Monday, July 29, 2013
Weekend Pics! Mississippi Ave.
Portland is such a great place to live. There are so many great neighborhoods with great bars and restaurants and bookstores and boutiques. It has a small town vibe, but has everything you could possibly need. This weekend I had an eye appointment in North Portland( I'm getting contacts and I've turned into a freaked out third grader at the idea of touching my eyeball. Gross!) so we spent our Saturday walking around Mississippi Ave. The street name might sound familiar from Portlandia (artisanal lightbulbs, anyone?) and I couldn't help myself from quoting from that show the entire time we were there:) I love Mississipi Ave., though. It's a foodies paradise. Tons of bars, restaurants and food carts, outdoor seating everywhere, and vegan and vegetarian food galore!! If you visit Portland (or visit us. Friends? Family? COME HANG OUT WITH US!!!) you gotta make a stop at Mississippi Ave.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Consciously Girly
Note: I hope this post doesn't sound preachy. My goal is to let people know that if there's something that upsets us there ARE things we can do to change things. I can't make decisions for anyone but myself, but I hope this inspires you to look into this and similar issues.
I try not to fall into gender stereotypes. I think it's important to celebrate the traditionally masculine and feminine in everyone. One thing I am hopelessly girly about, however, is dressing up. Clothes, perfume, shoes, skin care stuff (I don't wear makeup but I love creams and scrubs), I've got it all. I have impractical shoes that I rarely wear (I'm 5'9, so why do I have three inch heels?) I put perfume on every morning no matter where I'm going. I put outfits together to go grocery shopping. If the television show "What Not to Wear" is on I turn into a zombie. It's pretty silly, but it's me. Lately though the silliness of dressing up has become a bit serious. On April 24 a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed and killed 1,127 people. Just sit with that number for a minute. One thousand one hundred and twenty seven people. The five garment factories housed in the building made clothing for most of the brands we see in America (Gap, brands sold at Wal Mart, JC Penney, Sears, etc.) One woman survived in the rubble for 16 days. The building was poorly made; but the working conditions were atrocious. No days off, working from sun up until 11 pm, hundreds of people crammed in rooms with little to no air conditioning and physical abuse. All for about $50 a month. People all over the world live like this so we can have cheap clothes. It feels like we as a society have compartmentalized the dignity and worth of those we know and love from the dignity and worth of those working in slave-like conditions around the world.
I can't compartmentalize anymore. I've decided to do two things. First, I've researched the Bangladesh Saftey Plan that would increase safety and human rights standards within garment factories and refused to shop at places that refused to sign it (as well as anything saying "made in Bangladesh"). Second, I'm focusing on buying clothes that are made in America. I know American made clothes have there own ethical and environmental issues; but at least there are regulations here to prevent the working conditions seen in Bangladesh. Wes and I like to put our money where our mouth is; and this can be hard when our family income is earned from Nike, which has a troubled history of it's own. We've had many conversations about how to deal with this contradiction, and for now it's a work in progress.
I'm not suggesting we all wear only locally made clothing or anything. But if we can educate ourselves and speak with our wallets then why not make some easy changes? There are a lot of affordable, easy to find clothes that are made in America. As a person on a budget I've found that shopping more consciously has not been as expensive as it's made out to be. And even if it is, that extra money means a living wage and a safe work environment for the person making our clothes. That I can spend some money on.
 |
| Filling my closet with clothes bought from my heart. |
I try not to fall into gender stereotypes. I think it's important to celebrate the traditionally masculine and feminine in everyone. One thing I am hopelessly girly about, however, is dressing up. Clothes, perfume, shoes, skin care stuff (I don't wear makeup but I love creams and scrubs), I've got it all. I have impractical shoes that I rarely wear (I'm 5'9, so why do I have three inch heels?) I put perfume on every morning no matter where I'm going. I put outfits together to go grocery shopping. If the television show "What Not to Wear" is on I turn into a zombie. It's pretty silly, but it's me. Lately though the silliness of dressing up has become a bit serious. On April 24 a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed and killed 1,127 people. Just sit with that number for a minute. One thousand one hundred and twenty seven people. The five garment factories housed in the building made clothing for most of the brands we see in America (Gap, brands sold at Wal Mart, JC Penney, Sears, etc.) One woman survived in the rubble for 16 days. The building was poorly made; but the working conditions were atrocious. No days off, working from sun up until 11 pm, hundreds of people crammed in rooms with little to no air conditioning and physical abuse. All for about $50 a month. People all over the world live like this so we can have cheap clothes. It feels like we as a society have compartmentalized the dignity and worth of those we know and love from the dignity and worth of those working in slave-like conditions around the world.
I can't compartmentalize anymore. I've decided to do two things. First, I've researched the Bangladesh Saftey Plan that would increase safety and human rights standards within garment factories and refused to shop at places that refused to sign it (as well as anything saying "made in Bangladesh"). Second, I'm focusing on buying clothes that are made in America. I know American made clothes have there own ethical and environmental issues; but at least there are regulations here to prevent the working conditions seen in Bangladesh. Wes and I like to put our money where our mouth is; and this can be hard when our family income is earned from Nike, which has a troubled history of it's own. We've had many conversations about how to deal with this contradiction, and for now it's a work in progress.
I'm not suggesting we all wear only locally made clothing or anything. But if we can educate ourselves and speak with our wallets then why not make some easy changes? There are a lot of affordable, easy to find clothes that are made in America. As a person on a budget I've found that shopping more consciously has not been as expensive as it's made out to be. And even if it is, that extra money means a living wage and a safe work environment for the person making our clothes. That I can spend some money on.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Pause
Hello blog and blog readers! It's been awhile! I've been away for a bit, both literally and figuratively. This little family has been to Montana twice already this summer and we've had a blast. The summer weather practically begs us to get out of the house (except for when it's too hot, then on go the ceiling fans and movies). With all this running around, I've needed to give myself a mental break if I can't give myself a physical one. I've been reading like crazy, submitting more poems than I ever have before, I'm getting set to continue my poetry workshop in September, and we've been considering some big life changes. I'm exhausted! I always tend to go, go, go and then burn out. It works to my detriment really, because I tend to over-extend myself then have to let some things go, which I hate. That's what happened with the blog. Something had to give, so I decided to step away from the blog for a bit. I felt bad at first, but then I started to breathe and relax and think about what this blog is really about. I don't want to feel obligated to post; I want to share my life to connect with family and friends and maybe relate to others in some way. I've recharged my batteries by unplugging. And now I'm back!!! I can't wait to get back to posting and sharing pictures. For now, here's some weekend pics! Happy summer :)
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