There’s a lot of language out in the world that is divisive, hateful, demeaning, and preys on our inner troll asking it to come out and play. This post is the opposite of that. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts I have a hard time asking for help, that the world is much more difficult to navigate with MS impacting my mobility and energy, and I’m trying to find better pathways in addressing both of these challenges. So, I want to give a shout out to the people that help me continue to practice my art by providing accommodations, both formal or informal.

Taking time is a luxury in our world. As George Lakoff discussed in Metaphors We Live By, we use language to describe time in terms of money. In other words, we think of time as a commodity. We talk about the time we spend on something or how much time we’ve lost because of x, y, or z. Using this conceptual metaphor of time as money, taking more time is a luxury as it costs more. And so often we don’t take that additional time because it costs too much. And because we don’t take that time, we also don’t produce at our desired level of quality.

I have a complicated relationship with templates. In some ways I think they’re awesome, and in other ways I really hate them. As someone who loves to put order around chaos, I want to dig into the “why” behind using a template versus not using one and the benefits and challenges that come with using them.

It sent the family into fits of laughter, my husband especially. So, for the first holiday after starting pottery, I made him a poop emoji.

July is Disability Pride month. What does it mean to me? It’s not a celebration that I have a disability because having one sucks, but there’s also nothing I can do about it. Rather, it’s a time to create awareness for our community, discuss the ways that things in the world impact me and how they could be more inclusive, and advocate for understanding and change.

Fulfilling communities that nurture the soul are positive and supportive. It’s not about who is better, denigrating someone or their experience, or trying to one-up someone. Instead, it’s about supporting each other.

I’ve heard this a lot over the years–it’s not very good or it didn’t work or it’s not good enough, or some version of that statement. It doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it and be inspired by it.

Why? Because we learn from the mistakes we make and the failed pieces we create.

It’s all a lab for experimentation and exploration.