4A: SUMMARY

Moving (PC: Val)

Please no more therapy
Mother take care of me
Piece me together with a
Needle and thread
Wrap me in eiderdown
Lace from your wedding gown
Fold me and lay me down
On your bed

Polaroids, Shawn Colvin

Whenever I have a really bad mental health week, like this one, I find comfort in my Aunt Shawn’s music. This song, Polaroids, held me through my time in boarding school as a teenager and is now holding me as my move into yet another new space. This quote calls to me this week especially; the idea of being taken care of, wrapped in fabrics. My grandmother has used her old Singer sewing machine for forever and would make me clothes and bed linens. My grandmother has been sewing all her life and has mended so many of my clothes throughout the years. This reminds me to read My Grandmother’s Hands: Radicalized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem.

This week I have been focusing on moving more of my stuff out of my old house and settling in to this new space. I have also picked up extra shifts at work in an attempt to cover rental costs while I search for a roommate. I feel hopeless and overwhelmed.

At Work (PC: Val)

This was also FWJD week! Check out the website I built:

https://wordpress.evergreen.edu/farmworkerjusticeday/

4B: RADICAL

Studio Space (PC: Grace McLarty)

One idea I have about making this space more affordable is having a collective fiber arts studio in the basement. People could pay a small amount to have access to a set up work space, sewing machine, fabric and thread… The idea is great but I am not sure the logistics would work in the time of Covid.

4C: HOME

The housing crisis makes me angry.

“Assuming you have a 20% down payment ($74,800), your total mortgage on a $374,000 home would be $299,200. For a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 3.5% interest rate, you would be looking at a $1,344 monthly payment. Please keep in mind that the exact cost and monthly payment for your mortgage will vary, depending its length and terms.” Mortgagecalculatorplus.com

The landlord is charging $500 per month more than the mortgage, I don’t know too much about all of this. I just got in way over my head and now need to figure out what to do.

4D: MAKING

Tastes of my place (PC: Grace McLarty)

I am making a home. That’s what I am focusing on. I plan on tying together the act of putting together a house and the ideas behind radically homemaking in later posts. For now, the only thing I can focus on is making my place feel safe.

4E: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Shawn Colvin

from: https://www.mortgagecalculatorplus.com/374000-mortgage/#:~:text=How%20much%20would%20the%20mortgage,at%20a%20%241%2C344%20monthly%20payment.

My Grandmother’s Hands: Radicalized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem.