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Wednesday, August 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
Artisans ‘re-enchant’ Sisters Country
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
<If America could be, once
again, a nation of self-reliant
farmers, craftsmen, hunters,
ranchers, and artists, then the
rich would have little power
to dominate others. Neither
to serve nor to rule: That was
the American dream.=
4 Edward Abbey
Modern living offers us
many blessings. Who would
seriously want to live in a
world without antibiotics and
hot showers? But our modern
comforts and conveniences
come with a cost. Most folks
are completely disconnected
from where their food comes
from. Tools, appliances, and
furniture are deliberately
designed to fall apart and be
replaced; repairing things is a
dying art.
It9s hard to find <stuff that
works; stuff that holds up&
stuff that9s real.=*
We9re not only filling
landfills with our junk, we9re
also fraying the solid yeo-
man9s culture that lay at the
bedrock of America9s found-
ing. We9re surrendering our
autonomy and self-reliance
to unfathomably wealthy and
powerful global megacor-
porations that keep supply-
ing us with dubious <needs=
and profiting off of planned
obsolescence.
All is not lost, though. A
cultural movement is grow-
ing that runs counter to the
mainstream current. Small
farmers and ranchers are pro-
ducing quality, wholesome
foodstuffs for their neighbors
4 who not only know where
their food comes from, they
Fit For
Sisters
Andrew Loscutoff
Columnist
ISTOCK.COM/LAKSHMI3
know the people who grow it.
Craftsmen are building stuff
that9s real, heirloom quality
functional art that profoundly
enhances the quality of our
lives.
Central Oregon is chock-
a-block with artisans creating
everything from foodstuffs to
furniture, musical instruments
to decorative arts. Turns out,
our region is at the epicenter
of a worldwide movement of
creative entrepreneurs 4 in
the parlance of the moment
known as <makers.=
Blogger Joy Poe noted
in a June 4, 2020 post at
ToughNickel.com that:
<Today, almost every
government in the world is
researching the economic
impact of the creative indus-
tries in their country. The
study by the British Council
concludes that small busi-
nesses 8at the cutting edge of
creativity, may not only be of
growing economic signifi-
cance, but in some sense, are
a harbinger of a whole new
economic order.9=
Gypsy
Wind
Clothing
SUNDRESSES,
SUN TOPS & COTTONS!
HOURS: WED.-SAT., 10 A.M.- 4 P.M.
In an essay on <The arti-
sanal movement, and 10
things that define it,= Grant
McCraken cites farmer9s
markets as an avatar of the
movement:
<The best example here
perhaps is the farmer9s mar-
ket&. (W)e want to see the
face of the man who grew the
food and shake his hand. We
prefer to deal with a small
retailer, someone who calls
us by our first name, and
knows our tastes so well,
he sets things aside await-
ing our arrival on Saturday
morning. It is as if we have
declared war on anonymity. It
is as if we are attempting to
8re-enchant9 the world with
personalization.=
It is our good fortune
to live in a thoroughly <re-
enchanted= corner of the
world, a region at the fore-
front of a movement that is
bringing back to life values
of simplicity, authenticity and
quality 4 stuff that works.
*Hats off to Guy Clark:
Craftsman.
Don’t let
perfect be the
enemy of good
In health and fitness
there is a common fallacy
that leaves some people
stuck and not making prog-
ress. This person9s inten-
tions are pure, their moti-
vation high. It9s not lack
of ability; the cards aren9t
stacked against them; they
are not <too far gone.=
This person leads a per-
fect life four or five days a
week then when something
derails perfection, it9s all
over.
A person chasing per-
fection will sideline basic
skill, habit, and behavior-
building and seek out abso-
lute purity. Once perfec-
tion cracks, all is out the
window and their feelings
plunge to the negative,
condescending, and harsh,
depleting their ego. This
depleted ego turns to com-
fort and indulgence.
All of the sudden the
perfectionist is on a bender,
pounding donuts and ice
cream.
Back to square one.
It9s Monday and this will
all change. Starting again
with a no-carb, no-sugar,
60-minutes-of-cardio,
30-minutes-of-weights,
leading a don9t-eat-this-
make-sure-that9s-organic
pure, yoga lifestyle of per-
fection. Thursday strikes
and a pounding headache
means skipped morning
cardio. Then a cookie tray
is brought over from the
neighbor. Time runs out for
dinner 4 gotta order fast
takeout. To hell with it. Off
the rails. Back at it Monday
morning.
Does this at all sound
familiar? It9s a story that
many have imitated. The
key to lifestyle is first
<life.= Follow the basics:
nutrition, exercise, and
health all revolve around
some very simple prin-
ciples. If adherence is 80
percent, that will produce
95 percent of your results.
Allow for a cookie and
extra cup of coffee. Live
with freedom 4 but know
that on a day-to-day basis
you must be flexible and
just do the best you can.
Over-analysis of the lat-
est nutrition fad, or getting
obsessed with a new trendy
workout, lifestyle hack, or
wellness mantra will be
a house of cards that will
topple at first breeze of
life9s challenges.
Don9t allow perfection-
ism to stand in the way of
pretty darn good!
NuggetNews.com
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