Book
The Auntie Sewing Squad guide to mask making, radical care, and racial justice
Publication Information
Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2021]
Physical Description
xv, 269 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps ; 21 cm
Summary
"The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice is a community manifesto of essays, poems, recipes, and art describing people who stepped up in the absence of government leadership. In March 2020, when the US government failed to provide personal protective equipment in the face of COVID-19, the Auntie Sewing Squad emerged to meet a critical need--sewing masks--and to critique the US government failure to protect the public's health. Led primarily by Asian American women and other women of color, including some who learned to sew from refugee mothers and grandmothers working in sweatshops, the Auntie Sewing Squad openly tells a history of exploited immigrant labor, while turning it on its head. The Auntie Sewing Squad became a cadre of dispersed mask-sewers who nimbly funneled masks to asylum seekers, indigenous communities, incarcerated people, and many others in need of protection. Sewing masks became a way not only to meet a public health need, but also to come together in mutual aid and to support cross-racial solidarity and political action in a moment of social upheaval"--
Contents
- Preface / Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord
- Taxonomy of Auntie roles / Audrey Chan
- We go down sewing / the Editors and Valerie Soe
- Auntie Sewing Squad map / Audrey Chan
- Auntie Sewing Squad core values : transparency + passion + humor + kindness / Amy Tofte and Kristina Wong
- Auntie Sewing Squad bingo / Alina Wong and Heather Lou
- Ode to spreadsheet of glory / Laura Karlin
- Finding fabric / Candace Kim and Sharon McNary
- Mary Poppins box of supplies / Laurie Bernadel
- Moment of joy / Chey and Beatrice Townsend
- Recipe for vegan kimchee / Grace Yoo
- Sewing as care work / Preeti Sharma
- Taxonomy of Auntie care / Audrey Chan
- Evolution of Auntie care / Gayle Isa
- Auntie Sewing Squad care-van / Duyen Tran
- How to sew masks for fun and no profit in an apocalypse / Dana Leahy
- Mask ties and earloops and nose pieces / Belinda Younis
- Bread, roses, and face masks / Ellen Gavin
- Home sweatshop / Laura McSharry
- Recipe for ube halaya / Irene Tayag Laut
- Sewing with intent / Chrissy Yee Lau
- Behind the wheel of a large automobile full of PPE / Badly Licked Bear
- Badly Licked Bear van
- Dreaming of my ancestors : sewing a network of protection across La Frontera / Jessica Arana
- Abuela's facultad / Jessica Arana
- Solidarity praxis / Lauretta Kanahoa Masters
- Monks robe fabric / Melinda Creps
- It's in your blood : warrior alliances in the time of corona / Constance Parng
- Recipe for tsukemono mac salad / Dave Vindiola
- ASS Facebook feed
- Sewing as refuge / Mai-Linh K. Hong
- Mending time : a movement score / Rebecca Pappas
- Mask butterfly and stencil rose / Jacqueline Bell Johnson
- Rebirth / Māhealani Flournoy
- Three generations / Joni Byun
- Sewing through a pan(dem)ic / Hellen Lee
- How to measure, selfie / Sanae Robinson Guerin
- Recipe for nourishing salve / Laura Karlin
- Sewing as insurrection / Rebecca Solnit
- ASS quilt / Melissa Quilter
- Science is the light on the sewing machine / Karl Haro von Mogel, PhD
- My dad sewing / Lisa Prostak
- Querida abuelita Rafaelita / Lorena Madrigal
- Sewing machine / Lorena Madriga
- Treasuring mom / Joy Park-Thomas
- Recipe for Earl's girl poundcake / Diana Williams
- Teaching sewing / Grace Yoo
- The ASS child labor kids sewing camp / Gina Rivera
- To the rescue / Dominic and Teena Apeles
- Technical assistance Auntie / Vibrina Coronado
- Connecting my family's 100-year herstory / Jenni "Emiko" Kuida
- Sewing with mom / Winnie Fong
- Sewing for the next generation / Sylvia Kwon
- A day in the life of Westside Hub / Gwennie Wong and Leilani and Ova Chan
- Recipe for chocolate shortbread hearts / Melissa Quilter
- we (can) do it / Elena Dahl
- Coda : when finding pleasure is survival / the Editors
- Timeline
- ASS sewing patterns / Mai-Linh K. Hong and Chey Townsend.