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Dear Readers, Do It Yourself!

The jagged edges on our red state / blue state ornament represent the pain each side has caused the other. And yet, in our holiday ornament, they have come together as one.
Avie Schneider, NPR /
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The jagged edges on our red state / blue state ornament represent the pain each side has caused the other. And yet, in our holiday ornament, they have come together as one.

This weekend, join the DIY cult.

DIY, for the uninitiated, means Do It Yourself.

And what better time to drop-kick commercialism and embrace handcraftiness than the holiday season?

To inspire you, we are making holiday history. NPR is launching the first ever news-pegged menorah and ornament craft contest. Design a menorah or ornament that captures the headlines of 2006. To inspire you, we've created a Mel Gibson menorah (aka "Mel-norah") and a red-state/blue-state Christmas tree ornament.

And if you've never done it yourself before, there are a lot of Web sites that can guide you.

For Menorah Makers:

There's never a reason to go hungry if you decide to make a cupcake menorah. (Although, really, potato pancakes would be more seasonally appropriate.) If high-tech is more your thing, you could make this baby out of parts from your local Radio Shack. Or go very low-tech and cut and tape celebrity pix.

For Ornament Artisans:

A good place to start is the craft store Michael's, which has instructional videos for decorating various glass and wooden ornaments. Or experiment with different materials: felt, crystals, even cookie dough!

For News Ideas:

We know you've been following the news this year: You're an NPR listener, for goodness sake! So put your knowledge to good use. Global warming, political battles, celebrity breakups and breakdowns, Borat ... has there ever been a better year to capture in a menorah or an ornament?

Melody Joy Kramer is a Kroc Fellow at NPR. Marc Silver is an editor in Digital Media.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Marc Silver
Marc Silver, who edits NPR's global health blog, has been a reporter and editor for the Baltimore Jewish Times, U.S. News & World Report and National Geographic. He is the author of Breast Cancer Husband: How to Help Your Wife (and Yourself) During Diagnosis, Treatment and Beyond and co-author, with his daughter, Maya Silver, of My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks: Real-Life Advice From Real-Life Teens. The NPR story he co-wrote with Rebecca Davis and Viola Kosome -- 'No Sex For Fish' — won a Sigma Delta Chi award for online reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Melody Joy Kramer