Maria Scott Herndon: Fabric Of Being

Is one's essence defined by the age of the body or their culture, economic status or gender? What are we without context time, gender and culture? My mother has gone through a true metamorphosis and continues to do so. She wears different costumes of the mind. Each costume is unique and from a different time in her life; drawing upon different life experiences. Alzheimer's disease has sponsored my mother's time travel. My mother was the provider of the family, thanklessly working two sometimes three jobs to make ends meet. Now her life has turned itself upon its head for she is completely dependent upon the family for her basic survival needs. I am painfully aware of my mother's constantly changing context of time, emotion and libido. The self my mother is most ill at ease with, is within the glare of the here and now. Although I feel relieved each time she returns, it is a selfish relief for her face is filled with angst of awareness of her debilitating disease....

COURAGE IN THE FACE OF FEAR - Maria Herndon He walks to school without our nostalgic school memories. The active shooter drills have become numbingly routine. Yet, all the medias speak to him of the reality of short spent youth. He worries about that loner that everyone avoids near the school cafeteria. He's puzzled by the weird fringe groups rebelliously, relentlessly always around. So, he bobs and weaves his way through the angry, the radicalized...the terrified. What was that?! He's embarrassed to freak out. It's probably someone poping a milk carton by stepping on it again. . He carries courage in the face of fear. Feeling overwhelmed, she still knows to be aware of every moment they have together. Things are fast, awkward and so out of focused in the morning but she wants to make sure she gets some kind of smile, hug or at least eye contact from her newly very independent 16 year old as she drives her to school. As she approaches the school, that same th...

The world has changed dramatically in the past two and a half years. It seems ridiculous to pretend otherwise. But I vowed to try and post various things, more regularly. Then as I was working on a few ideas for this week, the shootings in El Paso and Dayton occurred and I realized how impossible it is for me to post what I'd planned in the cold light of such tragedy. Anything I came up with would be so trivial it would feel obscene. There have been 255 mass shootings in the United States so far this year. The current occupant of the Oval Office never once mentions the idiocy of a citizenry that is allowed to walk the streets with assault rifles in their hands. His language during his rallies and the endless racism contained in his tweets speak through the cold hearts of red hats and manifestos of killers. He uses it freely.  The Trump-ruled American government also demonstrated heartlessness by raiding several poultry plants in Mississippi and detained almost 700 law-...

                               Because I knew you ask... Why Dolls? I have been making dolls since 2015.  All of the products that I offer are originals that I have created. Whether rag dolls, character dolls or celebrity dolls, my purpose is to create and offer a variety of dolls that challenge traditional concepts of doll making. I’m often asked why I make cloth dolls and how I got started. The simple answer is because it’s fun. Ever since I first noticed the dolls being made by cloth doll artists, I've been intrigued with what can be done with fabric, some stuffing and lots of imagination. I decided that I wanted to learn everything I could about cloth doll making. I also knew I wanted to create character dolls. Over four years and over 200 dolls later, I still look forward to sitting down at my sewing machine to begin a new little character. I try to pass along some of thi...

I was looking through an old box of junk and ran across this list from 1980 of things I wrote that I wanted to do in life. Here they are, verbatim: Sleep out in nature at least once. Real nature, not a park Write a book Throw a crazy ass house party Reconnect with my father Plant a tree in that huge crack in the cement in front of my building Shower in a waterfall Tell someone I love them, for real Learn to pick friends who mean me no harm Give an abandoned pet a loving home Master a soufflé Swim in every ocean Worry less Find peace Here in 2025....five out of thirteen. Not bad as lives go.

“Depression is melancholy minus its charms.”   ― Susan Sontag I am trying. Or, rather… I am trying to try. Maybe you knew. Maybe you didn't know but I occasionally suffer with depression. This can make me a lousy friend at times.  Depression is a very selfish illness and I find that I can push people away. Guilt is a companion to my depression along with the fear of letting people down. I can feel like an inconvenience to the people in my life. This leads to isolating and finding it difficult to talk. At those times, I feel that I'm too much to deal with and that I'm bringing others down. I want to be there for you. I want to participate in my part of the friendship. Ironically, as I lose weight, the emotional weight is so immense at times that it is all I can do to get out of bed. I am always conflicted between the anger with myself at engaging in what seems like self-pity against the feelings of loneliness and not being good enough. It’s a wit...