At the beginning of this year, I was thinking a lot about the importance of being where you are and really sitting with things, even when you experience discomfort. I was thinking about embracing where I am in every way- including physically, situating myself more fully within the context of the Bay Area, and using the podcast as a vessel for that embrace. I was excited to get more deeply involved in the local fiber community. I was hopeful I could host all of my interviews in-person and was open to the possibility of in-person event facilitation. I started by speaking to Geana (GDS) & planned to speak to a few other Bay Area based makers I deeply admire in the coming months.
And then we began sheltering-in-place, and that initial plan to be so place-based stopped making as much sense to me. In the midst of this pandemic, the world is starting to open its eyes in a way that hasn’t happened on this scale in my lifetime, and I want to be responsive to that awakening, both in my interior life and with the podcast.
The podcast is my flawed and work-in-progress attempt at holding space for storytelling about folks’ lived experience. I want to know how fiber intersects with and adds to makers' lives, and it’s important to me that you, as a listener, no matter your race/gender/ability/size/class, see yourself reflected and represented in some way. My hope is that any person can happen upon the Close Knit podcast and have it feel, in some small way, like home. To do this, I seek out diverse makers on Instagram, and more broadly, the internet. While I hope never to make someone feel like a token of facets of their perceivable identity, I must also acknowledge that this is part of how I curate a guest list. (A guest list that I’m aware still looks fairly homogeneous even after I actively take this lens to it). This is why this work is ongoing and important to me to talk publicly about.
As of June 2020, the podcast is shifting back to a global lens rather than purely SF Bay Area makers, with a focus most predominantly on BIPOC. While my original intention for this year was to reach out to a variety of folks whose identities cross a number of intersections of class, race, gender, and sexuality, it is now my intention for 2020 to be more specific with this lens towards folks who identify as BIPOC. I also intend to engage with my guests on a range of subjects. I attempt, and will continue to attempt, to hold space for subjects most maker/crafting podcasts don’t discuss like money, political realities, social and environmental justice. I believe that existence is inherently political, and just because we don’t talk about something doesn’t mean it’s not real. My hope is that this space is accountable and safe for guests to speak what is true to them: whether that be about their identity, lived experience, or beliefs about the world.
While I work on the production side over the rest of June and into July, all patreon proceeds will be donated to the Anti Police-Terror Project. For the month of June, there will not be a new podcast episode. I will be donating the entirety of my patreon income ($197) to Anti Police-Terror Project.
For July, there will be 1-2 episodes, likely coming out in the later weeks of the month to allow time for interviewing and production. I’m grateful for your patience while I undertake this process. Whatever patreon income I earn from this month will also be donated, and my producer will be paid her usual rate.
It’s a pleasure and privilege to work on this podcast, to get to show up as a WIP, and I so appreciate you all for coming along with me. I so appreciate how close knit (please excuse the pun) the Close Knit community is, and I am committed to making this space safer and more inclusive for folks of all backgrounds. If you have feedback for me on the podcast, please don't hesitate to reach out at hello@closeknit.com.au - your feedback is really important to me.
