In a Heartbeat
I think about it and I think:
I can’t see myself getting big and round
and a baby popping out of me. I can’t imagine
dressing her up the way I would’ve dressed myself up
if I thought I was pretty.
Sending her to school,
making her take piano lessons,
just like I did when I was little.
I most definitely can’t imagine anything beyond that.
So when people ask me,
Do you want to be a mother someday?
I just say, I want to be
Mother of the World
because then I wouldn’t have to lose sleep over
a crying, pooping, burping, drooling, peeing bundle of flesh,
I would lose sleep
over the starving people in Africa
or from stopping global warming
or from finding a cure for cancer
or from giving money away to everyone who needs it
and from building libraries
and from mulling over the mysteries of life and turning them into
poems.
And whoever asked me would
look at me funny
and leave but I don’t care because
I’m happy and I’m going to be Mother of the World.
…
But now I think
it’s not all too fair to my mother
for me to say all that because when
I was born and when
my little sister was born and when
my baby sister was born,
and she held each of us in turn to her heart
and she looked at my dad and they knew—
they both just knew—
that they were holding the whole world in their hands.
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Showing posts tagged recycling
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Fashion Statement of the Day: Designer Tina Sparkles upcycled 30lbs-worth of computer wires and a thrift-store curtain to craft her one-of-a-kind “Systems Supernova” dress for the Austin Fashion Week.
“I read how e-waste is being shipped to developing countries and how people are melting it at homes there,” says Sparkles. “I was inspired to make this dress to address the issue of e-waste in the form of an art project, not to make a dress that was literally meant to be purchased and worn.”
[wired.]
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Lane Patterson makes lamps from a variety of cast-off items, including cans, license plates, and rotary lawn mower blades.
(via hautenature.com)
For other lights made from other things, check out earlier Unconsumption posts here.
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There’s nothing like a deceiving piece of decorative furniture. Ubico Studio, a Tel Aviv-based design and production team, has created tree stump-shaped tables and stools from recycled wood scraps that are rescued from construction sites, dumpsters and other sites that would normally discard them. Although shaped like real tree stumps, the eclectic and mismatched surface gives them a cool upcycled look.
(via From Scrap To Stylish Stump: Recycled Timber Furniture By Ubico Studio : TreeHugger)
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Filipino entrepreneur Illac Diaz is aiming to help a million poor people in a year, and with the help of some plastic bottles and a clever social media campaign may do even better.
Diaz’s project appears simple — fill discarded soft drink bottles with water, place them in roofs of houses and allow the refracted light to brighten homes during the day instead of using electric bulbs.
However, what began as a small-scale effort in a Manila slum early this year has quickly spread throughout the Philippines and even into impoverished communities as far away as Colombia, India and Vanuatu.
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More than 15,000 solar light bottles have been installed in slums around the Philippine capital this year, and the project was set to ramp up with another 10,000 to be put in homes during a mass day of volunteer action on Wednesday.
Diaz said another 100,000 would be installed in the Philippines’ second-biggest city, Cebu, in December, putting the project on track to meet or exceed its goals of helping one million people over 12 months.
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In the San Pedro slum community on the outskirts of Manila where the project started, residents think not about the climate but of the extra light they enjoy during the day without having to use an expensive electric bulb.
Many of the slum houses are dark even during the brightest days, with few windows in the concrete or corrugated iron walls to let the daylight in.
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The solar light bulb emits the same amount of light as a 55 watt electric globe, and is expected to last for up to five years, according to Diaz.
All that is required is a disused soft drink bottle, which is then filled with purified water and a small amount of bleach to stop any bacteria from growing.
The bottle is then placed inside a hole in the roof and sealed so that rain does not leak through. When the light passes through the bottle, it refracts and shoots into the room in all directions.
MyShelter Foundation is not the first group to use the solar light bottle — Brazilian Alfredo Moser is largely credited with coming up with the concept a decade ago.
However Diaz’s organisation has been singled out for praise from the United Nations for its ability to upscale and reach so many people.
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Artist/Etsyian PluckingPendants upcycles old guitar strings into bracelets, necklaces, cufflinks, and other accessories.
See also: Earlier Unconsumption post about other bracelets made from guitar strings.
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Have you wrapped gifts in cloth, perhaps in scarves or other fabric items that are reusable? (It’s like giving the recipient a second gift!)
For some beautiful cloth-wrapping ideas, watch this how-to video demonstrating several furoshiki wrapping variations.
For other furoshiki folding patterns, check out the diagram in the Unconsumption archive post here.
[The video (by RecycleNow) also may be viewed here. Thanks, Green Thing — another great find!]
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Here’s an item to add to the global “Why didn’t I think of that?” file.
(via Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh)
Want other things-repurposed-as-lighting ideas? See earlier Unconsumption posts here.
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Hundreds of smooth shards of glass collected from area beaches comprise each piece of Cornwall, UK-based artist Jonathan Fuller’s work.
View his gallery of sea glass assemblages here.
For artwork made from debris washed ashore on California, Australia, and east Africa beaches, see earlier Unconsumption posts here, here, and here.
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DIY idea du jour: Turn the covers of old books into binders.
Ahhh-design.com provides a tutorial, which is pretty straightforward.
(Spotted on Nancy Smith’s “Recycle and Upcycle” Pinterest board.)
![underanorangesky:
thedailywhat:
Fashion Statement of the Day: Designer Tina Sparkles upcycled 30lbs-worth of computer wires and a thrift-store curtain to craft her one-of-a-kind “Systems Supernova” dress for the Austin Fashion Week.
“I read how e-waste is being shipped to developing countries and how people are melting it at homes there,” says Sparkles. “I was inspired to make this dress to address the issue of e-waste in the form of an art project, not to make a dress that was literally meant to be purchased and worn.”
[wired.]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7u932ulbj1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
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“And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at...”
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le parc de belleville (by isabelle bertolini)
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OMG =))))
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