What's missing

This week marked class two of my four-week Embroidered Portraits class at the new and wonderful Textile Arts Center in Gowanus, Brooklyn. I have one male student, a knitter, and four women. All of them are doing interesting work, and I am excited to watch their processes and progressions. 

As often happens in craft-based classes, we have been sharing personal histories. Today we talked about coming of age experiences. Last week, we talked about the difficulties of meeting people in New York. I commented that people come to New York for all kinds of reasons, one of which is to start over, and even create a new persona. I feel as though many of the men I've met are looking to fill something that's missing in them. Instead of looking internally, they're looking externally, setting up a situation where I become a caregiver for someone I hardly know. New York, with its large number of people, can be a safe place to hide and to avoid confronting personal issues. Instead of looking inward, we can always find another person, a stranger even, to help fill our time and give us the sense that we are changing and experiencing new things, when we actually remain static and inert internally.

Here's to personal growth of all kinds...