Loose Leaf Notes

The Museletter, the local homespun newsletter that a small group of us have been putting together for the past 20 years, is one of the reasons I moved to Floyd. Back then it went by another name. It was mostly supported, and still is today, by the alter-natives, the back-to-the landers, the musicians, and artists who reside here in Floyd. It only took seeing that first issue (sent to me via a Blue Mountain School parent), with a list of events, a community bulletin board, poetry, and articles on folk living and sustainability, for me to recognize the small town uniqueness of Floyd and become hooked on the idea of living here.

 
Putting the Museletter together used to be a monthly community event, but because Floyd has grown and subscribers aren’t as close-knit as they once were, in the last few years the cut and paste lay-out production has come down to Jayn and me. Another volunteer co-ordinates the subscriptions and recruits people to collate it each month. It’s a low-tech, grassroots sewing circle sort of activism that I can’t believe manages to happen every month.

 
Creating the June issue, this past Sunday, was like old home week. Jayn’s friend Jack was in town and he and Jayn, along with my husband Joe, had just come from a bike ride on the Parkway. I had all the ingredients spread out on the table – submissions that had come via email or our PO Box, pens, glue stick, and enough scissors to go around – ready to piece it together.

 
Jayn usually does the back page, which consists of a calendar and mailing information. For fun, and like all good Earth People have in the past, she names the moon, and then illustrates the page to coordinate with it. Some of her recent most memorable namings include: Lo-Sun-Moon, Milky Way Moon, Daddy- Oh Moon, Moon of Plenty, Mermoon, Up and Coming Moon, and Big Grassy Moon, and one of my personal favorites, named after the start of the War in Iraq, “Year of Compassion Moon of Dissent.”

 
We put Jack to work, suggesting he be the one to name the moon. After absorbing the weight of his task, he thought for a minute and then wondered out loud if we could get away with naming the issue “Looney Tune June Moon.”
“We have the technology!” I said, holding up my glue stick. “And the power!” I added.

 
After it was decided which Looney Tunes character we would feature as our June Museletter mascot, even Joe got in on the act. He went to the computer to find some suitable clip art and printed it out for us.

 
Tweety Bird! Yeah, that fits the spring-summer theme, we all agreed.

 
Jack pulled a poem out of his notebook and hand copied it in an available space. I looked for some quotes for Father’s Day to disperse throughout the pages, and Jayn drew some squiggling spirals to separate the various typed submissions.
Many hands made an especially good Museletter, just like the old days.

 
To read more about the Museletter go here and here.