I made curtains and even the rare clothing item. Later on, I made my kids’ Halloween costumes, but quickly found the advantages of duct tape and staples for those single use creations. While I found various fabrics and materials appealing, both visually and by touch, I never did take up we … (read more)

About eight years ago I began doing hand-built pottery. Some people make beautiful bowls or whimsical wall hangings; I like to make sculptures. Probably all of you have made things out of clay, even if it was simply Playdough. I remember making an elephan … (read more)

On a warm spring morning during my sophomore year of high school, I gathered with my P.E. class to form teams for a softball game. Chatting as we stood in line along the backstop, we watched the boys’ class run laps on the nearby track. Suddenly there was … (read more)

Once upon a time, I was young. That’s a statement everybody, other than the very young, can make, but I state it for a reason. There was a time when we were going to change the world. It’s been 50 years since the environmental movement got started with th … (read more)

Looking out an airplane window, people who are flying over the Midwest often say the earth looks like a patchwork quilt, all the many squares of fields spread out across the flattened plains. My grandparents farmed in western Illinois, and I suppose that … (read more)

On its website, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns describes town meeting as “direct democracy practiced in its purest form. It is the key to town government, as voters assemble to discuss issues, debate budgets, air grievances, elect officers, and de … (read more)

When I was a kid, we would play with the cardboard tubes from wrapping paper. Putting one up to your eye, you could get a focused view of something in the room or in the distance, while everything else around you disappeared. The tubes would evolve into s … (read more)

This late summer there have been so many nights when the sky was filled with stars. They are always there, of course, but not always so visible. We sat outside this August, looking up with hopes of seeing shooting stars but really just reveling in the fir … (read more)

So many of my childhood memories are weather related. I grew up in Seattle, so you’re probably thinking “rain”, but that actually rarely figures in. I remember hot summer days when we would get to turn on the sprinkler, running through it, jumping over th … (read more)