Anarchist Bastard, The by Joanna Clapps Herman

Author:Joanna Clapps Herman [Herman, Joanna Clapps]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Cultural; Ethnic & Regional, General, Personal Memoirs
ISBN: 9781438436333
Google: z3Mx0iHBHeIC
Publisher: SUNY Press
Published: 2011-03-01T02:39:09+00:00

IX

All day our fingers moved: quickly, deftly, delicately, twisting, turning, tying, binding, joining; if we pinched, pinned, picked, prodded, poked; our hands lifted, threw, sorted, stirred, smoothed, soothed; these, our most essential tools, fingers and hands—the co-joined extensions ready for our endlessly capacious manual life—cooking, gardening, laundering, ironing, cleaning, painting, bathing, picking, preparing, but needlework was also our artisanal satisfaction.

“I was about eleven, I think—my mom was expecting Danny, and I wanted to make something for the baby. Grandma wasn't happy that I was allowed to know my mother was expecting. I don't know how we got past that to the sweater.

“But that was the first time I made something that was actually useful. I can remember learning all the hooks and loops. Grandma taught me a stitch that was called a triple loop. You crocheted three loops before hooking into the next loop. I made a hat to match, a little layette. I felt competent to be able to do that. I wonder what happened to that sweater set. My mother had him wear it. So I guess it must have come out all right. I'll have to ask her.

“As we got older, we made our own Easter outfits. I remember staying up into the middle of the night to finish an outfit to wear that next day.”

As hard as the men and women in our world worked, still there was time enough for coffee, coffee and, sitting on the porch talking, platters of watermelon eaten with huge slurps on a hot summer day. We were all of one place, all of this family, all of being together.

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