Sallie Bingham

  • Events
  • Blog
    • Doris Duke
    • Best of 2024
    • My Favorites
    • Full Archives
    • Writing
    • Women
    • Philanthropy
    • My Family
    • Politics
    • Kentucky
    • New Mexico
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Religion
  • Books & Plays
    • Doris Duke
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Plays
    • Poetry
    • Anthologies
  • Writing
    • Short Stories
    • Poems
    • Plays
    • Translations
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Print
    • Biography
  • About
    • Contact
 
You are here: Home / Politics / Basket

Basket

August 12th, 2018 by Sallie Bingham in Politics 2 Comments

Basket

Handmade basket, from Mauritania

I have a friend who is a prophetess. She has been one ever since I met her several decades ago. Like all prophets, she is without honor in her own country, as Jesus warned. But perhaps this is not entirely true of Katie. She has spoken twice at the UN.

She is also a Cassandra, cursed by the god to know and speak prophesies that no one would believe. She prophesied on the walls of Troy that it would be burned in the upcoming war with the Greeks, and it was.

Wikipedia has an image of her before the burning city, calling her “mad.”

Some people probably secretly call Katie mad. She has the piercing eyes of a woman who sees through veils. But I don’t think she cares what people call her. She has a mission.

My friend Katie is a Cassandra, cursed by the god to know and speak prophesies that no one would believe... Her mission is the end of the world.

Her mission is the end of the world—others add, “as we know it,” but as we know and can only know this world, the qualifier is not comforting.

My son and his son have noticed the disappearance of starfish—or Sea Stars—in the tidal pools they search on the coast of southern California. His latest article is about a black starfish that has adapted to the warm water and may survive.

I want to ask Katie about this. If starfish can adapt, can we?

A few days ago, she handed me her latest pamphlet when I ran into her in the co-op grocery store. She quickly explained that now she is only reporting the facts, not warning about conclusions. We can all do that.

And here are the facts: “The internet is the largest thing that humanity has ever built.” She means the international “network of cell sites and storage centers that consume huge amounts of water and greenhouse gas-emitting electricity.” I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one of these centers, but I might not have recognized it if I had.

And, because of all the new devices—you know what they are, you certainly own at least one, as I do—”e-technology’s power demands increase 20 percent every year.” This means that every year, the internet adds more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation and shipping industries put together—3.5 percent of all emissions, growing possibly to 14 percent in three years. Wireless consumes ten times more energy than wired. But no one knows. And even if we did know, do we care?

Katie has some common-sense suggestions for those of us who do care: “buy repairable, upgradable, modular devices and wait at least four years to upgrade.” She probably knows it’s too late to advise going without. What would all those people sitting in restaurants and cafes do? Commit suicide? And what about the children…

“Delay children’s use of electronics until they have mastered reading, writing and math on paper.” This would mean schools would have to give up the handy aids that have taken over teaching.

She goes on to advise deleting old emails and Facebook posts—what about not using Facebook?

Rent videos rather than streaming. (Or don’t look at the things at all?)

“If you must have a mobile device keep Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off unless you’re using them.” How hard can that be? And do we “must”?

Me, I’m going back to my flip phone after four months of an iPhone which helped me to understand why these things absorb so much attention: there are just too many options, and the screen is too pretty, and like our ancestor monkeys, we are easily distracted.

And buy Katie Singer’s book, An Electronic Silent Spring (Steiner Books, 2014) or her more recent Limits to Electronic Growth (Development, 2018.)

And listen to prophets. They are all among us.

A handful of them wrote the astonishing New York Times Magazine section, published last Sunday, August 5, and titled, “Thirty Years Ago, We Could Have Saved the Planet.” It takes a day to read, and I have not yet chosen to lay a day aside, but The Times seems to believe that some of us do care enough to read what they have given us.

What does all of this have to do with the basket at the top of this page?

You may well ask.

It’s a beautiful, functional, handmade marketing basket which I bought for a pittance at the Santa Fe’s International Folk Market a few weeks ago. Looking closely, I see that it is made of fine, blond fibers, woven together, with narrow leather bindings and handles that are hand-stitched. The slight irregularities of the tiny stitches show that they were made by hand, during hours and hours of work.

I’m including the basket here because it was made by an unnamed woman in Mauritania. One of the full-page color photos in The Times Magazine is of a town in Mauritania, the little houses and streets choked with orange sand: desertification.

As the spiritual says, “No more water, the fire next time.” The orange sand, brilliantly lit by a setting sun, looks as though it’s on fire.

Somewhere in that town or another like it, a woman went about collecting the fine wheat to make a basket. She found a patch of shade to sit in, to weave and sew. Maybe she already knew that if it was passed by the U.S. judges, it might be sent to a city on the other side of the world, and perhaps sold for a small amount of money, all of which would be given back to her—and to her, it might not seem so small. Thirty dollars, more or less.

It astonishes me that anyone in one of these nearly-destroyed places—and they appear all over the world now—could have faith and strength to make such a beautiful object. With desolation all around, and no solution in sight, she still found her materials and her spot of shade to work in, and produced a beautiful basket.

This may be the best we can hope for.

Share
Tweet
Share
Buffer
0 Shares

In Politics

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Carol M. Johnson says

    August 12th, 2018 at 11:23 am

    I yearn to be the lady sitting there, making the beautiful functional market basket, rather than the fretful lady stressing over a network of cell sites consuming water and electricity. I’m aware that the fretful lady may be right in her fervor, but just thinking about the scope of her projection is exhausting.
    With these thoughts in mind, I’ve decided to support the designer of beauty using natural materials and use a market basket to carry my book and my towel to the pool where my great-grandchildren are frolicking.
    Some of us just have to live in the moment and enjoy life as it is. I know this is a cop out from saving the future world, but right now I just want to teach my great-grandchildren to be nice to everyone.

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth Roghair says

    August 13th, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    I bought a similar basket at the IFAM several years ago, probably from the same artist. It is nice to know it has a sister not too far away. Mine us dark blue and just so elegant.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

You might also like

  • Int
    Where Are We Now? Women in 2015 and a Half…
    I have daughters-in-law, granddaughters and many friends who see no use in the women’s movement; this is partly due to privilege, lack of information, and our discomfort with ideas that are presented as being controversial....
  • Women, Land and Missed Opportunities
    Women, Land and Missed Opportunities
    Women in the United Sates now control 11.2 trillion dollars in investible wealth, 39 percent of the total. But are we wielding the decisions?...
  • Women, Dogs and Mountains
    Women, Dogs and Mountains
    Most of the lone hikers I meet, often accompanied by one or two dogs, are women, young, old and in between....
  • Endangered
    Endangered
    I’m wondering if, as I have suspected, we women writers are endangered...in a novel way....
 

Subscribe

 

Latest Comments

  • Martha White on The Fruits of the Past Five Years: “Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings: “And suddenly a light is thrown back, as when your train makes a curve, showing…” July 6th, 11:14 am
  • Nenita on The Fruits of the Past Five Years: “I like your writings, I can relate to you. If I had been persevering and seriously aware of my interests…” July 6th, 11:13 am
  • Sallie Bingham on Whose Eyes: “Thank you, James – you are correct!” June 29th, 11:19 am
  • Martha White on Feeding the Fish: “Blinkying Report:: Our neighborhood rabbits have been observed leaping into the air three or four feet off the ground. It…” June 29th, 8:10 am
  • Martha White on Whose Eyes: “Subtle. The “b” stays silent—subtle, even.” June 24th, 12:59 pm

Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

July 6th, 2025
Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
Visiting Linda Stein

Visiting Linda Stein

March 3rd, 2025
Back on October 28th, 2008, I visited artist Linda Stein's studio in New York City and tried on a few of her handmade suits of armor.

Listen To Sallie

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

November 8th, 2024
This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
Taken by the Shawnee Reading

Taken by the Shawnee Reading

September 1st, 2024
This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

Upcoming Events

Jul 25
July 25th - July 27th

The 9th Annual Taos Writers Conference

SOMOS Salon & Bookshop
Taos MO
Sep 23
All day

How Daddy Lost His Ear – Garcia Street Books

Garcia Street Books
Santa Fe NM
Sep 30
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm MDT

How Daddy Lost His Ear – The Church of the Holy Faith

The Church of the Holy Faith
Santa Fe NM
View all of Sallie's events

Latest Tweets

salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
20h 1942957873966792785

It's important not to be ploughed under by the chaos and intemperance in #WashingtonDC. We don't live in that swamp, and we don't need to allow our hopes and dreams to be drowned out by the noise. "Reasons to Hope": https://buff.ly/Z8lH33D

Image for the Tweet beginning: It's important not to be Twitter feed image.
salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
1 Jul 1940081262770708499

Years ago a man I was in love with persuaded me to have a large fish pond dug near my studio. I think it was his attempt to be part of my necessarily solitary life there; like other such attempts it failed—and now I'm left with the fish pond! https://buff.ly/fGgnN39 #Koi #KoiPond

Image for the Tweet beginning: Years ago a man I Twitter feed image.
Load More

Recent Press

Sallie Bingham's latest is a captivating account of ancestor's ordeal
Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican

“I felt she was with me” during the process of writing the book, Bingham says. “I felt I wasn’t writing anything that would have seemed to her false or unreal.”

Copyright © 2025 Sallie Bingham. All Rights Reserved.

Press Materials   —   Contact Sallie

Privacy Policy

Menu
  • Events
  • Blog
    • Doris Duke
    • Best of 2024
    • My Favorites
    • Full Archives
    • Writing
    • Women
    • Philanthropy
    • My Family
    • Politics
    • Kentucky
    • New Mexico
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Religion
  • Books & Plays
    • Doris Duke
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Plays
    • Poetry
    • Anthologies
  • Writing
    • Short Stories
    • Poems
    • Plays
    • Translations
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Print
    • Biography
  • About
    • Contact