Confessions of a Wannabe Luddite

Luddite: a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology

I took a selfie!  because: not a luddite. 

Ok, Ok, I'm not really a luddite. I am not completely opposed to new technology. I am active on social media, I am writing this blog, I even have a smartphone.  (Though admittedly, this is new for me, possibly making me the last person of my generation to own one).

I am not afraid of technology, and I use it often in my work as an educator and curriculum writer. And yet, when I am not working, I am inextricably drawn to making things in a decidedly non-techy way.  I am sort of in love with the idea of being a luddite, even if I don't exactly fit the mold.  

This past weekend I went home for Thanksgiving break. (Is it telling that even though I am a married woman with two children, having lived outside of my hometown for over 15 years, I still "went home"?)

While there I discovered that two stores that I worked at during high school and college--Michaels Arts and Crafts and Barnes and Noble Booksellers, were out of business. I felt the shock accutely--not only in terms of nostalgia for my misremembered youth, but also in terms of my current lifestyle. Those places, filled with the paint and paper, canvas and clay, ideas and inspiration, poetry, novels, magazines, journals and coffee of my youth remain the primary comforts of my adulthood. I love to create, to read, and to rub shoulders with others who do the same.

And though I know that the absence of these stores does not mean the absence of these influences, I can't help it. I am saddened by the loss of these spaces. I do know that neither of these companies are out of business nationwide, but I am concerned about their futures. It is not surprising that they are the types of stores that struggle in a web based consumer society.

And while the rest of the world moves ever faster into the digitial world, I find myself more and more drawn to the concrete and the physical.

As a mixed media artist, I have resisted the digital tools that have infiltrated the field. I quite literally cut and paste, paint and draw, in real life, with real tools. 

Over the past year, in addition to painting, I have become obsessed with the creation of soft sculpture art dolls. I am intrigued not only by the final product, but by the very act of sewing. I find it to be relaxing, exciting, even meditative. Every time I pick up a needle and thread, I feel connected to the past, even as the work that I create is strongly influenced by modern imagery and contemporary art. I am connected to the act of creating,as much as to the final physical product.

I don't think I'm alone. I can only imagine that the new found popularity of adult coloring books is about a very real need amongst adults to do something creative, to make something that is tangible, real, that they can hold.

And so, while occasionally I worry about becoming a dinosaur before my time, I am more and more comfortable with my countercultural embrace of the physical and material.

I love reading real books I buy actual magazines.I write in a journal. I find no digital comparison to the act of scratching pen on paper and creating using real paint on canvas. I love the feel of fabric and the act of sewing, of creating something from nothing.



Am I a luddite? probably not. But one day, I hope to become one.