History
The last stages of building Vardo for Two (Spring, 2009). "We have power"
... that's where we plug-in, and pin our safety pin lifestyle.
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Vardo for Two's first hook-up on the Kitsap Peninsula, 2009  Pete (Summer, 2010) building one of many gates, on the land we share in the woods of Langley on Whidbey Island  |
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| Pete scanning the heavens, after awhile and in the Langley woods, 2013 |
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| JOTS our dear Familiar who was taken by the wilds in 2015 |
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| After the stories were told at South Whidbey Tilth, Washington 2014 |
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| Welcoming the Year of the Fire Monkey, 2016 |
"When
an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment,
precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and
effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In
this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public,
should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the
precautionary principle must be open, informed and democratic and must
include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an
examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action." - Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary
I am Yvonne Mokihana Calizar, writer,storyteller, makua o'o. I live with my husband Pete Little, a seasoned mender-meddler and experienced caregiver. We live in tiny homes we built starting in 2008. In 2007 a grand opportunity presented itself in the form of an illness I have called "the poisonous apple disease"; by other names it is called MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) or Environmental Illness. The short version of the opportunity is I became severely disabled and sick from the effects of exposure to the many fragrances, chemicals and toxins of the contemporary world.
The tiny living spaces we call home was part of the solution we created to make life as a sensitive human being at first possible, and then, with time, attention and trust we have remembered the principles and protocol of life at its core: Do no harm and care for your mother (Earth). Here on Whidbey Island in the Salish Sea since 2010, Pete and I share space with two friends. I weave a lifetime of experiences with storytelling and story writing. Beginning with a deeply-rooted Earth culture of the Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) and love of writing I create medicine stories into which people like myself, sensitive by nature and attentive to magic, share remedies and memories that live on the borders -- those places that are wild and untamed like weeds where bees, bugs and connectedness have not forgotten every one is either a brother or sister.
Pete has worked a lifetime of construction and labor jobs, begun before he was twenty; building or fixing things has been his stock and trade. Along with these very hands-on skills, Pete has been a caregiver for many years of his life. Starting with his work as a the only male orderly in a dominantly female setting (he is a Cancer man with a strong Virgo work ethic), he trained as a Nurses Aid in Honolulu in 2005, and became an Independent Provider of Home Care on Whidbey Island in 2010. With the realities of living with MCS, his work as a caregiver began a customized service providing for the needs of a client with MCS from 2010-2016.
There are still many, many places where I cannot go or be because of the Fragrance and Chemical Factor. Change is happening, but change is slow; resistance persistent, habits and politics are sticky. The Safety Pin Cafe began as a medicine story, a myth that was fed to me as a form of caring and healing one winter when isolation and illness was making me forget the magic and mystery. I wrote the story as it came to me, shared it in doses and then let the magic of possibilities grace the story.
Podcast, 2013
Today
A safety pin is both a tool and an effective metaphor for doing and believing there are small miracles to hold us together, the magic is common, practical, ever present, and versatile. Together Pete and I have learned to apply the efficient safety pin in the service of our communities, individuals, and their family in need of care for the body and the soul.
Something happened in the bigger histories of people across the pond across the Atlantic Ocean and onto the Isles of Britain where "After Bretix, A Safety Pin" links "People around the country are wearing safety pins to show solidarity with immigrants and take a stand against racism."
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| Photo Credit SHUTTERSTOCK |
And then ... another something happened when Trump won the presidency for the U.S. "The Incredible Reason You Might Start Seeing Safety Pins Everywhere."
You can read the original medicine story ... the symbolism and images reach you in the places between logic and fantasy. Your heart reaches out for the symbol and feels it. You grow, the guidance comes, the animal allies show up, the story evolves, and grows down. It changes still. Magic is like that. It will not be contained! The small and simply powerful safety pin has been holding space for all of us who are ready to take a stand, be the rock in someone's life, be the cover for another, and cut through the red tape that could take any number of manifestations from racism, imperialism, privilege, class, able-ism ...
The original story of The Safety Pin Cafe began because I found a single pin abandoned on the post office floor. I took it as a sign that my mother, "the safety pin queen" was sending me a remedy. I turned my mother's visit into a medicine story ... and now I see my Ma has been very very busy.
On Wednesday, November 16, 2016 we gather for ceremony, "Safety Pins for Solidarity" and link with the spirit of unity across the Earth. Join us in person or in spirit.
Contact us here.
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