various small altars.

there is this Saul Williams poem: "children rummage through / their mother's altars."

soon, I will be leaving this warm yellow room with ship windows and small altars and the tree will dismantle and disburse and so will I and grow.

before that, a memorial (itself a sort of altar):














see also: http://returningresilience.tumblr.com

on gulls: resilience, flight

the months I was gone / mar. 10:

on New Year's Day I dream about waking up somewhere strange and salty warm, the ocean maybe, or the desert. but in the morning I have this feeling in the bottom of my stomach like I could sleep for a few more months or years.

later, I drive to Lake Michigan. the wind is so strong it almost blows me over and sends sand stinging into my eyes. I walk just to the beginning of the pier and there is one gull working so hard just to stay in the air, there by the lighthouse covered in ice.



I keep thinking about this gull, precarious and resilient, and lately I do not wake up wishing to still be asleep, but I dream about birds flying up my forearms like my mother's favorite hymn. a reminder, these contradictions embodied: stability, flight, returning, resilience.

(journal entries / flying: dec. 23 - feb. 25)

birth:



roosting:



suspension / flight:



now let's stay warm in this last (I hope) downfall of snow.

magicland (cold toes, warm heat)

it's been a month since my return from Ireland. I've been slowly working on the tree, flotsam and jetsam accumulating as I've moved back into the busy pace of my last semester of college. my time in Ireland doesn't seem to fit anywhere into the trajectory of the rest of my life, it feels unreal in the best of ways. my memories, primarily, are of senses overwhelmed by an expanse of green fields, stone fences, and sublime cliff edges. also, the incredible kindness of so many of the people we stayed with, and that picked us up from the side of the road, despite our enormous backpacks (mine was nicknamed "the mothership" and my messenger bag "the dinghy") and slightly bedraggled appearances.

I recently typed my journal entries from dec. to feb. out and folded them into cranes. (I seem to be obsessed with birds, flying and falling, the suspended space between, these days-- maybe this is an apt metaphor for my approaching graduation). in doing so, I remembered this day, jan. 17, that Kal and I rode bikes around the Dingle peninsula and climbed around the ruins of ancient beehive huts and a ring fort perched precariously on a cliff edge:


(Kal used to build little fairy homes like this as a child)


(this seems like a precarious place for fortifications)


(down the cliff edge)

what structures from this life will endure as long as these stone walls and mounds perched above the sea?

thread, the moon, birds (oh, hello)

oh, hello.

I've been lagging behind in writing here because I haven't been home much for the past five weeks, which makes it a little difficult to work on art projects. I spent some time in Kentucky with family for the holidays, and then spent three weeks gallivanting, hitchhiking, bicycling, and just generally wandering around the Irish countryside. Ireland was magic (more on that later), but I'm really glad to be back in my own home.

anyway, here are some pictures of things that I did toward the end of december (more later, once I find my camera battery):

dec. 20:














(green threads, they grow)

dec. 21:

and then, the moon















it rose















the world
is a beautiful
place
to be
born into

(and only later do I realize that it was the winter solstice)

dec. 22
and then some birds, they came

tree limb s ( g r o w t h )

look what grew in the corner of my room overnight ( ! ):

but ok. I found this tree limb half buried in snow the other night, and decided that it needed a warmer home, and so now it is inhabiting the corner of my room. my plan is to add a piece of art or writing or found object or really anything to the tree every day for a year and see what results. the only rule is that once I add something, I cannot take it off (but moving things around is ok). I am thinking I will keep track of what I add here.

and so,

dec. 17, 2010:





















dec. 18, 2010:










how do we g r o w ?
remember
how are we
held
t o g e t h e r

dec. 19, 2010:













all of these doors









I am afraid









to open

I am teaching a workshop!

oh hi there, I'm going to be at NASCO Institute this-coming weekend in Ann Arbor, MI and helping to facilitate a workshop on Transgender Allyship 101. you should come! (also, NASCO Institute in general is really great).

here is the conference description from the website:

Cooperative Cartography: Where People, Places, and Movements Intersect

November 5 - 7, 2010
University of Michigan - 530 S State St -Ann Arbor, MI

The 2010 Cooperative Education and Training Institute will provide a space for cooperative members from all over Canada and the US to connect through the universal language of mapping. Mapping is an emerging process widely used to facilitate communication, share information, and build community--elements that are essential to building cooperation. Using maps as guides for navigating the cooperative movement, we will explore cooperation across geographies, sectors, and movements. Over the last three years, we have explored alternative economies, land rights, and environmental justice, and mapping will serve as a tool to explore the intersections of these and other themes.

Over 400 participants will converge in Ann Arbor, Michigan this November to share ideas, learn new skills, and look at issues affecting the cooperative movement worldwide. Since 1977, NASCO's Cooperative Education & Training Institute has been widely recognized as one of the most important training and networking opportunities available to members, directors, staff and managers of housing cooperatives. The annual NASCO Institute is always a one-of-a-kind opportunity to network with hundreds of cooperative leaders and employers, to caucus about pressing issues, and to work on building an inclusive and accessible cooperative movement.

and here is the workshop description:

Based on the Trans 101 and 201 workshops offered by the Oberlin College Multicultural Resource Center, this workshop will introduce participants to basic trans and queer issues, and will utilize an anti-oppression analysis to discuss how gender identity and expression contribute to and intersect with other aspects of identity. Part of our focus will be on theory, but the primary goal will be to encourage participants to think broadly and intersectionally about trans and/or gender non-conforming individuals' experiences and concerns especially in maneuvering physical spaces (such as co-ops), seeking legal and social services, and in navigating institutional structures. Exercises will explore opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions through scenarios and within the context of the experiences of the participants, especially as they pertain to the concept of allyship and creating safe(r) spaces for trans folks in co-ops and other spaces.

I will be presenting with my friend San during during Course Block 4, which is on Sunday from 10 am to noon.

ALSO, I will be facilitating the Trans Caucus on Saturday from 9:20 pm to 10:20 pm.

hope to see you at one or both events!

Things I wish I could do for a living.

Things I wish I could do for a living I will somehow find a way of doing for a living (and also pay off my student loans):

• cook things, like this:
  
• make tiny collages, drawings, and books, then give them away
• spend time with my friends
• be outside
• jump in piles of leaves
• travel constantly
• hang out with kids and help them make art
• collect odd miscellaneous items like $7 typewriters (for real, I found one!) and smooth beach pebbles

Any leads? Let me know.

Meanwhile, I'm expanding the postcard project. I want to send you whatever sort of little craft I've been making lately (most recently, tiny handbound books). I know there's still a backlog of folks who I was going to send postcards to (I do have a lot of other things to do), but if you'd like me to mail you things, whoever you are, let me know you're address and I'll eventually do so. if you'd like to take the plunge first, you can still send me things at:

em gormley
ocmr 0954
135 w. lorain st.
oberlin, oh 44074

enjoy the fall!