The Grace of a Beader

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About a month ago, Erika and I participated in what I have decided to call a "Beading Bee."  We were lucky enough to be invited to join people from communities across the bayous of Louisiana and the country. A number of amazing people were present, including many from Grand Bayou Village, Pointe-au-Chien, Isle de Jean Charles, and Grand Caillou as well as Patience Faulkner from the Native Village of Eyak in Alaska and Nikki Crowe from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. 

           _{My octopus bag, resting upon a nutria pelt given to us.}

As I sat there, attaching orange and green beads to my double-octopus bag, I thought a lot about what we were doing.  I was having a lot of trouble getting my beads to stay together....my lines wobbled and wiggled.  That was okay for the octopus tentacles (maybe that's why I decided to start with that!), but I wanted more united lines for the borders.  I soon discovered a technique to help with this.  I would start by joining 2-3 beads together on the thread and stitch them into place.  I would continue doing this, 2-3 beads at a time.  The problem, though was that each set of beads wasn't really connected to the last.  The solution: run the thread back through all the beads before tying off -- this united each bead with all the others and helped to pull the work together!

And so, as people from communities in southeast Louisiana and the rest of the United States (and even a man from the Ogoni tribe of the Niger Delta skyped in to share his experience!) arrived to the beading event in ones and twos and threes, I believe a common thread now runs through us. 

Cheesy beading metaphors aside, it truly was an amazing experience, and while very tough and upsetting subjects were discussed, the gathering emanated a feeling of love.  Love for place, love for culture, love for friends old and new.

Some of the stories I hear through Children of the Spills leave me feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and even bitter.  But the community of beaders that gathered last month transformed that.  I haven't lost my determination, my resolve, my passion; but I found a bit more love.  I've realized -- no remembered -- that I am doing this out of love for my place, out of love for people, out of love for all places that people love.  I'm not doing it out of anger, out of hatred towards Exxon or BP.  This project is about healing, not about destroying.

I hope that as I move forward, I can do so with grace.  If I can, it is because of this wonderful group of people that shared their beads, wisdom, and patience with me. 

And as I continue, I will strive to remember the words of an amazing woman who also inspires me:

"...grace is honest and true, grace is unapologetic, grace cannot be put on."

- Christy Shake, from Calvin's Story, her journal of the anguish, grief, joy and triumph shared with her son, who suffers from epilepsy.