{"id":150,"date":"2022-05-12T16:25:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T20:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/?p=150"},"modified":"2022-05-20T14:57:27","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T18:57:27","slug":"fiona-anti-capitalist-cardigan-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/fiona-anti-capitalist-cardigan-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiona, Anti-Capitalist Cardigan Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Emma Solis ’23<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n

(Note: Fiona\u2019s pronouns are they\/she, so they are loosely alternated in this profile.)<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mind if I do this while we talk?\u201d Fiona is covered in what looks like a crocheted Lorax \u2018Thneed\u2019, all soft rainbow pastels in abstract panels that don\u2019t cohere into a garment just yet. Fiona is sewing together the panels with a large plastic needle and light green yarn. They unpick and redo their work at least twice over the course of our conversation. When she finally gets it so that the front and back of the oversized cardigan line up, she grins and celebrates.<\/p>\n

Fiona tries to make anything they can. \u201cIf I really want something,\u201d she reasons, \u201cI\u2019ll put in the work to make it. I made the pants I\u2019m wearing now!\u201d If that\u2019s impossible, they buy second hand. Close to her entire life seems dedicated to alleviating or sweeping up the mess made of the world by history and capitalism. Last summer she volunteered teaching refugee children in a community garden near Atlanta, Georgia, her hometown, while doing remote outreach with a Massachusetts social program. She could do anything\u2014she loves all subjects except for math and excelled in science in high school\u2014 but plans to be a social worker. It\u2019s close to following in family footsteps: her parents are both Presbyterian pastors, community helpers and leaders in a sense, with a long line of male pastors on one side. But Fiona\u2019s an atheist; it\u2019s the one thing she and her parents disagree on. Open and understanding conversations ensue, with a stark lack of permanent resolution.<\/p>\n

A born extrovert, they love to go out and dance, too. They like making connections with people they\u2019ve seen in class or on the street, or striking up conversations with total strangers. She doesn\u2019t even sweat if someone\u2019s seen her let loose at a party: \u201cI mean, you know me better now!\u201d Surrounded by \u201csuperficial\u201d friends, they\u2019re working on forging deeper relationships. If she doesn\u2019t plan to let go while going out, she\u2019ll constantly mother her friends, which, apparently, nobody likes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean, like, you can\u2019t stop yourself from mothering everyone?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d they respond. \u201cI\u2019m overly maternal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nina, carrying Sessions House\u2019s bestest boy Babka, comes into the living room near the end of our talk and passes Babka over to Fiona. \u201cHe really likes you!\u201d Nina croons as Babka lays on his back, in kitty heaven, Fiona scratching his neck and head. Then she answers one more question, gathers up her semi-pieced cardigan, and flies through the door, off to save the world some more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emma Solis ’23 (Note: Fiona\u2019s pronouns are they\/she, so they are loosely alternated in this profile.) \u201cDo you mind if I do this while we talk?\u201d Fiona is covered in what looks like a crocheted Lorax \u2018Thneed\u2019, all soft rainbow pastels in abstract panels that don\u2019t cohere into a garment just yet. Fiona is…Read more Fiona, Anti-Capitalist Cardigan Queen<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3782,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonfiction-profiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}