Paper Making @ The Ithaca Veteran's Sanctuary

Being at the Ithaca Veteran's Sanctuary for the NE Regional Retreat was amazing.  It was a surprisingly comforting space and the residents were super welcoming.  As an artist I immediately gravitated toward the Combat Paper studio. While breaking down our uniforms, we talked music, politics, FTA, love, and art.  After seeing the large screen I had an overwhelming desire to put my body into the paper.  I wanted to translate a recurring nightmare I have.  Chris Arendt and Eli Wright were all about it. No one in Combat Paper history had put themselves into the paper in such a fashion.  What I loved most is that no one ever said it wasn't possible!  We immediately set out to figure out how.  Gotta love Veterans!  It seems "adapt and overcome" is applicable to healing.  After a few logistical challenges, we figured out how to make it happen.  I curled up in the screen, warmly bathed in the uniforms of nameless brethren, while my friends poured my own around me.  In a brief moment of quiet (everyone around so excited:) I felt the peace of the space and the weight of my memories fall into the paper along with my own tears.  It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life.  The ability to physically touch your nightmares, to shape them into your own making, is a gift I will forever appreciate.  Thank you all at the Ithaca Veteran's Sanctuary for the opportunity to reshape my dreams.