10 Years later...

This blog and website was started 10 years ago, in 2014, for a completely different reason than why it still exists. Back in 2014, I had been out of prison for 8 years, and had managed to keep my ex-con life somewhat on the down low. It took a long time for me to shake the personal stigma of having been to prison, which is kind of crazy considering in 2024, it's just something that I did and I have no shame. But back then, my life had taken many turns and I ended up in Stepford Wives central and took up quilting as a hobby. I don't mean for that to sound like people in the quilting community are judgmental. Some are, but most aren't. I know this now, I did not then. Sometime around 2010, I found myself involved in a new quilt guild and in some type of leadership (mostly as President), through 2013. Then in 2014, I became the VP and future President of Georgia's largest quilt guild. And someone in the original quilt guild caught wind of my incarceration, stirred a pot, and threatened the new board to make my past public (which never made sense to me). Thankfully the new board was made up mostly of my friends, that knew my character and my conduct, and protected me from even knowing that this was all happening. But I found out, and I was hurt and angry. And in that moment, I'd had enough. No way was I going to let someone dangle any of my past over my head. I was tired of hiding, tired of pretending this thing hadn't happened to me. I wanted to live authentically. Especially since I was making more and more efforts to do what I could in terms of social justice. So I created this website and published my entire prison journal publicly and told my story. Best decision I ever made, I found the freedom I was looking for. And as a bonus, a whole lot of community support. If anyone had.a problem with it, I never knew it. Didn't care. I'm sure I had big intentions of carrying on with this blog and publishing more. In fact, I know I did. But life happens. Shortly after this initial push, I became an owner of quilt shop, moved my business into a public space where it exploded, and started speaking in front of guilds and telling my story. I've made several attempts at starting this book, turning my journals into an actual, tangible thing, but I just haven't been able to find my groove. So I'm taking a different route this time. I'm working in smaller stories, maybe essays. I'll start posting some of them as they go through editing, and maybe we'll compile a bunch of good pieces into something. That's the plan. And maybe I'll even get in some good old fashioned blog entries, too.