Your job is your job. Do it 'til the cows come home.

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Your job is your job. Do it 'til the cows come home.

Some Deeper wisdom about doing your job from Mayyadda and Katy Schalla Lesiak’s OpEd this week. “…If those questions raise your own version of imposter syndrome or worry that you are wasting your time or not doing enough – you might be doing something right!”

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Coming Up: FabricTV+ and the first-ever Fabric Film Festival!

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Coming Up: FabricTV+ and the first-ever Fabric Film Festival!

A brief preview of our upcoming FabricTV+ series, and announcing the first-ever Fabric Film Festival! Put together a team and make a film together— it doesn’t matter if you’re a pro or haven’t made a short film before… it’s all about creativity, not perfection!

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Giving Up the Ghosts of Unholy Hustle

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Giving Up the Ghosts of Unholy Hustle

Photos and reflections by Jeanette Mayo

The turn of the calendar tempts us with promises of newness—fresh starts, better habits, upgraded versions of ourselves. But what if, instead of charging ahead with self-improvement schemes, we took a cue from winter’s stillness? What if we let go of the relentless hustle and embraced the radical idea that we are already enough?

Fabric’s January series, “Give Up,” has invited us into this counterintuitive wisdom—the grace of resting, receiving, and recognizing our inherent worth. Nature doesn’t demand that a hibernating bear emerge as a “better” bear. Spring’s renewal is not about striving but about unfolding what has been there all along.

In Wintering, Katherine May reminds us that transformation often happens in the quiet, unseen spaces. And in Belonging, Toko-pa Turner challenges us to strengthen our “receiving muscle,” to accept the support woven into our interconnected lives. “You are the receiver of too many generosities to count,” she writes. “Count them anyway.”

So, what if we stopped trying to earn our existence? What if we acknowledged the trees, the friendships, the small kindnesses that hold us? What if, instead of striving, we surrendered to belonging?

You are the gift. That’s enough. May it be so.

-Ian

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Ellis in Residence

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For several years now, I've been dreaming about the potential of inviting songwriters who align with what we're doing into some kind of residency with Fabric. Like most of what I seem to do, it was bold, optimistic, held loosely, and without a clear path on how to start moving toward it. This summer I've gotten the gift of time to spend bonding with and caring for my new daughter, Fia. With that came a bit of an obvious question of who might share some music on Sundays when I'm not around; enter opportunity.

Ellis is so Fabric-y

Ellis Delaney is an amazing songwriter and performer who happens to live in the same neighborhood the Fabric staff have officed out of for years. I can't think of another artist that more beautifully aligns with who Fabric is today than Ellis.  I don't mean that in a sort of picture of likeminded homogeneity, but rather when I consider what Ellis' music inspires in me (and who I've started to discover Ellis to be as a human and friend), it feels like it's those community values we as Fabric had been noticing and finally articulated clearly a couple years ago; Brave Uncertainty, Share Warmth, Think Big, Choose Connection, and Whimsify!

Upon gazing at the multi-faceted realities of the world, Ellis seems to skillfully hold the wide-eyed tension of what most truly is... and helps me see it; all of the different soils (rocky, packed, weedy, rich, etc.) around and within us as well as the subterranean loving force that seems to offer nourishment for our truest selves to grow and our better angels to blossom.

I think there's all kinds of potential to come as we imagine what we might be able to do with artists intentionally spending more time with Fabric, but for now it just feels like a gift to have Ellis present with us to close out the summer. This idea of super|natural we've been exploring feels rich with synergy. As Ellis wrote in their song Start Where You Are, "There is a chance to wake up to what is going on." In any given moment, that might mean anything from grief to relief, protest to rest. All of it worthy, curious, and beautiful. The main dates you’ll see Ellis around are Sundays 8/18-9/1. May the time we get to spend with them help us all see a little more of what already is… an amazingly complex tapestry bursting with life at every turn.

Playlist

If you haven't had a chance to explore the music of Ellis yet, they put together this playlist of original songs specifically for Fabric as a bit of a "Get-To-Know Ellis" or a shortcut for us to notice some of the common threads connecting us. I hope and trust that you'll be surprised and delighted as you dig in!

With wonder and gratitude,

Chris Tripolino

"There is a chance to wake up to what is going on"

Ellis Delaney from Start Where You Are

Ellis and Chris after getting rained out as emcees for the Minnehaha Falls Art Festival