What is in a name?

     As the inaugural post on this blog I thought I would explain a little bit about why we chose the name Miner Revolutions for our pottery shop as well as for this blog.  Well most obvious, our last name is Miner which explains the first part of the name.  Second, Revolutions... we had considered a few different names, obsessions being one possibility but we chose revolutions because not only does a pottery wheel revolve but there is a greater depth of meaning with the word revolutions.
     This depth is found in all the uses of the word.  There are revolutionary ideas, people, processes and times.  The earth revolves giving us day and night as well as seasons.  This revolution of the earth brings about both drastic (day/night) as well as gradual (seasonal) changes to our experience of the world.  We live revolutionary lives here on earth in the living out of the day and night and the living out of the seasons.  Life also has it's seasons with some times of life being defined by different moments or meanings.  For us, this time in our life is marked by being present to the revolutions of the earth and taking the time to slow down and enjoy living intentionally in our culture which too often ignores the revolutions of the earth giving us day, night, and seasons.  Part of this is learning more about seasonal things (like gardening) and part of this is living in the moments of every day marking most evenings by making dinner together.  Did you know that chickens lay eggs based on the amount of sunlight and plants also are very dependent on the length of day, not just the warmth of summer to produce?
     I envision that this blog will be all about the small (minor) revolutions that happen in our own lives.  We will probably blog about our worm bin, fermenting things, planting, camping and of course pottery.  All these things help to keep us sane in the midst of a lot of academic work and we hope to get to share these with you so that you too might try some of this out.  We are no experts on any of these things but with practice we hope to gain some knowledge and wisdom which we hope to share with you.  We also sincerely hope that if you are reading this blog and see an idea that you like that you shut your computer, consider shutting it all the way down (there is so much peace in not walking by and wondering if someone has emailed you in the last 2 minutes or if there might be a slightly better version of the idea in your head online and if you should check one more time) and get up and try some of the things in which you're interested.  The blogosphere can be so much taking in of other people's lives and stories that we forget to live our own.
     We hope that not only this blog but also our pottery pieces can bring about minor revolutions in your own life like actually trying something new.  In our pottery pieces we hope you find something that can usher you into the presence of the piece, the work that went into it and thereby usher you into taking in all of life a little bit more and appreciating the richness all around us. 
      We aren't revolutionary per se which indicates some large major change but we do hope to be small revolutionaries, making minor changes in our lives that spur us and others on towards a hopeful and wholesome presence in life.