In a message dated 4/10/2008 2:42:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
He seemed to like the fact that men wore more lace than women at one time. Yes, that is another popular factoid, as is the bit about making lace in cow sheds and going blind. The blindness one, I find problematic since I don't think it is true that making lace made people go blind. I think that venereal disease made the lacemakers in port cities go blind. Maybe this could be packaged for popular consumption, too, though, since in our society sensationalism sells. You have to find the hook. The other question that I got asked repeatedly, especially by the New York Times reporter was, "Do you make lace because your grandmothers made lace?" She seemed to be interpretting our activities along the lines of historical re-enacting, or nostalgia. I think this is because she looked at the name of the organization, The International Old Lacers and couldn't shake the idea that the "Old" was central to our raison d'etre. While, of course, I was trying to sell us as people who were practicing, transforming and adapting techniques from an old craft in exciting 20th/21st Century ways, which is the way I see our organization. Frankly, my grandmother would never have made lace. She went to college, was a snazzy dresser, had household help, and wouldn't have been caught dead doing any form of textile production. She actually paid people to make quilts for her. My mother was busy knocking down martinis with the post war New York literary crowd, since she worked for a magazine and later in television, and her total inability to do anything of a domestic nature was part of her charm. So, it was all I could do to stifle my laughter at this repeated question. I like to think my interest in lace is because of its puzzle solving quality, and relates more to my mother's ability to do the New York Times Crossword puzzle weekly in ink. Mayra Petretti has coined the phrase that lacemakers are the Mensa of the craft world and I think that is a good statement, since lacemaking is very mentally challenging and creative, and not something you do in order to simply emulate what your forbearers were doing. (My other grandmother, a Bavarian immigrant, might have enjoyed lacemaking had she had the chance, but as I understand it, she was too caught up in helping produce beer in the bathtub, during prohibition to have much time on her hands.) Devon **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
