⁠http://saraschaefer.com/⁠

@saraschaefer1

Crafting Through It on YouTube

This is a great session with Sarah Schaefer, a comedian and artist who's created a fascinating art exhibit called "A Few Slight Concerns" - three miniature rooms at 1:12 scale representing her personal anxieties. There's a hotel room (from years of touring comedy clubs), a green room where comedians wait before performing, and her own craft room. She's literally "minimizing" her problems by turning spaces where she's had obsessive, anxious thoughts into art she can put on a shelf and walk away from.

Sarah's been doing comedy for 23 years and has performed everywhere from Comedy Central to Netflix, but she's questioning whether to stay in the industry because of the moral compromises it seems to require. She grew up in Richmond where her mom ran an amazing charity operation feeding homeless people, which gave her strong values but also this sense that her own problems weren't "big enough" to matter. Recently diagnosed with ADHD, she now understands her obsessive, hyperfocused work style - like how she gets so absorbed making miniatures that her workspace becomes what her husband calls a "nest."

The interview captures this really relatable struggle of being a creative person trying to figure out meaningful work when the world feels chaotic. Sarah's doing a solo show called "Going Up" that combines comedy with miniatures, and she's honestly wrestling with whether art matters and what direction to take her career next.