As I Grow

Hell-o!

This week two things called my attention in a positive way, I emphasise positive because most things annoy me. At this day and age pop culture and wars are destroying the human race, I’m glad not to have kids that would inevitably inherit greater bullshit.

I love hanging out with people older than myself; most of my friends in New York are 10 or more years older and I find it great. I think so many things have been lost in our current culture with the proliferation of technology and social media, that I doubt that kids would play freely on the street, eat bugs and buggers or even get dirty; kids are so allergic now. Teenagers are glued to their phones, taking selfies and getting in trouble on Facebook, and young adults texting their asses off and internet dating!

I grew up with a landline in my house, played in the street with my cousins until late at night, dated boys in school, boys to whom I would never have a picture of, and that I might have called and hang up when his mothers answered the phone. I would meet people in person and would go to many places even by myself just for fun.

I was lucky to having grown up surrounded by old crafty great-aunts that didn’t pay much attention to me but that let me hang around them. It was always a mystery, the baking, the cooking, the knitting the sewing, it was a mystery for me, how do they do it? I loved to watch. Besides all the crafty stuff also there was the religious part (to which I was no fan at all). They were church ladies, all of them single, that would go to church every sunday dressed in black. They had these get togethers for praying the rosary and light some candles to little images of saints, but at the end of the day I think they weren’t very charitable, it was more praying for themselves than for world peace, kind of thing.

Anyway, I was never a great knitter, I was always afraid of counting, adding and subtracting stitches, and I’d get confused about front and back. So let’s say I’m a scarf knitter, I do different stitches but just scarves. Ah! by the way, a couple of years ago I went to Bolivia and knitted a bunch of scarves that still have for sale! So if you want some, let me know! Check the link out.

I run into this article (and video) on the Wall Street Journal Blog, Tight-Knit Groups of Men Unwind. So I found out that there’s this group of people who get together on certain tuesdays at Bryant Park just to knit and some of them are men! And my heart throbs with excitement…

I’ve watched a couple Jamaican men crocheting hats for sale, riding the subway and on the street: maybe Union Square or Spring street. What a pleasant view, but men knitting…I would say that there’s nothing manly er than a man knitting. No boundaries, no gender gap, no preconceptions or judgement, just chill and enjoyment.

This is the link for the article http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2014/08/25/video-crafty-men-unwind-with-knitting/

My second inspirational encounter was this other article on the blog My Modern Metropolis about this 99-year-old woman who sews dresses for little girls in Africa, through a non-profit organisation. She has sewn more than 840 already and plans to finish 150 more by the time she is 100 years old. How generous and compassionate of a lady. (If there’s a god) God bless her soul.

This is the link for the article http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/lillian-weber-little-dresses-for-africa Also, the name of the non-profit Little Dresses for Africa website

I feel grateful for having found these articles, they gave me a little bit of hope in humanity. There is still people who use their hands to make stuff for fun or for the greater good.

I hope fewer men feel self-conscious about doing things that society determined are for women and I hope men (specially straight) feel more comfortable with their own selves and dare to do more out-of-the-ordinary activities.

I also hope that we as society become more compassionate and think the big picture.

Most of the people who did the Ice Bucket Challenge, did it just to show off, just to post a stupid video online, and most of them don’t even know what ALS stands for and didn’t donate money. That makes my blood boil! I saw with my eyes in the street someone I know that was nominated, by whothefuckever getting ready to do his challenge, I asked him:

-Are you giving money?

He said: no

-So you are doing this just for the video?

He said: I was challenged

-You’re a snob then

No, I was challenged

-You’re a challenged snob then

…As I left the group I left yelling: give fucking money!

I saw a nephew of mine getting some iced water on Facebook, he must be 18? I meant to give him a lecture, but I felt I was too bitter and could have been offensive to him. I still might give him a lecture but once things cool off in my head.