I don’t know how big this group is, but they are visible.
Jessica Catrett sat cross-legged on the grass beside Sophie Grace-Rojas, a Project Chrysalis Middle School student, with bundles of yarn on a breezy Sunday morning outside the Houston Federation of Teachers’ office.
“Alright, so now you’re going to yarn over and pull it through those two,” Catrett said, pointing to mimic the movement above Grace-Rojas’ gold crochet hook.
“You got it,” Catrett said, as the sixth grader slowly pulled the pink section of her rainbow yarn to tack on another stitch. “It just takes some practice to get the mechanics of it down. But yeah, definitely if you make your first row kind of loose, it does help,” Catrett explained with a nod from Grace-Rojas. “And then you can get a little tighter as you go further.”
About eight adults and nine children gathered, the youngest enjoying Popsicles, to create signs protesting Houston ISD’s state-appointed leadership. Grace-Rojas was one of several children who learned how to stitch or crochet. Colorful signs of yarn declaring “NO BOND UNDER MILES” and “SAVE HISD” lay unfurled on the grass, ready to be propped up for display with PVC pipes outside the teachers union’s office.
Houstonians might recognize these signs that are sprinkled around the city in front yards and at location such as Antidote Coffee in the Heights, Black Hole Coffee in Montrose, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services in the East End, and CLASS Bookstore near Texas Southern University. The group Houston Stitching Together protests HISD leadership and an upcoming $4.4 billion bond on the November ballot, which some people say they will not vote for without improved transparency from district leadership. The collective’s meetings have become a space for people of any skill level to craft, learn to craft, and get to know one another.
The effort is a cathartic way for people to talk about the takeover’s effects, parent Jae Park said. An avid crafter, she joined the initiative early.
HISD community members responded online to photos of their signs and felt supported, she said.
“And then I think that feedback encouraged us to just kind of keep going and create,” Park said.
The embedded photo is an example of their work near my house, at Antidote Coffee. It’s a pre-dawn picture, so the background is a little dark but you can see what they’re saying. I don’t want to oversubscribe to a movement based on a small number of passionate and visible people. They can and often do punch above their weight, but there’s gonna be close to a million votes in this HISD bond election. You’re going to have to do a lot of crafting to get your message out in front of that many people. I do consider this to be solid evidence of the energy on the “no trust, no bond” side of the equation, and that’s a small part of the reason why I’m skeptical of any poll that doesn’t at least show a close race (and I’m skeptical of those other polls, too).
While the pro-bind side has some great spokespeople – listen to yesterday’s interview with Trustees Plácido Gómez and Dani Hernandez to hear what I mean – I haven’t seen any sign of a campaign from them yet. They’ve already got a lot of ground to make up, and not a lot of time to do it. There’s a lot more to this story so go read the rest.
The Chronicle and various news agencies ran articles, including this site. I believe they are getting more attention than just from those driving by them.