Job loss, medical debt or health issues, mental health challenges, family crises or breakdown of support systems, housing costs becoming unaffordable, domestic violence, or substance use disorders – this was the list that Claude AI provided me to “Describe the situation of someone who might be holding a cardboard sign next to the road” (that was my prompt). It started its answer by explaining how “human beings experiencing hardship” could find themselves in this position and then produced the list of potential contributing factors.

Two homeless people recently died in the span of a few days, not a one-minute walk away from where we live. One was an overdose, and the other was a man stabbed to death by another homeless man. A day does not go by that I don’t see at least 15 homeless people, some who look barely alive while others are dragging obvious ailments around, such as broken feet that have healed with a foot now pointing in the wrong direction or open wounds. In front of fast food restaurants, bus stops, drug stores, and gas stations, the indigent struggle to survive the harsh environment of living outside. Often, those I  overhear talking about this situation appear to have strong beliefs that these human beings are simply victims of their own poor choices, but they most often attribute addiction and laziness as the reasons underlying their impoverishment. The secondary factor is that the government is giving them welfare and everything else they require, making it easy for the homeless to choose a lazy lifestyle, as though they are out on the street for no other reason than they really like holding cardboard.

This image was not generated in AI; it’s a real billboard in Phoenix, Arizona, that I wasn’t going to miss. As I don’t have my own vagina, I cannot know what vitamins would be necessary for such a thing, and Caroline hasn’t shared with me her regime of supplements for hers. Although, as I feel I’m rather observant (especially of that), I don’t believe it to be part of the German character to care if the old puss has gotten enough vitamin C this week. The sign does have me thinking back to 2007 when, traveling on the freeway, I photographed a billboard which had a Poop Doctor asking, “Are you as backed up as this traffic?” That was the first time I’d seen public advertising for constipation. How long (pun intended) before I see a billboard for Penis Minerals?

Considering today’s title and this image, you might be wondering how I am bringing weaving, Orthodox Easter, and David Lynch’s Dune together. Easy peasy: eggs, that’s how. Stay with me a second. A Romanian couple, neighbors actually, invited us to join them today for Orthodox Easter. Part of our meal at their place included dyed eggs. The tradition is thought to have originated in Ukraine, but that’s uncertain. In Ukraine the eggs are called Pysanky and are made with a dye-resist or batik method. The patterns used for making Pysanky were first inspired by patterns found in traditional Ukrainian embroidery and weaving. The type of eggs that Anna decorated are referred to as Lysanky in Ukrainian; we don’t know the Romanian word. For this, Anna wrapped parsley stems around the eggs before tying them into pantyhose to hold everything in place and then dyed the eggs by boiling them in water with onion skins.

Eggs at Easter make perfect sense, considering how life begins for us mammals with an egg and, while not a resurrection exactly, they are a kind of renewal. Traditionally, the egg has been a symbol associated with spring and rebirth. Eggs laid during Lent were often saved and decorated, then given as gifts or eaten to break the fast on Easter Sunday.

Weaving, too, is about life, continuity, and the interconnected whole. In Greek mythology, the Fates (or Moirai) were three goddesses who controlled the threads of human life, weaving them into complex tapestries that determined each person’s destiny, while for the Navajo (Diné), there’s “Na’ashjé’íí Asdzáá” known as Spider Woman who taught the Navajo how to weave; she’s also the goddess of fertility that gives rise to life.

But why the obscure reference to David Lynch’s Dune in particular? Who doesn’t remember the line, “The sleeper must awaken,” that foretells the story of Paul Atreides, who will effectively be resurrected into the Messianic character called the Kwisatz Haderach who saves the people of Arrakis?

We’d recently seen the newest iteration of Dune, Part 2, and we thought it sucked eggs (was pointless) and failed to deliver what Part 1 or Lynch’s original was able to offer. There was no real story woven together in that dud, and so, the loom of the narrative must awaken to resurrect the film, or else Part 3 can go to hell, sucking eggs all the way to its infernal end. Obviously, that would be a very unhappy Easter indeed, unlike the magnificent Sunday celebration we had with our neighbors.