Emily J.T. Perez

I joined the Mother's Day Project a while back and this is the name I drew. The founder of this idea was anxious to do something to protest the war, and this was what she came up with. Each blogger would receive the name of a woman who died in the war and we would record our thoughts as we worked. As usual, I wasn't very organized, but here is some of what I was thinking:
1. The woman whose name I drew was a graduate of West Point, so I chose Cadet Blue for the embroidery thread.
2. I chose the chain stitch not only because I am sure that Second Lieutenant Perez would have gone higher up the chain of command (and therefore worn "braid") but because the chain of her family was broken.
3. Those aren't French knots, they are colonial knots. I know we're the United States, but we started as a group of rebellious colonies and if this is the only way I rebel against a wasteful war it will have to do.
No matter your politics (and mine are oddly tilted to the left) I hope you appreciate the losses we suffer for the next generations. I came of age in the early 70s and my thinking is largely informed from the summer of love and peacenik music. All war is bad. There must be a better way.