Johnny Crappleseeds

From 120 Great Fairy Paintings Clip Art by Dover Books

I'm here today to talk about transparency, the internet and how I navigate the negativity that abounds online. The internet has created an environment where every weenie with a computer can stomp around anonymously and take a poo on anything they choose without consequence. People are emboldened and they are angry and that anger is filtering into every level of personal discourse.

I think if you're going to be online, you're going to have to accept that no matter what you say or how you say it, even if you're attempting to be the height of diplomacy and to avoid controversy at all costs, you will eventually piss someone off and they will feel compelled to tell you why. If you put yourself out there, people are going to have something to say about that. If we make ourselves smaller to make them happy, they win.

It's not possible to entirely remove ourselves from negative people, in real life or online. We can shut down our blog and our Facebook pages and stop writing books and making videos and designing for magazines and go hide in our room, but eventually we'll have to go out in public and eventually some weenie will be offended by our mere presence and attempt to hurt our feelings.

People who are mean are merely scared. Fear is a powerful emotion. They are afraid and they are threatened by people they perceive as being fearless. That is a threat, isn't it? Because the more fearless we are, the less excuse they have for clinging desperately to their own fear. We can either choose to get caught up in their fear or we can opt to deflect it with love. The more we shine the light on negativity, the harder it becomes for it to lurk in the shadows.

"The opposite of love is fear, but what is all encompassing can have no opposites." A Course in Miracles

Shine on my friends and don't let the bastards get you down.

Love
Madge

9/11 and Saturday Craft Blog Links

Photograph by Andrea Booher of FEMA Public Domain from WikiMedia Commons

We were in the Outer Banks in North Carolina on September 11th, 2001. It was our first vacation in several years and it felt really good to unwind. The tourist season was over and it was quiet and beautiful. We woke up early and decided not to turn 0n the TV. Instead we drove over to the dunes at Kill Devil Hills. We saw two men dressed as Orville and Wilbur Wright and a camera man following them as they dragged a full sized replica of the first glider up the dunes.

"This is amazing." I said to my husband. "We're standing in the footsteps of the first flight."

Then I heard some people talking about planes flying into the Twin Towers in New York City.

"Are you talking about a movie? Is that actually happening?" I asked, feeling that dreadful churning in the pit of my stomach.

"Haven't you heard? It's actually happening. It's been on the news all morning."

I stood there in total shock, fully realizing the irony of this moment and knowing that nothing would ever be the same again. Here we were in the first footsteps of flight and there was an unimaginable tragedy unfolding around airplanes being used as weapons. The rest of that week was surreal. We had to call again and again to discover if our family and friends in NYC were okay (they were, though the stories they shared were unreal) and we had to keep a sense of happy calm for our daughter's sake. She was far too young to understand what had happened. I still don't understand.

I don't know what makes people become so hateful that they'd perpetrate an act like that. I don't begin to fathom that kind of insanity. Who can, really? I do know that the fear of "the other" is a powerful tool for persuasion.

It is crucial that we counter that fear with love. What separates us is far less significant than what unites us.

Perhaps, one day, we'll all understand that and war and terrorism and violence will be impossible.

On a lighter note here's what's happening in the craftiverse where we fight destruction every day through the power of creativity:

Big crafty shout out to Andrew Thornton for giving away a copy of Bead Chic in his blog! Go leave a comment for your chance to win!

Thanks to Rebecca E. Parsons for making me a Dream Doer in the Cre8tive Compass blog.

Congrats to Allison Stillwell formerly of Art Girlz for starting on her new creative adventure with her new blog!

And here's what's happening with the Crafty Bloggers Gang "We've got glue guns and we're not afraid to use them.":

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how I took a bite out of a sweater with inspiration from the new book Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller.

Mixed Media Artist
What did you name your business? Cyndi is betting that there's a good story behind it!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Confidence is sexy. Madge muses about the power of embracing uniquely wonderful you.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Many artists and crafters find it helpful to set goals for their art but do so in different ways. How about you? Do you have any goals or methods for improving in your art?

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy asks about your creative muse and shares some information about hers.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside this week there are tutorials on how to purl stitch with beads, embellish a softie with a heart, a recipe for a stop chewing spray for dogs, and how to eliminate a side seam on a pants pattern.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has some great samples working with paper that has a white core.

Aileen's Musings
This week Aileen offers you her gouache painted sunflower tutorial using a black and white photograph she took of her harvested sunflowers.

About Family Crafts
Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? Sherri has some fun and simple ways you can celebrate with the entire family.