Putting the hand in handmade

Fascinating stuff happening in my upper-division class "Craft Wisely: The Past, Present, and Future of Handmade."  You can peek in on the discussion through the blog and podcast being constructed by the students.  And if you leave a comment on any of these posts, the students will get the benefit of realizing that their writing is reaching an audience outside the classroom walls.  Here's what they wrote about recently:

• Adrea confesses her startitis and her "drawerful" of yarn (which brings to mind this comic).
• Ariel reveals the beginning of her knitting -- imperfect, like all of ours.
• Anna goes back to the Renaissance and finds a handmade world.
• Lynn finds a way past the frustration of flawed work.
• Natasha aims to inspire others to create, the way her grandmother inspired her, and wrestles with her desire to knit sweaters that would require tender care.
• Kim shares her passion for making film props, the more outrageous, the better.
• Ella goes back to the very beginning, and documents her transformation into an artist.
• Kate relates a childhood friendship to a favorite artist who works within the natural world, and links to a "This I Believe" essay especially relevant to the class.
• And in the last two episodes of the podcast, students discuss their service project for the Orphan Foundation of America, and ponder craftivism as communication.

Please visit, read, comment, and listen!