In the article, I recognized much of the historical activism that involved crafting. More specifically, the sewing of soldiers’ uniforms and the conflict of sewing in the Suffragist movement. I had never thought of the way that women made soldiers’ uniform in the Revolutionary War as activism, however, sewing their own clothes as a way of boycotting British textiles is undoubtedly activism. Women used the skills they had and the position that society created for them to create their own path of activism. The conflict of some Suffragists judging women who still sewed and did not involve themselves in women’s suffrage work was something had previous knowledge of as well. Suffragists made efforts to show other women that you could be a lady and also want the right to vote by creating their own craftivism as well.
I enjoyed the guerilla kindness essay the most. Activism is often an exhausting, hard fought battle, so for Lothian to create a project purely to make people happy was a refreshing perspective on activism. Throughout the essay, I was really excited to read about all the things she had created and dropped around her community as an effort to bring that community together. The one essay I had the most trouble with was the one about Thoreau. I have always found Thoreau frustrating to read so that may contribute to my struggle with the essay, but I had a hard time deciding the main idea of using Thoreau as an example of craftivism.