{"id":20416,"date":"2024-06-28T11:41:39","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/?p=20416"},"modified":"2024-06-28T11:42:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:42:33","slug":"i-have-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/i-have-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"I have a dream.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"\">I\u2019ve been whispering my dream to others for a while now. Generally, I get two responses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019ll never work.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">\u201cHow can I help?\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Like Martin Luther King, I can\u2019t make my dream come true by myself. This crazy idea would take concerted effort from all of us, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m writing. I wonder, what do you think? Would you be willing to help make this dream happen?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This crazy idea began with a \u201cwhat if?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . at the ANWG 2025 conference, we offered a<strong><em>\u00a0free<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0class to beginning weavers\u2014I mean folks who have never held a shuttle?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . we were able to take complete beginners through the whole multi-shaft weaving process in four half-day sessions?\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . we asked more advanced weavers to donate a couple of conference hours to mentor beginners through the various stages of weaving (warping board, winding on, threading heddles, tying on, and weaving)?\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . every student left with their\u00a0<strong><em>very first<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0sample of woven fabric?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . we did it with loaned warping boards, table looms and weaving tools brought to conference for this very purpose?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What if . . . we were able to create an\u00a0<strong><em>entirely new<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0audience of enthusiastic weavers?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">All of us have worried about the next generation of weavers. Where will they come from? Who will bring them in? What will happen to our beloved craft, or to our guilds, when the last of us gives up the shuttle? Like you, I\u2019ve grieved as our favorite teachers retire. I\u2019ve observed the aging of our guilds, and the decreased willingness of aging guild members to volunteer. Like you, I\u2019ve wanted to do something to bring in the next generation of weavers. I\u2019ve noticed that some are attacking this at the guild level (way to go Boseman!). These questions made me wonder, if the purpose of ANWG is to promote education, maybe we should occasionally begin at the beginning. What better place to do that than conference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Mine is a crazy idea. Why would a non-weaver attend a weaving conference? Who wants to volunteer when they could be taking a great class? Publicity won\u2019t fill that class. I believe that each non-weaver would have to be&nbsp;<strong><em>personally<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;invited.&nbsp;<strong><em>You<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;would have to spot that potential weaver in your community, your guild, your spinning or knitting circle. And you would have to be bold enough to say, \u201cHey, why don\u2019t you come spend the weekend in Yakima with me?\u201d I wish someone had asked me so many years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I think it might just work. We have a teacher willing to lead the project. What about you? Would you be willing to help, to share your equipment for two days, to invite a friend? Let me know what you think! Share your creative ideas. I can\u2019t wait to hear from you.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Care to leave a comment? Just use the form below.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-contact-form-7-contact-form-selector\">\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f20417-o1\" lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" data-wpcf7-id=\"20417\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-response\"><p role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\"><\/p> <ul><\/ul><\/div>\n<form action=\"\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20416#wpcf7-f20417-o1\" method=\"post\" class=\"wpcf7-form init\" aria-label=\"Contact form\" novalidate=\"novalidate\" data-status=\"init\">\n<fieldset class=\"hidden-fields-container\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7\" value=\"20417\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_version\" value=\"6.1.5\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_locale\" value=\"en_US\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_unit_tag\" value=\"wpcf7-f20417-o1\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_container_post\" value=\"0\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_posted_data_hash\" value=\"\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_recaptcha_response\" value=\"\" \/>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p><label> Your name<br \/>\n<span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"your-name\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-required\" autocomplete=\"name\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" value=\"\" type=\"text\" name=\"your-name\" \/><\/span> <\/label>\n<\/p>\n<p><label> Your email<br \/>\n<span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"your-email\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-email wpcf7-validates-as-required wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-email\" autocomplete=\"email\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" value=\"\" type=\"email\" name=\"your-email\" \/><\/span> <\/label>\n<\/p>\n<p><label> Your message<br \/>\n<span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"your-message\"><textarea cols=\"40\" rows=\"10\" maxlength=\"2000\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-textarea\" aria-invalid=\"false\" name=\"your-message\"><\/textarea><\/span> <\/label>\n<\/p>\n<p><input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit has-spinner\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" \/>\n<\/p><div class=\"wpcf7-response-output\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been whispering my dream to others for a while now. Generally, I get two responses: Like Martin Luther King, I can\u2019t make my dream come true by myself. This crazy idea would take concerted effort from all of us, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m writing. I wonder, what do you think? Would you be willing&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/i-have-a-dream\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">I have a dream.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20416"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20422,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20416\/revisions\/20422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anwgconference.org\/archive\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}