BOLD & BRAZEN: an Eco-Fashion podcast hosted by Mary Ann Stewart

Slow Stitch is the title of a book by Claire Wellesley Smith. I received it as a gift in 2015 and it laid a foundation for the concept of fibershed.

This is the episode where I introduce the idea of "fibershed", the name of the latest book by Rebecca Burgess. Much more to come on this hopeful and optimistic topic!

The episode I recorded at the conclusion of my 5-Day Eco-Fashion Challenge failed to upload properly, so I recorded this and am adding it in!

A small but engaged group has joined me for the beginning of my 5-day eco-fashion challenge that began yesterday.

Even before the calendar marks the beginning of Autumn next week, we already know something is underway. One senses a subtle shift in mood: the angle and quality of light and diminishing daylight betrays the warm summer temperatures. It is no longer Summer, yet, it is not quite Fall. I noted that some of the trees had given way to this shift with changing leaves, in evidence since August. It's the time of year when personal reflection comes more easily and naturally for me, too; I reflect on personal goals, hopes, dreams.

In this episode I referenced Rainer Maria Rilke's series of poems called The Book of Hours, its title coming from the book from which monks chant the canonical hours. Here's one of my best -loved excerpts: 

               I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I give my life to it.

               I circle around God, around the primordial tower. I've been circling for thousands of years and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?

I also referenced Thomas Merton and The Seven Storey Mountain, written during his first years at Gethsemani and is a moving, spiritual autobiographical account of Merton's search for faith. Merton has written numerous moving works, including poems. This one, which alludes to the canonical "time of day" is from his book of essays and poems, No Man is an Island:

               There must be a time of day when the man who makes plans forgets his plans, and acts as if he had no plans at all

               There must be a time of day when the man who has to speak falls very silent. And his mind forms no more propositions, and he asks himself: Did they have a meaning?

               There must be a time when the man of prayer goes to pray as if it were the first time in his life he had ever prayed, when the man of resolutions puts his resolutions aside as if they had all been broken, and he learns a different wisdom:

                              Distinguishing the sun from the moon, the stars from the darkness, the sea from the dryland, and the night sky from the shoulder of a hill.

Did you know that the average American throws away 80 pounds of clothing each year? It's not donated or repurposed, or even sold, but tossed in the trash, destined for a landfill. I'm no expert in these matters, but I am learning to make better choices! The world needs a lot right now and we all need to be more aware of the impact our clothing choices have on the environment. Join me for a FREE Fall for Fall Eco-Fashion 5-Day Challenge -- sign up here: www.freshcercle.com

Hello! It's Mary Ann Stewart, an eco-fashion designer living in Massachusetts. I'm launching a podcast in the middle of a global pandemic because I've wanted to do one for years, and because we must get serious about our clothing choices and the impact they have on the environment.

You can expect new episodes to drop at least once a week on Tuesdays with stories about fashion and style, education in history, and where they intersect with sustainability and the environment, politics and policy, and the economy. Some episodes will be interviews with people from a range of industries: Sewists and Activists, Makers and Dyers, Architects and Farmers and So.  Much. More! 

I look forward to all that is to come and I want you to join me! Join the Bold and Brazen Facebook Page. Subscribe on Apple and Spotify, or wherever you listen, and follow me for updates on Instagram @FreshCercle. Fresh Cercle: a passion for creativity and the environment.