Today’s fabulous floral crochet mandala for the Mandalas for Marinke project comes to us from Susana in Chile. Susana created the pattern for this mandala herself and shares it in both English and Spanish on her blog.
Susana shares her bio in both English and Spanish:
“I’m Susana. I was born in Chile. I lived for a long time in Venezuela, where I went to the university to study science. I have lived in France and Spain, too, but am now currently back in Chile again. I love to design knitwear, using needles and hook, bright colors, silly and different textures, and I make my own knitting patterns.”
“Soy Susana, naci en Chile. He vivido una larga temporada en Venezuela, allí fui a la universidad para ser científica. También en Francia y Espana. Ahora, nuevamente en Chile. Me encanta TEJER y diseñar tejiendo, usando agujas, ganchillo o telar. Adoro los colores brillantes y las texturas. Me encanta compartir y aprender. Hago mis propios patrones para tejer.”
Susana also shares:
“We all have difficult times in our lives, not always overcome alone. I have had great friends in my life and that has been very important in supporting me. Marinke’s work is inspiring, bright and full of hope. I’m sure that many people enjoy her designs because they are so positive and full of energy. My contribution is inspired by this, by flowers and by the powerful nature of which we are a part.”
In her blog post about the mandala she writes, in Spanish, that nature always shares its beauty and simplicity with us, inviting us to be a part of it. This reminds me of how much Wink liked forest bathing.
Find Susana on Ravelry and Etsy.
For today’s mental health awareness portion of the Mandalas for Marinke post, I thought I’d share an interesting debate that’s been going on here in San Francisco over the plan to build a new jail. There’s been some changes to the incarceration system here, where many state level inmates are being re-classified back to county jails, which then have the option of reducing sentences. San Francisco has responded by offering a lot of probation with the intention of significantly reducing mass incarceration. (Mass incarceration is a huge problem in California, and many of the people who are in the state’s prisons suffer from mental health issues.) Crime statistics show that crime rates are down in the area after the city made this move.
San Francisco has had plans for awhile to build a new jail to replace really outdated facilities. Opponents are saying that the city shouldn’t be investing in a new jail when they’re releasing a mass number of prisoners.
“We’re talking about replacing a facility that has close to 900 beds with 384 beds, and those 384 beds will be dedicated to people with mental health issues, co-occurring substance abuse issues,” Sheriff-elect Vicki Hennessy said.
An argument against this says that the money should be going directly into providing better mental health care, rather than using jails as a solution to mental health issues. That’s definitely an important argument, but the flip side of that is the recognition that the prisons and jails of the United States are already filled with people with mental health issues and many of those facilities aren’t equipped to deal with those people. If people are going to be put in jail with those issues, then the facilities should be better able to handle them, which is the idea of this new jail. It’s a tough debate with no easy answers and lots of passion on every side of the issue.
Lovely post, great photos! Thanks for sharing.
Happy Holidays