Once upon a time someone gave me a talisman with phenomenal magical powers.
Written by Team Editor: Conner Lopez
Okay, it was a safety pin.
Okay, they didn't give it to me, I took it.
Despite those two blatant lies, the truth is that I really did take a safety pin right off 'someones' clothes and pin it right on to mine. And it stayed there. For 10 years.
What exactly is a talisman? Frankly im too lazy to google it and type out a definition, but I do know it is something meaningful, something of value. It is supposed to protect and maybe... remind.
Its also something with a significant story behind it, a history culminating to the moment it was given (in my case taken by) the recipient. This story is full of mystery and romance, and is the very essence of what give the talisman its power.
So I wore this enchanted talisman (safety pin) for years of my life, not to protect me from something (aloneness) but to connect me to something.
At the time I had no idea what the term steampunk meant. I still dont really (another lie, I totally know).
While modern steampunk jewelry and its emphasis on time is more literal, often having actual watch movement parts as the centerpiece, the safety pin was an emotional representation nonetheless. It reminded me of concrete, volleyball court sand, space, and satellites.
Borrowing a concept from Lost, lets Flash Forward to current day.
I know now that by wearing a totally unnecessary and non functional safety pin on my pants, I was having my initial encounter, with steampunk jewelry.
The point here is not to define exactly what steampunk jewelry is and means. My friend Matt does an excellent job of it here: Back to the Future - Steampunk
The concept rather, is whats important. The safety pin, like modern steampunk jewelry, is a symbolic representation of a decision in my life, a fork or a pivot point that could have, and did, change everything thereafter.
It was a piece of time.
Why is this important to you?
No matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've gone through, you have a story worth remembering. You have kept things which represent times in your life, which are important to you.
Your talisman might be a photograph, a wedding ring, or a tattoo.
Or maybe you havent found it yet. Maybe you will know it when you see it.
Maybe you will give it to someone else, and it will become theirs.
The core concept of steampunk is time. We cannot stop time or slow it down, but we can honor it and the people and things that it brings us.
I always hoped that the safety pin would bring me back to where I got it.
And it did.
For a time.
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