Get On the Renegade Bus

A few weeks back I had a good ol' time chattin' it up with Teresa Burkett of Renegade Bus, an online magazine of "Culture and the Curious in Dallas, Texas." She and I had fun emailing back and forth. Some of my favorite moments are humbly reprinted below without permission: TB: How do you define a person who is a crafter? SH: This is just my opinion - I think the word ‘crafter’ refers more to an artisan than an artist, someone who creates by hand meaningful and functional art like a purse or votive candle. I don’t mind being called a ‘crafter,’ but there are still a lot of stigmas associated with that term that conjure up images of grandma in her rocking chair darning a doily or knitting an afghan. That is definitely not me. Not yet. TB: What an achievement [to found Etsy Dallas], to see a need for a craft group and then to make it happen. When Etsy Dallas formed what did you all have in mind for the group’s purpose? SH: In September of 2007, when I sent out cold emails to local people selling on Etsy.com, I envisioned a small team of crafters and artists who would meet for coffee, hang out and craft together, and hold small trunk shows here and there. But instead, the response was astounding with so many people replying, “I’ve been waiting for someone to organize this!” My husband compared me to Richard Nixon when he said I had tapped into the “silent majority.” While I appreciate the sentiment, it’s never fun being compared to Richard Nixon. And guess what: If you're going to work blue, beware that it just might make it into the interview. Yoozers! If you dare, read the entire PG-13 interview right her.