Tap, tap… is this thing on?
Uh, hi. As the name of the site suggests, I’m Carmen… Yount.
I’m kind of in between things at the moment. I’ve been an election coordinator for the Associated Press, a freelance graphic designer, an aspiring science illustrator, and now, I’m… I don’t know what.
One thing I definitely am is a volunteer raptor docent at my local outdoor learning center. (I’m very good at cleaning bird poo off of walls, butchering small animals and hauling water… and a reasonably good handler of an assortment of hawks and owls, and an adequate program presenter.)
I’m also an avid journaler and sketchbooker, and off-an-on nature journaler, amateur bookbinder and printmaker (drypoint, currently experimenting with a pasta machine, might eventually upgrade to a Sizzix Bigshot).
I keep a bullet journal for calendaring — it’s the first format that helped me really LOOK at how I was committing myself to activities and people. I would like to become a more consistent perpetual journaler… it’s something to work on.
I cook. A lot. Mostly plant-based food, because I don’t eat meat and my husband is one of the most lactose intolerant people I’ve ever met.
I’m using my yard(s) as a lab for resilient (in the face of climate change) plantings of native and adapted plants in our sandy (well-drained!), poorly nourished soil. And every year we grow tomatoes, a few peppers, beans, summer squash and corn… and a few blackberries and grapes.
My very brief and undistinguished career as a patio installer (in our backyard) came to an abrupt halt when I pulled… something… in my butt (hip flexor? calf?) and ended up at urgent care. I raked some of the gravel, but I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that I’ll never make it in this world as a professional piano mover.
Yoga is my jam. And walking, and sometimes rowing on an erg. Day hikes are awesome. Volunteering at the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center is a good, weekly try at farm chores; raptor mews don’t clean themselves.
I believe, with my whole heart, that the best way to get along in this world is to let people be who they are, and encourage them to become their best selves, even if their choices aren’t my choices. If an activity/identity/value helps them to become the best version of themselves AND does not cause harm to anyone else, it’s a good thing for them, and any feelings I have about the matter are not relevant.
Let me be absolutely clear about a few things: I believe that LGBTQ+ people are worthy of love and respect, that Black Lives Matter, that I am always on Native land, and that I have no right to dictate other people’s health care.
Finally, if we can afford the most kick-ass military the world has ever seen (believe you me, I am in awe of the US’s contribution to military aviation… so awesome), we should also be able to afford to make sure that people who live here have access to adequate health care. And education.
Why am I here?
That’s a very good question. I’ve had another domain that I’ve been saying I wanted to use for a long time, but I think that doing that would require more focus than I have for that sort of thing, so if I’m blogging as myself, I guess I just get to be myself. That seems like it’s worth trying for a while.
What do I hope to accomplish here?
I have absolutely no idea. But I feel like one thing I’ve lacked is movement. I feel like, if I get started in any direction, I might be able to find my way. So I guess my goal is to just move, and see what comes of it.
Carmen Yount 