As I mentioned in Tuesday's webinar, I was still having some difficulty coming up with an identity icon. I was initially leaning toward Alice, but as Andy pointed out, my identity icon should be an inspiration -- not an image that I currently identify with because I'm also lost in my own world and too curious for my own good. They have a saying about that; spoiler alert: it doesn't end well for cats.
Yet try as I might, I just couldn't come up with an ideal icon.
I love WALL-E the robot's ingenuity and belief in love, but his best friend is a cockroach.
The Cheshire Cat is great, but he's even loonier than I am.
I suppose I don't have to stick with a Disney character; how about the mythical goddess Rhiannon herself? Sure, she was accused of killing her child or something, but I do believe she was eventually acquitted. Nah...
Hercule Poirot? I don't know; he was a bit too fond of his mustaches for my liking.
For every character or figure I thought of, after initially saying a mental, "yeah, that's it!" to their good qualities, I started to remember their bad qualities, criminal history, and possible substance abuse problems (Tinkerbelle hit that pixie dust pretty hard, don't you think?).
I was becoming frustrated, wishing I could just hand select the various traits and qualities I was seeking, creating a mosaic amalgamation of some perfect being that inspires me. A patchwork of pieces sewn together like Frankenstein's monster, but... you know... not a monster. Like a... like a quilt! Yes, that's it! A quilt!
A beautiful work of art, a result of hard work, and the combination of multiple pieces brought together to make an even lovelier whole. Something that reminds me of my beloved grandmother, something that has always represented comfort, warmth, and love in my life. I want to be a quilt!*
*I can use an inanimate object, right? Right?!? If you say no, it's back to the drawing board, and I can't promise anyone that I won't just go ahead and settle on Cruella DeVille; she had a pretty sweet ride and a killer fashion sense. You've been warned.
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Bravo, bravo!!!
ReplyDeleteThe birth of an Identity Icon! A quilt is a wonderful metaphor. My measure of the effectiveness of an Identity Icon isn't the object itself, but rather the amount of detail you can conjure up when you want to redirect your awareness towards your Icon.
You already mentioned a great deal of symbolism in your post, but keep adding more details. Spend some time studying your own hand made quilt, think of the amount of love/hours Nana invested in its creation.
But don't stop with physical detail, go ahead and ascribe all the philosophical meaning you can muster. In many ways, we are all quilts of some sort in as much as we are co-created by all of our friends and family. I also like the notion of quilts in as much as I often speak about weaving one's self into the fabric of humanity.
Remember, you can always add more and more depth and detail to your identity icon. It is a living Icon!!!
Great job!!