Skysinger
I made up the name Skysinger because I like the sky and I like to sing. Later the name Skysinger came to mean other things, such as a bird that flies and sings at the same time or someone who sings others’ accomplishments to the skies. I never particularly liked the names Barbara or Bobbie, so I enjoy having a spiritual name I do like. The idea of using it as a pen name came later. Some people call me Sky, and anyone is welcome to do so. Skysinger is my ideal self, my spiritual self, andmy esthetic self. Early in my career at the emergency shelter, The Next Door, a friend and I were discussing the radical change from ethics based on rules to ethics based on esthetics. I preferred a literary esthetic. My friend said I was the only person he knew whose ambition in life was to become a fictional character. Skysinger is that fictional character I wanted to become.
The cloth figure started life as The Fairy Queen, with glasses, long curly hair and a robe of green, purple, gold and red. Eighteen inches tall, she sat on a wicker throne and reigned supreme over whatever I imagined. Her joints are quite floppy. The best parts of her are her carefully sculpted hands and ears. The Fairy Queen had Styrofoam in her head, doll pellets in her derriere, and a wooden rod for a backbone. She sits nicely. Her face was initially done with markers, and the marks faded. I thread painted her face and replaced her hair.
As Skysinger, she’ll keep her hand-embroidered, pointy-toed Ultra Suede shoes without the beads on the toes. She’ll keep as her bracelet a silver ring I used to wear. Her new silver pendant is made from an earring I regretted losing one of. No cat could resist her commercial doll’s hair, so it was disheveled and uneven. I replaced it with light grey yarn.
She now wears a blouse and slacks made of dark shiny fabric I really love. I like the colors and the print and that it’s polyester, colorfast and permanent. I like its draping quality and that the edges don’t ravel or roll. I don’t have to hem everywhere. The disadvantage is that I have trouble machine sewing through it, even with a brand new ball point needle. I’ve used iron-on interfacing or light paper under the fabric, which keep the fabric from going down into the needle hole of my sewing machine. The fabric was one I used for water in the bed-size quilt I made of a sunset over Grand Traverse Bay. My daughter Eileen has it now. So the fabric reminds me of the best quilt I ever made, as Skysinger commemorates the best self I could ever be.
Skysinger insisted on a long tunic out of dark teal net fabric with fuzzy fabric flowers woven in. It’s fabric I bought because I loved it. It’s soft; might be cotton. The design is centered and I cut the neck hole out of the middle of one of the flowers, which are large in this scale, and stable.
In Skysinger’s profile are The Sayings of Skysinger. In the third and fourth centuries of Christianity, several monastic communities lived in the Egyptian desert. Their wisdom is available in book form as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The title of the book was changed to acknowledge feminine influences.
When I worked at The Next Door, I frequently found myself in conflict with more conservative Christians. I sometimes said, “Well, according to The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. . .” and then proceeded with a statement that I just made up. Fundamentalists never read The Sayings of the Dese rt Fathers, so how were they to know!
Fast forward several decades, when I said at a family gathering, “Old is not a pejorative term. . . .” Someone pointed out that I say that nearly every time we get together. Frankly, someone made an age-ist joke or remark nearly every time we got together. It would be one of the remarks that my grandsons in the future would say, “My grandma always used to say. . .” I decided then and there to provide the resource to be quoted correctly. I have a lot of favorite sayings on which I’ve tried to live my life.
And that was the idea that led to The Sayings of Skysinger.