Dear Friends,
My name is Nicci Walla and I manage The Bead People International festival booth in Lincoln, NE. My first story to tell about my experiences with the Bead People thus far occured on Sunday the 22nd of June. My friend Lynette, my son 9 year old son Jaaron, and myself were taking care of the bead people booth at the farmers market at 56th and Old Cheney. It had been a lovely day with lots of newcomers who seemed very excited about the bead people and we had lots of activity under the tent for 3 hours straight. Suddenly we had a lull in traffic and we were just sitting around visiting with each other when I noticed a small crowd had gathered outside of our tent… I watched as one of the teenage girls propped her cane on her shoulder and picked up the Wind of a Thousand Years book reading it about 1 inch from her face… I quickly noticed that there were five blind young adults and two escorts who were curiously hovering around our booth. I started to introduce them to our project in my usual way explaining what they were and that they could be made right in our tent with no obligation to purchase. Three of the girls jumped at the opportunity to create a bead person, with Jaaron twisting their arms and legs, they all made a lovely bead person mostly by touch. I was so proud of Jaaron for providing lots of animated stimulating conversation while they worked.
Finally the blind young man who was standing nearby touching the bead people hanging all around him turned towards me and asked me for my name, he asked me if anyone had ever made a blind person with a cane. I said no but that I could make it happen. I did not hesitate for a moment and I grabbed the bead person nearest me and fitted him with a green cane that I told the boy matched his bright green shirt perfectly. The cane was constructed out of abody wire and attached with a look between the top bead the the second from the top bead. We mutually agreed that cane holders do not hold thier canes from the top but from about six inches below the top in order to control it better. We spoke for a short while and he ernestly felt very excited to be represented by our project. He touched the little person with his cane attached to his hand for a long time before turning around and making his way after his group.
The escorts took some pictures of their group and their bead people which by the way they all named and hung on the adoption board before they left. The boy who had suggested the cane said we needed to make one in a wheelchair which I have since started working on and another person chimed in that we needed one with a seeing eye dog and I know this can be done as my 7 year olds have done many dog bead people.
In the end, we felt very good about the interaction that we had in our tent and proud of our cane-guided bead person that I will have to take a picture of soon… Jaaron tells everyone at later booths the names and the stories behind these 4 blind little people and one with a cane and it meant something special to all of us.
Bellies, Babies, Bodies and The Bead People of Lincoln, NE
Nicci B Walla (I always knew the B in my name would make sense one day.)
Thanks to all of you who visited our booth at The Heritage Festival in Rapid City, SD over the 4th of July. We had such a fun time meeting you and sharing our story and the little Bead People. Several hundred more Bead People went off into the world over the four day festival. One of my best moments was when a little guy—he could not have been more than four—picked up a heavy, red Bead Person and said, “He is me. He is me.”
Another great moment was when I got to see some of the young men from last summer come by the booth. They had all grown about a foot but were happy to stop in and say hi. One of them hugged me, kissed my sweaty forehead, and told me he loved me. I love you, too!
We had such enthusiasm from a number of people with 4-H groups and youth groups, and with ideas by the millions for how they could use The Bead People in their own projects. I particularly enjoyed the young people in the booths on either side of ours. One was selling hemp jewelry (the Inner Hippie booth) and the other (Tim Roman) was crafting glass beads from liquid glass. I found out he was a friend of my son’s and will be coming to the wedding in November. Hi, Tim.
We have no plans to do other festivals this summer because we are heading north to (finally) play with building a small strawbale structure on our land in Minnesota. We are, however, planning to set up the first ever Bead People Peace Festival for next summer. Stay in touch and maybe you can come. Our goal is to plan and build a different (small) alternative structure every summer and end it with a Bead People Festival. This summer it may be just family and a few friends . . . but it could grow. Our land is just outside of Cass Lake, MN (near Bemidji) so if you are in the area . . . give us a call.
A special hello to Lynette and Nicci in Lincoln, NE. Check out the website to find out what our Lincoln chapter is up to! And Nicci—this is the first post on our Bead People Blog. I’ll send you the access so you can add your own stories. I loved that you had several blind people building Bead People—and I am jealous of your pretty booth.
Don’t worry—bead happy!
Jamie Lee
We had a wonderful project this spring in Rapid City, South Dakota. the Bead People went to school - the Rapid City Academy actually. The academy is for 9th and 10th graders who are too creative and excited about life to be cooped up in a regular class room. These guys are so creative that I can see why they would have trouble in regular school. It’s just too small for them. We went there about 6 times, and over that period of time, they made 180 bead people to be given away on the final day.
The project was done in conjunction with the Center for Restorative Justice here in Rapid City. Phyllis Boernke was doing a project with the school all year, and she thought it would be a great way to finish the year. It was!
I have lots more video of them, and I’ll be adding pieces over the next few months, but I wanted to get a new piece up for you all to see. By the way, the poster shot - the first image you see above is of an amazing piece done by a young guy named Sebastian. We put this one in The Bead People Hall of Fame. It was his first Bead Person, and he gave it to us - which was really nice.
When will they ever learn?
