Things I Learned This Week

Spurs, Indigo, Obsession, Backrooms, and Thompson Twins

Oh, what a beautiful morning! Did not get much sleep last night after hearing the ominous sounds of the San Marcos flood warning siren at 1 in the morning. Still, I’m up and at it, finally getting into the groove of writing and other things this fine summer. Here are some things I learned in the last few weeks.

If you didn’t read my post from yesterday about learning what it feels like to lose, check it out! If you did read it already, have a reread as I added some extra sweetness to my sour grapes. What I didn’t write about was how much fun I had watching the Spurs play with my husband, honking on the square with my son and his girlfriend, and generally joining in on the pride of being a Texas transplant. I am currently trying to exorcise myself from reading post-series commentary, and today, it seems to be working. GSG! (Photo cred, Leah Shreeve.)

In that post, I also mentioned an Indigo class I attended. Having grown up in South Carolina, mired in post-colonial culture, I’ve always known about the importance of the crop historically in the area. On Texas Country Reporter, a while back, they did a segment on Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa, whose artistry is deeply rooted in the tradition of Appalachian broom-making. When I saw she was doing an Indigo class, I jumped on it. Indigo was South Carolina’s 18th-century “blue gold” cash crop, driven entirely by enslaved labor. It is also one of the few natural dye plants that produce the color blue, which makes it so special, and it has long had deep spiritual meaning throughout Asia, South Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa. Artisans and local farmers have kept it alive in the Carolinas, and I’ve always wanted to learn more about the ancient practice. Hand dying with Indigo (called Elukami) is used to celebrate Juneteenth in America within the Black community, as staining the hands and fingers honors the legacy of enslaved ancestors in the Gullah Geechee and across the diaspora who were forced to process indigo, a long and arduous process. Nam is a fabulous teacher, and it truly was a wonderful and enlightening way to spend a morning. (She’s pictured here with Gina from Loom Creative, who hosted the event.)

My son and I did go see both Obsession and Backrooms, and my post-viewing opinions on both of these have oscillated wildly. My letterboxed score for both started at a star (BRs) and a half-star (Obs). They have risen to 2.5 and 2, and I feel like, on a second viewing, they might go up even more. I believe they started out so low, as my expectations were through the roof. As I get further and further away from viewing them, and I put them up against other movies, the brownie points mount. I will give no solid opinion on these as I feel that is still evolving, but given the box-office records and the shift toward Gen Z tastes in Hollywood, I do recommend watching. The cultural optics are fascinating to track.

Current obsession is A Dictionary of Color Combinations— a truncated version of the Haishaoku Soukan, a six-volume work published in Japan between 1933 and 1934. This smaller version is a collection of 348 color combinations originated by artist Sanzo Wada, who tapped into the avant-garde nature of the times to focus on the use and importance of color in art and design. It’s the perfect handbook if you are looking for color combinations that work well in textile work like quilting. Once you start flipping the pages, you’ll get hooked.

Two of my girlfriends and I go away every year for a beach trip / Trivial Pursuit tournament. This year, we opted to go to the Hill Country and quilt rather than fuss with the sand and heat. A great time was had by all, though I felt like I did more cutting than sewing. The only other downside was the scorpions in the hot tub (yikes!). Somehow, I brought home the trophy (wait, did I say I hate winning?), though I am pretty sure my friend Miranda is already planning her strategy to win it away next year. (She’s way better at trivia than I am.) We took an embroidery class together, and it really unlocked that skill for me. I’ve been chaos sewing random designs for weeks!

When I am doing needlework, I like to put on some puffery to pass the time, and this past week it was Your Friends and Neighbors, which is an OK show, though I’m not sure why people keep making TV shows about the dysfunctional lives of rich people or why we keep watching them. However, the soundtrack is pure Gen-X with lots of great current music I love. I’ve had fun this week dipping back into the Thompson Twins. Hold Me Now came out when I was 11 years old, and it was really the music that came to mind when I think about starting to notice music. So much nostalgia. Enjoy.

Quote of the day?

"Color does not exist alone. It always exists in relation to light, to material, to the color next to it." — Sanzo Wada

‘Til Tuesday, friends. (Or whenever!)

Burgin

(An MFA grad student at 50+… follow along and read my story here.)