ABOUT JEANNE
WHAT SHE DOES:
Stories.
She writes them
stitches them
tells them
performs them.
Coming from an abundant legacy of clothworkers, caregivers, and story tenders, stories are Jeanne’s oxygen. Sometimes stage is the page, sometime it’s the stage, sometimes it’s a soapbox, and sometimes it’s a piece of cloth. I write, stitch, and perform stories about remarkable, resourceful, resilient women (Pink Galoshes Portraits, I call them – you know, women who, when faced with adversities, pull on their pink galoshes and tromp on through the mud and the muck to get to where they need to go.); about people with special needs (like Nancy, for example); about dark spots in world history.
WHO SHE IS:
Jeanne, the Family Woman . . . Southern to the bone, Jeanne is your basic complicated simple red dirt girl fluent only in English and Southern, Charming and Cranky. She feels most beautiful when wearing earrings that dangle and skirts that caper. Having survived two teenagers, a Cesarean delivery without anesthesia, hanging wallpaper with her husband, and Christmas, 1993, in her personal life, Jeanne is most proud of the fact that she never, ever had to attend a PTA meeting under an assumed name.
Jeanne, The 70273 Project Founder . . . When she’s not stitching the drawings of her mentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy, Jeanne Hewell-Chambers often fills her pen and gives her big, fat, crazy ideas to some fictional woman to pursue. But this time, when The 70273 Project idea came to call, Jeanne pushed up her own sleeves to live this idea into life, and a wonderful wonderful (if imperfect, at times) decision. Drawing on her Bachelor of Science in Education and a Masters Degree in Transformative Language Arts as well as her life experience as Textile Artist, Special Ed Teacher, Workshop Facilitator, Professional Storyteller, Writer, sister-in-law to Nancy, and lifelong Caregiver, Jeanne feels like everything she’s ever done has led her to these pairs of red X’s. And she couldn’t feel more honored about that.
ABOUT THE 70273 PROJECT
The 70273 Project is an international textile art project encompassing art, history, quilts and quilting, leadership, creativity, social justice, disabilities, civic engagement, and more as people from around the world come together to commemorate the 70,273 people with disabilities murdered by Nazis between January 1940 and August 1941 while raising awareness of people with disabilities today. W do what we can to encourage not just respecting, but embracing differences and learning from each other.
Cashiers, NC….I used to live in Vandemere and Bayboro, NC!!
i tell you what: i love every spot of nc. i do.
Hey, thanks for dropping by my project blog (blog.writeyouastory.com). You’re right, that trio is stellar! However, I’ve only ever met Cali, and she’s a gas.
Also, I only just got around to installing Disqus on that blog. So your comment is going to look a little . . .off.
Great to meet you, excellent site!
thank you.
I replied to your post on my blog, but I’m not sure you’ll see it there, so here’s a copy of my reply:
Thanks, Jeanne! I’m pleased to meet you, and I’ve just started reading your blog. I’m enjoying your soft, lyrical writing style.
At the moment, I’m in Lakewood, Colorado, the place I always seem to come back to after exploring somewhere new. By the end of the year, though, I’ll be in Lenox, Massachusetts, starting a month-long adventure I’m nervously excited about. I’ve been neglecting my blog, as you can see. I’m looking forward to #reverb10, in hopes that it will guide me in both restarting my blog here and prepare myself for the changes in the year to come.
I look forward to reading your reverberations, too.
so glad you replied here cause i don’t always get back by blogs to check for responses. thank you for taking the time. you know, my son is in lakewood, co – i think i mentioned that. so nice to meet you.
Love earthen vessels just sitting around!
well, i’ve got a plethora of ’em!
I love this blog and thank you for your comment on writemuch. I am new to reverb this year and to blogging (though I am not new to writing), and I will take your list of how to make the most of it and educate myself on getting better at it.
happy to help, susan. if you have other questions, let me know.
just discovered your blog and am enjoying your writing very much. you don’t always happen on a blog that makes you stop and read it, really read it, but your words are so good :), cheers eliza
Nice to meet you, complicated simple girl.I am complicatd simple guy who also fluent in southern and English.(I speak and understand redneck). I will be checking this out for sure.
wow…. got here in a roundabout way and that makes it even more lovey – the joy was in the journey… i am a north carolinian still in my heart but have not lived there since age 17 (I am well over 50 now). I miss home …. i miss my accent, long gone and probably not retrievable…. i miss knowing people like you….. but i love my now life…
{giggles} yeah, squirting through the nose is definitely a bitch. i love your attitude.
OK – I am a goof – I just saw that the quote you sent me was from my own comment on your blog. Getting old sux! Maybe the gingko balboa will help. xx
love this blog – adding it to my blog roll. I’m a lover of stories too, I collect them from various people I meet.
Not sure how to leave you a link without it seeming like spam… I’d really just like you to check it out and then you can delete my comment. 🙂
peoplestorynetwork.com/
came by to say :HI:
i will be reading your stories and lOOking at your cloth.
–twhich
I can’t make up my mind either. There are just TOO many things I love to do! And laughter – oh that is one of the greatest gifts of all. 😀
How have I not found you before?? I LOVE this site and it has come to me at the perfect time. Thank you so much for reaching out to me on my blog and giving me this lovely connection. I’m just going to kick back and get to know you!
I think our paths crossed briefly on Facebook (did you move last year?), but don’t quote me on that. I saw your link yesterday, bopped over for a looksee, and was smitten. Continuing to send you energy of fortification, comfort, and peace. And I look forward to us getting to know each other better.
I’ve just discovered that you’ve added my page “Diana’s Words” to your blogroll. Thank you so much for that, I’m honored and it’s very much appreciated.
@Diana605:twitter
Hi its Faye from Oz and I would love to send Nancy a birthday card , might even be able to get Libby to make one for her .Cheers Faye
That would be terrific. Faye! I just sent you the address via facebook message. If you don’t get it, let me know. And hey, thank you.
I have just heard about the 70273 Project from my sister, who is a quilter. I am a high school teacher in Mackay (North Queensland, Australia) and there are several staff members (and students!) who are keen to start making blocks. I have just subscribed and will encourage all participants to do the same.
Well hey, Karen! What a treat to get your comment and know that you and others will become part of The 70273 Project! Let me know if you have questions. We also have a Facebook group if you’re interested. Welcome aboard. We’re glad to have y’all.
And hey, Karen, hug your sister for me and tell her I said “Thank you.”
I am thinking of getting a few friends together to make some blocks. Is there a minimum number from any one person
Hey Barbara, I hope you do get a few friends together to make blocks! If I can ever stay awake long enough, I’m gonna’ write about getting together with my Tiger Girls (high school girlfriends) last Thursday to make blocks. (I’m getting over the flu, and though I feel much better, whenever I sit down, I go to sleep!) It was a fun day. Anyway, no there’s no minimum or maximum on making quilt blocks. Just be sure the bases are white (representing the medical records, the only information the assessing doctors used in making their life and death decision), that the bases are cut in 1 of 3 sizes (3.5″x 6.5″ = 9 cm x 16.5 cm OR 6.5″ x 9.5″ = 16.5 cm x 24.2 cm OR 9.5″ x 12.5″ = 24.2 cm x 31.8 cm), and that there are 2 red X’s placed on each white base without any words – just two red X’s. Oh, and everybody will ned to complete, sign, and attach a Provenance Form to their blocks. The mailing address is at the top of the Provenance Form. That’s all there is to it. If you have other questions, let me know. And do send me some photos for the blog, too, won’t you? Thank y’all for commemorating however many souls you commemorate. Every single one is precious, if you ask me. xo
Thanks for the info. One final question – is there a deadline for finishing the blocks as realistically nothing will happen my end till end April beginning May.