Rhinestones

Even though it's still very much winter here in the Appalachians, I feel like I'm waking up from a very long hibernation over the past few years.

The pandemic, the news, and a lot of personal upheaval told me very loudly to be still, be quiet, to crawl into myself like being under a weighted blanket. If you know me, you know how hard it is for me to do nothing. So resting like this has not always been comfortable or relaxing. It has also been hard to be separated from inspiration for months at a time, a companion that I usually know well and rely on for a lot of my identity and job. But we've all had to let go of so much in the past year right!?

Amidst all of the seriousness, what is waking me up from my long nap of the soul is plastic rhinestones. I got the recommendation from my dearest friend to watch Ru Paul's drag race, and I binged the whole series this Winter.  Everything in the world felt so serious and heavy, but watching incredible drag queens who often came from really rough and intense pasts perservere and say yes to joy and over the top adornment and being themselves no matter the cost seeped into my subconscious. Glitter and rhinestones started showing up in my dreams, and I kept imagining ways to cover parts of my house and myself in sparkles. I finally settled on creating a big rhinestone mural made of rhinestones on my wall. I just started it this week, but I hope this is just the beginning of my glittery obsession. It's easy for me to get very serious about pretty much everything, but seeing pink plastic gems light up my walls every morning is a reminder that life is truly ridiculous and hard and wonderful, and I can take things seriously while also being very alive and sparkly.

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