This is disturbing.




He really should not be smoking a cigarette that close to his embroidery work. I really hope the photograph was a set-up and that he doesn't actually smoke around his craft.

Oh, and I'm bracing for another round of "He's so AMAZING! He has man-equipment AND he does fiber crafts!" Feh. I suspect men-doing-crafts is the new in-your-face, "This ain't your mama's/grandma's version of the craft."

And you know? I'm kind of tired of it. Can't we just acknowledge that it's neat that people do craft, without setting it up that some people are "neater" to be doing it than others, because of their gender/age group/whatever?

Or maybe I need to learn cabinetmaking or chain-saw sculpture or something like that so I can get some attention for being "alternative." But I bet a woman doing a "man" craft would get less excitement than a man doing a "woman" craft does.

I blame my attitude about this on never having been popular. I could do something or wear something and no one would care; if a popular kid did or wore the same thing a month later everyone acted like they'd invented fire.

And I know, this sounds petty and irritated, but yeah, sometimes I get petty and irritated that things that I might judge to have less skill involved in them (a crocheted wrap made to resemble a giant slice of bacon) get attention because they're "odd" or "edgy," whereas something that takes real skill and patience (an elaborate lace shawl) doesn't get noticed as much because it's "traditional."