I Hate Violence

I don’t like fighting. And I don’t like violence. I never have. I don’t like it soo much that when I was in fourth grade I helped found the Neon Negotiators – a peer to peer mediation and dispute resolution group. At recess and lunchtime we wore these bright pink bandanas tied around our arms and if other kids in our class were having arguments or fights, we were “trained” (as well as one can train a fourth grader) to help them work towards a non-violent resolution. Now, I should definitely caveat this with the fact that I grew up in a very middle class suburban predominantly white town, so none of these disputes were dangerous, merely disagreements and fights among friends that could potentially turn into fist fights…potentially.

So you’re probably wondering, why I am I telling you all of this? And rightly so. Well, last night Adam and I watched Frontline and it was on “The Interrupters”. If you haven’t seen it, I highly suggest clicking on the link and watching some of the clips. It was a moving and poignant mini-documentary about this dispute and conflict resolution organization in Chicago. They are based in neighborhoods where violence is the norm, and has been for decades. Kids come up in families with one or both parents in jail and/or surrounded by violence on a daily basis. One of the local funeral directors said of the 150+ funerals he had one year, 90% of them were young people (kids 24 and under). The Interrupters are tired of this violence. Most of them (if not all) were once involved in the very violence that they are fighting against. Former gang members, drug dealers, etc, but the people in the community respect them now because they know the struggle and they were able to get out. They get calls when they hear a potential argument could turn into a fight, which could then escalate to a shooting or stabbing then gang retaliation. They don’t always stem the violence, but the director purports that acts of violence in the areas where the Interrupters are present are down about 40%.

But that’s not what troubles me. What troubled me in watching this show, and subsequently dreaming about those young people is my feeling of helplessness. It’s the same feeling I had when I was in the slums of Nairobi. You see all these beautiful children with so much potential, but they don’t see a way out. Little children who say the one thing they would change about their neighborhood is the shootings! (The one thing I would have changed about my neighborhood was having no traffic so we could play kickball in the street longer). Watching this show made me want to help young minority kids growing up in challenging environments, but who am I to come in with my suburban middleclass background and try to tell these people how to change their lives. I know nothing of their struggles, their fears, their hopes, and their dreams. But my heart hurts for them, for my people who have been disenfranchised and brought up in conditions that are soo hard from which to escape. Violence or abject poverty is the norm. And studies have shown that the most successful aid comes from organizations run by people in the community being helped, like The Interrupters or Carolina for Kibera. So, where is my place in this? Can I help? How can I give them hope and a way out? Is it even possible for me, as an outsider?

Adventures in Quilting

So people have long told me that I have an old soul. I admit it, I love knitting and crocheting (although in NYC, this would be considered "hip"), and I have recently started quilting. And by started, I mean I made one little test quilt. It is by no means perfect, but I think it is a pretty neat first attempt. I definitely feel more confident in my sewing abilities and love seeing the final product come together. I have to admit, when I was piecing the blocks I got sooo bored! I wasn't sure quilting was for me, but I will say to anyone who is learning to quilt and is stuck at the piecing stage...Keep going! It goes much faster and gets more fun once you start putting the blocks together. Good luck!

Below is a photo timeline of my progress leading to the finished blanket!

Here are my pieces. I used the strip piecing method to create the checkered pattern:


Then I made nine blocks like this by randomly matching the strips:


Then I created my quilt top by laying out the blocks in the order I wanted them and numbering them



Then I played around with quilting scraps to see what my sewing machine would do. I love the circular one, but since my quilt is really geometric, that will have to wait.



I decided on the straight lines to run through the solid black squares, and this is how it came out. I battled with my thread and tension for a while, so the back is not perfect, but I finally got the hang of it with better quilting thread.


I chose a white patterned border and hand sewed the back. Not too bad, and it came together nicely. Here's the back so you can see the quilting pattern and the border:


After finishing, I am already thinking about what the next quilt project will be. It is time consuming, but seeing the final quilt makes it all worth it. I made that!!