We All Will Be Received

For reasons I cannot explain

There's some part of me

Wants to see Graceland

And I may be obliged to defend

Every love, every ending 

Or maybe there's no obligation now

I have reason to believe

We all will be received

In Graceland. 

paul simon, graceland

This song has been running through my head for two days now. The best part of this strange interlude here in Washington is walking through the city in the mornings and evenings to go to the office, headphones on, getting the whole visual city experience with my own soundtrack. When I get to work, it's hard to leave my rich sensory universe and return to the present reality of an office and a (not Macintosh) computer. 

And I like being between the worlds on that walk, where no difficult decision about moving is imminent. It's not so much that I don't want to leave Boulder under any circumstances; far from it. But I'm not sure at all that this scenario is the right one to move for. I'm still hoping for some compromise that will allow me to do the work from home for a while, and that may even be best for all concerned.

It's raining here today again; it rains so rarely in Colorado that it's usually a fine excuse for what I call an introvert's day, a day when there's no pressure to go out and be perky while engaging in athletic activity (something I usually ignore anyway). While you probably couldn't call retreat like that on every rainy or gray day here, I'm in need of an introvert's day, so I'm laying low. A good day for blogging.

We all will be received.  I've been working a lot with the idea of receiving - how hard it can be sometimes to simply be open to what's available to you, and let it in. And also to be received by others, for them to let me in, to trust me. How to let people know what you need, and that you need them, without being, ugh, needy. I never saw a moment of a model for that in my parents, two people as closed off emotionally as they could be, and as determined to shut down any expression of my own emotions. Some days it seems as if all of life is about healing what happened in the first ten years, and then making amends for all that you unconsciously did after that. 

My traveling companions

Are ghosts and empty sockets

But I've reason to believe 

We all will be received

In Graceland.

Back on topic . . .

Back on topic, Suzy Mendes, the fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, wrote a column about the Sustainable Luxury Conference in New Delhi that echoes a Slow Cloth and Slow Fashion manifesto:

But suppose that luxury were separated from fashion, with its constant desire for change and built-in obsolescence? Then the essence of the luxurious would be a private joy in something that was crafted to last.

The sari is a fine example of the enduring power of a piece of cloth . . . at its most tranquil and beautiful, the sari is an object of desire that is nurtured and passed on to the next generation. It has an image that any luxury company would long for.

The spirit of the sari is not the only thing that India has to offer high fashion. How can powerful brands teach anything to a country that understands the luxuriant greenery of a Mogul garden or the delicate craft that goes into a hand-loomed shawl?

Two different strands are converging in fashion: a yearning for lasting value and an urge to know more about the way that fabrics are sourced and clothes are made. This is the sea change in a fashion world where the fate of the planet is becoming more of an issue than the latest foibles of  celebrities.

You don't have to subscribe to a lot of hyper "eco-chic" marketing to understand this. I think this sensibility bodes well for every artist and designer working with cloth, whether in the context of fashion or art or just making beautiful and interesting things. 

Craftsmanship, artisanship, is a source of joy and beauty and meaning; it can be a lifelong pursuit on its own merits, encompassing all the soul and authenticity we yearn for, without having to be the ugly stepchild to Fine Art or anything else that's mostly a construct of society, if we can only restrain our egos that want something different.  (photo, right: Russell Boyce/Reuters)

The designer Manish Arora with models during Wills Fashion Week in New Delhi. 

(J. Adam Huggins for the International Herald Tribune )

 

Comments

[Heather]

"Some days it seems as if all of life is about healing what happened in the first ten years, and then making amends for all that you unconsciously did after that."
Oh so true. I am working on this yet again in my own life.

It does sound like this trip has not brought all that that it night have. I like what you say about receiving, it's true that can be very difficult to do sometimes.

I wish you the best and hope that spring lightens your heart.

xoxo

[Ted Neustaedter]

The workmanship in those dresses is amazing. I'm envious because I've never been outside of Canada and the USA.

[Lainie]

Thanks Jane -- it's not the "little trip" that's a significant event -- that's business travel, plain and simple. Other things, though, are proving significant, though probably not more than usual. Thanks for your good wishes.

[Jane]

It sounds like you little trip is proving to be quite a significant event. I hope it all works out for you.