This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. Today's suggested topic is three community quilt videos below and I'm including the transcripts for those that can not view the videos.
What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself beyond the fold in a comment. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome.
The Community Quilt Project embodies the best of our online community here at Daily Kos. It allows the community to reach out in a physical way to comfort and send love to members that are in need.
Call me a idealistic, but it also is also a metaphor of way to conduct politics and conduct our lives. One quilt square or action of love at a time. For me the defining concept of the Progressive movement is EMPATHY.
All of our small actions of love are gathered up when we vote or act in the community to achieve something greater for the community. Such as electing a Progressive Democratic candidate or or voting in a measure that funds community projects.
This years VA service project will bring to the Veterans at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit gifts of lap quilts, teddy bears, hand crocheted hats & scarf, books, and keepsake cards. The gifts will be given to the Veterans during NN14 convention. A delegation will be lead by Sara R. to bring the gifts over to the Center on Friday.
To help Sara pay for the trip to NN14 please send a donation to Sara by PayPal. Please go to paypal.com - paypal link - and send the donation to the following email: rainwoman AT mac DOT com. Please note in the message this donation is for travel expenses for Sara to attend NN14.
Please support the Community Quilt Project and please support The Daily Kos Veterans Administration Hospital Service Project.
Thank You,
JON
Transcript of remembrance's Testimonial
linkage1951: Thank you for coming to Net Roots Nation with your quilt.
remembrance: You're very welcome.
linkage1951: And for the viewers, could you tell us your name?
remembrance: My name is Remembrance.
linkage1951: Remembrance?
remembrance: Uh-huh.
linkage1951: And can you tell us about you quilt?
remembrance: I have a stunningly beautiful quilt made by Sara R and her sister Ann. Umm, there are messages from kossacks or individuals in our community that wanted to provide support (to) the network of healing to the people who maybe needed to draw on that. And a friend of mine, Paradise50, when we told him that I had been diagnosed with cancer, he asked Sara R to make a quilt for me. And my thought at the time was, "I need to accept this, because I need to draw on energy and love." And also for the people who want to give this, because I know that they do, I couldn't say no...something that I thought was important to give and to take. Umm...so Sara R and her sister received these messages from people in the community, and she uses archival ink to transpose them onto the quilt fabric, and then she must have this huge warehouse of patterns because she chose really beautiful fabric to highlight the messages and the gift of caring and "we got your back -- you're going to be OK" that this quilt represents.
linkage1951: So it gave you hope.
remembrance: Yeah.
linkage1951: How many messages are on the quilt?
remembrance: I don't know. I haven't counted. Sometimes...umm... First few time I looked at it, I could really only look at it and really take in a few at a time because (the) messages are really poignant and they're very loving, (and) even from people I had never met before, that I'd never interacted with on line, had written just as beautiful a comment as people that I did know, that even had their talking with personally, you know, even through email and on the phone and (I'd) held and hugged. So it takes a while to get through it, to look at each block and really take in the meaning and what people are wanting to share.
linkage1951: Why were you hesistant in taking the quilt?
remembrance: I don't know that I was hesistant. Maybe I didn't express it the way that I thought about it earlier. Umm...I think I'm the kind of person that wants to give. I'm in the caring profession, the helping community myself, and so that's my nature. And so it's easier to do that than to take something, that I have to step back and say, "Now you're on the other side of it, and this is what it feels like for me to give." And if you said "no" to me, how would I feel and what would that mean to me? And so it really was a give- and-take equal on both parts.
linkage1951: Do you think letting go the resistance to be receptive to gifts helped you?
remembrance: Sure. Yeah, I'm...I'm...I'm... I feel blessed. Umm...you know, when you're diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or you're grieving or you've had an accident and you're injured, and life changes for you, umm...no one else really knows what the physical impact is, what the emotional impact is, because we can't feel that in each other, so in a sense there's an aloneness to it. But, but when you take this quilt into treatment with you, have it sitting on your lap when you're driving, you've got the hands of community around you, and you don't feel so alone anymore. You feel a lot stronger...yeah.
linkage1951: How many times have you read the quilt?
remembrance: I don't know...I have no idea.
linkage1951: Hundreds?
remembrance: I don't know.
linkage1951: You don't?
remembrance: I just don't know. I don't know.
linkage1951: Would you like to tell the viewers something some of those people who have contributed to the quilt?
remembrance: Yeah, I'd like to share.
linkage1951: Yes, go ahead.
remembrance: OK, umm... This is from a special friend that I've not met I person, but I know that if I did, she would be a dear friend of mine. She wrote:
"To me your grace and courage through this journey, I'll picture your spirit dancing, held up by love of your friends here. (To) Glen (my husband): I'm here for you any time as you support and care for your sweet wife and little one (who is my daughter). Enjoy big hugs under the beautiful quilt. Sending you loads of peace and love to all three of you."
See, this quilt was particularly special because it was really afamily quilt -- my husband and my daughter and myself.
linkage1951: For your family.
remembrance: Yeah.
linkage1951: Supporting your family.
remembrance: Yeah. It was...the diagnosis that I got was the only thing in the past 12½ years since my husband and I have been together that rocked us. We've managed through everything, but this was scary...yeah.
(Pause as she looks at the quilt...)
This one is from another kossack and she writes: "Under this quilt, protection, like in a hiding tent. Within this quilt, joyful remembrance of puddle play and dreams. Upon this quilt, floating on the warm healing sea of our love."
It's a beautiful poem that she came up with that kind of captured some of the conversations we've had, some things she knew about me and make it very relevant and meaningful in my life...yeah.
linkage1951: Can you show the viewers the back and just hold it up a little?
remembrance: Sure. The pattern is called "Dandy," soothing colors of green and blue, a beautiful floral pattern...
linkage1951: And the message side...?
remembrance: The message side...oh, pardon me...has the four squares of messages and then block patterns of fabric, kind of nature...grass and trees and leaves...healing elements of our natural world.
linkage1951: Thank you so much for taking a moment and talking about your quilt with us.
remembrance: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
linkage1951: OK.
Transcript of Dave in Northridge's Testimonial
linkage: It's so wonderful to have you here at NetRoots Nation, sharing your story of the quilt. Can you identify yourself for us?
Dave in Northridge: Yes, I'm Dave in Northridge. My partner and husband Jim died suddenly on December 5th, and I wrote my first notice of that: "Widower after 41 years. What now?" Between when the police left and the mortuary came, and yes, I was perfectly happy to have the community to share this with immediately because...just because.
linkage: Dave, what does this quilt mean to you?
Dave in Northridge: This quilt demonstrates exactly what kind of a community Daily Kos is. It shows that we not only blog with each other, we not only discuss politics with each other, we not only communicate with each other on that level, but that we are really a very deep, committed community that is perfectly happy to share all kinds of life experiences with each other. And I think it's just a wonderful thing.
linkage: This community's been a great support.
Dave in Northridge: It has.
linkage: How did you find this community?
Dave in Northridge: I honestly don't remember. I know I registered in 2006 because I needed to make a comment about something. And frankly, I lurked until summer of 2011 when it seemed there were no other progressive blogs or places like that that really satisfied me with anything that I wanted to do. And I wanted to start telling some of my stories to other people. And lo and behold, within my 10th diary, I got a reaction that has me diarying on an almost daily basis for Daily Kos at this point.
linkage: Can you talk about your quilt and what the quilt means to you?
Dave in Northridge: Oh, man. You know, the quilt process started within two days, as I understood. I contacted the quilt ladies and said, you know, we really should do something like this, and within two weeks, the quilt diary was up. I looked at it and I said, "I should probably comment on this," but I thought it was sort of like applauding for yourself, but I managed to overcome that and thanked everybody for all the support that they were giving me. When this came, I probably spent two days looking at it and reading all the messages and being comforted and probably crying a few times and just, you know, wonderful stuff.
linkage: Would you like to read one or two of the messages?
Dave in Northridge: Yeah. I'll do these two because they're so wonderfully different and wonderfully etc. Puddytat, who does all that wonderful blogging about Wisconsin wrote: "May your grief be replaced by the memories of the love and time you had together. Remember, you are surrounded by friends who love you." And really, that is what this whole thing is about.
And I actually made a comment in one of my diaries that JwinIL14, who is a frequent visitor to Top Comments, for which I also blog, essentially made the best entry on my quilt, I think, for a general humorous thing. He...he or she, I'm not sure yet, wrote: "This patchwork of loving friends has operating instructions: 1) Carefully unwrap contents from box. 2) Wrap up snugly in box contents. 3) Absorb the peace & content. 4) Stay in touch with us all. 5) Eating is good too ;-)" And this was just so perfect, you know?
linkage: So the community connection is important to you. Do you have support in your home town?
Dave in Northridge: Not to the extent that I have from my community, from this community, no. You know, I almost hate to go there, but often during this season of RuPaul's Drag Race, she said, "You know, we're gay; we make our own families." Well, I've pretty much had to make my own family during this, and the people...many of the people of Daily Kos have become the family that I was trying to construct, so very important, yes.
linkage: Can you hold up the quilt and show us the back and the front? It's quite a colorful quilt.
Dave in Northridge: It's wonderful. I had a nice conversation with Sara and Ann, and they wanted to know what I liked, and I said, "Art Nouveau, and I like Fall colors." And here we are in sort of art nouveau with definite Fall colors. And the quilt itself looks like this with the backing, and then the comments people made in the diary about the quilt, written out on batting that could be patched into the quilt as part of the quilt. And it's a beautiful thing.
linkage: Is there anybody you'd like to thank in the community?
Dave in Northridge: I'd like to thank the community. I'd especially like to thank Sara and Ann for all the amazing work that they do on these quilts when people like me need them.
linkage: Well, thank you very much for sharing your quilt with us.
Dave in Northridge: You're absolutely welcome.
Transcript of ramara's Testimonial
linkage: Rachel, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your quilt.
ramara: Oh, I'm glad to do it.
linkage: And are you enjoying your stay at NetRoots?
ramara: Absolutely. I'm meeting people for the first time who I've known online for a long time, and also meeting old friends.
linkage: old friends. And what does the quilt mean to you?
ramara: When Sara first emailed me to ask if I wanted a quilt. I had been thinking that there hadn't been a whole lot of quilts yet. I had been wondering how sick I would have to get in order to get on her list because they were so wonderful. And then she called because there were so many things in my life that she thought that I would be a good person to make a quilt for.
ramara: I look at the quilt sometimes, and I think these messages (and) I don't believe people could say that to me,or I don't believe people could feel that about me. And then I look at some of the fabric squares, and they make me laugh. So I get to cry and I get to laugh, and when you do both of those things, there's a wholeness about it, and that was what the quilt was supposed to do for me.
Not that I had a particular sickness; it's just that my life was very disjointed at the time, and so I was not sleeping in my bed. I had glass all over my bed and all over the floor of my room from a time when my son had tried to break in. And it wasn't right away that I went back to sleep in my bed and got all of that fixed, but the emotional readiness to do that partly came from this quilt because of the things that it put together for me and all the feelings...
Sara posted the first diary, asking for messages. The very next day, my son, who was homeless at the time -- I hadn't heard from him for several months. The very day after that first diary was posted, I got a call from a policeman who told me that he knew my son and was kind of looking out for him to try and see he didn't get into much trouble. He was sort of a hapless person rather than a really bad person. And when I said that I hadn't heard from my son for several months, he gave me his phone number and said when I hadn't heard for a while, I could call him, and he would find out what he could find out. So the magic began as soon as the quilt began.
You know, one of my favorite squares, which is now my Daily Kos avatar, is a bunny rabbit playing a violin. Ann said, "Well, what are your interests?" I said, "Well, music. You know I play the violin and that's one thing." And she found...you know, I think that the actual fabric was probably an animal. It looks like it was a whole animal orchestra, but that she got this floppy-eared bunny playing the violin is just amazing.
The quilt was from my online friends. The cleaning up of the mess was my music friends. And it was just part of this wonderful feeling experience for me.
And it took some months before friends came and helped me to get the glass up, so I could get back to my bed and use the quilt as it was meant to be used. That was just such a feeling of wholeness and completeness.
linkage: Is there anyone you'd like to thank?
ramara: Well, of course, I'd like to thank Sara and Ann whose work on it is just amazing and for finding these squares of fabric that just take me everywhere.
linkage: Well, thank you very much.