The women have been meeting for weeks bringing scraps of fabric significant to them for various reasons and painstakingly repurposing the remnants into squares of individual significance to each member.
While the quilters have been industriously crafting this lovely product, Ryder's character, who does not know the quilt is for her, has been writing her master's thesis. She does this, inexplicably, on a typewriter (the movie is not a period piece), on single sheets of paper without benefit of carbon paper (google it if that compound noun is alien to you), and without making a daily run to the local Office Max or wherever to make copies. One day, a strong gust of wind picks up the loose papers and blows them all over town. That is the second impressive scene. Months of toil gone with the wind. One character wonders aloud how anyone would be so stupid as not to have made copies.
Throughout the film, Ryder's character, Finn, pounds away at her thesis while treating the quilting bee group to recordings of tribal music all in a very single-minded, self-centered fashion while the bee ladies sit in their circle and share their stories both past and current. These reminiscences are as rich as the quilt they ultimately complete. We never know how rich Finn's thesis might have been. Minus binding or tacking, the winds have dispersed it.
In the wake of the head-spinning week we have experienced, I find a metaphor here for what is happening politically in this country.
The campaign Hillary Clinton has been running is the quilting bee. She hears from Americans, sees the problems set before her, and devises practical solutions to put forth. Her plans and issues overlap and intersect like patches on a quilt. There is an artfulness to it. There is tacking holding the pieces together. What is good for workers, farmers, families, women, students, and children - those things are good for America. That is Hillary's thread - what is good for America.
The Sanders campaign consists of single sheets of typed script with no cohesion within the text. No tacking. Each issue is addressed in isolation. We do not know that Finn's thesis is incohesive, probably not, but once the papers fly the semblance fits.
Donald Trump's campaign - well you could argue that it is represented by the random scraps of fabric, but it is more like Finn's research on 3x5 index cards (for those of you who remember putting your research on those) or better yet, a thesis written on post-its.
No campaign this cycle has the cohesion that Hillary's has. You may remember the Quilters for Hillary.
Hillary has been making an American quilt all along. Every part is tacked down, all the pieces fit together.
Two articles on Medium struck me hard today. I agree with both of them.
Laurel Brett 5min read
Yes, I do. I hate this election especially after what I saw in East Los Angeles this week.
And this one - so like me that I could have written this one myself.
It would be negligent not to note that the others left in the race also demonstrate their work styles within their campaigns.
Donald Trump's work style was best described by President Obama this week who warned that the job is not reality TV.
Bernie Sanders fails to take responsibility for any remarks his surrogates make and when they go too far he only praises their loyalty. So that's an F in management. Among his many accusations against Hillary is his allegation that she flip-flops. Early in the week, he promised to back off the personal attacks and to work with the party. By week's end he had resumed his full on attacks on Hillary, had failed to renounce the harassment of Hillary and her supporters in East L.A., and had made it clear that "working with" the party is his term for arm-wrestling the DNC into submission ... or else. Let's be clear. This is not internecine sparring. It is an assault from outside the gates. The style is to come into the party like gangbusters and blow the rules, structure, traditions, and even the primary results to the four corners of the earth - much the way the wind took Finn's thesis.
Give me a quilt any day.
And this one - so like me that I could have written this one myself.
Suzie Perlstein 4 min read.
Boo. I don’t know you but I love you.
With every primary and caucus, Hillary adds to her delegate count. She won the Guam caucuses today. She is applying for a job, but in the process she demonstrates her work ethic and work style. She keeps her nose to the grindstone and keeps moving ahead. She says she is not a natural campaigner. Maybe not, but she does work at it, and the work shows results.It would be negligent not to note that the others left in the race also demonstrate their work styles within their campaigns.
Donald Trump's work style was best described by President Obama this week who warned that the job is not reality TV.
Bernie Sanders fails to take responsibility for any remarks his surrogates make and when they go too far he only praises their loyalty. So that's an F in management. Among his many accusations against Hillary is his allegation that she flip-flops. Early in the week, he promised to back off the personal attacks and to work with the party. By week's end he had resumed his full on attacks on Hillary, had failed to renounce the harassment of Hillary and her supporters in East L.A., and had made it clear that "working with" the party is his term for arm-wrestling the DNC into submission ... or else. Let's be clear. This is not internecine sparring. It is an assault from outside the gates. The style is to come into the party like gangbusters and blow the rules, structure, traditions, and even the primary results to the four corners of the earth - much the way the wind took Finn's thesis.
Give me a quilt any day.
