In 5th grade, during the height of the oft-forgotten Beaded Lizard Craze, I first dipped my toes in the whirlwind of creative entrepreneurship. I sold those lizards like hotcakes (what does that mean?) from an Adidas shoebox during recess for a quarter apiece. Business was great until the Man brought me down, and the principal informed me that my thriving enterprise was against school policy and I
must cease and desist on pain of detention. I contented myself with the occasional creative flurry around holidays and stunned my long-suffering friends with handmade visions in beads and elastic, which they dutifully wore in my presence at least once. By high school I was much more intellectually artsy, eschewing my jewelry-making days for insightful poetry and meaningful prose. In college there was barely time to crank out my English papers in between voracious reading binges and my job at Borders. And now college is behind me and my beloved Borders has cried its last death wail. In despair, I chose a new hobby out of the crafts section. Who knew people like me could actually MAKE stuff like that? It wasn't long before I learned that chain mail was actually called chainmaille, and my entrepreneurial spirit was rekindled. Today, I bring the beauty of well-made, handcrafted jewelry to you. Tomorrow, THE WORLD.
