Punk at its heart is a blood-n-spit forged radical commitment to integrity. It’s a full-force head-butt to a mass-produced culture that degrades our humanity and a caste system sewn in niceties, innuendoes, and euphemism.
It’s not nice and it’s certainly not subtle. But true? Aye – it’s that. Always that.
— Stew Napalm, aka Stuart Daedalus
How was Handworks? Well – other than Narayan Nayar wussing out on a crowd-surfing opportunity – it was pure punk.
And for those of you who don’t know me – that’s about as high praise as I get. If I rotated on an axis, its poles would be Punk and Zen.
Handworks was chest-thumping, adrenaline-pumping Peace with a capital P.
Was it good for business? Probably. But – and you’ll have to trust me on this one – that’s not why I went, or why it was worth every second. I went because it was a chance to be immersed in craftsmanship with some of the most talented people I know.
And to me, the real value of this sort of event is not what I learn there, what I buy there, or what I sell there. The real value for me is what I bring home with me. Pure, unbridled enthusiasm. I came home from handworks exhausted, spent, and positively on fire with the urge to make mind-blowing stuff, to get better at it and to see if I can impress myself. I got home and couldn’t wait to dive into my shop and create something.
Radical dharma in a bottle. As a verb. Present tense.
Thanks to Jameel, Fr. John, and (because no one ever does anything alone in their family – or in this world) the entire Abraham clan. Now get to work on 2015.