Lariats
Lariats are my signature pieces. I design them with pearls or other gemstones. Lariats are an American jewelry invention. A lariat is a long usually single strand necklace, that does not have a clasp. Initially popular in the late 1800’s during the Art Nouveau Period, they reached their zenith during the Roaring 20’s. It was said that Zelda Fitzgerald had a pearl lariat that was one hundred feet long. They were testaments to the American belief that ”anything worth doing was worth overdoing”. Consequently, in the years that followed, they fell out of favor during the Great Depression. However, I believe that in moderation, they are the most versatile piece of jewelry a woman could possess. Initially, lariats were only a few feet long. However, if the length of the lariat equals the height of the wearer, it is the perfect length to be worn a variety of ways around the neck as well as around the waist. Depending upon how it is wrapped around the neck, an outfit can look casual, business-like or dressy. Consequently, a woman could conceivably wear here lariat from work to a cocktail party, and still be perfectly attired! If you halve it, and then slip the ends through the loop, and let them dangle to the right or the left, the look is quite sporty and casual. Wrapped twice around the neck and knotted in the middle you achieve a sophisticated image. Untied, and worn under the collar of a jacket, makes a powerful statement. Draped around the neck, and tied loosely below the bust, lends a dazzling appearance to an evening gown. Equally effective, is to drape it so that the ends fall down the back. A most alluring look with backless gowns and cocktail dresses. And of course, tied like a belt around the waist, elegant with a sweater dress, tied loosely and draped over the hips, is downright sexy; you’ll look like a goddess.
Occupy New Orleans
I watched the Arab Spring wondering why it was taking so long to get Americans out in the streets. Never understood why it didn’t happen when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. That’s when the destruction began, with the un-holy marriage of Reagan and Thatcher. They were two “conservatives”, both of whom used their position to usher in an era of destruction of the middle and working class-their own family origins. They disparaged labor, de-regulating, anointing the financial industry as being above reproach and the law. Any intellectual pursuit that was not connected to making money with money was disparaged, discredited, dismissed. Education, science and the social compact were discarded, as being impediments to business, not cost-effective.
That being said, I am glad it’s finally happening. .
I live in New Orleans. Our Occupation began a week ago, in Duncan Plaza. It’s across the street from City Hall, and was the scene of great controversy under the Nagin administration post-Katrina. There were major efforts to keep the occupants of the housing projects from returning home, although many of their buildings in the housing projects weren’t storm-damaged. It resulted in a massive homeless camp, challenging the government’s authority to further displace and otherwise marginalize the working poor of New Orleans. It climaxed with a violent confrontation between the protesters and the police in December 2007.
That was then. We had a fantastic March yesterday. The planners had not been able to get a permit. However, perhaps because the Occupation, which is across the street from City Hall has been so peaceful (and clean) the police led us through the street! They led us! A couple of officers even told me that they were glad to be able to help! But, this is New Orleans; we do Mardi Gras. I suspect though, that sober marchers for democracy and economic equality are a much easier detail than streets full of drunken revelers…
Last week the Mayor came out to meet and greet the Occupiers, and ask how everyone was doing. And officially, because some construction is going to happen down the street, the City set up port-o-lets in the park, mostly for the convenience of the Occupiers! But Mitch Landrieu is a different animal than many other Mayors (Hello, Rahm the Hun?!). He is a native of the City, and is a self-described “street-rat”. Mitch (yeah, we’re on a first-name basis with the Mayor) is passionate about the City and about helping people. This kind of co-existence we’re enjoying wouldn’t have been possible under any of the past 3 mayors, for example (Ray Nagin, Marc Moral, and Sidney Barthelemy)
This week, the current Mayor came out to meet and greet the Occupiers, and ask how everyone was doing. Yesterday, before the March, officially “because road construction is going to start down the street”, the City set up several port-o-lets in the park
As a City, we are struggling with the same issues that working people and the poor face every day: adequate access to health care, affordable housing, a quality education for the children, grocery stores in poor neighborhoods, not just liquor stores with junk food and bread. With a governor and state legislature obsessed with destroying the social fabric of its working and under-class, New Orleans is the 99%
This is what Democracy looks like. One: We are the People. Two: We stand United. Three: This Occupation is not leaving!
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=occupy+new+orleans&aq=f
Humble Request for Clemency for Troy Davis
Your Honor:
I am writing to beg your consideration of clemency for Troy Davis. While I applaud your fealty to uphold the law, please consider the circumstances of this particular and individual case before you. There is no hard, significant evidence that he was the perpetrator. Witnesses have recanted. Jurors have stated that they would rule differently, had all evidence been presented at trial.
I appreciate that we cannot as a society condone the murder of anyone, never mind a person who has sworn an oath and puts their life on the line to protect the public. However, in this instance, the law may be committing a wanton murder in the name of seeking justice for the death of a law officer. I feel for the officers’ family. My heart broke for the daughter that misses her father. However, I do not believe that her Dad would want the wrong man to die by the hands of the State of Georgia, if there is any real and serious question as to his guilt.
Clemency is not a reprieve. It would give everyone the opportunity to review the evidence with fresh eyes. No it will not restore the life of the brave slain officer. However, clemency will demonstrate that the State of Georgia is fair-minded, and sworn to uphold the law for the protection of all its citizens.
Thank you most kindly for your consideration.
Respectfully Submitted
FALL 2011 PANTONE COLORS
Bamboo
is a soft warm golden color, like butterscotch amber, golden calcite (http://www.beadbear.com/g0901.shtml), citrine, topaz, yellow sapphire, canary diamonds, champagne pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/c0111.shtml ) or serpentine; moissanite. Contrast with tiger-eye topaz (http://www.beadbear.com/i0308.shtml), or vintage tiger glass (http://www.beadbear.com/f1002.shtml) Wear with brown, green, or red (http://www.beadbear.com/h0905.shtml)
Emberglow
a gentle orange, like the glow of a Padparadscha sapphire, orange chalcedony, Madagascar citrine; carnelian (http://www.beadbear.com/f1007.shtml); red jasper; Baltic amber, a favorite gemstone of Catherine the Great(http://www.beadbear.com/d0907.shtml); some alexandrite; goldstone. Contrast with green (peridot), apple chalcedony or demantoid garnets. Wear with your favorite camel-hair slacks or skirt and cashmere.
Honeysuckle
in the rose family, suggesting rhodolite garnet ( http://www.beadbear.com/d0909.shtml); lepidolite (http://www.beadbear.com/a0207.shtml; http://www.beadbear.com/g0910.shtml, mauve pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/c0907.shtml), pink tourmaline, rhodochrosite, pink sapphire, rubies (http://www.beadbear.com/b0111.shtml) or cherry quartz. Wear with white, black or purple suitings for dramatic effect
Phlox
purple-blue a versatile hue that is complimented by (http://www.beadbear.com/h0909.shtml), amethyst, tanzanite, iolite, blue aventurine, purple aventurine, blue lace agate, blue sapphire, aquamarine; mystic topaz. Can be contrasted with rhodolite garnet.
Cedar
a subtle greenish khaki or putty color: suggests rutilated quartz (http://www.beadbear.com/g0908.shtml), serpentine (http://www.beadbear.com/f0207.shtml), jade, labradorite, chrome diopside, peridot, nephrite (http://www.beadbear.com/g0909.shtml), green tourmaline, heliodor, chrome diopside, green aventurine (http://www.beadbear.com/f1005.shtml); nephrite; pearls; alabaster
Deep Teal
a perennial favorite to show off malachite (http://www.beadbear.com/d0908.shtml), emeralds, deep green tourmaline, rutilated quartz, bronze, or green peacock-dyed freshwater pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/h0907.shtml, http://www.beadbear.com/f0904.shtml, http://www.beadbear.com/d0901.shtml); moss agate, and turquoise (http://www.beadbear.com/f1010.shtml); amazonite-Chinese(http://www.beadbear.com/d0903.shtml) or Russian. Contrast with rubies (http://www.beadbear.com/b0111.shtml)
Coffée Liqueur
velvety brown with a grey undertone, like chocolate diamonds, smokey topaz or quartz (http://www.beadbear.com/e0311.shtml; http://www.beadbear.com/f1012.shtml), Siberian amber (http://www.beadbear.com/f1009.shtml); dyed freshwater pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/e0902.shtml); (http://www.beadbear.com/e0905.shtml)
Nougat
better than beige or ecru: kunzite, morganite, pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/c0902.shtml; http://www.beadbear.com/f1016.shtml), rose quartz (http://www.beadbear.com/f1014.shtml;http://www.beadbear.com/f0905.shtml), pink or champagne diamonds
Orchid Blush
palest gray: Akoya pearls, labradorite, moonstone, star sapphires, aquamarine; natural blue topaz. Contrast with onyx, black diamonds, Tahitian pearls. Contrast with rubies or garnet, or Venetian glass gold foil beads (http://www.beadbear.com/c0903.shtml)
Quarry
pale blue-gray; aquamarine, blue topaz,London blue topaz®, blue sapphires, star sapphires, pearls (http://www.beadbear.com/h0902.shtml), lapis (http://www.beadbear.com/f1003.shtml)or amazonite (http://www.beadbear.com/d0903.shtml); blue diamonds
Wedding Tips For A Successful Marriage
I have found the more that is spent on the wedding, the shorter the marriage. There are some very famous weddings we’ve all heard about that cost thousands, which lasted only a few months or weeks!
When my husband and I got married in 1990, we spent a grand total of $658.00, which included the marriage license, engraved invitations, postage, wedding cake( had that made), food (we catered it ourselves), paper plates, glasses, cutlery, napkins, flowers (I went to the wholesale florist and bought flowers for the table, a spray of orchids for the bridal party to wear, roses for me, plus everything with which to assemble the bouquet and corsages and buttonieres for the groom and his best man, and my “best broad”), clothes and rings. We got married at our local bar. Actually outside, in front of a mural painted on the side of the building by an artist friend of ours. The owner was so tickled that we asked, that he gave us two cases of (very nice) champagne! We had a friend that was licensed to perfom weddings marry us. She was delighted that we asked, and we wrote our own vows. The photographer was the husband of my “best broad”.
My fiance (now husband) found 2 beautiful velvet jackets for his best man and himself at a thrift store. They looked as if they had never been worn and were perfect fits for both of them! My dress came from a shop in the neighborhood. I had been lusting after it for quite a while; when I went to buy it it had been marked down from $99 to $35! Went to the fabric shop and bought a hat, and various bits of lace, ribbons, silk flowers and crystals. A friend of mine who is a costumer, assembled it for me. The lace designer shoes were marked down to $12.00,new from Bakers’, and matched exactly the lace on the hat.
The diamond engagement ring is a beautiful antique,from 1897- just under 1/2 a carat, that I purchased from a local jeweler who was recommended to me by my orthopedic surgeon: he called him and told him to give us a good deal. As I am a jewelry designer, I purchased our wedding rings wholesale.
We invited 100 guests. Some of our friends also brought food for the occasion. We got married a little after noon; left around 2pm. As we lived and worked in the French Quarter, a buggy driver that we knew drove us away, with ribbons and flowers that he had decorated his carriage with, just for the occasion. We heard that the party lasted another 10 hours, and made the 6 o’clock news! A year after we got married, we were still receiving wedding pictures from tourists that happened to stop in. The bar owner said that was the biggest ring-out he had ever had.
We have been very happily married now for over twenty years.
Love, Laughter. Happy Ever After,
Beadbear
http://www.beadbear.com
Setting Boundaries When Your Home is Your Studio/Office
Setting Boundaries
Clearly designate the time of day when you are at work, and do not allow family members to interfere or interrupt during that period (unless the house is on fire). Be consistent. This includes pets, children as well as spouses. Walk the dogs before getting started. Feed the cats. Give them treats, toys, the catnip sock. Chances are your pets will learn to leave you alone before the kids or your spouse will; they understand low growls and snarling. The humans may require more behavior modification, and ask “why?” Closing the door may help. Borrow your teen’s “Enter and Die” door sign. When all else fails, throw your shoes at them.(Just kidding, sort of)
Make sure the children have been fed, or have suitable snacks available. Schedule your work when the baby is asleep. Instruct them that you are “off limits” during the designated time. You will not be available to mediate spats during this time. If your spouse or partner is also home, let them supervise the kids, be in charge of dinner. Remind your spouse or partner that this is how you bring money into the family coffers. Enlist them as an ally; leave the red lipstick out on the bathroom sink as an inducement.
When friends call to chat, let the call go to voice mail. Call them back, but after work. The ones that get huffy or drop you weren’t really your friends, and you’re well rid of them now, before you hit the big time. Your neighbors are just being nosey. Explain as well as you can ahead of time to your mother and your mother-in-law, that you are conducting business during whatever time you’ve designated. Better yet if your spouse or partner is home, let them handle the calls. Try to arrange your schedule so that they are in charge of fielding social calls while you’re at work, just like if you were working outside the home.
Make sure you call your Mom or your mother in law back, after work, and explain (remind) them that this is another way that you are able to bring income in, without the added expense of driving, or baby sitters.
Establish that boundary and maintain it. Doesn’t matter if it’s different times during the week. It may help to post your schedule on the refrigerator for all to see. Good luck!
Beadbear
http://www.beadbear.com
Commentary on breakdown of the Kimberley Process
One has to start somewhere. And granted, while the desired outcome hasn’t occurred, that doesn’t mean that having an ongoing discussion won’t have a positive effect…eventually. Of course when greed and profit are involved, good intentions will be left by the wayside every time. Note the lack of cooperation by China and Russia, two countries notorious for their casual regard for human life. india too has their nose out of joint because they were making profit from cutting contraband stones. Remember how upset they were when Tanzania nationalized their mines, and demanded that tanzanite cutting be done in their country, rather than exporting all their rough to India. India’s shrieking and keening was outrageous and deafening, but wholly out-of-place.
And especially China with their abhorrent record with respect to human rights. From Tiananmen Square, to the ongoing and futile US efforts to coax China into not using toxic materials in their manufacture of children’s jewelry. The Chinese government just doesn’t care. They’re just as unconcerned about killing their own people as killing others’.
Russia is also first and foremost all about Russia. Between the behavior of their government and their crime-boss oligarchs, all pleas fall on deaf ears.
Furthermore both countries function under the premise that anything the West and in particular the US is for they are automatically going to be against. Just because.
Until some kind of way this becomes too (read expensive) painful to China, and Russia, and/or greed ceases to become a motivation, nothing is going to change. Angola , Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone will also continue to abuse their own people, because a) they can and b) its lucrative c) them’s what gots the biggest guns and the most ammunition makes the rules
Beadbear
http://www.beadbear.com
Fine Jewelers Advised to Avoid Beads
Reply to GUEST EDITORIAL: BEAD-WARE!
http://news.centurionjewelry.com/articles/view/guest-editorial-bead-ware
I have successfully designed and sold fine bead jewelry FOR YEARS! I am highly amused by the retail jewelers that have come so late to the retail success that bead jewelry has enjoyed since the time of the Neanderthals.
You remind me of all those old European fuddy-duddy royals that sneered at Za Za Gabor when she married that Austrian noble. They were appalled that she wore with her lavish diamond necklace, bracelets and rings one of her lovely crystal and platinum beauty crowns when she was “presented” to them in the 60’s.
The problem for all those who march in lock step and buy the same items is REDUNDANCY. Your customers that like beads and wear them do not want to see the same damn thing everywhere they go. They are a more sophisticated and educated shopper than you obviously suppose.
What you fail to apprehend is that women and men who wear and enjoy bead jewelry also wear gold, platinum and silver. I know because many of them are MY customers, some of who have ten or more of my designs. They are very comfortable wearing both, either separately or at the same time.
Of course, I create exclusively one of a kind pieces, that are hand-knotted, with quality findings. Selling the identical items that everyone else has is a sure path to failure.
Further, in these difficult times, the savvy retailer has merchandise that appeals to all price points. Pam Danziger also observed that the affluent shoppers are shopping more at Target than Nordstrum’s.
I don’t mean to rip on you but this is the same attitude that keeps retails from using all marketing tools, including the internet and social media, as Scott Galloway stated so clearly at the GIA Symposium.
Beadbear
http://www.beadbear.com
Why Taxing Online Shopping Is Unfair
The hysterical lobbying for sales tax to be collected by online retailers reminds me of a story about two farmers on a dairy collective in the old Soviet Union.
Vanya and Vasili were farmers at the dairy collective. They both came to the collective at the same time, and were alloted the same amount of cows. All the cows on the collective grazed in the same fields and meadows. All the farmers drew water out of the same well. The farmers supplemented the grazing with feed purchased for them by the collective.The collective did well, and were able to purchase more cows the following year. There was even a little money left over that was divided among all the farmers, based upon their cows’ production.Vasili used the money he received for his cow’s milk to build a big house a heated barn. Vanya seemed to prosper too. However, he did not build a big house. Instead he and his family shared the barn with the cows, like they had the previous year.
Gradually, it came to be noticed that Vanya’s cows always gave a little more milk. The calves were frisky and healthy. And the cream was said to be richest and sweetest of all the collective. Vanya with fewer cows earned almost as much as his neighbor. This was not lost on Vasili. He watched as Vanya’s cows were led out every day by Vanya’s wife, and brought back in every night by Vanya’s children. His heart became small and hard like a stone.He became envious of his neighbor.
One day Vasili could stand it no longer. He stormed into the office of the collective, where Anya was entering the day’s totals. “I cannot stand it”, he yelled. “It is not fair”.
“What is not fair, Vasili, inquired Anya mildly. “Vanya!” Vasili spat his neighbor’s name. “What is not fair about Vanya?” Anya asked. Vasili’s face contorted into a rictus of rage. “It is not fair”, he said repeated. “”I buy cows like Vanya. My cows graze same grass. My cows drink same water. Yet His cows give more milk! people say his cows give better milk-is richer, sweeter. That is not fair!”
”But”, protested Anya. “You have same kind of cows. You have more cows than Vanya. What you want me to do?” Anya was clearly perplexed at Vasili’s fury. Vasili smiled evilly. “I want you kill his cows”.
All this is to say that brick and mortar stores have an advantage over online businesses. Customers can walk into the store, and try on any item on the premises. Customers can walk out immediately with their purchase. The customer pays sales tax as a condition of purchase.
Online venues do not enjoy that luxury. Many of us cannot afford to invest in a well-appointed boutique and inventory. We rely more heavily on the random kindness of strangers, and the algorithms of Google and Bing. We invest more heavily in advertising, in far more media outlets, as we do not have window displays that face out onto the street or the mall, where hundreds of shoppers pass by daily. Packaging is a greater investment. To entice business, many of us have to offer free shipping, even on returns, exchanges, or repairs which quite an expense given fuel prices today. We also have employees, contrary to popular myth. We pay inventory tax. The overhead may appear to be less, however the mark up is not as generous.
In conclusion, the argument that tax-free online shopping for customers puts the physical stores at a financial disadvantage is specious at best, and mendacious at worst.
Beadbear
http://www.beadbear.com
Origins of Republican Hate Speech Language in America Today
Neil Boortz’s comments last week are reminiscent of the attitudes of southern whites at the turn of the 20th century. The lynchings and Jim Crow laws were based of white fears of blacks developing themselves economically. This became quite evident in the aftermath of Katrina, when white outrage was sparked at the assistance offered New Orleans’ residents as they were evacuated, and were re-located into areas of the country that are content to have limited integration.The following quotes speak to the history of his comments:
WITHOUT SANCTUARY: LYNCHING PHOTOGRAPHY IN AMERICA
edited by James Allen
“Hellhounds”, written by Leon F. Lithwack
pp.12-13
“The cheapness of black life reflected in turn the degree to which so many whites by the early twentieth century had come to think of black men and women and permanently inferior, as less than human, as little more than animals. ‘We the people of the South don’t care to equal ourselves with animals’, a white Floridian told a northern critic.’the people of the South don’t think any more of killing the black fellows than you would think of killing a flea. And if I was to live 1,000 years that would be my opinion and every other Southern man’.A former governor of Georgia, William J. Northern, after canvassing his state in the interest of law and order, found the same disregard for black life. ‘I was amazed to find scores and hundreds of men who believed the Negro to be a brute, without responsibility to God. And his slaughter nothing more than the killing of a dog’.”
p.23
“The Negro as beast became a fundamental part of the South’s racial imagery, taking its place alongside the venerated and faithful Sambo retainer and whites were perfectly capable of drawing on both to sustain their self image“(my emphasis)
This is the basis of the Southern strategy, and current Republican efforts to reduce and in some instances, eliminate all assistance for poor and working class individuals, as is the basis for Neil Boortz’s disgusting iterations. The advent of Mr. Obama’s election exacerbates the belief that blacks and other non-whites have over-reached themselves. attaining the office of the President proves to those of his persuasion that their fears are justified. Consequently, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is continuing to blast the government’s recent discrimination settlement with African-American farmers as “reparations” — and even predicting that the new Republican-led House will investigate it.
Today we see an active regeneration to those fears and active prejudices in part based upon (I suspect) white fears that non-whites will rise up and return the favor, as well as belief that non-whites in the US have “usurped” that which should be the purview of whites.
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