POV

I started reading the member profile: “We are all the sum of our experiences in life, which is never a simple story for any of us, but the reach and depth of experience in Deb Brandon’s life has been breathtaking.”
Who was that woman the Candy Meacham wrote about? The woman in the profile and I had a lot in common—she was versed in several textile arts, well educated, well traveled, and had gone through interesting, at times alarming life experiences. Yet unlike me, that woman seemed extraordinary.
I reread the piece Candy wrote. Yes, she got the facts right, but the woman she described didn’t feel like me. Was that how other people saw me?
Both Candy and I are members of WARP (Weave A Real Peace http://www.weavearealpeace.org/), a nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for improving the quality of life of textile artisans in communities-in-need.
Candy, like me, writes a column for the WARP quarterly newsletter (http://www.weavearealpeace.org/newsletter.html). My column is about textile techniques from around the world, whereas she writes member profiles. This time, Candy featured me, Deb Brandon.
It was like listening to a recording of my voice, knowing that it was in fact my voice, or at least as others heard it. Yet the recording didn’t really sound like me; it certainly wasn’t as I heard my voice.
And here I was, reading about me, the facts were true, yet…
I asked Cindy, “Is that really me? Is that how you see me?”
She assured me that Candy had indeed captured my essence.
“But you know me, a regular human being, often bumbling along. Nothing special.”
The WARP annual meeting was coming up in a couple of weeks. “After reading that, they’re going to have ridiculously high expectations.”
I liked the article, it was interesting and well written, and that woman Candy wrote about sounded really cool.
I really wanted to meet her.