Pride Day 2010

This is a post written by John about an event he recently attended. As always it is beautifully written and I am proud to share it with you.

(Sweet Customer)

Pride Day, 2010

So I spent a couple Saturdaysago (October 16, 2010) with about 3,500 folks in a celebration, primarily, of gay being. It used to be “Gay Pride Day”’ but I think they changed it so that no other group would feel they weren’t invited. These people are that nice. If they played hockey, it would be non-goal-oriented hockey.

Which makes what they go through that much sadder. Nobody bullies young people who are, well, bullies. When was the last time you heard of anybody beating up Young Republicans for fun? Nobody suggests that if too many left-handed people teach school, we’ll wind up with a generation of southpaws.

Discovering who we are and where we fit in the world is tough enough for anybody. Toadd an extra layer of self-doubt, isolation and anxiety is a substantial burden.

However, when these folks get healthy, they do love to celebrate. They are smart, kind, creative, and they love to be beautiful for each other. How, in the name of all that is self-affirmative and rational, can this be construed as anything other than healthy?

When I told my 85-year-old Catholic mom where and ho I’d spent my day, she sounded as if she were concerned for my safety. Which brings us to another useless bugaboo – honestly, gay folks ARE interested in things besides sex. There seems to be a residual image of gay folk as people who are continually scurrying around in dim places, furtively seeking compulsive sex. Well, sometimes we all……….never mind.

Anyhow, I didn’t sell as much stuff as I could have because I spent more time than I should have out roaming and meeting and mingling – and having FUN!

Enjoy the pics – and respond, comment, question orshare humor – as you please. Peace and love, y’all. ~John

Pictures are property of Dylan Blue and JohnMadsen- do not copy without written permission, all ya gotta really do it ask- don't steal.

Community

That time again kids- John's Thoughts!

Our society clings to a concept of the "self-sufficient individual" that is largely delusional. Every time I hear social-spending policy discussed by someone who wants to "keep more of MY money", I have to wonder where that money came from. Does this person have an employer? co-workers? customers or clients? or do they truly generate wealth without the co-operation of others? In fact, the concept of "money" is a massive exercise exercise in community value - try printing your own currency and getting someone else to exchange value for it. Remember the British term "Commonwealth of..." It recognized that some things of material value were best held in common.

We all live in interlocking sets of group efforts - and we are all more vulnerable to their potential failures than we care to be aware of.

Nonetheless, community, in its truest form for humans, is as much a spiritual state as it is anything else - it is grace held in common. In it, members are called to service. All the major religions place importance on the spiritual value of being of service to others. In the material world, our species depends utterly on six inches of topsoil and the proper amount of rain. In the spiritual sense, community is the six inches of topsoil, and grace the proper amount of rain. With these, we flourish. Without them, life gets bleak in a hurry.

There are tools for nurturing community and culture. Symbols, rituals, adornments and history are all means by which collective values can be expressed and shared - we are all constantly using them, often unknowingly, in our daily lives.

When people of good intention and loving hearts gather, that place, at that time can become sacred ground. We are charged with making it so. Namaste - John

1968

Time for another one of John's writings.... what I like to call "John's Thoughts" ....enjoy!


I turned 15 in 1968. It was a year of eruptive psychic growth for me. I read “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Crime and Punishment”. The Democratic convention in Chicago turned into a maelstrom of anger and brutality seething through the streets of the city, permanently shaping my perception os the mechanisms of power. I saw Hendrix live, went to my first anti-war demonstration, met some Black Panthers and read Eldridge Cleaver. And some friends of mine seemed to have had a terrific time at this place called Woodstock.
The ensuing years continued in the same vein – drugs, radical politics, concerts and books – always books and ideas. Psychology, politics, popular culture and the changing nature of the world were daily topics of conversation. Carlos Castenada, Dylan, Muhammad Ali, the Beatles, the Dead, the Stones, Simon & Garfunkel,and on and on – the mental backdrop of the times was a vista of endless possibilities for change.
Then the tide began to turn. Nixon, Watergate, the end of the war. People began to overdose, get strung out, die. The cult conversions. Charles Manson. People began to have kids, get real jobs, graduate college, get married. Disco, for Christ’s sake. I joined the military, and moved away with my pregnant wife. Career, responsibilities.
Still, the books and ideas were portable. A few friends and I stayed in touch. The Reagan years, and the Moral Majority. Rush Limbaugh. From time to time, the few friends and I would wonder what had happened; had the possibilities evaporated? had the world really not changed? Was it turning back into the 1950s?
But, we told our kids about how things had been; Vietnam, the United Farm Workers. The Dead played in the living room, along with Springsteen, Bob Marley and Willy Nelson. Clinton was OK, in a Playboy kind of way.
The new century started as badly as could have been imagined. The “N-word” began to sneak back into the popular lexicon. Terrorists. Tax breaks for rich folks, hugely corrupt politicians in very high places. Breathtakingly bold lies told by a President who claimed to hear directly from God. Another disastrous foreign war. Cultural regression propagated via the should-have-been-cool Web. Despair over the world my kids were growing up in, and my precious, malleable grandson. Horrible place, execrable people in power.
Then a little change began. Young people began to find their voices – world music started popping up everywhere. Celebrations of eccentricity – Steampunk and Cryptozoology.
Maybe…? 2006 and Nancy Pelosi. Maybe…? Neil Young resurrects his career. Maybe…? Can we? A young man saying “Look at all of you”.
Now we know. Yes, we can. The 40 years worth of books, ideas and believing were worth it. Compassion and Justice are back in the national conscience. My kids believe in their own ability to make change. We emancipated ourselves from mental slavery – thank you, Bob Marley.
The wild geese are flying again, and the ants have gone back underground.

Tree of Life

I decided to take pieces, one at a time, and expand or just explain there meaning....or the meaning we had in mind when designing and making it. We had received a great response to this pendant, in the form of our first two sales. This was eloquently written by John... he has a way with words, I am sure after reading you will agree.

One of the central beliefs of the Celts was that all of life existed in three phases. They saw three phases in the lunar cycle (they did not recognize dark as a phase); they saw a woman’s life in being a maiden, a mother, and a crone; and they believed the physical universe to be composed of earth, water, and sky. This is why so many Celtic designs show design elements repeated in groups of three.

I think it’s interesting that the process of photosynthesis can be seen as the interaction of the same three elements; a molecule of water, a molecule of mineral, and excitation from the light of the sun. This simple reaction between these elements produces the carbohydrates that sustain all life on earth. And the ancient Celts knew it intuitively.

The Tree of Life in Celtic mythology had its roots deep in the core of the earth, the trunk extended up through the world of Men, and its branches reached out to encircle the stars. It was seen as a bridge between the sky realm and the earth, uniting both of them harmoniously. The Tree itself repeats the theme of three elements; in its roots, its trunk, and its limbs.

This representation of the Tree is probably modern; it is adapted from a common representation that includes a circle of complex knotwork. We wanted to use this modified form, since it emphasizes another aspect of the design; the interweaving of the branches and roots. This interweaving suitably portrays the Celtic belief that Life was a single, self – renewing cycle.

Thought on our Limitations

Hello Friends! This is craftyGAgal (Meredith) and I would like to share a piece that John wrote with y'all today. We are a team, and most post are from us, as Dylan Blue, but this one is from me. I would like to share with y'all a little about John before I get to his piece.
To know John, I have come to the conclusion, is to LOVE John. He is not only wonderful to work with but even more than that John is a wonderful, selfless, devoted friend. John walks though life searching out ways that he can be of service to others and by doing this GOD, in my opinion, seems to put John in the right places to achieve this goal. I am truly bless to call him a friend.
Beyond that, John is talented beyond words, he is artistic and God uses his artistic talent to touch people lives. I am not just saying this, I have personally seen it happen. Not only can John make some of the most gorgeous jewelry, but he can write in a way that leaves you wanting more yet feeling satisfied. Alright, now I would like to, in fact, I am honored to, share with you a piece of John's writing. This will be a regular (weekly or bi-weekly) feature on our blog tagged "John's Thoughts", hope you enjoy!

Thought on our Limitations : by John Madsen

Years ago, when I first sought help with depression, my therapist gave me a list of suggestions that would help people get out of ruts - one was "talk to a pet" . We have a black lab mix named Gus. He came to us as a young abandoned animal. Per his Lab genetics, and his own doggy trauma, he was very high-strung, but intensely eager to please, and took his responsibilities as a guardian seriously. Sadly, I used these as fodder for teasing him. When I read the "talk to a pet" instruction, he was about five, and settling down somewhat. I sat on the floor in front of him, and thanked him for being such a good dog. I thanked him for watching over us so carefully, and that we knew he'd be willing to accept harm to protect us. He sat before me, his eyes locked on mine. I apologized for having teased him, and found myself admitting that I had been less of a friend to him than he had been to me.

I became aware that this inarticulate creature was being supportive of me, in the only way he knew how, as I unburdened myself to him, acknowledged my flaws of character, and formed a resolution to change.

Humans often identify the structure of skills that are cumulatively known as “language” as being a primary evidence of our superiority to other species. Yet behavioral psychologists uniformly agree that many animals behave in ways that have no other explanation than genuine altruism. In plain words, mute creatures form bonds of love, act selflessly, live in service to a larger group; all without language and other social skills by which we humans identify and arbitrate our concept of self.

While we are amazed by our own abilities to construct, to measure, to transport and to learn, even the grandest of our imaginations of time and space extends to only only a fraction of physical creation. Every night we can witness incredible formations of matter and space wheeling around us with surgical precision and silent grace; mute, but eloquent is sheer Being.

When I am physically still, I move at the speed of the surface of the earth – about 12,000 miles an hour. No motion I can make of my own volition even registers on that scale. When I say nothing, That Voice still echoes among the galaxies.

So I’m gonna take a break from thinking, sit still, and shut up.