New Becomings

  As a writer, have you ever come to an infinite point where you feel that no combination of words can adequately convey your ideas? In the past, as I experimented with different forms of writing, there was a sense of being comfortable in whatever snippets I could muster. It didn't really matter if anything made complete sense to me or anyone, or not. That was fine. Then I got on a stream-of-consciousness roll for a while, starting with seemingly fully formed concepts and an outpouring of words I could edit later. It was great, way too many pages though, and I couldn't format it into a logical sequence, no matter how I tried. It became overwhelming. (I don't think in words or images, that's why writing or talking is helpful to define what I'm actually thinking or feeling, however limited and incomplete the communication may be) But now, it's nearly impossible to get any one idea out... It's not as though I've hit a wall or have some block, it's more ...

  We've been sold the idea that caretaking and homemaking are for the less ambitious folks in our society; those who don't have the means or wherewithal for 'real success' - yet it is the very nature of homemaking/caregiving that creates environments everyone can thrive in. When comfort and needs at home are met with the love and commitment of a caretaker, the family becomes whole (this includes chosen families, not just traditional ones), the community prospers, and society progresses; as those who are nurtured outshine those who are not. Outsourcing the essential elements of homemaking creates a commodification of these roles broken down into unemotional categories of cooking, cleaning, organizing, child-rearing, and active empathy - jobs that can be done by anyone needing to work for low wages. These roles are seen as boring and unadventurous, left to the supposed weakest-minded of society, because they're so simple that anyone could do it. But not everyone can d...