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Gray Chapman's avatar

Haley! As someone who a) recently bought a sewing machine with high hopes to learn (!!), and b) has been thinking about how to show up in community and not just talk about it, I loved belatedly reading this. I spent several days in Western NC a few weeks after Helene, and while the big heroic acts (chainsaws, mule packing, etc) made the news, it was the ongoing, quotidian daily efforts (“persistence made manifest”) that really helped keep community afloat for weeks after the storm receded.

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Haley E.D. Houseman's avatar

I would LOVE to talk to you about that! And if you need any help getting started with your machine, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I love helping people get started.

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Molly Jean Bennett's avatar

Such a lovely, thoughtful essay

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Trilety Wade's avatar

Loved every single bit of this from metaphor to fact. . .plus I'm a new sewer and a long-time adorer of phenology. Thank you for the reminder that it is important to be one stitch in a long seam, rather than just a single long stitch.

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Danielle Urban's avatar

Thanks so much for this essay, so much resonates. I especially love the bit about being a villager

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Haley E.D. Houseman's avatar

Thank you, that was inspired by this really great piece I could not remember or find, but finally figured out I saw around Substack! https://open.substack.com/pub/midwesthetic/p/third-space-you-cant-handle-a-third?r=6rj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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