Elbows Up: A Bracelet, A Moment, A Movement
It started, like many things do, with a small act. A handmade bracelet with message strung in beads: Elbows Up.
At the time, I wasn’t thinking about business or visibility or movements or media attention. I was thinking about care and how we show up for each other when the world feels heavy.
I was thinking about how fractured our communities have become, and how hard some people are working to create division when we need connection.
So I made that bracelet and passed it along, trusting it might land where it was needed. Then I made another, and another, and another.
And then Angie Rowell gave one to Mark Carney, and he put it on his wrist. It could have ended there, with a photo op or a nice gesture. But he kept wearing it. People noticed. The story started to travel—across feeds, across fences, across our community.
But it was never just about the bracelet
I didn’t make a statement piece, I made a piece that carried a statement.
And that statement was about more than politics or party lines — it was about the belief that we’re not on our own when we’re willing to show up for each other; that connection—real, messy, authentic human connection—is what holds us together when everything else feels like it’s pulling us apart.
This wasn’t a product launch. It was a quiet experiment in community care. And it worked.
We’re all better when we work together
It’s easy to be mean behind a screen, but it’s hard to hate someone up close.
The more we connect—in person, in conversation, through gestures that say “I see you”—the more space we make for empathy. We’re allowed to disagree. We’re allowed to have different experiences, backgrounds, beliefs. But when we look each other in the eye, when we share a joke, a coffee, a bracelet? The walls come down a little. And that matters.
I’ve always believed in the middle ground—not as a place of compromise, but as a place of contact. A space where we can meet, not because we all think the same way, but because we’re willing to try.
What happens next? That’s up to you.
My dream is that this doesn’t stay small. I hope that the idea behind the Elbows Up bracelets—the belief that community care is radical and necessary—spreads far beyond my hands and wrists. I want to see people across other towns, cities, schools, and neighbourhoods start their own Elbows Up initiatives. Whether it’s bracelets, buttons, or hand-written notes, we all have the opportunity to extend a gesture and find ways to say:
“You’re not alone. I’ve got your back.”
Because the truth is, we’re not meant to do this alone. The myths of the individual pulling up bootstraps, self-made success, and survival of the fittest have left us lonely and burned out. But community? That’s where the magic happens—and where real change begins.
So, make a friendship bracelet. Or a sign. Or a lasagna for your neighbor.
Start something that reminds people we belong to each other, we’re on the same team, and we’re stronger together.
Elbows Up isn’t just a slogan.
It’s a posture, and it’s a promise.
Because when we lead with care and stand up for each other, we can build a future where no one gets left behind.
