DIY

My life is filled with invention and reinvention. I often feel like I come from nowhere, but I am strongly connected to my family and our traditions. I find myself cobbling together from old pieces of my life and my family with new treasures, making it up as I go. I spend much of my time doing community work, advocacy, and activism, but I've yet to find a model that I like. So, I make it up as I go, hopefully listening and learning more than I speak and teach. In my emotional life, I've found it best to tear everything apart, and build back up as I find things that work for me. Sometimes that means seeking pieces of what I threw away. I've also rediscovered my love of crafting, a throwback to the craft store shopping spree I had for my 8th birthday. My crafts are rarely cute, but they are usually useful, and I love watching things come together. I prefer creating or fixing with my own two hands, resisting the consumer culture, if only when the mood strikes me. I grew up in a working-class home with a mother who likes things to look classy. You would never know that she used pink nail polish to change the main color on an old painting, or that her window valances are made from pillow cases. I am loathe to throw things away, because who knows when I could use them again?

And so, here it is. Pastmatopoeia, a blog of crafting, cooking, activism, and emotional health, which I make up as I go.

Pastamatopoeia

The names in my family sound like pastas. Because we're wonderfully Italian, but really from New Jersey.