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| Karla Hansen, 57 Born: Ludington, Michigan. When Bonnie Stone started the “apron project” for women with or surviving breast cancer, I had no idea what I would do with a chef’s apron. However, the idea of the apron grew on me. I was raised with women who wore aprons every day protecting their clothing from the drudge of primitive laundry on a washboard. The first think I sewed in a 4-H sewing club was a little half apron. I didn’t know until Bonnie told us that the word meant “shield.” I like that idea. All my illusions of safety had been shattered by breast cancer. I like the idea of creating and decorating a “new shield,” if only metaphorically. I couldn’t give myself permission to “cut it up or step on it,” two of the things Bonnie told us we could do in her effort to open up our creativity and get us started. No, for me the apron was a fine symbol just as it was, but Bonnie’s permission to do ANYTHING was very important. As I meditated on this black canvas, I debated about removing the pockets or not. It was a definite no. Then I thought , what could I put on them? A book, an open book. It seemed like I had seen one somewhere. Sure enough, I looked through what Bonnie had sent and there was a little open book with a quote by Lauren Bacall! It said, “Imagination is the highest kite once can fly.” YES! I enlarged the book image and whited out the quote and then wondered what MY book of life was about. I began to see the photo integrated into this shield and then the word GENESIS came back to me. My Book Genesis I would call it. And what were the major beginnings in my life. Three major dates. First my most important genesis, the birth of Baby Karla Ann on September 1940 BBC, that is “Before Beast Cancer!” Then the day at GENESIS Studio three days before breast cancer surgery on March 1, 1993 BC when I began to embody “A Prayer for a Cure.” And finally, a year after surgery , the date of my first poetry reading. It was a benefit for Graceful Fitness, a center run by an incredible woman, a former Miss California, who is a breast cancer survivor. On February 14, 1994 ABC (After Breast Cancer) I became a Born Again Poet. I like that bright red ribbon on that black rose lace. It reminds me of the color of blood, the color of life, inextricably joined together with black, the color of mystery, of death. And the roses...? |
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