My poor, neglected blog. I had such high hopes for you. You were to be the holding pen for my ideas. thoughts, ramblings, and political interests. A launch pad for creative writing and a means of promoting completed works. Sadly, due to a job change, I had to return "my" laptop to my former employers just as my inspiration to use you began to grow. Now, here I am, with no computer of my own and only limited usage of boyfriend's computer - either late at night, when my energy levels are dropping, or five minutes here and there with boyfriend standing over my shoulder sending out "are you done yet?" vibes that hinder my concentration on you. Thus, you suffer. Your posts are old, outdated, and no longer reflect my current projects and state of emotions. I now see you as an ailing pet - withering away from some incurable malady and I am at my wit's end what to do. Alas, the Christmas holidays are fast approaching, soon to be gone, and then, oh! sweet mercy! the annual after-Christmas sales! Perhaps then, prices will be low enough, I will have savings enough, to buy a computer of my very own! We must hang on till then, dear blog, we must endure. Things could be worse - at least we still can have these little stolen moments in the meantime! They will have to sustain us until then. And then, I promise you, frequent posts as long as you are free! At least once a week but possibly, on occasion, even daily! Till then my dear blog, let me use these precious moments to tell you what's going on with me now . . .
I have made it my mission to be a conscientious consumer as much as is possible. Unforturnately, this means that I can't buy anything, and I mean anything! It seems that our entire nation is either made of corn products or made in China. The only item that seems readily available as a Made in USA product is a pair of socks. Yes, it seems the sock industry is alive and well in America. However, my goal is not so much to support the American labor market with its unions and labor laws and fair(er??) wages, but to not support the slave trade, er, I mean sweat shop industry. I have yet to look this up on the NOW website to see what they are doing to try to do away with this appalling means of production, but I hope, and to some degree I am sure, they are trying to take some action against it. Or, at least they should be, because it really is very much a woman's issue. Most of these sweat shops hire women & children - girls - because they are easier to control and the factory managers don't have to pay them as much as they would a male worker. Refer to the documentaries - China Blue and Made in China - I'm quoting actual factory owners and managers here. It's a pretty sad state of affairs - just as it was when this nation was industrializing (still doesn't make it okay though). So, in an attempt to not support this type of system, I thought I'd try a few alternatives. Here's what I've discovered so far:
First of all, you can forget about Target. Everything in there has the Made In China label on it, and since I don't know if (and seriously doubt that) Target is dealing only with Chinese factories that offer fair wages, I can't buy products from there - so, now where do I buy pj's?? Target does have a few cosmetic and bath items that are made in the USA and France (haven't heard anything about sweat shops in France), so I can shop there for mascara and deodorant.
TJ Maxx: Forget it!
J. Jill: this is a hard one for me because I've recently discovered this store and it has an excellent petite section. Pants that actually fit properly? Shirts that don't come down to my mid-thigh? No way!! I went in there this past week and started reading labels - Made in China, Made in Hong Kong, Turkey, India. I did find, and purchase, some very nice Made in USA products, though - 3 very nice pairs of socks (and the 4th pair was free!).
REI: Okay, I thought that, it being kind of a granola-ish store, it would be a fair trade type of company - ha! Made in China, Made in India etc., etc. I did find some Made in USA items and guess what? They were socks! So, I bought a pair. And, I have to confess, I did buy an REI sweater - it was made in China and on sale and it just turned cold here and I haven't bought a new sweater in a few years so I broke down and bought it. Hey, I'm human and I am weak!
I did a little searching on the Net and discovered Fair Indigo, a lovely website with some very nice, professional type of clothing that you could wear to the office. Their selection isn't huge, when I was looking at the website the other day they didn't have much by way of winter clothing, and the items are a bit pricey, but it seems like a good place to start. Another internet-based company is No Sweat, they have a lot of cute, hipster street clothes but not exactly the kind of stuff I wear and certainly not the kind of thing I would wear to the office. Next time I'm shopping for a hoodie, though, I'll make sure I check there first. There's another clothing website too but I can't remember the name of it, probably for the best though cause I thought the clothes were ugly and I'd hate to slam a fair trade organization. There's also American Apparel, which everyone mentions whenever I bring up fair trade shopping. Umm, that one isn't for me.
And of course, there's vintage! Even if it was originally made in a sweat shop, at least I'm recycling! That's not so bad - right? right? right?
Or, you could always make your own stuff. That's becoming more and more popular and, as a novice knitter & crocheter, I'm all for this one! Of course, the yarn or fabric or needles you use to make your own stuff are probably made in a sweat shop too, so I don't know how much we're helping there. It just seems impossible to not be a part of the problem, no matter what you do!
Okay, so this isn't going to be easy. But I'm not giving up! I don't think I can do the all or nothing approach I had in mind at the start, at least not right now, but I am definitely going to support those businesses and companies involved in fair trade efforts, and I'm going to make my own efforts to raise awareness and support fair trade as well. I will keep you posted and let you know how that goes. I will also start a separate section of this blog that lists links for fair trade stores, as I come across them.
