I’ve been very excited to begin this class, because I never thought about activism in a light like this before now. When I thought about activism, I immediately think about marches or petitions which is very different from the quiet activism that Betsy Greer talks about. I enjoyed reading the PBS article because I never knew that craftivism has such long historical roots. I found it interesting that knitting/crocheting was seen as a took and a way for women to fight even when they were discouraged in participating in a traditionally masculine manor during the revolutionary and civil war, but to me it still seemed sexist. Throughout history when women try to let their voices be heard, we are silenced or mocked for using art as an outlet. Then men would turn around and say real women crochet instead of vote. This type of hypocrisy and double standard of the patriarchy goes back decades and centuries.
What I have already learned about craftivism from these articles is that it is not only used to express a statement, but also uses creativity to spread awareness and helping people through quiet activism. People use it as an outlet to spread awareness like the blood bag project and guerrilla kindness, and also to support minority communities and businesses. This definitely challenged my original idea of what activism really means.