I am, in my everyday life, a ceramic, metal and fiber artist. I have enjoyed finding ways to combine my interests (making shawl pins in bronze with ceramic accent beads, for example) in new and challenging ways. Recently, I began using my miniature potter's wheel to make wheel thrown spindle whorls for spinning. Once thrown, the whorls are decorated with carving and then fired/glazed/fired again before being placed on a shaft. So, what does this have to do with Obama?
I often take a spindle with me so that I can spin while I watch my daughter play or while I wait for an appointment. It is such an unusual occupation that it usually captures people's attention and entices them to come over and talk to me. How cool would it be if I could somehow turn those conversations toward the election and our candidate of choice?
I was thinking, not so very long ago, about Tibetan prayer wheels. They believe that every time the wheel, with the prayer inscribed upon it, is turned, the prayer is sent to the heavens. There are temples where prayer wheels are turned hudreds of times a day. Again, how cool would it be to symbolically send my wishes for an Obama administration to the heavens hundreds of times a day?
And then it came to me. Why not make a spindle and decorate it with the Obama logo? Would it be symbolically similar to a prayer wheel? The spindle would turn hundreds, if not thoushands of times a day. Maybe it's not the same thing, but maybe it could be. In addition, the random spinning conversations with casual observers often include questions about my spindle(s) and there's a general flurry of additional interest whenever I'm using one of my own handmade spindles. With the Obama logo on it, I would have the opportunity to talk about why I chose to decorate it that way. I could talk about the prayer wheel idea, and about my hopes for what America can be with a visionary leader.
I think that I could be onto something here. I think that I may have found yet another way to combine my interests and my most dearly held wishes. What do you think? If you saw a heavy set woman in glasses, usually with her hair pulled back rather tightly, sitting somewhere spinning, would you come up and talk to her? While we're at it . . . What ideas do you have for bringing your campaign activities into synch with your daily life? How do you open dialogue?
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