Do it, thoughtfully.

I can't seem to just get to work today. I worked yesterday, on my day off, and now I need a day off. I do not like to be this busy and it seems opposed to the weather and the lovely summer which is passing quickly as I watch. I did take a photo of my load last week, as it looked really cute to me. So organized and balanced, so neatly piled. I know it must look strange to see me pedal by, but I'm proud of how well I have this part of it dialed in.

There's a lot to do! My few customers all seem energized to order things, big and little, and I am pushing ahead on my bag ventures. I've now dyed some of the new locally made bags and they look pretty great, so today I am printing some of them for sale tomorrow at the Tuesday Market. My plan is to sell off the cheaper imported bags and go to all locally made, though it will take quite awhile to get there.

This is now the time for home improvement projects, too, and I decided to switch out the table in my project room, which led me to remember that it needs painting and this would be a great time to get those baseboards put on at last. I went and bought the wood and paint, and now have chaotic piles of tubs and boxes in the living room again, just like pre-Fair. Not conducive to relaxation.

My brother announced he is getting married in April (post-Jell-O Show, thank goodness) in Sydney, and I am challenging myself to go. I really don't want to fly around the world and go to exotic places. I've never been all that adventurous to begin with, but I do want to be there and it would be a big life experience, and a chance to go on an adventure with my son and his wife, as well as my Mom, who wants to go too. I'm trying hard to talk myself into it. It's a bit daunting, though I know it really isn't all that far from my comfort zone. They do speak English there. You don't even need any shots to go. I'll be turning 65 right about then, too, so all the more reason to do something big.

It's okay to feel overwhelmed. I just tell myself I don't have to go today, don't even have to decide today, though I have to get started on getting a passport. Thank goodness for the internet, because all stupid questions can find their answers online. It can just be one step at a time.

Market is going really well. I had my biggest sales day of the season this week, and wasn't even expecting it. There were a lot of tourists, and I don't think they had anything to do with track. It's probably predictable that during sports events I don't sell anything with Oregon printed on it...they get plenty of that over by campus. People do kind of like things with Eugene on them, though. The bags are selling fairly well, but this week it was almost all hats. People were in the sun and needed a hat, or were wanting gifts to take home, but gifts under $20. People liked my sense of humor, which is a big part of what I sell.

I'm so happy to have such a great product. I feel a bit conflicted, as I am using a commercial item and decorating it, using a craft technique that takes a lot of skill, but my items are not handmade like some people's. I'm not sewing the hats, and while I do dye and sew on some of the bags, I'm not handmaking the bags either, like some do. I'm well aware of the grey areas of crafting, after a lifetime of doing it in many forms. (I started at Saturday Market in 1975.) I'm not on the Standards Committee, but I take minutes for them, so I am involved in all of the intricacies of the decisions they feel called upon to consider. It is the hardest committee! I'm not on the Board either, but again, I take minutes, so I am involved in the consensus-seeking, decision-making process. I speak up if I have something to add.

Some of the decisions are really tough ones. The recent push to advance the artistry of jewelers by restricting the use of commercial charms and representative beads is a good example of a decision that has to be worked on periodically. Many jewelers find that the kind of low-priced items they can make with the charms are their bread and butter. Like my hats and bags, these items, priced around $15 or less, are what people want to buy a lot of the time. Of course we want to be known as a place where one can find the finest and most artistic of crafts, but we also need to be dependable for people on a budget, who will default to corporate crap if they can't afford anything at Market. I personally don't think we can make the restriction fly in its current form. There were at least two jewelers in my neighborhood who would find a huge portion of their items disallowed. Letting them continue to sell them for a year does not help. They still need low-priced options if they are going to be able to make enough at Market to make that 12-hour day pay off.

I'm less sure about requiring people to print their own shirts. I believe in the concept that people should have to be using a craft technique or two to sell at our Market. The Maker is the Seller. It shouldn't be the practice to make a phone call and have your craft items arrive fully formed at your doorstep, even though you designed them, chose the colors, and have to haul them down and pack them up. I feel at the same time that if you are standing there next to your work, as the artist, you are presenting the type of art we want to present.  Those two stances are contradictory in the matter of printed garments, so I don't know where I stand on that one. On the fence I guess. I suppose that not letting any more people join who don't print their own shirts is an okay solution, but I have helped a lot of artists get started by printing their shirts until they could find a way to print their own. Under the proposed rule they would not have had the chance to work their way up to where they are now, and a couple of them are really important members of our Market. So I'm undecided. I need more discussion and more time to consider it. I trust there are others who need more time, and I know from experience that our Market seldom moves very quickly. We take the time to consider. Part of the consensus-seeking process is that you almost don't need a vote, because you have talked it out. If you need a vote or the vote is close, you probably aren't yet at the elegant solution you are looking for.

If you as an artist go to the level where you are not really making the craft anymore, and having employees sell it as well, clearly you have left our definition of a handcrafter. Yet in today's economy, to support a family with your craft, you almost have to form a small business that you manage, using some number of employees to make your production work. Ideally you would still be using some craft techniques to do finish work or something on each item, but practically, you may just be the designer and visionary of the line, and not really the maker. Somewhere in there is a line you must be on one side of to qualify as a craftsperson.

We are challenged at OCF, where I am on the Craft Committee, to address this issue and find that line. It is going to be a difficult struggle I think. I think it is possible that we will have to go all the way to changing our bylaws to permit small businesses and designers to stay within the Fair. Clearly we have a number of them, maybe a large number. Saturday Market already decided that designers aren't qualified, unless they still hand-make every item they bring to sell. Technically this is the stance of OCF as well, but practically, the volume of sales there makes it probable that not all items sold at OCF are handmade by the maker. They might still be handmade, but they might be commercially made, too. It's difficult to tell. We have to decide how much this matters and just how to determine the limits of it. There will be meetings.

And meetings are full of people, usually a lot of people in a small, warm space, looking at each other around a roughly circular space. My main goal in the upcoming difficult discussions this month is to keep remembering and reminding each other that we are in a circle for a reason: it makes us equal. We are all us. We are working in a consensus-seeking manner. That means we all, respectfully, have to speak up with our pieces of the picture and all work together to make the best decisions we can.

There is no room in that small heated space for anger and hurt. There is no need to defend. You must challenge yourself to come with trust that you are welcome, you will be listened to, and there is no one in the room who wants to hurt you, personally or economically. If you feel that the rule, whatever it becomes, might hurt you, you will want to enter the process to make it a rule that won't hurt you, or others. But you have to do that without anger and fear.

Hurting others is never the goal. The goal is improvement for all. If a rule is clearly not going to bring improvement, it will not fly, so let's just work together toward our goals without the pain. Let's trust each other. That starts within you, so take some time before you attend, or before you write your letter, to clarify your fears and own them. Don't bring them with you unless you can take the fear part out and identify the real concerns.

Afraid of the future? Aren't we all at times? Feeling poor, and like you need every penny you can find? Lots of people are in the same boat. Feeling like someone is out to get you? I am here to tell you that is not correct. I have observed absolutely no one in the process with a personal axe to grind. That stuff is identified right away and doesn't survive group process.

Trust me, as I am a witness to the process when I take minutes. If you can't trust me, trust Beth, who as GM of SM, has the highest ethics and commitment to fairness possible to carry. She will not stand by an unfair decision without speaking up. I believe that an unfair decision will not happen in our inclusive process. So trust the process. Work to trust the people. At least work to treat them with compassion and respect. Work hard on it.

When good people gather to do good work, most fears are dissolved and not realized. Are you coming as a good person? I will too. We can work together. See you at the meetings!