If your answer is “some woke invention designed to make me feel like a bad person,” this may not be the post for you. Otherwise, let’s try this out: The dictionary says that ableism is discrimination against people on the basis of dis/ability (much like sexism is discrimination against women on the basis of sex),Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Ableism, or, Ableism: What The Fuck Is It?”
Author Archives: Andrea McDowell
Review: Stitched Sewing Organizers
In Which Andrea Complicates Simple Sewing Projects Stitched Sewing Organizers is a project book for a good number and variety of sewing-related pouches, organizers and items (like pin cushions and needle books). I bought it last year, and this year (after having started a few embroidery projects and letting the spools of floss and threadContinue reading “Review: Stitched Sewing Organizers”
Review: 30 Wears App
This is an unpaid and unsolicited review; I just wanted to share my experiences after using it for two years since it’s been so helpful in getting a handle on fabric and pattern purchases and the number of garments I sew. TL/DR Thanks to this lovely little gizmo, I now know that I should thinkContinue reading “Review: 30 Wears App”
truth & reconciliation
I have been reflecting on my childhood experiences for decades, and if there has one thing I have learned, it’s that everyone wants to skip over the truth and get right to the reconciliation. No acknowledgement. No real apology. No genuine forgiveness. Just jump over everything potentially uncomfortable and land where the perpetrator wants toContinue reading “truth & reconciliation”
Review: … and along came Alexis
ARC received from the publisher in exchange for this review: I have learned, over the course of Echo’s life, that I can count on one of two reactions when I talk about our family: pity, or indifference. If I talk about how difficult it can be, emotionally and logistically, we get pity: people feel badlyContinue reading “Review: … and along came Alexis”
Political
Thank God the election is almost over(-ish). I mean, it’s barely begun; it’s been a short election and despite the best efforts of the media, I don’t know too many people who have been paying much attention to it. People’s worry banks are full of other things, like “will schools stay open this year” andContinue reading “Political”
separation
Here’s a thought experiment, or a mental exercise, I often try when out hiking. It doesn’t have to be strictly for hikes, of course, or even outside. If there is a living thing nearby, it will apply—even a spider in the corner of the ceiling, or a moth that got in and is circling theContinue reading “separation”
review: Crow Planet
(Being a review of an entire book in which the author spends the whole thing watching, taking care of, interacting with, and loving a young disabled crow, also clearly loved by its parents and loving its life in turn, and in which the author ends the book with exactly the same amount and degree ofContinue reading “review: Crow Planet”
we speak to become
I have three sewing projects cut out and ready to sew, but I haven’t touched them in months. Partly because sewjo is in short supply during lockdown, but mostly because I’ve been having so much fun with handwork projects: cross stitch, embroidery, stumpwork, crochet. But when I saw Melanie post that this spring’s Literary SewingContinue reading “we speak to become”
Review: Japanese Wonder Crochet
In amidst a year+ of working from home and having umpteen gazillion video conferences a week, I’ve discovered a) it reduces my wardrobe needs to about zero, and b) it makes focusing on small stitches for both clothes sewing and embroidery much more difficult. I’m not sewing clothes at all right now, and I nowContinue reading “Review: Japanese Wonder Crochet”
Zoopolis 