a little red hen

Remembering the zine, Knit a Condom Amulet

Usually find something to read in New Yorker's "The Talk of the Town."  Griffin Dunne's first visit to the Museum of Sex stopped me with relevance to my current moment. 

Took me back to 2008 before we left NYC. Ron Bloom and I dressed up for the Museum's opening.  Seems there were many Condom Amulets scattered about.  Did I make those?  Someone else?  Took one of my favorite casual photos of Ron waiting in line.

That, however, was then.  Nine years later my thoughts turn to where am I going electronically speaking.  My friend Ruth Ann Barrett challenged me--in a very nice way--recently.  Talking about this began with my being alerted to the zine world again.  What morphed into my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet,   It began life as a small paper zine.

HIV infection in women and men over 50 has not declined in the last decade.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, they account for 25% of those infected.  Amfar reports, "The proportion of AIDS diagnoses among women has more than tripled since the early days of the epidemic, from 7% in 1985 to 25% in 2014. Approximately one in four people living with HIV are women. Of the total estimated number of women living with diagnosed HIV in 2015, 61%were African American."  

Still work to do there in telling the story...maybe a new place online where I gather together my parts as a Conceptual Artist.  Takes in almost everything I've done since last 20th century--Feminism, of course, knitting worms, "This Dirt Museum: the ladies' room, the NO WAR peace action, bread making...



 

 
It's clear I have to get organized.  Tomorrow there's the Zine Symposium.  Kind of daunting. Have a new zine focused on old people vis a vis young people.  Have already been to couple of meetings, mostly young women, gracious, helpful.  Took my picture, put it on their Facebook page.  More later...

 

Two Knit Condom Amulets: Like & Share

It is a beautifully designed knit garment.  The Condom Amulet as Bra. 

Statistics for KNIT A CONDOM AMULET, my other blog, reveal this underwear with its artfully attached condom holder to be THE ONE most viewed.  Looks challenging to make but is basically two triangles.  Lisa Daehlin's separate Breast Pouch, requires a little more skill but can be used as both inner and outerwear--and holds up to five condoms.

Next most popular choice is her famous dishcloth adapted by Kay Gardiner for the  Ballband Keychain Amulet.

  

December One, 2013.  World AIDS Day again.  Locally Oregon/Washington has
targeted the individual in their "one person at a time" campaign, wants community groups to do more in the challenge: raising awareness about HIV prevention. 

Portland media were facinated by "yarn bombing" of public sculptures last week.  Earlier in the century, it was known as "guerrilla or graffiti knitting"  Mayor Charlier Hales applauded the practice (unvieling ceremony).

Too intense for my own good, I disappointed an enthusiastic friend with my comment that there were better ways to expend many yards of fiber. "What would that be?"  Now I have an answer, Sandy.

Worldwide KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY happens Saturday, June 14, 2014.  PDX Knitterati, my earliest link to the Portland knit world, could give me input on finding the energy behind this latest crafting extravaganza.  Would these folks pick up their needles and their crochet hooks to teach others how to Knit A Condom Amulet--in public around town?   Stay tuned.  

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Dance with me...on the upper west side

New to Facebook, there are discoveries to be made.  One of the best is discovery of what Friends like.  My New York City friend, Lisa Daehlin, opera singer and knitter par excellence, who created for my other blog the lacy, pink Bra & Breast Pouch Condom Amulet (the one that gets the most hits on that site), sent me back to the City.

 

Found at her link to Clowns ex Machina. Reminded me of outdoor lunches and dinners we shared at cafes along Broadway.  

Many other pleasures from the Clowns. In another YouTube the famous ballerina, Natalia Makarova, also in costume, describes onstage disasters. Charming and funny.  Impressive that a performer of her stature could laugh at herself with such delight.

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World AIDS Day Naked Demo Targets Rep. Boehner

On November 27, House Speaker Boehner probably had  his own plans for December One, World AIDS Day.  What do you think he had in mind?  Greater funding, a call for more increased Congressional focus on HIV prevention?  

                                                                                
Whatever....seven AIDS activists, women and men, preempted him by appearing unannounced four days before the designated Day.  Without clothes, decorated with painted messages on their bodies.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

"Budget cuts are really rude. That's why we have to be so lewd," they chanted.  The men eluded police but four women were arrested.  This gave them the "opportunity" to give more details about funding cuts.  Jennifer Flynn of Global Health Access spoke for the group to WAMU Radio.

"We're having everything ripped off of us. We're going to be left with nothing, people with AIDS in this country and around the world need to have PEPFAR funded — the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief." 

The protesters represented many organizations worried that more than $1 billion in budget cuts could hit HIV and AIDS programs if pending budget cuts aren't diverted before January.

Since December 1, 2007, when my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet began, I've wondered about its usefulness as a  message about HIV awareness.  But when I check my stats on how many times people click on it, seems it's still relevant.

Five years later, reports appear about the rise in HIV cases in young gay men in urban areas, more cases in financially troubled Greece and 200 new cases each day in Russia. And women?  Learning in 1995 about growing numbers of HIV in women over 50 was the startling information that initially grabbed my attention. According to the 2012  Kaiser Foundation on HIV/IDS policy:

...women represented 8% of diagnoses in 1985, 20% in 1995, and 27% in 2000, a similar share as today.

Condom amulet pictured above is a close-up of the conveniet pocket on the ManThong designed by New York artist Amanda Gale.  One of John Boehner's naked visitors might knit one and appear next in his next locker room--before one of his frequent golf games. 

 

 

 

 

"Super Gonorrhea" calls for Condom Amulets, this Grandma sez

Only one antibiotic left to treat gonorrhea we heard yesterday on local NPR station.  Scary news.  Another 20th century problem--like birth control, women's right to choose, equal pay--that we thought were secured.

Wrong.  Graphically described by the Atlantic's James Hamblin, an M.D.

Did you know gonorrhea can kill you? It can, and it's also tragically effective at making women infertile. According to her journals, my great aunt Mabel was "barren," and my grandmother always told me it was probably from gonorrhea. The only reason we don't hear about these awful complications more often -- and we instead think of it as a little oops of an infection ("Can I still drink on these antibiotics?" "Yes." "Cool.") -- is because we've been able to kill it early with relative ease.

Back into my public health mode, here's a copy of a page from my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet, originally posted in 2007, when I still lived in New York City.  Its purpose was and is to share pattern ideas with knitters for a way to begin conversations about safe sex.  Original focus was on HIV awareness for women over 50--a problem we learned about in 2005--its applicability is unlimited.  

Condom designs may be different now (NYC iconic package has changed but FREE availability still holds).  56,000 page views since Knit a Condom Amulet began.  Many more through its group at Ravelry. 

In 2012, will we talk to our grown children about talking to their children, our grandchildren?  

 ###

CONDOM SIZES FOR KNIT AMULETS

Because there are a variety of sizes and shapes to condoms, this is a general guide.  Sometimes this will determine how you knit an amulet.  There are so many knit designs yet to be explored--by you.

These are variations on the most familiar size, 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" squares.

Another square one--lights up in the dark--packaged in a 3" x 3" box.

From a dispensing machine (North Carolina, unisex rest room), the "Black Jack" measures 2" x 1-1/4".  Just 50 cents but not latex. 

Round condom, 2-1/4" circumference.

 

Lengthwise, smaller container,1/2" x 1" suited to this double-knitted amulet with beads to be worn around the neck.  Or, it could have a pin back.

And the largest package contains the female condom,   measuring 3-1/4" x 4-3/4".  The condom itself is smaller, so the package can be folded up at bottom. It will then fit into an amulet like this one.  Funky yarn here is a excellent re-use for yarn mistakenly purchased for a garment.  Many possibilites for many gifts of Condom Amulets for friends, family. neighbors--room for several condoms too.

Its bright colors and loop make it easy to locate in a purse.  Or, hang it on your bathroom wall--tuck the female condom behind a Post-It pad if discretion is a concern. Kay Gardiner, designer of the Ballband Key Chain Amulet, suggested this alternative use.

###

 

Black Sheep Gathering with Zoe, day one

If...if...if only all my days could be something like the past weekend lost in fiber.  In Eugene, Oregon, of all places.  Nothing against Eugene, please, in the 1990s the publication site of "The Worm Digest."  On one of our visits to Portland before relocating, we made an unforgettable overnight stop when I was their east coast correspondent.  

Zorba was the intense and gracious Editor whose futon we slept on in his living room.   Ron has never forgotten this; we were only 60-something then.  Very granola place, still felt like the1960s.  So it's no surprise that the vibes are different--even from the perspective of Portland.

In 2008, we took our oldest grandchild, Zach, with us when he was six years old.  We discovered then that a child companion alters the experience.  Shepherds, sheep ranchers are eager to encourage children to touch the animals being prepared for showing.  Now his younger sister Zoe was six; it was time for an out-of-town overnight to "see the sheep."

Thursday afternoon we took her to get a haircut. She had one side braid her mother had made when we arrived.  Clueless grandma had no idea that "braids" at a salon would turn into a glam "French braid" production.  Cute but did not last through swimming practice.  They were gone by Saturday morning when we picked her up.

By late afternoon we were in Eugene and braidless Zoe met her first sheep up-close.  Joanie Livermore of Double J in Oregon City noticed that she did not need much encouragement to help clean the sheep's coat  for showing the next day.  Busy taking pictures, I missed out on touching the animal's skin under the curly white fleece and feeling, as Ron reported, its warmth.

How do the old folks engage with the Gathering?  Ron has a special fondness for Black Sheep as the place he bought his beautiful spinning wheel from Wallace van Eaton of Yakima, Washington. Already in his eighties back then, Wallace has not been a vendor for the past three years and we learned he still lives there though retired from hand crafting wheels.

Ron looks forward to buying roving at the event for his spinning.  It's a good place to have exchanges with other fiber enthusiasts about his knitting and weaving.  He always carries along some button hats and small woven tapestries.  Zoe was a willing model.  Several people will receive a hat for the winter in the mail.  No,  never sells them.

 

Last Year, 100% of Pregnancies Were Caused by Men…

 

Earlier today I lifted the headline and You Tube video from The Blog that Ate Manhattan.  Dr. Peggy (how I wish she had been my doc when I lived in NYC) is one of my role models as a blogger and has been on the list over at the left for some time.

The balance is just right between her cooking life, recreational outdoor doings, and her POLITICS (yes, the caps go against certain rules).  In another life I too would have it together in a similar manner.  Here's her own year-end summary of 2011 in The Year in Health Blogging--plus Two Songs on a range of medical thoughts from mammograms to how to get a doctor's appointment faster.  

And a delicious recipe, slightly over the top, Summer Corn Pudding.  Another younger feminist who gives me hope.  Thanks, Dr. P. for directing attention to the group we need to hear more from--"Stand Up, Men."

 

Mormon feminists + LDS Church: blog marriage

Thanks to Hattie's Web for inadvertently creating this post mash-up.  She mourned how feminists might respond to women followers of Ladies against Feminism, a Christian blog "under the oversight" of a male minister. Not content with its misleading title, its true spirit hides by only using the initials LAF in its banner.  Yes, pretty funny--and sad.

The War against Women has been alive and well while some too many women think otherwise.  Why the nasty turn in the public space of Congress without complicity by women?  A Facebook friend of Feminema wants us to use our inside voices about anti-abortion efforts: 

 “I don’t like to use hyperbole like ‘war on women, “I just don’t think liberals should respond with the same overwrought language as conservatives use.”

"Battered Barbie," commentary and image,** appeared in last week's Portland State student publication.  I was about to write about it when I read Hattie's post.   Unknown to those of us outside academe (because it had not been reported), a local community college experienced a creative effort to raise awareness about domestic abuse.  According to the article, Becca Ellenbecker, a student,

"...admitted she was looking to shock and awe her audience..by using abused Barbies and dispersing them throughout the campus."

Guestbooks for student and staff responses accompanied the Barbies.  The reaction at Rock Creek Community College was "the display was going too far.”  Becca was very courageous.  The Portland State Women's Resource Center could not give the columnist a "concrete answer" about doing something similar on the PSU campus.  What images will work?

This has been my own challenge.  Unlike Becca, my choices are not dark, they're quirky--like this Bra Condom Amulet from my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet. Does it matter, does the content skew the attention of our hoped-for audience more than the style used to craft our images? I'd once considered offering the PSU Women's Center a workshop on how to KNIT A CONDOM AMULET. The amulets started as my way to get conversation going around a difficult topic:  HIV in women over 50. Of course, the notion works for all ages.  Start with Princetonian from College Series, move on to regional

 

OSU (Oregon State U.) Condom Amulet from 2008, the one returned without comment when I entered it in a local yarn shop competition.   Or update the old Condom Amulet Zine.  Invent another for U of U (Utah).

"Mormon Feminists, LDS Church Unite"  is a headline from last week's  Salt Lake City Tribune.  And I was reminded of another case of the "F" word being applied to women with no clue to the goals promoted by second wave and first wave Feminism.  The story tells how Tresa Edmunds, "Mormon writer, activist and blogger" decided to engage the followers of the blog, Feminist Mormon Housewives, to raise money.  To help a divorced Mormon mother of three finish her final term of college.  She'd been abandoned by her LDS church's support--ended one presumes because her marriage did also.

"Terrific" you think.  Have you ever read FMH?  Few years ago I discovered it in the statistics for Knit a Condom Amulet.  They seemed interested in these.  Great.  But when I read the blog, it was unclear why. Same as reading the Tribune story is confusing about how the LDS Church supports the fund-raising for a woman whose divorce it could not condone. Made my head spin. Similar to LAF, Feminist Mornons Housewives, an apparently well-educated group, live in some universe very far away.  Tell me if you undertand the post, "13 Articles of Healthy Chastity." 

There's also a blog called Feminist Ryan Gosling:  more girls wasting time IMHO.  How will we get your attention about the War on Women unless you give up your focus on men for a minute or two?  

___________________

**"Battered Barbie," PSU Vanguard, written by Emily Lakehomer, illustration by Elizabeth Thompson.  

 

 

Condom Amulets Startle Knitters!

Knitters, concerned and good-natured women with a sense of the humor, contributed to an the idea I had pre-Portland, when I lived in New York.  When I finish this post, I'll contact them with the surprisng proof it worked: use provocative knitting  to raise awareness about HIV.  Like this one, The Princetonian, the first of my college amulet series.**

Knit a Condom Amulet,  the title I'd been using for a little paper zine give-away, became my second blog -- 7 amulets by 5 knitters.  It was beautifully designed by a woman in New Jersey I only knew online and the phone.

The debut post featured my friend Annette's hand adorned with Lisa Daehlin's copper wire Condom Amulet Bracelet.  It appeared Decemer One, 2007, to highlight that year's    World AIDS Day. 

 

The image at left is a screen shot of the statisitics for the blog that I check once in a while to see if it still has visitors all these years later.  After the initial outing, viewership has been low.  Once a very kinky crowd, definitely not fiber folks, were entranced by some of the content.

A couple of the amulets ---Man Thong, Bra & Breast Pouch (pink one here by Lisa Daehlin) -- are especially so.  Comments on the blog are closed; simply out there hoping to be discovered.

October 13, 2011, was the all-time big bump of  2,356 visitors, October 14 another 564, October 15, 223, the next day, 296.  And another 192 for the finale.  Five days, close to 3,000 hits on a blog that usually has 20-30 daily visitors!  Turns out this time it was by our target  group--knitters.  These were from Knitting Paradise^SM - Knitting and Crochet Forum whose membership is in the thousands.  [We also started a group on  Ravelry, an even larger online knit and crochet community.]

It began with "Deb," an active Forum member.  She linked to our site and noted, "No, I'm not kidding. Hey, someone might want one of these!"  And then the deluge.

Culturally the Forum knitters appear different from those on Ravelry but, without a rigorous study, who knows?   Judging from their photos, they are generally older women than most on Ravelry.  Many were shocked:  should this even be happening?  Some, amused.  Others thought it just might be a way to "...begin talking with my granddaughter..."  That's it, ladies!  Referring to Michelle Edwards' beaded amulets from corn silk yarn, one poster was ambivalent:

  first amulet is very pretty & COULD be used for something else...but someone might recognize it from this site. LOL   

I plan to  join Knitting Paradise (could use some extra magic with current projects on the needles) to thank "Deb" for introducing our site to her fiber friends.  Forum member "Jenna" the Ball Band Condom Amulet (Kay Gardiner design)  would be just the thing for people she knew,  "Christmas gifts  for single girlfriends,  holds at least three condoms."

In the past, when I've heard from an knit amulet enthusiast, the knitter wants   to find out if their creations could be sent to me:

"I work for the AIDS Resource Group in Evansville, IN and love your idea... inspired by  patterns and made a few amulets for the "environmentally concious" condom user out of "plarn" (plastic bags made into yarn). Is there an address that I could send them to?" 

My response is that we hoped the person's own circle would provide ideal recipients, that the primary idea behind our project was more personal:  gift someone close to you--like "Deb" and "Jenna."  You know, the personal is always political, as we used to say back in the day.

** College series includes:  Oberlin, Columbia & Oregon State Universities, send in yours for posting here.

UPDATE...On December One, 2011, an email arrived with a reminder.  Here's a poster you might copy to your own blog and a plea you can sign from The Feminist Majority.

Ask President Obama and Congress to fight AIDS with science and medicine, not ideology. Condoms must not be an afterthought.  Click on the link below to sign.

Ask US Leaders to Stop Abstinence Only Programs

 

Making bread in public...will you join me?

Oh, I am way behind in writing about my new idea to repair the world (tikkun olam again). 

KNEADING TO KNOW brought together ideas from two classes this past term at PSU, "World Population and Food Supply" and "Street Art class plus my recent dive into Sourdough bread baking.  Being in the class gave me the push I needed. I'd been wondering whether it was too late in this life for another one.

This effort would be much more modest than This Dirt Museum and Knit One Red Worm, more doable by non-crafters that Knit a Condom Amulet.  KNEADING TO KNOW is for all who eat bread, could be encouraged to make their own.

In early April, each of these professors received a plain brown paper bag with a slice of sourdough bread inside.  That was the first step.  Only slightly public (photo of my slipping the bag onto Hunter Shobe's lectern in "World Population" class). With excellent synchronicity, Rosemary, who gave me the sourdough starter, is speaking to him.

Beginning with  the "Bread not Bombs" image as the  organizing idea and image,  Kneading to Know joined my earlier declarations to become Manifesto #3: [Double-click on  images to enlarge]

 

What occurred next speaks to art as community...stay tuned.