Reunited in Dixie - Asheville, NC

Last day before I leave for New York and the plan was to visit Asheville, NC. I've never been and seen countless advertisements (ha). Too bad it was possibly the most frigid place I've ever encountered...

My cold weather improvised outfit, standing in front of the Double Decker Cafe in Asheville

Jane playing with bonnets

And me, clutching my coffee for dear life, attempting this sheriff/fire captain hat.

We also went to the Asheville Museum of Art, where I picked up another postcard to add to my collection! When I got to the airport the next day, I found they over-booked my flight for 2pm and ended up booking me first class on the 10pm flight AND refunding my money! Um, yes, Continental, I sure love you.

Reunited in Dixie

On a whim (pretty much) I flew down to Greenville, SC to visit my best friend Jane...we always get into some sort of trouble when we're together. This time? Line dancing!

Oh line dancing you say? Yes, since I am a product of the Maryland school system, I know how to line dance from P.E. class. Since the early spring of my young, I know the two step! That, and how to hustle...with a pool cue.

Smoky smoky Blind Horse Saloon...

Using the looks and (questionable pool skills) I was given...

I think, if you're in a sorority...some dancing on the bar is to be expected

two steppin'

Jane with Kenneth...it's the end of the night, folks.

With my bestie Jane, look at that Southern glow!

With Concern for the Garment District...

With forethought and hope, I have been continuing my ban on Chinese products but now it looks like I’ll have to include the rest of Asia as well. It’s been tough…I really try hard not to purchase these products, but our economy is such a whore to Asia that nary an American (or European, or South American) product is in sight.

I, maybe somewhat naively, thought all Asian factories were the same. They all get the same orders from the people at Company X and the workers get paid in rice and so on and so forth. There’s not much I can do about that but ban my consumption. I don’t even eat Chinese food.

Continue reading for a list of sweatshop - free companies - because Asians are humans too. In case you were wondering.

Then I learned about Cambodia. I am falling in love with this country. I was listening to This American Life on the radio and heard that Cambodia has amazing labor laws which rival our own out here in the developed world. To quote from FashionIncubator.com :

“Imagine a nation where the sewing industry is characterized by:

Eight hour work days
Seamstresses earn two to three times as much as teachers and policemen.
Child labor is unheard of.
All overtime is paid.
Free medical care on site.
Three months paid maternity leave.
Employers must give breast feeding mothers unimpeded access to their infants
Forty three paid vacation days per year (no, we’re not talking about France, although it once was a French colony).

Does this sound like Shangri la? It’s not. It’s Cambodia; the only poor country in the world to guarantee fair labor practices in the needle trades. Comparatively, their successes far outweigh the standards used in more developed nations. Yes, Cambodia, where one third of the population was killed during the civil war in the 70’s. Today, the needle trade amounts to nearly 100% of the nation’s exports and one third of GDP, thanks to a program instituted under the Clinton Administration. Then, Cambodia agreed to become an unlikely experiment in quality manufacturing and workplace standards, agreeing to random and unsceduled factory monitoring. By all accounts, the experiment was a rousing success. That is until preferential trade practices expired in 2005. Then, it seemed that all could be undone.”

Outsourcing you can feel good about. Though still and underdeveloped country whose teachers and civil servants, etc. are underpaid (hey, not much different than here), their garment industry is leaps and bounds above China’s horror show.

And now, as promised, links to buying super cute, sweat-shop free clothes and other items:

Sweatshop Watch’s Shop With a Conscience

Behind the Label

It won’t keep you up at night to shop at:

American Apparel
Gap Inc. (with 45 factories in Cambodia)
Levi’s (also with large presence in Cambodia)

You’ll have nightmares about:

Nike
Wal-mart (of course)

I’m trying to find more…but these big companies are pretty sneaky.

Cold, Or Without My Usual Blanket

Warning: Post May Induce Seizures and the Need to Listen to Punk Rock for Sheer Anti-Romanticism

If you live in NYC and haven’t been outside yet, do not venture into the vast tundra. It’s disgustingly cold-to the point I was thinking “oh great, another ice age” and “oh my, i am certainly feeling the effects of global warming” (it also causes vast disparities in temperatures, come on people!). I’m wearing long underwear for the first time–can’t feel fashionable, can’t look good, I’m thinking very bad thoughts about numerous slow-walking people and there are still bay gulls (har har) outside my office window! Nothing will make those birds leave the city-though I know how they feel.

My thoughts today are somewhat vomit-inducing, if you’re not a fan of schmaltz-y romantic, lovey thoughts. But not to the point of fluffy kittens and clouds that look like bunnies, or even watching “Enchanted”. It’s more like when Juno tells Bleeker she thinks he’s the coolest bloke ever (sorry for all the Juno posts, without the Juno movie wrap up, check out NYTimes’ here).

Events happened the night of New Year’s that prevent my “roommate” (code: boyfriend) from taking over his side of the bed last night. No, he didn’t die or anything, but we were in Montreal and the night took an ugly turn…more on that later. I haven’t seen him since the 1st but he’ll be back tomorrow night (whew)…which brings up lots of weird feelings. Since we moved in together in July (though we’d be living together, just not in our own place since May) we haven’t spent a night apart.

i'm cold here too...snowboarding in Mont Tremblant

It’s the normal stuff, he locks the doors, turns the smoke detector back on, makes sure to remind me to refill the humidifier, set my alarms, take a shower…i’ve decided he’s the responsible one. He turns the power off when we leave the house, he does the dishes, closes the refrigerator when i leave it open (absentmindedly). He always knows where I put my keys and when’s trash day, recycling day, bulk trash day and when to have our parents park on the opposite side of the street. As I’m writing this, it’s pretty obvious I’m dependent on him for regular apartment happenings. I don’t know when I have to pay rent, the utility bills, cable or when to water the plants. He does though and is pretty willing to stay in his position.

I bet a lot of women are mad at me after reading this. How are you supposed to be independent with Boyfriend reminding you of stuff all the time? Aren’t you interested in figuring out when Tax Day is? (I seriously only know it because it’s my best friend’s birthday)

Fact is, this being dependent business, I feel, makes me more independent to think creatively–something I love to do and think I’m pretty good at. Who needs to think about what exactly can go in the garbage disposal when you can read Voltaire and/

Or maybe this is a worthless argument and I really should learn how to read Voltaire and figure out how the milk keeps replacing itself.

A Little Rant...

Barack Obama (yay!!) and Mike Huckabee (boo!) won at the Iowa caucuses today. To me, Iowa doesn’t mean squat because by November, no one’ll remember who won and who lost–just like the Oscar movies from early 2007. Iowa, to me, doesn’t seem to correctly identify with the rest of the country, so I don’t like to count them - before anyone gets in a tizzy - I’ve been to Iowa and wasn’t impressed. But I really can’t believe Huckabee won - it’s as if the Democrats have too many great candidates and the Republicans are up in the mountains doing a jig. Just look at their choices! A adulterer (most of us have been there, but conservative Repubs can’t like him), a capitalist Mormon (can’t decide which is worse) and (for now) a Baptist minister/rocker/ex-governor. All hacks. I can’t see anything genuine in any of them and I’m ready (been ready for about 8 years) for something genuine. Maybe I’m too far from the religious crazies but I just don’t see how Americans blindly believe in what people say if they are backed by religious fervor. Maybe I just can’t trust anyone too closely tied to religion…Bush is a born-again and all I see is a nation-building, poor-people killing, ignoramus. But you already knew that.

So my question about Huckabee is this…do we really want another 4+ years of idiocy and anti-intellectualism and a continued restriction on our human rights? That’s what this guy is clearly advocating…so I’ll gladly take the Mormon or the adulterer.