Springtime Hello

My husband and I owned a home before the one we live in now. But to my father’s father, this is our first home. The other one was “nothing but air, really.” When we purchased the house we live in now, my grandfather practically rejoiced.

My husband and I owned a home before the one we live in now. But to my father’s father, this is our first home. The other one was “nothing but air, really.”

It was a condo in a converted warehouse downtown. The first such condos in Kansas City. We were practically pioneers! But to the midwestern farmer, a large space without bedroom walls four stories in the air isn’t something you own, is it? I called all of my grandparents when we closed on the condo because I was so proud. I owned something, and this, I felt, was something they could embrace with me.

Three of them did. One, not so much. He would call it “my apartment” while he and my Grandma Ginny made themselves comfortable on our sofa. I would smile and begin to tell him all about condo rules and association dues, beautification committees and other details. He looked at me with incredible blue eyes like I was speaking in tongues.

I moved on.

My grandmother loved the loft. She loved everything about her grandchildren, whether it involved property ownership or not. She clearly got the idea of how a loft was less work and less maintenance – snow removal, house painting, etc. – and I think it excited her a little. They had worked hard all of their lives on their home and properties. Our loft was a new concept, not only to them but to many Americans, and she sparkled while asking all about it and what we planned to do.

bridal wreath bush

When we purchased the house we live in now – the one with the yard work, the roof repairs, the exterior paint jobs – my grandfather practically rejoiced. This he could understand. We owned the actual dirt our house stood on. It was built of wood and stone and brick and it was solid. The neighbors weren’t on top of us or below us. They were a secure distance away.

My grandmother couldn’t wait to see the house. She waited until all our “pretties” were in place – which means she gave us about two weeks to get settled – and then they arrived. I was so terribly excited because they had agreed to spend the night – something they had never done at the loft, although my grandmother had wanted to. The lack of interior walls threw my grandpa for a loop.

In the back of the pick-up truck, under a cotton sheet and inside an old pickle bucket, was a collection of sticks with small green leaves on them stuck in crumbly mud. It was fall when they arrived, so these sticks were moving towards being done with the growing season. They looked sad and a wee bit pathetic. Until earlier that day, it had been part of a larger bush near their home in mid-Missouri.

My grandfather hauled them out and walked with me around “the property” to find a place to plant “this bush”. I was intrigued because what I saw in the bucket looked like what we had spent most of a week tearing out of our plot. Junk. Detritus. Weeds.

bridal wreath back corner

It wasn’t any of that. It was what my grandmother called a “bridal wreath bush. You’ll see what I mean next spring.”

I trusted them both in their ability to grow things. They were farmers, for goodness’ sake. So, I let my grandfather pick a spot in the far end of the back yard up in a raised bed. It made him happy. A little bit of run-off and a good spot not to “gather up too much late afternoon sun.”

And it has stayed there for almost twenty years, only getting bigger and needing no maintenance. My grandparents are gone now, but every spring I go out and tell them hello. This year, like every spring in the past, they were delighted to see me, and they put on quite a show.

Sloane

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We will run and we will remember

This continues to be a sad and tragic week in America.

I have been struggling with maintaining my inner happiness…

This continues to be a sad and tragic week in America.

I have been struggling with maintaining my inner happiness. Faced with all these events, how do I keep talking about free scarves, tailgate parties and art?

My friend Scotty Johnson, a marathon runner and remarkable woman, posted an image that said, “We will run and we will remember!”. This was a gift. I am not a runner in the traditional sense. But, I am a runner in the broader sense. I have had my foundation shaken many times and I have somehow taken a step and then another and then another…until I learned to run again.

Today I will work to just take that first step…

And, with my sister’s hand in mine, I pledge that every day at STUFF we will run. We will keep offering a place built on “happy”. A place where everyone is welcome to soak up joy, art and inspiration.

We will run and we will remember.

Casey

Casey & Sloane, Wings of Hope 2008
Casey & Sloane, Wings of Hope 2008

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Embracing Simplicity

Parades are funny things. Not just because of clowns and puppets and dogs. Not because of men in tutus and babies in top hats. Parades are funny because they bring out the best in America.

Parades are funny things. Not just because of clowns and puppets and dogs. Not because of men in tutus and babies in top hats.

Parades are funny because they bring out the best in America. The slowing down of time, the sitting still and watching the world go by, the embracing of simplicity.

Casey and Sloane

Last month’s Brookside St. Pat’s parade was the 11th time we have marched as a unit for STUFF. Every year we start thinking about it the minute the calendar clicks over to the new year. And every year we don’t start working on it until March starts. Lots of time in there between the thinking and the working, which is not like us.

We’ve learned to slow down and not rush into decisions. We’ve learned to let the magic of an idea sink in and then rise to the surface. This year we simplified and let the people who walk with us – the customers, the dogs, the children – tell our story.

We are about people, not product. We are about hand-crafting, not production. For one short parade route a year, we are about the color green and candy and laughter and shouting and smiling.

It’s that simple.

Casey & Sloane

The STUFF Honor Guard

Friends and family at the parade

Winner of STUFF's costume contest

The STUFF Honor Guard - mission accomplished

Banner bearers

Sloane and Casey - held together by Sloane's son

a store...     ...named...     SONY DSC

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Voices in My Head

I attended a charity luncheon last week, and the main speaker – a graduate of the program we were there to raise money for – spoke of her life, her troubles and her achievements.

I attended a charity luncheon last week, and the main speaker – a graduate of the program we were there to raise money for – spoke of her life, her troubles and her achievements. A clear voice she remembers from her past, a grandmother, told her when she was young that she would never amount to anything. Ever.

me and sally

 

me and kathleen

I was breathless. I carry voices in my head from the women in my life. One grandmother, when life was too good or edging towards bad, would tell me, “It’s a rich full life.” Another grandmother, “Let’s get this done.” I can’t imagine my life without my family standing behind me. Perched there waiting to step in with help or preparing to step back in pride.

me and sarah

Less than a day after the luncheon, I was sitting at a breakfast to celebrate the leaps and bounds a local university has taken in accepting and embracing people in the LGBTQIA community. At this celebration, three young people told their stories of coming out to their families and their greater world.

Much like the woman from the day before, they stood there proud of their accomplishments but wracked with the pain of the voices they carry in their heads – of family and friends who have not been accepting of their life. An institution – and members of its staff – was clearly stepping in to fill a painful void. A void that four small years of learning or a five week empowerment program can’t completely fill.

me and daisy

These young people stood there alone at their microphones – placed arms’ lengths away from each other – and shared openly. It took every fiber in my body to stay in my seat half an auditorium away as they each reached a crescendo in the stories that left them speechless and upset. I wanted to be near them – right behind them and much closer than an arm’s length – to remind them silently that it is a rich, full life. That the norm is not for those you trust most to leave you or let you down.

me and doris

I stayed in my seat, was joyously a part of the raucous standing ovation, and left the room wondering. Wondering if I was correct in my assessment of what the norm is for family behavior.

I will never know the answer to that. You are given one life full of challenges, loss, gifts, celebrations, pain and love. I doubt normal ever dips its foot into these waters.

Sloane

me and Susanne

me and patricia

p.s. My week ended at an amazing fundraising party for the KC CARE Clinic. The women in these photos are many of the voices that live in my head – from just that one night. I treasure every single one of them.

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Point of Pride

For the last 14 years, I have volunteered on an outreach, education and fundraising project for AIDS Walk Kansas City. And for the past 10 years, STUFF has been a corporate sponsor along with amazing small companies and businesses in Kansas City of the Mosaic Project.

For the last 14 years, I have volunteered on an outreach, education and fundraising project for AIDS Walk Kansas City. And for the past 10 years, STUFF has been a corporate sponsor along with amazing small companies and businesses in Kansas City of the Mosaic Project.

Mosaic Tile Project 2013
Tiles at the First Friday event this year. April 5th was full of art!

This project is simple. High school students in school districts around Kansas City paint six-by-six inch ceramic tiles in the theme “A World Without AIDS” with glazes in an eleven-color palette. We ask that they watch a short video about the AIDS epidemic that ends with a step-by-step on how to paint a tile. Then, we hope their creativity will fly and that their small artwork will show us a world without AIDS.

The simplicity continues. The tiles are fired, cataloged and finally placed on display en mass during one of the busiest weekends of April, First Friday in Kansas City’s Crossroads District. Thousands of people converge upon this remarkable area of town to live, breath and consume art in its many forms.

2013 Mosaic Committee
This year’s volunteer army!

The simplicity ends in that it takes many, many hours of volunteer time to schlep these tiles all over town, coordinate delivery and retrieval with amazingly generous art teachers, number them, clear coat them, keypunch all the data, manage the two events – public and private – and, finally, inventory and pack it all up for next year.

Which is what I did yesterday with four members of our stunning committee. The generosity of the small businesses – like STUFF – that donate discounted or free tiles, glazes, bowls, labels, artwork, printing, etc., is not wasted. From year to year, if all the supplies are not consumed from the year before, we pack it up and store it for the next go round.

All Mosaic supplies packed up and inventoried. Ready for 2014.
All Mosaic supplies packed up and inventoried. Ready for 2014.

I am so very proud of what we do. We hope young people will spend a few minutes thinking about their fragile health and the world around them and then show us – through art – what their world would be like without AIDS. Many take the time to tell us, in words, and we make sure this story travels with the tile to its collector through the label we adhere to its back. We do this with heavily discounted – but mostly free – supplies and volunteer labor. Then we sell these tiles and raise money for the 5,700 women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS in Kansas City.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

My dream for a world without AIDS is simple. That things like the Mosaic Project cease to be. That our energies will be placed differently because we have beaten this epidemic into the earth.

Until then, I will live in the art, creativity and community this project has enriched my life with. I am one of the lucky ones. It’s that simple.

Sloane

p.s. The 2013 Mosaic tiles can be seen for the last time as a group (reduced in number due to sales at the April 5th event) at the 25th Annual AIDS Walk. April 27th in Theis Park. Right in front of The Nelson. Come and see them and take a great piece of art home to remind you what a glorious place a world without AIDS would be. Art lives!

In addition, my greatest thanks to the following companies and people for joining STUFF in supporting such an amazing outreach project: Dal-Tile, Scott Francis and The Art Lobby of The Chair Building, KC Metro Ceramic and Pottery Supply, Crane Yard Clay, Hoop Dog Studio and Fern Exposition and Events.

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A Prime Minister, a Secretary of State and a Retailer Walk Into a Bar

I have had mixed emotions since learning of Margaret Thatcher’s death.

I have had mixed emotions since learning of Margaret Thatcher’s death. I was raised with strong feminist tendencies, and I am co-raising a son in the same vein. I think a lot about issues that women and girls face, and I have built a business with my sister that does what it can to help women succeed. I march, speak up and act up. Regularly my voice breaks at the microphone due to my passion running so swiftly.

Mrs. Thatcher clearly shattered the glass ceiling in British politics, but in getting there she pulled up the ladder for the other women waiting to lead by following in her footsteps. I honor her ability to forge into a world unknown to women at a time when that could not have been easy.

And, yet, the woman that keeps popping into my mind when I think of the opposite of Mrs. Thatcher is Madeleine Albright.

Madeleine Albright's quote regarding women.

This quote says it all for me.

Rest in peace, Prime Minister. You may not have directly helped a woman standing near you, but there were hundreds – maybe thousands of us – watching and learning from you. I pray we took the best and left the worst behind.

Sloane

p.s. This is one of my favorite articles this week. It involves women and girls.

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Sculptor Fred Conlon is just a Big Kid at Heart

Fred Conlon is a comic genius. Seriously…check out these new pieces…

Fred Conlon is a comic genius. Seriously…check out these new pieces by our hug-a-bug friend and creative force, Fred Conlon.

Fred Conlon Sculpture at STUFFHe works with scrap metal to up-cycle junk into his playful sculptures.

Fred Conlon Sculpture at STUFFI look at these pieces and just break into a smile…with a touch of a little giggle.

Fred Conlon Sculpture at STUFF in Kansas CityHis attention to detail makes each piece one-of-a-kind. I want them all over my courtyards at home. I am a “why own one when you can own them all?” kind of girl…but where to start? Collecting is about a beginning with one.

Which one would you buy first?

Casey

 

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New Works Arrive by Catherine Weitzman

Today I was thrilled to take photos of new Catherine Weitzman pieces. Her work is incredible. She lives in Hawaii. (Yes, I am jealous.)…

Today I was thrilled to take photos of new Catherine Weitzman pieces. Her work is incredible. She lives in Hawaii. (Yes, I am jealous.) Her work is inspired by the nature that surrounds. She often uses actual leaves, twigs and wildlife finds to cast her designs. Like this necklace.

Necklace by Catherine Weitzman at a store named...STUFF

I also love how she turns little stones and gold into these soft, flowing earrings. They feel amazing in your hands. They are delicate and playful.

Earrings by Catherine Wietzman at a store named...STUFF

This is a new and very interesting combination. Amethyst and aquamarine set in gold vermeil. I like the little gold faceted beads at the top of the stones. It’s the little touches that make her work special.

IMG_20130403_093856 IMG_20130403_094012 IMG_20130403_094218 IMG_20130403_094348

I would enjoy owning any (or all) of these pieces. But, I must share. So…they are at the store waiting for you.

Casey

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Copyright Casey Simmons and S. Sloane Simmons. People who steal other people's words & thoughts are asshats. Don't be an asshat.