Empty Chair Space

Hello, readers.  I've been teeming with inspiration lately, going slightly manic with all these new jewelry designs swarming around in my head--but don't worry, it's not in the crazy woman sort of way.  It's more like a I-can't-get-all-these-ideas-out-right-now/there-aren't-not-enough-hours-in-a-day type of mentality.  That is why my post image is a slightly haunting, yet serene, image of an old chair (with a fall-themed pattern, I might add) cocooned by light, a bare wall/windowsill, etc.


It just calms me down, soothes the wandering mind just a bit...

How have you been?

As for me, besides going a bit nutso, I am fine.  My desk has readily been taken over by a swarm of necklace chains, potential stone designs, and jewelry tools (many autumn/winter designs), so I have been creating a temporary desk space from a stack of pillows; and then, when that isn't adequate enough, I roam from room-to-room in search of a more ergonomic workspace.

Perhaps I should lay off the chai some--maybe then I will anchor down and complete the items my to-do list.  But I can't blame the chai for this one...

There is currently so much going on, with self-imposed deadlines and among other things, national matters of supreme importance.  There is just so much sad finger pointing in this world, where nobody wants to take the blame, and everyone wants to reap the benefits--on either side.  This is as political as I will go on this blog, for although I am not the most political, I find it important to be versed on topics that affect us all.

On that note, last night I caught a snippet of Tavis Smiley's conversation with political theorist Benjamin Barber, the president/founder of the Interdependence Movement.  According to Wikipedia:

"In an interdependent relationship, participants may be emotionally, economically, ecologically and/or morally reliant on and responsible to each other [my emphasis]."  

Barber's work highly resonates with me on a visceral level due to its let's-work-together-and-stop-this-butting-of-heads mentality, and I could not help but reflect on our eternally-feuding, national political parties and their lack of interdependence--their active choice to not work together on issues that again, affect us all.  I'm not saying that an interdependent relationship will solve all of our social, moral, and economic ills (and I know that interdependence is far easier said than done) but goodness, if we only looked past political affiliation and truly listened to one another on a personal, local, and national levels, I genuinely feel that much can be accomplished.  If we work together, a step forward will be taken (and nope, I am not quoting rhetoric here).  On a larger scale, with the Internet, et. al., nations are truly porous, and we are socially and economically (and morally) connected.

I am not an eternal optimist, just a realist.  Here is the link to Smiley's interview with Barber.