Here is the next of the beautiful, inspiring, special contributions coming in to the #MandalasForMarinke remembrance project. I am grateful for each and every amazing contribution.
Contributions should be postmarked by October 15, 2015. Learn more here. If you absolutely can’t meet that deadline but want to participate, please email me at kathryn.vercillo (gmail).
Beautiful Crochet Mandalas
These delightful crochet mandalas are made using the standard 12-round crochet mandala pattern free from Wink.
This one has a beautiful rainbow of pastel hues, while the one below is a teal color with a splash of citrus orange and white.
Meet the Maker
These great crochet mandalas come from Linda in Indiana who says:
“I am new to crochet, having just learned from a friend in March. I found Wink’s blog and book almost immediately. I am deeply saddened by what has happened. Wink is a great inspiration to everyone. I say is, not was, as her work will carry on forever with her patterns and blog.”
Words by Wink
If you check out the sidebar of her blog, you’ll see that the way Wink described herself in brief was:
“i am marinke, but you can call me wink. i’m crazy about crocheting, drawing, painting, reading, photography, music and all other things hippie related. love is the drug!”
About Depression
One purpose of this project is to raise awareness about depression so each post ends with some facts, thoughts or quotes about depression, suicide and/or mental health. Today I wanted to point out that suicide appears to be more common in rural areas than in urban areas. I learned this from the documentary Walking Man, which is about a man with lifelong bipolar depression who goes on a walk across his state with his son to raise awareness about mental health issues. In the film, he especially wants to go to a small town where three teens had recently committed suicide but when he gets there the school administrators ask him not to actually mention the suicides, highlighting just how much stigma there still is in talking about this important issue.
Anna Almendrala wrote for HuffPo earlier this year:
“A troubling new report on youth suicide shows that the gap between rural deaths and urban deaths is widening; From 1996 to 2010, rates of death from suicide among children, teens and young adults were nearly double in rural communities, when compared to urban ones.”
Some of the reasons why suicide may be more common in rural areas include:
- Fewer mental health resources including less education about the issues
- More stigma around talking about the issues
- Greater sense of isolation because fewer people means fewer people “like me”
- Greater access to guns
- Great social sense of individuality, handing things on our own, idea that “we just get on with things”
All contributions to Mandalas for Marinke are so appreciated. They help raise awareness about depression while honoring her work in the same way that this great contribution has done today.