half a longing: January 2013

In times of loss, of crisis, of love, one feels moved to make things, be it with music or canvas or needle and thread. I've recently lost someone with whom I had a shared history, however, distant, and had others close to me lose their loved ones: mothers, brothers, in-laws, cousins they never knew but heard about in the news, comrades. Here are some things I've made of late (and a few things friends have shared) in memory of friends and family members passing into the netherworld, and in celebration of their lives here on earth and all of the incredible things they taught us. If only we remembered to appreciate our friends and their tremendous affect on the trajectories and qualities of our lives while they are still very much living. It is not too late. These gifts for friends and colleagues in honor of their lives and strengths and losses are offered in this spirit.

Cookie with banner for Sarah Kirsch

In loving memory, Sarah Kirsch, 1970-2012

Sarah's recent passing has left me reeling, even though I haven't seen her in a couple years. She was part of a formative period of my life, one filled with vegan food (including many carob chip cookies, delivered to my door) and thoughtful politics and potlucks and punk music, with finding straightedge to my incredible relief and then, later, drifting apart in search of queerer community, only to learn just a year before her death that she identified as transgender and had been living her life as a closeted male-passing punk for too many years. To me, it is such a testament that regardless of exterior appearances, we are all so very precious and tender on the inside and need to be handled with such care and gentleness if we are ever to grow.