Jan 18, 2024
Hi friends! I am at the Early Yves cafe on Patchen and Macon, and TIM JUST GOT A JOB INTERVIEW!!! My resume skills are off the charts; I will now be resume consulting. Please hit me up… Jk actually JK on the JK if you got my number.
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Weather: Cold, like frigid cold, like eerie quiet except for the wind and beat of your heart cold. Tim is biking behind me (obviously), and I can't even hear him because the frozen ground absorbs the sound. I'm glad to see white on the ground though; how couldn't you be?
What I am wearing: Stormy Kromer, my literal character hat from how much I wear it. I wanted to design a collab with the brand as they are based in Michigan and MADE IN MICHIGAN LIKE WHAT, but I think I was too New York gay for them… My oversized, bullseye jeans from Matthew Josh, probably my favorite pants, and a crochet sweater I made during covid with the lyrics to "Flower Moon" by Vampire Weekend on it. This sweater was really awkward for a long time because I tried to make it too feminine. Last night I added cuffs to it and finally like it!
Anxiety: Spending too much time on my phone. Literally, LITERALLY EW, GUYS. Having more followers has been cool, I guess, but also WHY DO I CHECK MY FOLLOWER COUNT 50 TIMES A DAY LIKE GAG. I deleted the app, surely to be re-downloaded by the end of the day to post more and manically check my messages from people I could literally just text…
Self-care: Is awesome. I've been eating really delicious food lately, and yesterday I even brushed my teeth and flossed… okay sorry if that's TMI. Sometimes self-care is hard, especially because I am from a family that really is obsessed with hard work, and hard work doesn't necessarily have anything to do with showering. I am someone that works desperately hard, like wake up to sleep. I mean I take breaks and always try to make time to see friends and meet new people, but man, anyways, what am I trying to tell you? I'm trying to tell you I love what I'm doing, and my work. I love that it is a mix between design, problem-solving, systems building, fine art, and being crazy. But also, maybe caring about my vessel and my spirit is something more important than the platform I have been putting it on
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What I am eating: Egg, green onion, sriracha tortilla breakfast sandwiches that my sister and I would always make in Michigan. Blueberry chia yogurt. Pasta, pasta, pasta. Leek soup that is outrageously good (because I actually followed the recipe this time).
Catholic Worker: Is something I have been interested in for some time but never really researched until last night. I am Christian (don't freak out, guys) and attended a fantastic progressive queer-affirming student faith group called Prism for the last 2 years of my time at Parsons. I must say it was absolutely one of my favorite parts of my university experience, being in community with such thoughtful, incredible, unique people of faith who had such complex ideas about God, spiritual powers of the universe, love, and life. People were from all different walks of Christian faith and the likes. I think it was Nick, someone who was this really cool Star Wars-loving, openly gay, devout Christian pursuing priesthood in the Episcopal Church, and he told me about the Catholic Workers. They are basically this group of radical (liberal?) Christians that live in community together and spend every day serving the homeless through various means. They adopt a life of poverty and live to serve and make a community. I was finally reading up about it last night; there are almost 200 Catholic Worker communities around the world, a lot of them in urban communities. All of this to say, this is something that really interests me. Maybe I will take a year off from my brand and do this. I've been noticing lately that I am really searching for an opportunity to leave my current life via a master's program, an artist residency, and now a Catholic Worker house. Maybe I need to change something in my life? Maybe I need to stop working before 9 PM…
On Isaboko: This week has been mostly about getting organized for a production of pants and shirts I want to do. Shooting the final clips of my kimono hiking suit documentary with Taylor, going to the pattern grader, editing Instagram videos… I made some hangtag mock-ups that were originally going to be riso because I am crazy, and then Jonna convinced me out of it because she is way more practical and intelligent than I am… (btw if you didn't know riso ink never dries…. hahaha) I am asking Lily to do 100000 more drawings for me since it was literally her beautiful work that got me the pop-up in the first place. (thank you, Lily) I am still thinking about the sweatpants and hoodie I want to make! I also walked around Soho with Jonna all day Sunday and Laessia a little bit too, looking at the coolest stores and new brands, finding inspiration for my pop-up and hanging out with my favorite people.
Another Market??: I decided last second to do a market for Lunar New Year on February 2 called the Kitsby x Lunar Market! It will be from 5-10 at the Hana house in Brooklyn. I joined literally on the last day, with the encouragement of Tim saying it will be good to tell people about my pop-up, and also I thought it would be cool to go to an Asian American-specific market and see how my stuff did! When I applied, there was only half tables left, which is all good with me, less stuff to carry! Since the summer, I've wanted to make a screen-printed tee with the image of my tattoo, a very elaborate dragon that I bought from my tattoo artist to use for this purpose (don't worry I asked for her consent to do this), and all of the profits from this shirt will go to the Chinatown food pantry. I posted a poll on Instagram about which of the designs to use, and the two most popular were 1) the dragon just straightforward on the shirt really big, and another and 2) two dragons, one smaller and straight on, and one bigger flipped upside down looking at the other dragon. I DO NOT KNOW WHICH ONE TO PICK!!!! I will probably consult with Pono.
Fears: Not having a spiritually full life.
What I am watching: Hunter x Hunter, the Gypsy Rose documentary with Jonna and Charles, the Sky Brown documentary with Jonna and Charles.
What I am playing: Ticket to ride 10000 times and developing a new strategy to win every time.
What I am reading: Braiding Sweetgrass and crying, crying, crying, volunteer/work opportunities on the Catholic Worker website…
What I am listening to: The Daily, This American Life, Maggie Rogers albums (who I am pretty sure is a radical, liberal Christian. Idk, maybe I made that up, but she did get her divination master's at Harvard…)
Who I am missing: My sister, my brother, Presli and Jett, and you…
Thanks for reading! Hope I didn't freak you out! Love you!
Xoxo
Izzy
Making, Solarpunk, Clothes + Friends is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
