[ilssa] 2011 Festival to Plead for Skills & MORE !

  • From: ILSSA Operator <operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: ilssa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 18:40:08 -0400

dear ILSSA,

It is that time of year again! Time for us to count the heads (and hands and hearts, but we'll stick to heads, as they are easiest to count) of those who plan to participate in the 3rd Annual Festival to Plead for Skills on Thursday, July 7, 2011.

As you may already know, each year on the seventh day of the seventh month ILSSA celebrates its own version of The Festival to Plead for Skills. The festival is derived from the Chinese holiday of Qi Xi and the Japanese festival of Tanabata, in which celebrants wish for the betterment of their own craftsmanship. Instead of wishing, the ILSSA festival is a holiday of PRACTICING.

We invite all ILSSA Members to observe this holiday by generating some sort of small object as iterations of their practice. The resulting objects should be no larger than 2 inches in any dimension, and should be the natural result of practicing a skill: using a tool, trying a method, honing a technique. Conceive of this project as something you can complete entirely on July 7th. We imagine Impractical Laborers spanning the continents, practicing together in observance of the holiday.

After the Festival, we ask that you mail one of each of your objects to all other participating members, such that everyone can share in your practice of that day. (International members, you may send one package of all objects to an Operator, who will distribute your practice with hers.) To that end, we will send an updated ILSSA Member Directory of all Directory members in early July, indicating which members are participating in the Festival. If you have any address changes, regardless if you're participating in the Festival, be sure to let us know!

As each member handles his or her own postage and box-making for the accumulated objects (see template below) there is NO FEE to participate. But in order for all members to know how many objects to make, we do need a headcount! So please write directly to operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx to let us know if you're a YES. 

*AND*
another festival-related invitation:
Did you participate in the 2010 Festival? Would you like to make a guide to the festival objects: a simple affair that shows images of objects and their corresponding statements? (See the below 2009 Guide for reference.) If you'd delight in making 75-100 copies of such a thing, write your co-operators at operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. We are happy of course to cover your (modest!) material expenses. (Perhaps you didn't participate in the 2009 Festival and thus did not receive the 2009 guide. If you'd like a copy, email us! We have a limited quantity available, first come first served.)

*other news*
We are ashamed that you do not yet have in your hands the last 2010 Quarterly, but we co-operators will together be sitting and *hand addressing* those at the end of May, so we can guarantee they will be in your hands within the first weeks of June.

And, btw, have you renewed for 2011? This Quarterly will be your last mailing if you have not, and we would be so sorry to lose you from our ranks. We'd also be disheartened to remind you that if you do not renew, you will receive no more publications from us, you will not be listed on the website, nor in the directory, and thus will not receive anything from the Festival, nor would you be eligible to participate in the 2012 exhibition at St Mary's. Gosh! It is SO WORTH the $12, not to mention we need you to stay strong! (to renew: http://www.impractical-labor.org/join.html, select "2011 membership", and write a note via Paypal stating you're a renewal, and THANKS.) 

yours ever impractically,
the co-operators

JPEG image

--
AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES
ILSSA Operator



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