Hard Times - A Modern Day Reflection of Dickens' World View

Charles Dickens or for the purpose of this blog, "Chuck" was all about enlightening us of what Hard Times meant to 19th Century English commoners. Faced with moral choices that separated man from beast, Chuck looked at what happens to people when they were hard up, out of luck, down and out... you get my drift.

As Americans compare themselves to others in the past who suffered a depression, it is interesting to compare and contrast what modern man views as hard compare to what was hard 100 or so years ago. Let's say you are Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or Pip. On hard times, you have to look to someone who may not be so kind or empathetic to your plight for your livelihood and existence. The dark, shadowy images of Dickens paint exactly what their world was - ashy, dirty, dingy and dismal. Did the sun ever shine in 19th century London or was the pollution and smog just blocking it? What a beautiful writer who gives us images of a world gone by and the people although fictional, true representations of a difficult time.

We may have it bad compared to our peers. There may be no money to go to the movies and instead our option is to be holed up in an artsy coffee shop with laptop and ipod going as our bleating hearts communicate via the World Wide Web of our misery and suffering. Droning musicians speak from the depths of shallow experience - life is so hard when you are a suffering artist, ,misunderstood and dealing with feeble minds. There may be no money for fancy dinners or designer clothes, but there is so much at our disposal that we have become completely out of touch. While connected to a virtual world and communication being an understatement with text messages, instant messenger and blackberries all making us so unified, we have become completely stunted in maturity and artistic growth.

Hard Times is about speaking from the dust and breathing life and hope into a bleak world. Although not at all acquainted with how this life looks except on paper, a shallow, pale comparison of philosophy is born from utube videos and blogs. Don't get me wrong, I am just as much to blame, but don't kid your self... it is hardly all that bad.

Post Valentine Reflections

Saturday afternoon involved running errands and lunch with my husband. Seeing as it was Valentine's Day on a weekend, my senses were tuned in to the sights and sounds of an international day of love. While saving a booth at Panera which was completely mad at the lunch hour, my eyes scanned the crowds of buzzing tables of people. Moms and dads with babies and toddlers in tow, multitasking by taking turns helping feed the toddlers, burping the baby and feeding themselves, Valentine's Day was probably anything but romantic at that table. Then there were girlfriends coming together over a healthy half salad and cup of soup to bemoan their similar loveless fates. Last but not least were the old, comfortable silver haired couples who sat in complete comfortable silence and didn't try to prove anything. 

As Panera gave me a good sampling of society, I tried to look into the souls of women of all ages and walks of life  to see if they would feel special on this day like no other. My ears were tuned in, my eyes were focusing on non-verbals and I left with only one obvious observation - a multitude of women dressed in red. Maybe that is what it took to remind the opposite sex of what sort of day it was. 

Being married myself for over four years, you would think I would have some great tricks up my sleeve, originality and just the thing to say "I love you." Well, I didn't. Racking my brain for something that was specific, intimate, said 'us' and our resplendent relationship, I fell back on all the old tried and true tricks the spelled out s-t-e-r-e-o-t-y-p-i-c-a-l. In a last ditch effort, a deep fryer called out from me from an alluring end aisle display. "OK," not sentimental, but definitely original. If a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, deep fat fried foods would land me in a sweet, clotted artery sort of place. So, with a sigh that all my creativity had failed me, I hauled my deep fat fryer to the check out.

Save a Children's Book & Save Our Past

In trying to keep up with this new CPSIA law that went into effect today, I have been pulling out my hair. There have been many tell-tale signs that the world is going crazy, but nothing quite says it like a law that is requiring books published before 1985 to be banned from stores, libraries, online selling,  and everything and anything in between. At first, it was like a bad dream... could it be that those who makes laws in our government have went off the deep end? 

My beautiful books with pages filled with some of the best stories ever written. Stories that cannot be duplicated, stories from writers long dead in the grave that had imaginations teeming with ideas and creativity. Not only are things not made like they used to be, but books are not written nearly as well either. I hardly bother with modern literature. It is either fluffy or over the top in abstraction and idealism. I want wholesome, true, and well crafted stories to fill my head. Writers from the past weren't distracted by all the things that consume us in our modern age. Louisa May Alcott - a homely, single country gal spent all her free time writing stories for children and adolescents about maturity, achieving adulthood and becoming a person of character. There are no Louisa May Alcotts any longer. Those days are gone when women writing under pen names and mousy exteriors produced magnificent masterpieces. We are not tried and true. We do not lead lives filled with hardship that gives birth to genius. We are too soft and so when I am told by my silly, empty headed, virtue-less government to basically throw those "contaminated" books in the fire, I shake my head with sorrow.

It seems so dramatic and ridiculous that people can't even take personal responsibility for what they  buy anymore. Someone needs to be the scapegoat. How can lawyers sleep at night who support such cases? It is a wonder that they line their pockets with the gold earned by degeneracy.  How sad that a generation from now will not be able to see and read of the virtues of the past, the wisdom passed down, the stuff that makes a people great.

With this said, please, please, please seize the moment and buy vintage children's books. If this law is going to be reinforced like it looks to be, then it will be a travesty of our age. 

The books pictured here are from Etsy.Com Vintage Sellers including myself :):

www.elizabethwrenvintage.etsy.com

www.inktiques.etsy.com

www.molehilltreasures.etsy.com

www.labrocanterie.etsy.com

FInding Distraction Amidst Despair

In my lifetime, none of the doom and gloom that has become daily news has ever been so prevalent or discouraging. Namely, the economic crisis that is as gray and beaten as February's dirty snow. Another announcement from the CEO of my organization where I work made hearts fall and fears peak as looming deficits eat away at resources and hinted layoffs lurk behind closed door meetings of important suits who decide individuals fates and futures.

This seems to have become a bread and butter staple of daily diet. Bad news, fearful buzzing gossip as everyone weighs his or her value in the hierarchy of importance and asks nagging, repetitive, nervous questions like "are you keeping busy?" It is a dog eat dog world when it comes down to it. The veiled civilities become thinner and thinner when rumors become reality and then survival just kicks in full force.

One thing that is hard to do is forget all your worries and cares when you go home and get away from the gossip, the worries and the empty useless hypotheses. So, how do you do it? Have a survivors mentality. Think about worst case scenarios for a second and then put those thoughts out of your mind because after all you can't control the uncontrollable. Rally. Remember what is important in life: people, relationships, sharing experiences, spirituality, education, being vital in your community. None of these things have a price tag. So much of American culture is built around consumerism; however, you don't have to fall for it. Maybe stimulating the economy means buying in order to get the machine running again. It is hard to believe that a whole country fails based on yours and mine's spending habits. While we wait to find out if our jobs will still be there, so that we can pay for the necessities of life, a stimulus package is being formulated to give Americans a few bucks to supposedly go out and spend on luxuries.

I am holding on to my few dollars with tight fists, but if you are going to spend that hard earned money, give it to something you know will make a direct difference to a life, a family and a livelihood. Don't throw your precious money at corporate conglomerates, but keep small businesses from going under. 

Check out these small business ventures! 

www.modernbean.etsy.com

www.lapetitechouchou.etsy.com

www.newamsterdam.etsy.com

It takes a village to raise a child & a support system to make a business successful

In going about the yearly, dreaded task of filing taxes, my husband was doing some research on how we would claim our meager Etsy earnings. Come to find out, the investments we had made in our little online businesses couldn't be claimed until they amounted to 2% of our gross income. We looked at each other and had to laugh at the thought of our profits sustaining us. Not only was this morsel of knowledge discovered, but also that the IRS differentiates between a business and a hobby by the entity being "profitable" three out of five years. Again, another strike against us. So, why bother was the conclusion that faced our weary, tax filing selves as we reflected on the year past of financial decisions. Good question. Is it worth even trying to be entrepreneurial when all the odds seem to be against you? 

Facing this truth that our success wasn't to be measured by dollars and IRS guidelines, but rather by an effort to rise above the reality of circumstance. So many people start little business ventures in an effort to make a dream come true...no matter how buried and impractical it may be. It is a realisation of the impossible by taking a leap of faith to at least try to not settle for a life destined to be contained in a cubicle by carrying out someone else's wants and dreams and ignoring your own.

Okay, so as the saying goes, "it takes a village to raise a child" (i may be ad-libbing a bit here), so it also takes a support system of others who have those same values to make you a success. You can't go out and make it without having others recognize that what you have has some value. With that said, below I have made my own little treasury of those I recognize have value and this is only the tip of the iceberg.