A SONG FOR OCCUPATIONS

From Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1891-92)

A SONG FOR OCCUPATIONS

A song for occupations!
In the labor of engines and trades and the labor of fields I find
the developments,
And find the eternal meanings.

Workmen and Workwomen!
Were all educations practical and ornamental well display’d out
of me, what would it amount to?
Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman,
what would it amount to?
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that
satisfy you?

The learn’d, virtuous, benevolent, and the usual terms,
A man like me and never the usual terms.

Neither a servant nor a master I,
I take no sooner a large price than a small price, I will have my
own whoever enjoys me,
I will be even with you and you shall be even with me.

If you stand at work in a shop I stand as nigh as the nighest in
the same shop,
If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend I demand as
good as your brother or dearest friend,
If your lover, husband, wife, is welcome by day or night, I must
be personally as welcome,
If you become degraded, criminal, ill, then I become so for your
sake,
If you remember your foolish and outlaw’d deeds, do you think
I cannot remember my own foolish and outlaw’d deeds?
If you carouse at the table I carouse at the opposite side of the
table,
If you meet some stranger in the streets and love him or her, why
I often meet strangers in the street and love them.

Why what have you thought of yourself?
Is it you then that thought yourself less?
Is it you that thought the President greater than you?
Or the rich better off than you? or the educated wiser than you?

(Because you are greasy or pimpled, or were once drunk, or a
thief,
Or that you are diseas’d, or rheumatic, or a prostitute,
Or from frivolity or impotence, or that you are no scholar and
never saw your name in print,
Do you give in that you are any less immortal?)

2

Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard,
untouchable and untouching,
It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether
you are alive or no,
I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns.

Grown, half-grown and babe, of this country and every country, in-
doors and out-doors, one just as much as the other, I see,
And all else behind or through them.

The wife, and she is not one jot less than the husband,
The daughter, and she is just as good as the son,
The mother, and she is every bit as much as the father.

Offspring of ignorant and poor, boys apprenticed to trades,
Young fellows working on farms and old fellows working on farms,
Sailor-men, merchant-men, coasters, immigrants,

… read the full text at the Walt Whitman Archive

Rie’s response

Indigo.

Indigo Workshop

This indigo workshop was the first event we organized as a class.  I would say this experience brought all of us closer together. We shared time, space, and a wonderful experience. We all are individual, unique characters just like the things we brought to dye in indigo. This indigo experience left each of us something really strong and magical we’ll never forget. Now we are one team just like all the items hanging in the SMITH’S studio in one color -Indigo.  It was great to learn about the physical nature of the dye.  The videos we saw of the different cultures using this dye was mesmerizing.  Seeing the workers in India standing in the living vat of indigo showed a literal connection to the people and the process.  This is a connection that both producers and consumers in industrialized nations have largely lost.  This problem is one that a return localized crafts production can begin to address.

Beekeeping

This weekend was different than my expectations for the beekeeping workshop.  I was hoping to learn more about the practice of beekeeping in the context of an urban environment.  And although there was a very interesting discussion between J. Morgan Puett and her brother who is a fourth generation beekeeper with an apiary in Hawaii, this was more about his efforts in spite of the colony collapse disorder.  I was hoping to learn about the equipment and practice of beekeepers as it has been one of my dreams to keep bees myself one day.  This being said, I really enjoyed Mark Thompson’s lecture on his life and artwork involving bees.  It was beautiful to learn of his projects involving the bee backpack and the handcrafted objects he made in order to do them.  The footage of him walking alongside rivers and rice fields in Japan was incredible.  What struck me the most in this work was the notion of time.  Mark along with the water and plants and people of this countryside move slowly.  The only thing moving quickly were the bees, and yet in order for the bees to maintain a sense of “home” Mark was required to move very slowly.  The pace of this work was in sharp contrast to the dizzying effect of the film that he showed titled “Immersion.”  This contrast, for me, showed Marks remarkable understanding of the complex relationship we have with bees and the bees relationship to their environment.

Letterpress

Our class took a trip to Arion Press/ M & H Type.  This was my first time visiting a letterpress studio. My favorite moment was when I saw two generations of people working next to each other in the same room on the same project.  There was a girl, probably in her mid-twenties, book binding by hand.  Next to the girl there was a man in his sixties printing book covers.  It was a really beautiful sight- two workers from different generations sharing the same passion and creating beautiful books together. At that point I realized that beauty is  ageless and never out of style. Good crafts can live forever. Thank you, Arion Press/ M & H Type.  I enjoyed the tour very much.

Ceramics

As a female maker, I admire businesses founded by females.  Heath Ceramics was established in mid-1940s by Edith Heath.   After the tour, I thought that Heath Ceramics is a good example of a company that possesses a good balance of handcrafting and manufacturing.  They also have a great system to distribute good handcrafted products to the consumer. They are particular about how they want their business run.  I saw pride in every person that worked there.