Black Moon Lilith TMI Blog

Why Voting Is Witchy – Happy Halloween!

Psssst… Did you know? Not only are you a “nasty woman” you’re probably… a WITCH.

Black Moon Lilith

How do I know that? Because I’m a storyteller AND an etymology nerd.
I love that stories are made up of words, but also… words themselves are stories…

Let me tell you the story about the word “WEIRD.”

It comes from the Old English word wyrd which meant “destiny.”

So when you call someone weird you are saying they have the power to control destiny.

The witches in Macbeth were called the Weird Sisters.

And now, in modern times, pussyhat-wearing, nasty, voting, feminine, emotional WOMEN are shaking things up and we’re scaring people. We’re too weird.

Witches were often women who took their own path, had the gall to live by their own DIY Rules, dared to make money when men felt privy to it, in short – they owned their power to control destiny.

Black Moon Lilith

On this day, All Hallows’ Eve, I invite you to consider all the witches (women) before you, and all the witches who will come after you. Consider how witches (women) have been held back – how we’ve been denied the right to vote, denied to right to own property, denied the right to choose what to do with our bodies…

And consider how we have fought back. How we decided to control our own destiny, even if we were called weird or witchy or bitchy or weak or whiny… it didn’t matter.

Because we fight for the women before us who have died for our rights today. And we fight for the women who will come after us, who need us to speak up and create a better world for women.

Have a great Halloween, and have an even more amazing Election Day. Please do some magic to get out the vote. And remember, a weird sister – someone who controls her fate – is most certainly someone who VOTES.

Be Magical!
Krista Suh Signature

Michelle Pred Time's Up Clutch TMI Blog

Welcome to the Nevertheless We Vote Parade!

Today I am flying out to New York City for the Nevertheless We Vote Parade on Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 at 2:30pm. I will be joining other activist-artists in a march from Washington Square Park to the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea. You are welcome to join us! And if you’re not in NY you can follow me on Instagram live that day, my handle is @kristasuh

Parade against the Patriarchy

A photo from the last artist-activist parade in Miami! Can you spot me in this gorgeous chaos?!

I will be passing out handmade felted apples, pussyhats homemade from my Midterm Election Day fabric, and posters with the snake-and-the-apple iconography on them.

Oh and I will be dressed up as Eve holding my VOTE apple! Here is a pic of me test-running the outfit.

Krista Suh Dressed as Eve

Some Barnard students will be helping me that day, and they will be wearing the Vote Nov 6th shirts and leggings (available in my website shop if you want one of your own—it raises money for Rock the Vote!).

Which is all to say, we are going to make quite the SPECTACLE!

But if you prefer a cozier way to get out the vote – I’ve got you covered!
Download the Vote with Me app and Krista Suh’s VOTE Sticker app and text your friends reminders to vote! So effective! And fun!

However you decide to get out the vote in this last week, share it with me on social media by tagging @kristasuh so I can take a look and be inspired by your creations!

We’ve got this.

We’ve got each other.

Love,
Krista

P.S. This is the perfect time to host a get-together with friends to research your candidates for elected office together! I highly recommend making it a movie night by adding the comedy The Campaign. Read my blog post about how to throw this party and my favorite parts of the movie!

P.P.S. You can also send out invites for an Election Night Viewing Party using my free downloadable invite!

The Campaign Movie Still TMI Blog

Host a Campaign-themed Movie Night while researching candidates with…

The Campaign Movie Still

The Campaign is the funniest movie with the strongest hair you’ll ever see. I love adding this movie to a candidate-research party for 2018 because in this movie, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are 2 candidates for House of Representatives going head to head, not 2 candidates for President! It really highlights the importance of voting during the midterms!

I find it helpful to tackle my ballot research with a friend or 2 in tow – usually they live closeby and have the same candidates to choose from. Maybe you guys can make this a tradition before every voting day – primaries, midterms, you name it!

You provide:

  • A table with chairs to sit around on
  • Extra pen and paper
  • Wifi

They bring:

  • Their ballot
  • A laptop/phone for research

Spend about an hour doing research and making choices (I especially look for if a candidate is endorsed by Planned Parenthood – very important!). If you want to mail in your ballot right then, do so! Afterward, treat yourselves to this very funny movie (available to download on amazon, google, and itunes) and some popcorn.

After watching The Campaign, you might be inspired to up your game and stump for your local womens-rights supporting candidate. Candidates need our help!

Below I’ve shared some of my favorite scenes from the movie, and provided insightful commentary (just kidding, no insights, just quotes and mostly my OMG HAHAHAHAH reactions)

[SPOILER ALERT]

The Campaign Movie Still

This is the PERFECT quote to begin the movie ZOMG. And the MUSIC! Jesus Christ. Perfect.
(Not so perfect: Ross Perot was not a Presidential Candidate in 1988 whoops!)

The Campaign Movie Still

“How’s my hair?” “Strong. Real strong.”
Jason Sudeikis is PERFECT in this movie. Really, all the supporting cast is perfect and serve to create a ridiculous meaningful world around Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis)

The Campaign Movie Still

Within the first few lines of dialogue, Cam Brady is introduced to a crowd as the candidate “running unopposed” – this is perfect b/c in movie-land we ALL know what this means – his perfect unopposed life won’t stay perfect and unopposed for long! Movies often start with a main character that has hit rock bottom, but a cousin of rock bottom is “ennui” or “inertia” – they haven’t moved or needed to move for a very long time–this is Cam Brady.

Maybe my favorite line of the entire movie: “I come from humble beginnings. My father, worked with his hands as head stylist of Vidal Sassoon.” ROFL – if you think about it EVERYONE works with their hands – writers, heart surgeons…

What do you think of their North Carolina accents?

The Campaign Movie Still

Katherine LaNasa is perfect as Cam Brady’s wife Rose Brady. I love the costumes too – exactly what a winning candidate’s family is supposed to look like, it’s so perfect it’s comedic.

OK, and now onto one of the best constructed jokes in the movie, a montage of Cam Brady campaigning to different groups and telling EACH of them that they are this nation’s backbone!

“Veterans are this nation’s backbone”
(set-up of joke)

“Farmers are this nation’s backbone”
(this is set-up but ALREADY funny because wow, of course, this politician is gonna like and tell EVERYONE they are this nation’s backbone! Also, check out the goats messing around in the background.)

“Schools is this nation’s backbone”
(continuation of joke, but also inherent joke of him being in an educator’s space and using wrong grammar)

“Audio installation specialists and window tinters are this nation’s backbone!”
(frankly, I’m already dying laughing here)

“Filipino tilt-a-whirl operators are this nation’s backbone!”
(#slay. Also, this movie actually has Asian-Americans in it!!! You’ll see more later. #representation)

The Campaign Movie Still

“Hey Jared, let’s let the machine take one… for God.”
Actor Jack McBrayer makes an appearance and he’s pitch perfect as the head of a Jesus-loving family. I love the color and lighting of this – it’s so Norman Rockwell and 70s ochre tones – it definitely says sweet and innocent (and easily offended) American family, i.e. the worst family Cam Brady could call in horny drunkenness.

The Campaign Movie Still

“My brother and I are job creators.”
The perfect parody of the Koch Brothers. The real life Koch brothers were NOT pleased by this movie, here’s one of many articles about it: This Will Ferrell Movie Pisses Off the Koch Brothers.

The Campaign Movie Still

Within seconds of meeting Marty we know exactly who he is, while CRACKING UP.
“‘Can’t’s the real ‘C’ word!”
“You’re hysterical Travis”
“Just one person signed in.” “What? Are you serious? What happened to the 8th grade field trip?” “I guess the kids would just rather go to class.”
“She got a crush on you, Marty.” “She’s gonna have to get in line.”
And the way he STOPS STOP STOPS the entire tour just to pick up a phone call from Dad. You get the relationships right away.

The Campaign Movie Still

“If you’re still holding a grudge because I wore Crocs to Mom’s funeral, like I’ve told you a thousand times, I’m sorry.”
OK, maybe THIS is my favorite line.
Also, whenever I watch this is in a group, the cut to this composition of him being perched centered and high on the boat never fails to get a laugh.

The Campaign Movie Still

”From now on you don’t own pugs, you own a Golden Retriever and a chocolate Labrador – two of the highest polling dogs. One of them will be named Sargeant, the other Scout. They will wear bandanas.”
Marty’s not happy with the changes, and his wife protests too. Her objections are almost hidden in the background, but darkly funny:
“We can not have guns in here. Are you crazy?! Dylan is prone to intense bouts of violence.”

The Campaign Movie Still

This moment is comedy gold.

The Campaign Movie Still

Pugs are inherently funny, plus them polling badly as “Chinese commie dogs” makes them funnier in The Campaign. But the writers made them symbolic too of Marty’s character and inner strength!
“Well pugs were bred for short snouts. So they can lock in and take down lions.” “I find that hard to believe.” “You can google it, it’s worth a google.” Marty is an underdog, and like his pugs, is often underestimated.

The Campaign Movie Still

“Aiding and abetting a known international fugitive. This is Tim Wattley, aka Leonides Stavos, aka the Greek Butcher aka the Greek Baker, aka the Greek Candlestick Maker, aka Dermot Mulroney.”

Love that they slipped in a Dylan McDermott-Dermot Mulroney joke. Dylan McDermott plays who plays Tim Wattley in this movie. In case you missed it, SNL did a skit about these 2 handsome actors with very similar names:

Krista Suh's FREE Midterm Election Day Stickers Newsletter

Egad! Stickers?! Text your way to ELECTION DAY VICTORY!

I’ve always wished there was a pussyhat emoji, and now there is one!

The easiest way to download these stickers (FREE for you until Election Day!!!) is to be on your iPhone and click this link.

From there, you’ll be able to access this sticker pack in the iMessage app.

Krista Suh's FREE Midterm Election Day Stickers

Like the best emojis, these stickers cover the whole range of human emotion.

Another man’s career destroyed because brave #metoo victims have come forward?
That calls for a sticker I call DANCING ON THE GRAVE OF PATRIARCHY.

Dancing on the Grave of the Patriarchy

Trump say something stupid in the news?
Here’s an angry emoji.

Angry Emoji

Is there a crisis in your community?
Here’s a “Let’s band together” sticker.

Witches Unite Emoji

Your sister pushed for a raise at work?
Here’s an affirmation sticker!

You Are Magical Emoji

And Every. Single. Sticker. Has…
“VOTE NOV 6TH” on it. Because as you and I both know, it’s important.

With these iPhone text message stickers you can infuse this reminder in everyday life.

Don’t have iPhone? You can get access to this artwork and more via this clip art folder on my website! Simply save the images you want and copy and paste them into your messages.

Encourage your friends to download the sticker pack as well – it’s super fun to see how long you can text with just stickers 😉

Pair these free iphone stickers with the amazing and free VOTE WITH ME app. It’s a match made in heaven 🙂

XOXO
Krista Suh Signature

Vote With Me App Newsletter

Easy AND 20x more effective than canvassing – a…

Hi Friends!

You might have noticed that in all my letters to you, I pretty much assume you’re gonna vote. It’s because I know how active you are, and I know you know how important these elections are to the country and for women in particular.

My focus then, has been to see how we can all encourage everyone to vote – our friends and family and neighbors around us. And my number 1 most effective way to do that is this very handy app called Vote with Me.

Vote With Me App

Vote with Me is free and super well-built. You let it access your contacts and it will show you your friends’ VOTING RECORDS. Whom people vote for is private, whether or not they vote is public record! This technology is so smooth, it feels a little black mirror-ish.

Through the app you can then text people a friendly prompt to vote. Texting your contact list is 20x more effective than canvassing. And you can to it in just a few minutes today, right now!

Please download the app, reach out to at least 5 friends, and encourage your friends to do the same.

Vote With Me App

Vote with Me is even effective at pointing out who in your contact list has the privilege of voting in very tight races (i.e. races that we can turn blue!)! Be sure to reach out to those friends in particular.

We have been updating the Midterm Election Central page on my website – so if you haven’t been in awhile check it out! It includes my top 3 ways of getting out the vote!

3 Clarifications from last week:

  1. A couple links were confusing last week here are the correct ones:
    Download our FREE voting stickers — they’re perfect for placing on apples, oranges, and anywhere that needs a reminder that it’s time to not only register, but to get your vote on!

  2. If you love getting your aggression out via stabbing, you’ll love the free felting pattern for apples that’s featured on my site. Happy making, my friends!

  3. And finally:

  4. SPOONFLOWER orders! So many of you have bought from Spoonflower! Thank you!!! Maybe I am a worrywort, but I’ve noticed that about a dozen new users of Spoonflower bought “basic cotton ultra” which is a gorgeous fabric, and a great choice, but if you expected a fleece fabric, I want to confirm that basic cotton ultra is not a fleece. You can still make great pussyhats with the cotton, but if you want fleece, we suggest you put in a new order, and Spoonflower has told me they will refund your original order of basic cotton ultra if you contact them after you receive it (within 60 days, check out their returns and exchange policy). I am unable to contact you via Spoonflower to check individually, so if this pertains to you and you have questions, please reply to this email with subject line “basic cotton ultra.” Thank you so much, and Happy crafting! (And yes, Spoonflower can make the Midterm Election Day print into fleece, denim, chiffon, wallpaper, gift wrap, and all sorts of amazing items to craft with!)

Thanks friends, for Voting with Me!

Krista Suh Signature

Bite into Democracy TMI Blog

Women have been baking for elections for a looooooong…

Voting Plus Cake Equals A Match Made In America

After the Revolution, the women brought the cake to early voting sites to help “muster” votes, and it became known as election cake. Back in those days, when elite white men were the only ones who could rock the vote, women claimed their place in political culture with a monstrous cake for the masses. And while it’s hard to believe now, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Election Day was a holiday just as important as Christmas, and food was central to it. Bonfires, barbecues, whiskey, and cake helped to amplify the revelry and encourage voting. Whiskey, cake, and voting, an American tradition we can get behind.

Read more about it at Bon Appetit.

And check out how you can make an easy-as-pie Election Day Apple Pie!

Click here to return to Midterm Election Central!

Eves Apple Pie Ingredients TMI Blog

Eve’s Election Day Apple Pie Recipe!

This recipe is as easy as pie and is a delicious way to get out the vote!

Even if you’ve never baked before, you will find this recipe easy and feel like such a genius in the kitchen! For you more experienced bakers–use your own time honored recipes along with these design inspirations!

These are the ingredients/tools I suggest:

  • 2 21-oz cans of apple pie filling
  • 2 packages of pre-rolled pie crust (2 crusts in each box, I like to have extra to play with)
  • Optional: 1 egg to make egg wash for crust
  • 1 pie pan (can be an oven safe dish or disposable aluminum 9 inch pie pan)
  • Aluminum foil
  • Knife (for cutting decorations in pie crust)
  • Optional: 1 silicone/basting/pastry brush for egg wash

You’ll also need 1 oven (not pictured) pre-heated to 425 degrees Farenheit (or whatever your pie crust box says).

Eves Apple Pie Ingredients

 

Step 1:
Put 1st layer of pie crust on to pie pan.

Eve's Apple Pie Step 1

 

Step 2:
Add apple filling (2 cans).

Eve's Apple Pie Step 2

 

Step 3:
Now the fun part! Cut a design from the remaining layers of pre-rolled pie crust. Make sure there are holes/slits for heat to escape in the baking process.
Extra credit: beat an egg into a bowl and brush the egg wash onto the crust for a deeper color, you can also use your fingers if you don’t have a brush.

Eve's Apple Pie Step 3

 

Eve's Apple Pie

 

Eve's Apple Pie

 

Step 4:
Bake for 40 minutes at 425 degrees Farenheit (or whatever directions are on your pie crust box). After the first 20 minutes, take your pie out and make a collar out of 3 inch wide strips of aluminum foil for the edges of your pie so they don’t burn. Return the pie to the oven for the remaining 20 minutes.

Eve's Apple Pie

Eve's Apple Pie

 

Ta-da! Give to your friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and remind them all to Vote!

 

Click here to return to Midterm Election Central!

Vote November 6 Pie Illustration Newsletter

Krista steps into the great unknown… the kitchen (all…

When I was a kid I wanted to be cool, and in that era, it meant wearing very baggy hoodies, eschewing skirts, and scorning pink. I now realize that “cool” in a 1990s elementary school meant masculine.

My mom was not a cook nor a crafter; when I was in an 8th grade play involving Greek muses she was at a total loss when she had to braid my hair.

If you’re like my mom, you are no less of a woman just because you are not good at cooking, crafting, and braiding hair.

But conversely, you are no less “cool” if you happen to be amazing at cooking, crafting, and braiding hair, and you enjoy it.

That was a lesson that took me a much longer time to learn. I grappled with my femininity before I learned to accept it and allow it to take me places.

I now see how the feminine arts are looked down on, and it is my calling in life to validate them once more, not because they are “better” than masculine arts, but because they have been oppressed for so long and told that they are lesser.

Which brings me to… PIE.

Vote November 6 Pie Illustration

Nothing brings people together like pie, and it is my hope that you can saucily add a message to your pie when you bring it over to your neighbors. VOTE NOV 6TH!

Check out my step-by-step recipe here.

If you like baking, use your favorite family heirloom dough and filling recipe . . .

If you’re a beginner at baking like I am, just have fun with store-bought crust and canned filling.

(My shero Nora Ephron said that store-bought pie crust is just as good as homemade – is that scandalous?!)

Eve's Apple Pie

Pick 5 neighbors (or friends or colleagues) you’d like to reach out to about VOTING on November 6th! You have 26 days to reach FIVE people–that’s about 1 person every 5 days. Can you do it?!

Pick 5 People to Reach Out To

 

 

Sample Script

Hi __[name]___, I am your neighbor ___[your name]___. I made this ___[gift]___ for you, I hope you like it. It was very ___[emotion]___ making it for you. Voting on November 6th is very important to people like us. I truly believe women’s rights can be taken away if we don’t show up to vote on November 6th. If you have any questions about making a voting plan, I can help you make one. Do you have a plan to vote? Are you registered? Are you voting by mail? In person? Do you know when and how you’ll get to the polls?

If you love this sentiment but don’t have the time to bake, download the Vote with Me app and aim to text 5 friends!

Thank you sisters and co-conspirators! Good luck!

If you have any treasured apple recipes you’d like to share, please do so in the blog comments!
We would love to highlight your creativity!

XOXO
Krista Suh Signature

P.S. I have an extra special surprise for you in the works–it’s super exciting and dare I say cutting-edge, easy, beautiful, and FUN! OMG I wish I could show you RIGHT NOW!
P.P.S. Baking for Election Day has had a long tradition in America (since colonial times!)–check out the blog post here.

Click here to return to Midterm Election Central!

Felted Vote Apples Newsletter

Communicate in “out of the box ways” – like…

Two weeks ago my family participated in our yearly tradition – the Harvest Moon Festival. In addition to exchanging moon cakes with our family and friends, we would often bring a crate of apples to each home, fruit being a traditional gift from the harvest.

Arriving with a gift creates a bond, an instant rapport. Gifts are an ancient form of communication.

The pussyhat worked because it was connected to this ancient rite of gift giving. And each pussyhat was a gift thoroughly embedded with love and meaning.

Let’s be honest, in a world of iphone screens and mass printed flyers, wasn’t it deeply touching to receive a handmade soft tactile pink hat? Didn’t you listen? Yes, because you weren’t just hearing the call to March on Washington, you were hearing the ancient call of human community, of the love we have for one another, the genuine hopes we have for each other.

With that in mind, I’ve been wondering how to deepen the relationship between us and the neighbors we ask to vote on November 6th.

When I’ve canvassed for political candidates, I saw flyers stuck on doorknobs and doormats, the paper decaying in the snow. How can we get past that apathy and information overload?

Felted Vote Apples

Inspired by Eve and her apple, I’ve made these felted apples with “VOTE Nov 6” felted onto them. I pass them around, leave them on my car dashboard for the world to see, and like an elf leave them on my neighbors’ doorknobs. They are small objects of beauty, and completely surprising to see in one’s normal day. They are soft and just slightly squishy (I don’t felt until the roving is rock hard, maybe I’m lazy).

On my website, there is a free felting pattern.

Large Sewn Vote Apple

As well as a link to a sewing pattern for a large squishable apple

Apples with Vote Stickers

AND for those of you who aren’t crafty but maybe want to share fruit from your backyard tree or your local bulk store… here are free stickers you can print out to stick on actual apples (no crafting required!)

If not apples, what type of gift would you like to communicate with? When you encourage those around you to vote, what creative gift will you use to get past the flyers and the ads to tap into the deep wellspring of love? A reminder to your neighbor to vote is a reminder that she is important, her voice deserves to be heard, and that she is loved.

Apples are a part of American folklore (Johnny Appleseed) and peppers our language (The Big Apple, an apple a day, the apple of my eye…). Apples are American, let’s make voting as American as, well, apple pie.

XOXO
Krista Suh Signature

P.S. How ‘bout them apples? If you make some remember-to-vote apple gifts, share it on Instagram and tag me @kristasuh so I can see the “fruit” of your labor!
P.P.S. For those of you who are witches/wizards in the kitchen, or just plain love to eat, look out for my “Eve’s Election Day Apple Pie” recipe coming tomorrow!

Click here to return to Midterm Election Central!

Vote November 6th Fabric Newsletter

What Would Eve Do? She would totally VOTE Election…

Why do men hate women? Why are conservatives so eager to take away our reproductive rights, our right to choose, our rights to our own bodies and lives?

I’m no theologian, but I can’t help but wonder if it has to do with Eve. As a writer and screenwriter, I have experienced the power of story first hand. The stories we tell about ourselves create our world.

And unfortunately, the genesis story of our entire Western world can be reduced down to “A woman wanted something. And then she ruined it for the rest of us.” (And yes, I know there are a TON of interpretations of this story – of Eve and the apple and the snake, and I don’t claim to have the one and only correct interpretation – it literally goes against the ethos that I wrote a whole book about – DIY Rules for a WTF World, especially Chapter 5!)

When women want something, no matter how reasonable, it creates waves of fear. If we want to have choices, we’re deemed entitled. If we want to have agency over our own bodies, we’re deemed selfish. A woman’s desire is dangerous, so we are taught.

Is that why some of our sisters haven’t shown up to vote in the recent past? Were we subconsciously shamed into believing we didn’t deserve a say, and that our votes don’t count?

Let’s reclaim this. We’ve reclaimed the word pussy by making pussyhats. Let’s reclaim our desires, our right to be here, by voting. And while we’re at it, let’s encourage our friends to vote, and let’s dare to have fun while doing it.

Voting on Nov 6th is about so much more than civic duty – it is about reclaiming our voices as women – women with needs, women with desires, women with power.

I’ve been finding my own voice more and more as an artist, and was inspired by the figure of Eve. I’ve created artwork that can be shared and used by all of us in an effort to get women out to vote this November 6th. Women need to vote this election. We are our country’s last hope.

I’ll be releasing more in the coming weeks, but this is the first gift:

Vote November 6th Pussyhat

A new Eve-inspired printed fleece to sew pussyhats with – I will be personally making about 80 of them to pass out before the November 6th election. 1 yard makes about 8 pussyhats. By no means do you have to use this fleece, you can knit or crochet or sew with fabric already in your stash. Especially as the weather gets colder, wearing your pussyhat is a wonderful signal to everyone around you to remember to vote! And to remind us all why this election is particularly important to women.

 

Vote November 6th Clip Art Bundle

Free clip art to share on social media or use on any local neighborhood flyers you put together.

 

Vote November 6th Apparel

Clothing with this limited edition print on it – not for the faint of heart – these all-over print clothing pieces will definitely be noticed and start conversations. 100% of profits go toward this grassroots voting campaign and Rock the Vote a nonpartisan nonprofit “dedicated to building the political power of young people.”

Next week I will be sharing some fun patterns and ideas regarding the symbol of the apple, as well as sweetly mischievous ways to get your neighbors on board.

And as always, my hope is that by releasing my ideas they can help percolate your own – ways to get others involved that use your special superpower. If you want to share your ideas – the blog comments is a wonderful way to do so.

XOXO,
Krista Suh Signature

Click here to return to Midterm Election Central!

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