The Stitch Book: Week 48 (November 24-30)

I was a quote collector as a child. I used to write them down in notebooks and save all the interesting things I heard or read for later. Sometimes I'd make a quote my entire personality for a period of time. Other times, I'd forget about it almost as soon as I moved on to another page in the notebook I was using. I still gather quotes and am very fond of embroidering them to share with others. 

The day after the election, I woke up still feeling like I'd been in a physical fight and coming to terms with the reality of the outcome of the election. I would like to pretend like I'm shocked by how things went down, but I'm not. People who are shocked have not been paying attention. I'm angry, disappointed, anxious, scared, weary, but I'm not shocked. 

I had a rough election day, working as an election officer in my neighborhood. I worked for a Chief who I hope never sets foot in my neighborhood again. I've never wanted to punch a person more than I wanted to punch this person the entire day. Entitled and rude don't even begin to describe how bad they were. They reminded me of the guy I worked with in 2020 who clearly saw being an election officer as some sort of power play. People like this shouldn't be allowed to serve. Anyway, it was a long and disappointing day. I woke up feeling like garbage. In addition to the long day, I also didn't have my chicken nugget buddy waiting for me when I got home. Keely and I used to enjoy chicken nuggets after an election. It hurt not to see him when I got home. 

So I woke up on Wednesday and saw this post on Facebook (and Twitter) from Rebecca Solnit that made me feel heard and seen and not alone. You can read the post here. Solnit is a writer and activist I've followed for many years. Even if you don't know all of her work, you probably know her essay (and book) Men Explain Things to Me. The post on the day after has now been shared by millions of people and read by famous voices like Laurie Anderson, and probably stitched by lots of other people. I knew the second I read it that I was going to stitch at least part of the message. The section I chose is my favorite. It's in two parts, so you'll see the rest of it next week. 

If you're not familiar with the Wobblies, that's the nickname for members of the Industrial Workers of the World or the IWW. The IWW was founded in Chicago in 1905 and is an international labor union. You can go to their website or search on Google if you want to find out more about them. One of my favorite courses in college was about the history of the American Left, so I've read a bunch about the IWW and other unions that formed at the same time. 

I love the idea of "furious mourning." We don't have to do all the things right away. We can mourn and take our time to figure out how we take action and still be angry and disappointed and feel all the things. The time to organize and to do the things that we'll need to do will come. 

Here's this week's piece:

November 24

November 25

November 26

November 27

November 28

November 29

November 30

Week 48

Weeks 1-48

Week 49's color is rain.

The 2025 Stitch Journal - Planning

I've been reading Jennifer 8. Lee's book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles in preparation for next year's stitch journal project. I have five years worth of fortunes saved, and am planning to stitch them into one large piece for next year's journal. If you like history, food, and unique perspectives, I highly recommend this book. I had no idea there was a kosher duck crisis in 1989 or that a higher percentage of lottery winners in two situations can be traced to the lucky numbers on the back of fortunes. 

I'm looking forward to getting started on this project and sharing more about the book and my own relationship to fortunes, collecting, and ordering takeout. 

This was my first major holiday without Keely. I love my parents' dog Frida, but she's an old lady dog who wants to nap, scam food from my dad, and nap. I missed Keely trying to get turkey from everyone and watching the hawk in my parents' back yard. Sigh.

This is from a few years ago when Keely discovered that two hawks visit my parents' backyard. He watched one of them for over 30 minutes and always looked for them when we'd come to visit or my parents were watching him for me.