At the risk of drawing the ire of DHinMI, I don't know if this is going to qualify as a full diary or not. I haven't planned it out in advance, so I don't yet know how much I'm going to say. I do know, however, that there were several people who requested this so, onward...
I have acceded to a number of Kossacks' requests to make my "Casey" bracelet available for purchase with proceeds going to Gold Star Families for Peace and the Crawford Peace House (to be diverted to a legal defense fund for the Crawford protesters should one become necessary).
All costs, orders (anonymized, of course), and payments to the charities will be documented with links and images at http://hyperbolicpants.blogspot.com/ for maximum transparency.
Details below.
"Casey": Sterling Silver and Glass, Wire-Strung
Short version:
I made this for me to wear every day this President refuses to tell Cindy Sheehan the truth. I mentioned it here on Monday and several people wanted to buy one. I was uncomfortable with idea of making money off the Sheehan's loss and struggle, and equally uncomfortable with the lack of transparency in simply making a promise to donate the money. As a compromise, I've committed to blogging every aspect of the process (links to supply sources, photos of receipts and payments, documentation of every order, etc.) so interested parties can track the money along with me. If demand begins to outstrip my ability to keep up, we'll come up with some sort of more distributed model. I'll be updating this site over the next couple of days with initial costs analysis and links to online suppliers for my materials.
Longer version:
I'm frustrated. I'm in Chicago, but my entire being yearns to be in Crawford, Texas. I'd be willing to bet that's probably the only time in the entire history of mankind that anyone has ever uttered that phrase, but so it is. I'm flat broke, though. I can't even really scrape up a donation right now.
On Monday, I had all this nervous energy about it. I needed to work it out somehow.
I make jewelry as a hobby. I don't make a big production out of it. Most people don't even know I'm often wearing my own stuff. Even most of my friends and family don't know. My tastes run toward the small and spare or small and sparkly rather than the big and flashy, so it ends up being a rather cheap hobby for all its tangible rewards. It gives me something to do with my hands, there's always something to show for it when it's done, and I always have something to wear!
So on Monday, with my hands in Chicago and my mind in Crawford, I did what musicians do when they're agitated: I sat down at my "piano" and composed. And I think what came out is Earth and Sky: earthy bronze and shades of blue, with dots of silvery white. Blue is peaceful, expansive, unlimited in potential. Brown is comforting, tangible, enveloping, nurturing. White is light -- each a tiny pinprick of "I am still here with you."
Well, anyway, that's what I think of when I see it. I've worn it each day and it comforts and motivates me.
I balked at first when people asked if they could buy one. It wasn't that I didn't want to bother to make one for someone else. I would have been thrilled. I just didn't want to profit from Cindy's pain. I didn't even want to give the appearance of doing so, so I shied away from even promising to donate the money, because how would anyone know I was telling the truth?
But then I thought, hell, there will always be somebody who's just not happy with somebody else's actions. The plain fact is, the worth of a finished piece of jewelry is far greater than the cost of its materials. If I can turn $5.00 worth of materials into a $10 donation to Gold Star Families for Peace or the Crawford Peace House, would it be ethical of me not to do so just because I was afraid some people wouldn't like it?
So here I am.
I'm going to put it out there, and you all can do with it what you like. For transparency's sake, I will document as much of the process as possible with links, lists, and images over at http://hyperbolicpants.blogspot.com/.
For $15 (including shipping), you get a bracelet and I estimate approximately $10 of it will go to GSFP and the CPH (with some diversion to a protestor legal defense fund, should one become necessary). But, if you're interested, you can track the money online along with me.
I'm prepared to do an initial run of 100 (with supplies on hand for a little more than a third of that). If demand outstrips my capacity to handle it, we'll come up with a more distributed model of some kind. Maybe we'll even get lucky and a sponsor will emerge.
Paypal only at the moment, because it's trackable and immediate. Foreign orders are OK, but please kick in some extra cash for postage, or the money will just end up in the coffers of the US Postal Service instead of the charities who need it.
Over the next couple of days, I'll be updating the site with initial cost analyses and links to online suppliers so you can see what everything costs.
Labor, of course, is on me. :-)
Love...