This is why I believe in marriage equality.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how the events in our lives shape who we are.  And how I truly believe that loss is fundamental in shaping us into caring and empathetic human beings.  Recently upon recommending a book to my sister I warned her that it was sad, to which she replied: "What is it with you and being sad all the time? It's like you like to be sad."  She's right. I do like to be sad. Maybe that's just who I am, but I like to think it's what reminds me of how I got to this point.  I have experienced soul crushing loss and sadness, but it's this that makes me know what it is to be happy and to be passionate.

I know what you're thinking: "What the fuck I thought this was about marriage equality not Kate's soul search."  I guess I just felt that was the necessary introduction to my story (it does have a purpose).

As a young girl my mom was very, very close to her brother and my uncle, Mike.  Now I can go ahead and cry daddy issues here (and I have them, I promise you that), but let's just keep it at: my dad was not very present.  Luckily, my mom was very close to Uncle Mike.  He was always there.  He took us on vacations, we took trips to the city, we did so much together and so it never occurred to me that daddy wasn't there.  Uncle Mike was there.  I never questioned his love, I guess I just always kind of knew that he loved me and he always would.

I don't remember how old I was when I found out he was gay. I know I was pretty young. I remember asking him if he was gay. It was incredibly awkward, but it went something like this:   He was in the bathroom blow-drying his hair and my cousin Allison and I approached him.  I said something like "Hey, Uncle Mike did you know that people think Rosie O'Donnell is gay?" and he said something like "Oh really? Well did you know that I'M GAY?!"   and I said "OK." That was that. I didn't love him less. He told me, and I didn't care.  This was around the time that he started to bring Tom around, and I instantly liked Tom.  He had in infectious laugh and he was fun!  I'm sure I was an annoying kid, but Tom was always nice and so funny. (Apparently, the first time we met I was crying because someone threw a snowball into my NEW HAIRCUT, which IS a big fucking deal.)

I also don't remember learning that my uncle was sick.  At some point I just accepted the fact that he was going to die. I could never really picture my life without him, but I had to.  And I also knew that Tom would die. I would lose two of my favorite people in the whole world.  I couldn't dwell (I mean, I was a kid) so I ignored it.  Many years passed and Mike and Tom moved to Madison.  My mom and I would go up to visit constantly.  And just like always, Uncle Mike was a huge part of my life.

Toward the end, I know that Mike and Tom wanted to get married, but they couldn't.   So,  instead they had a small ceremony and exchanged vows. That would be good enough.  After six years together, Tom died due to complications from AIDS.  Uncle Mike was heartbroken and it seemed that he lost his will to fight.  He missed Tom.  About a year later, Uncle Mike also died due to complications from AIDS.  The world lost two of the most beautiful people and it didn't even know it.

Mike and Tom loved each other more than anyone I know.  They were never allowed to get married. I don't know if they needed it, but I'm quite certain they wanted it. Not for insurance purposes or tax benefits or any other bullshit reason you can think of, but because they LOVED each other. So, how can I (or any body for that matter) say that they can't get married?  Who a person loves or who a person fucks is no one's business.  Get over the gross factor. Grow up. We're all human.


So that turned out to be a bit sappy. Maybe a bit rushed. I hope it didn't suck too much. I just felt I had to get it off my chest.

Oh, hi again!
It's me... from before. Thanks for visiting.

So this is what has happened since we met last. I got a job! It's full time at a corporation I probably can't disclose. Here are some clues: It's a grocery chain that specializes in organic food and fancy overpriced things.  There are a bunch in Chicago including a huge one down in Lincoln Park. If you haven't guessed it, then you don't deserve to know. Anyhow, I couldn't find a local coffee shop that would pay me as much. Which is a bummer, because I really like working in a coffee shop! I mean, I thought I hated it, then I realized I like it, mainly because I think I'm really good at it (I won't lie to you guys... I really do think I'm really, really good at being a barista.) But, as it turns out, I'm also pretty good at running things over a scanner and punching numbers into a computer.  Some of us just have the gift, I guess. Maybe when I die and I meet my maker (or whatever there is at our final judgement) it will "look" at me and "say" "Kate, you were pretty good at customer service. Good job." and I'll look back at my time here on earth and think Yeah, I led a really fulfilling life waiting on people. This is what expect will happen to me when I die.

So that introduction was a really long way of leading into my next statement which is: I haven't done much in the way of arting.  I haven't even been knitting.  This is a huge bummer, because it's the main reason I'm here.  I do need money though so at least I'll have that. Now I guess I'll make a list of things I'm going to get with my first paycheck.

1. Wood (for a light box)
2. UV lights (for a light box)
3.  Paper from French Paper Co.
4. Inks (for screen printing)
5. An Awl (for bookmaking)
6. Illustration Board
7. New Pens
8. Canvas
9. Stretcher Bars
10. Thread
11. Book Board

Maybe this will be spread out over a couple of paychecks. I will get it though. And when I do, I'm going to go to my Ma's and build a light table and then start designing some screen prints.  We'll see how it goes. (I think it will go well.)  I just need to motivate myself.


So the moral of this post is. One can only really be creative when they're not working a full-time job somewhere they're not particularly fond of. (I think this is a run-on sentence, but morals don't necessarily need to be grammatically correct.)


I will leave you with this sketch that I sketched about a half an hour ago.

And then one of my Ma from a while ago.

Peace and Love.

Hello world! Are you there? Is anybody listening? Ah, I don't really care... this blog is not my livelihood. HOWEVER, it is fun! WOW!

Ok, so here's the deal. I moved away from Chicago in order to save money. I'm now in Madison, WI which might as well be another fucking country. It's THAT different. Where to start? Oh, they actually air a lot of political ads, which blows my mind because that shit doesn't happen in Chicago. IT. JUST. DOESN'T. And that is great. Honestly, if your vote is swayed by a commercial, then you clearly don't know what the hell is going on. The End.

Also, hippies are everywhere. I hate it. AND everyone is a dork. It's true. Dorks and hippies. Madison! We put dorks on bikes! (Miles came up with that slogan, I think it's pretty catchy.)

OK. I got that out of my system.

Miles and I did get to do some exploring yesterday.  We discovered this really awesome (maybe Tex/Mex) restaurant right around the corner from our place. I had these really delicious tacos called EL Cubano. It was a marinated, shredded pork taco with pablano mayo, spicy cheese, and pickled celery that just totally rocked my world. They also had a complimentary salsa bar (Miles lost his mind over that) and some of the best guacamole I've ever had. It's called TACO PALACE! (Which is almost as good as Taco Town, but still a pretty great name.)

I've been spending a lot of time in the apartment, so I've been able to do some work!




Sketches:

     

    

                          

Knitting & sewing:

And that's all folks!

A small rant

I recently have been  a little down on myself about my writing skills.  I think  I'm a pretty shitty writer.  As a result I decided to back track and see if I really am a shitty writer.  I found that maybe I'm not so bad (not the best, but not the worst).  So, to celebrate I will leave you with a detailed account of my favorite Harry Potter scene: When Cedric Diggory (aka Robert Pattinson) gets his ass killed in the face by Lord Voldemort! YEAH!  Peace out.

In my near future I hope to turn this into a screen print. Yep.