Wabi Sabi Wear

Wabi Sabi Wear showroom
It is local, lovely and full of eco friendly fibers. The cream colored wrap has a beautiful drape and a soft french terry cuddle quality, pure yum!

Other wraps are made of a hemp/tencel blend that look like linen sans the high wrinkle factor; not wrinkle free like a board, just an easy tailored crisp.

Marybeth is the proprietor of Yoga for Our Times and the designer and is a local gem.
See the YfOT wbsite for more information.

cotton woes

Eco textiles from Pacific Fabrics for 2007

Earth Day display at NSCC

organic cotton, ddt and malaria...a tangled mess of facts, funding and trade-offs in Uganda. The malaria is real, the swamps are breeding grounds and DDT is a quick fix but not a solution as it causes other problems, creating domino hell.....like contaminating drinking water.

More science needs to come on board, Dr. Uday Bhawalkar, makes a nitrate connection and states that organic crops (cotton) are less likely to be as bad as crops with added synthetic nitrogen (fertilizers).

I wonder if the area was always swampy, are the swamps a source of "good" which makes draining an issue? Is every swampy wetland sacred or what criteria should we use to make the wisest possible decisions?

How are the mosquitos infected to begin with?

logos

Fascination Graphics became Superior.......how droll.

NSCC graduaton

Several 2008 CMN video class students rallied to support another matie as he picked up his diploma.

The student speakers at the ceremony were chosen for their ability to withstand and overcome hardships. An inspirational cliche that makes most whiners ashamed of their petty everyday peeves. All good on the surface, the underdog wins, is cheered and we are proud of our species ability to overcome life's challenges. Then the ?s creep in.

Like in helping one child out of the slums of Brazil is great, but how fair is it to others just as deserving, inteligent and innocent? What would really change the slums? According to G. Mortenson in "Three Cups of Tea" it takes educating the girls to make conditions better. They tend to stay and do damage control, have less children and gain dignity.

Or what about the abused street kid who ended up in prison but was contacted by a group that supports his exit with an entrance into education, how cool is that. This cuts back the rate of returns to 10% against the normal rate of recidivism which is 50-70%, but why are our prisons so over populated?

Why so many charities? Doesn't it make more sense to dismantle the cause aka use preventive medicine?

BP is proof

fave bench at Woodland Park Zoo
that some things are beyond the monetary system, that some damages are beyond justification.

As real resources necessary for life on this planet are being squandered and jeopardized, when there is no amount of money that can compensate for the abuse of the commons and when large ecosystem health is at stake, we have to come to terms with this huge mistake we call the "economic system." It is a made up thing, we humans created it and it is now time to re-invent the whole of it.

Make-over Central coming soon to a town near you! (like start it, don't wait for Godot!)

menswear 2

Old is new again aka men in skirts, from the classic to the contemporary it's all in the accessories.

on the street

menswear. In Design On the Road a great look is pulled together; Functional Style with style.

More Stuff

"The Story of Stuff" graciously replied to my request for permission to use the clip and they are good with it. See the Bottled Water or Cap and Trade Stories as well as whole of the "Stuff." the FYI we need.
Thank you Annie Leonard and the Story of Stuff Project.

Retail ReDux

Do bars & walls keep "the other out" or just cage us in?

The whole of the following excerpt is posted on the new sustainable fashion- the papers blog

As Americans, we have become accustomed to a lifestyle that is manipulated, unavailable on a large scale due to finite resources and though at first it was fairly consensual, we are starting to realize that it is an abusive relationship. Now more and more of us want it to stop! We feel we have been duped for the benefit of a very few, while the majority is played as scapegoats and pawns.

British research verified the truth of the shoppers high a few years ago. “During a shopping experience, the human brain apparently releases the chemical dopamine, ....... which has a role in our ability to experience pleasure or pain. It appears also to have a role in addictive behavior. Simply put, if an action makes us feel good we want to repeat it.” (Kopp, C. 2005)

This seduction has a huge cost that is not extracted from the bottom line by the production model we have constructed. Product lifecycle considerations are now questioned as is the transportation and resource abuse we have tolerated in the name of lifestyle. Now we realize the huge price tag we were encouraged to ignore. The bill is coming due and we need to accept that fact. (& this just addresses the physical damage, the mental is another story to be continued.)

As we heal the earth, we may heal ourselves and vice versa. We need new stories to promote that healing; stories not of fear but of love. “Storytelling has always been the preferred tool of great wisdom teachers.” (Wolz, B. p. 14) Well if it works for them, maybe we have a chance. If you have a story share it, it is time.

graniness achieved by shooting with a pentax digital still camera. I wasn't intending to do this video until the Easter Island Maoi figures "told me to."

See all the "STUFF" at

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Love This

railroad bridge. It's right before the bus leaves the freeway to head to Tacoma Dome Station. I wonder who the artist is; Banksy-ish sentiment!

Parallel Healing (1)

London Tube Stop

when bathroom becomes a 4th closet.....u r in trouble!

The Retail Therapy video (below) was inspired by my tube stop last February (London). The sign; go left to Somerset House and Fashion Week or right to the Historical Museum and the last of the Easter Islanders (Rapa Nuians(?)) is legit. That the civilization was destroyed by resource abuse and/or disease is debated but as one leads to the other and vice versa; just move along!

Health is a balance of mental, spiritual and physical well being.

OK, if true than our beliefs based on the capitalist vision that dominates the media and promotes the push of consumer economics to make our lives "better," while actually taking away the time to mitigate stress, nurture relationships, enhance collective intelligence and appreciate our lives, then that is unbalanced & therefore unhealthy.

The shopper's high is real. The short term rush leaves a craving for more and according to the Department of Commerce, we were renamed consumers and programmed to become addicts for a healthy economy. Good job America, we bought it!

This economic theory considered natural resources abundantly available to be used by humans and manipulated by those that had the power to do as they please. Nature was to be conquered and tamed; most humans were workers to be used as resources and a few winners could take all!

Am i crazy or is this like Evilina Island, Land of Mutant Robotic Souls, overstimulated and under nourished - They Seek Love But Buy Toys.

Like being wired naturally to like sweets, a little honey is great but too much is a diabetic coma. I propose that we are predisposed to like beauty, toys, comfort and other elements of "stuff" but too much is killing us.

Retail Therapy reDux

for a slower, wiser & healthier economy. I mean finite planet = limited resources, so go figure. Check out the full "Story of Stuff" and other videos by Annie Leonard for even more foolish human concepts put in their place.

PS copyright permissions are being solicited. This appears the quickest way to facilitate this action and I am covered under the satire law...or close enough for a debate.

See the full "Story of Stuff" at http://www.storyofstuff.com/