Fashion vs Health

Photo courtesy of DittyBox

Teaser here! Cosets, Control and Consumer Demand..

"Corset damage was ignored, even as fainting spells rose. Fainting became a sign of feminine delicacy so  symptom relief was sought rather than going for the prevention. (Until some flagrant feminist, some outrageous pioneer of garb said, "Wait a minute, girding my torso is torture and i won't take it any more!" Does this sound familiar? (djb, from Fashion Ethos) "

& i just realized- the fainting couch actually became a popular piece of furniture. .So fainting was good for capitalism - it created a "need" for more products!! See how this stuff works?

Please read the rest of the story on Fashion Ethos.

 Photo courtesy of Woodcreation

and

Photo courtesy of  LemonCadet


Thank you. 

Sun Dried

Sited near the University of Washington, a solutionary baby step that has a lot of great side effects.

Side Effects:
A fresh, delightful smell that isn't laden with endocrine disrupting and what else? chemicals that are bad for us, the water,the soil and the other life forms of the planet.

The sun is a natural disinfectant and a mildew and mold spore stopper.

Gentle breezes are nature's energy and if they are good enough to help regulate the planet's systems, i believe they are good enough to help us dry our linens and tee shirts.

Sometimes i think manufacturing partnerships were formed without formal agreement ages ago, why else would a way of looking at the world become so dominate, especially when it is so out of sync with the larger reality.  I think this was put forward as education.

Like hey everybody, use "convenient" energy that is supplied by a larger, controlling group of humans intent on profit,  lose an exercise opportunity and tumble your clothing away in a "dryer." Then we will make clotheslines an eyesore, even illegal in some sectors and call it a day!

Is this great or what?

What.
Don't listen to me, check it out for yourself. You might love it! I have towels a week plus off the line and still smelling like sunshine and clover..still just yummy fresh.

And by the way, there is no lint trap under clotheslines...clothes will look better longer and we can slow fast fashion a bit just like that!

Olde Story

 

Creating "Hunger"

                                                     Don't Go There!!

The olde story has to be told within a new context. We need to balance it out, not just so women have an equal voice but so that we as human beings can balance our psyches.


Saturday night, I and about 100 or so others, watched "Genetic Roulette" an informative film produced to frame the other story of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) at the University of Washington HUB. ( Held on campus with restrictive strings attached as funding of labs and education of 'workers" is not an accident)

I am against GMOs for soil "death"  and because they are designed to replace natural abundance with controlled and patented scarcity; for scarcity creates profit.

There is enough evidence in the scientific, the environmental and the medical communities to stop this attack on sensibilities that see's world dominance of food crops as a "good thing." This insanely arrogant raison d'etre that pushes the old story to extreme limits on so many fronts, must be stopped.

So the why is out there, the how remains trapped in a classic reiteration , which is why i am writing a "new" story.

For this current era is just the cumulative output of the male creative impulse that took off before the written word when trade and turfing got heated and hell started breaking loose.

According to Celtic legend women left the battle field to raise and nurture the young after a baby was retrieved from the breast of it's beheaded mother. This seemed a good idea at the time, but cut women off from the political and trade discussions until suffrage, hundreds of years later!

Anyway, along the way, little by little, men decided that eliminating "bad guys" (the other) vanquishing nature, penetrating markets and dominating arenas was the way to make the world a better place.

Through these many years full of many events ( with only a few edited and reiterated to be passed forward) the legend of "who we are," grew.

As monarchies outgrew their turf  whilst dis-eases of exclusion and inbreeding erupted - siblings  killing each other off in throne rivalries,  madness as in Henry the 8th, Ludwig and Charles, extensive overspending, warring and colonization (as in Greeks , then Romans and then dah!)- another means to power opened up.

The introduction of money diversified power by creating a mechanism to build wealth. The banking and merchant  "class" started to grow. Think de Medici,  Dutch merchants, the Jewish in Portugal and the taking down of the Knights Templar.

All part of the next voila -where the pen becomes mightier than the sword.

As ideology was debated and revolutions flourished there was a change of power and wealth though a lot of the ideology remained intact. Gilded with words like equality, freedom and the pursuit of happiness the mainstem of control by an elite few, remained.

Hierarchy was not disputed much for was not God  on top of the Son and Holy Ghost? Was not the Bishop on top of the priest and parishioners?  (no pun intended!) Was not man on top of women and the beasts of the field?  Was not Allah on top,  Kings or an elite authority a given- the way it was, just because?

When the monetary system bedded with the corporate construct a next form of ideology was birthed. That thinking abstracted being from doing and allowed for the new kind of monster.

Monster? It must be a monster, else why is it ok with killing it's own kind, fouling it's living room and ignorantly slaying all who question its "right" to do so?  Okay so this has roots in the past but never without any means of conscience. This new brainwarp has the "privilege' of no morality, ethics or empathy, none of the human "downsides" that can slow it up. No this monster is a legal psychopath, designed to pursue and control power and wealth efficiently. As such it is a good design but it is a terrible design for evolving life forms. It is the anti life machine. monster. EEEWWWW!!!

The introduction of the GMO is a brilliant sign of the pathology of this design.  This time, because it affects all of us to some degree - is waking up the world. Sectors are recognizing connections and this peculiarly brilliant form of insanity is being diagnosed.

For when profit means taking down natural systems at the expense of infants, women, children and men, animals and plants, entire ecosystems -when nothing is sacred, when nothing matters then we are dead before we actually die.  If this isn't madness, what is?

 I fail to understand the point of it all.

End Part One

Post Net Era

Float ON

Anyone else out there notice how the ads population has expanded? I think of going online and i shudder now, as ads swarm the internet like locusts. The plague of the promo is upon us.

Does this mean that the market solutions ideology must face its own reflection, realize its errors and open an honest discussion? I don't know, ideologists are notoriously dodgy as
cognitive dissonance reigns.

Hey oh- opportunists are no doubt seeing it as more eyes for netpads and phones time to "grow" the next market shmooze.

When I was a kid, we had a card game called Pit. It was a game of strategy and luck where players collected cards in a suite of farm goods. When one player had all of the product cards in their hands they had cornered the market and won the game.

At the time it was just a fun thing to do. The best part was shouting "Corner on rye" or whatever and ending the game.

Now I see it as creepy. I see the agri biz companies as Pit gamers who rule from Boardwalk as the ha ha, wink wink Not Monopoly gig is well rigged and protected by the laws that appear as  pre-orders, packaged by Congress in a timely manner. (Check out ALEC)

Looking at the planet as a production machine for profit making ventures allows for huge short term wins and long term losses. What's cool about this?

As the monster truths under our way of life are being called out, some just dig in their heels, shutter their visions and continue shushing the "damn alarmists." They chase wealth, the rush, the power and the promise of happiness because that is the story they were told. They believe it because there is not another story that promises as much.

So as the soils are ruined by industrial farm methods, creating the scarcity that serves price rising and bottom lines, "we" are successfully creating the world of our choosing. Chasing wealth and power to find happiness is killing life but ..and .here all the logic fails.

The cornering of markets and the slaying of competitors comes faster every round. Price fixing is easier and market delusions flood media and as "we all float on" (Modest Mouse) nothing changes until we are in the slaughter house of "our" own collective design. OOPS!!

The tail feather:
GMO labeling thing is not about the price of adding labels per se, many products are adding health claims as they try to rise above the FDA taint.

So what is the underlying angle here, why are we told the cost of food will rise X percent if labels are mandated?

My take is that the loss of revenue on these genetically engineered cross species, insecticide laden "food" products will be added to the prices of other goods. This is how corporate loss becomes the rest of the world's problem. "Corners*" on markets allows them to adjust and manipulate prices. This is how capitalism works.

* Three major corporations control the "food" industry. Like the three media giants and the huge fashion corporate complex that is now down to a small number of rulers- we are back in the scene of olde- narrow warring kingdoms of another kind. Geeesh!!

WaterRIP the Flow

I applied to Artist Trust for a grant to update my edit skills as I have the new software but haven't been in the gradient update movement so now must leap the gap. I am hoping to have the means for a mentor, thus the application and the photograph of 12/2012 installation

In the meantime I am meeting so many wonderful people, popping up in all kinds of places and this post is in appreciation.

I am not sure if this is happening because I am more in tune with the Verse or it is a matter of like energy attracting like, both, or something more. All I know is that it is happening and it is what keeps me afloat. (Thank you Jerod from Group Health for noticing my jacket and showing me photos of your fave garb and sharing a bit of your story)

I hope/trust I am gifting others in kind. This is reciprocity and how the good energy spirals up and out. It is so easy when we choose to peek out of our "roles" and is so a big part of what really matters.

Matter is taken from idea of the material world stemming from Newtonion physics so perhaps this explains how materialism came to matter so much and how Capitalism preens. It's a funny little thought anyway. (fashion dips into many camps and despite all its tawdry bits there is still some wonderful to be retained)

I saw "Top Secret America" on Frontline (PBS) the other night and recognize how all this kind of activity is a major source of drain on the economy, energy and life. It is a core trigger that is shooting down the very "things" it wishes to "save."

In the book, "How Quantum Activism Can Save Civilization"  Amit Goswami speaks to the collapse of possibility as we choose our "vision." This is how consciousness rules. Top Secret's focus on the bad guys concept chooses to manifest more bad guys. This is a no win situation.

I came to this book with a little  knowledge of biocentrism (via Lanza) the over-consciousness that Joseph Campbell helped me "see" and some other smattery physics It was an easy morph from the out there or over duality to the unified co creative concept of consciousness that I now "get."

Quantum activism is an extremely important evolutionary phase and needs practice so that we become practitioners. This will change everything.

I have joyfully come to realize that this is the essence that is the spirit of the fashionRIP Project itself. The process, story and continuum of the the RIP is based on this very concept though I came in through an entirely different window, eco fashion- I have entered the same "hologram" of concept and  action that the "do be do be do" dream of Professor Goswami, implied. How cool is that?

So, at the level Top Secret America is choosing for us, trapping our collective monies (from taxes and in subsidies)  in this "war on (fear) terror" we have a great deal of "bad choice" to overcome. We need to ask questions from the laws of quantum physics and learn to manifest that which we want. We know how to manifest that which most of us do not want. (my fast capture video for MOHAI is second down on the page (#22) History is Now - Past Tense)

I know that the fear as motivator complex has a huge head start and yet because it is loaded down with archaic beliefs and bad ju ju, we can overcome. In it's misguided attempt to "save" the American way of life it will sacrifice the lot.

We have all heard this story before (fall of Greece, Rome, Communism ya da) but this time we have a new twist. This time we are running out of physical places to leap and because of climate chaos (global warming) we are accelerating our own loserly predicament.

This time a grand leap into the evolved, expanded reality as shown by the new physics appears our better and best bet. Transformative leaps, metaphoric wings and DNA regenerative sparks could be ours for the asking. If God, the Verse, Om, Source, the Whole of Consciousness- whatever is willing us to "grow up" I say yes, we are that ready! And after all saying Yes to life says Yes to Happiness and ...oh just fly m'darlins, fly.

Cradle to Cradle- Design Reformation

Ballard -53 NW and NW 14th 

an example of Industrial "good design" Delusion.

I recently read the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002) by Michael Braungart and William McDonough and embrace the bulk of it. That it fails to reconcile the material outward quest with the interior need for emancipation- well, such is the norm. Straying into all that emo/heart stuff is tricky and playing it "rationally" safe makes for longer "careers."

The best of the C2C approach is it's ideas for regenerative design in products and systems. This is a form of biomimicry.

"It models human industry on nature's processes viewing materials as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. It suggests that industry must protect and enrich ecosystems and nature's biological metabolism while also maintaining a safe, productive technical metabolism for the high-quality use and circulation of organic and technical nutrients.^[1] Put simply, it is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not only efficient but also essentially waste free.^[2] The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many aspects of human civilization such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems."  Wikipedia, 2013

Well, using Nature as a design mentor is not just practical but a form of grace. To embrace the whole of life starts us on the path of unity.

This is a handy segue to promo, "The Ice Queen Melts," so I will!

Accepting the worlds systems as the valuable, necessary enabler of life goes a good piece beyond the current "it's all about Humans" thinking that we have been so enamored. Cradle to Cradle is a great step into the light of  the next Reformation.

It's a good read.

Story at Ethos

 

This is back side of Graffiti Building

I just finished a story on sweatshops, Bangladesh and The Triangle Shirtwaist factory Fire. Please check it out at Fashion Ethos

It's History

 50th and Roosevelt, Seattle WA.

 

Art wall no more..Seattle is overbuilding to generate tax revenue. The more people per sq. inch, the more taxes flow into the coffers.

And just nevermind that these monies then go to Bank of America to be invested elsewhere.

Phoenix, AZ, played the same game ...and lost. (Bird on Fire, A. Ross) Well a few did ok, the majority lost  their pennies. This creates stress in the human eco system and opens door further for that ol' cultural dis-ease.

Many official leaders appear clueless as to deep ecology, creating healthy local economic platforms and other relevant issues.

The short term fix to stay in "office/job" is not a solution- no matter how often the pattern repeats. 

Big Picture:

There is a reason people write on the walls, that outsider art is often more relevant than it's sanctioned counterpart and why this matters.

Bubbling up from the collective heart/soul -is a scream for the advanced,  next vision, for the new story. The art rebels are as story tellers and we need to listen.

This isn't scary or chaos- this is merely evolution and it is on our side- if we pay attention.

Consider prior revelations and ask yourself -How long did it take for the "authorities and public" to get good with the novelty of a round planet?

This is the same thing.  And some of us, just as in prior times, are no longer buying the old standard vision.

The world is not flat, poverty is not a given, humans are not in a war with nature, - the old story needs no more repeating. It is a misguided story.

Look at the evidence!! Please!!

Nature designs for abundance, change and a sensory world that exists through conscious observation. This is way cooler than the old set up and offers so many possibilites, we can design for the next vision once we "see" it.

We  are not the dinosaurs, not the machines and we refuse to be the slave-bots of the  myopic, mean spirited, defensive "reality" we are taught to "believe"  based on the story our current systems are inclined to replicate.

The ah ha here, is that even the people who believe they are benefitting from this spiral down vision are only fooling themselves.

Laying waste, taking without giving and ignoring mountains of new knowledge is not savvy but suicidal.

We are all organic life forms in the physical realm and despite the walls of stuff and power, despite the inflated egos - we die and become part of the larger reality, dust to dust.

But more,  we are all conscious observers of the whole and when entwined these ideas of matter and essence will generate another way of life.

I just hope that we don't have to write the dreary apocalyptic chapter first.

Why be that stupid?

Jacket Redo

 

Again- i forgot to take the before picture of this 90's shoulder extended one button straight jacket with velvet collar.

Played with some skirt drapings and really don't like the photo so will drop the drape. However i really think the peplum is sweet and the more fitted jacket has a retro thing going that will add to its longevity.



We are alive, now

 fabric "postcard" with my pencil illustration,

then collage stitched, scanned and brought

into photoshop for detailing and additional word crafting

Playing is good

celebrating the promise of Spring,

@ the Blarney Stone

Kilting it macho

 

DIY ripping style

i didn't know my neighbor played pool!

 

 

putting the kitsch in kitchen

 

 

Thank you wonderful people of  the Blarney Stone last Friday night for "liking" the   Important Public Service Announcements idea.

 

I am really offended that politicians (once called public servants) are blaming "the people" for their ignorance, while setting policy that utilizes this so called ignorance, as a tool to enable dastardly deeds of environmental and social injustice. If we are ill informed, why? Is it because we have a media sponsored by liars and if so who gave them that power?

 

OK -no matter, as that question just reiterates more blame throwing.

 

Instead i am taking on my own challenge to be more vocal with the message.  The videos and installations have been wonderful experiences and have reached quite a few people. However fashionRIP Project is designed to be flexible, organic and evolving, based on nature it adapts.

 

The IPSA can be a faster, more flexible and mobile means of information scatter.

 

Learning to deliver the message without being "killed" will take practice, skill, courage and a little (or a lot of) help from my friends and soon to be friends. Enough of this insanity, it is time to divert the machine, open it up and find all the people.   

 

 

Life and Money

illustration by John Tenniel from

Alice Through the Looking-Glass

Money and Life looks to be a great film, as is rounding up many of my economic relationship heroes.  I just realized that we rarely see the words relationship with money unless it's via the Law of Attraction - where the words abundance and prosperity still have many thinking in terms of wealth, which is then translated to money and material goods. I believe this blindspot has many issues and few people appear willing to "go there." This film should help reveal the path and make the going easier.

(Oops, i  leapt over the obvious, in $ and relationships- golddigger -a derogatory term (meme and a Refuzor song) that helped usurp the old norm of marrying for money and power. The archaic norms devoted to species propagation -aka my tribes bigger than yours- as a marker of power and wealth- came from a narrow physiological perspective. As we changed over time we (western focus) culturally adapted and put the emphasis on love.)

Energy and relationships are built into everything.  Exposing economics, by digging under all the graphs, charts  and justifications -we see the relationships. Humans in relationships with each other, with the myriad other life forms, with sum total resources, with planet systems, more and vice versa.

More and more life supporting/enhancing interactions are weighing in against the economic construct that was built on exchanges, which were made easier with money.

As the monetary systems grew, the more turf it claimed. To survive, the system became more abstract and "rational." Then it was rational to put money as object and subject. This swayed our thinking - the more real money appeared,  the more power we gave it. This is why banks had to gobble each other up and whyderivitives were born into "being."

I love that the trailer for Money and Life, brings up the fact that money is something humans made up. It became part of the cultural tale.  It was woven into the stories that are handed down via familty, community, formal education, marketers and in the memes that are passed around like mind plagues. This is part of our collective doing and now it's in an undoing process. 

This is a good thing. Seeing the error of one's ways  (even if that "one" is a system or cultural viewpoint) opens the path for great change.

We as a species are toppling from the old construct. Some are jumping, some feel their new wings and have started to fly, some are simply falling off as the supports give way.

All the while, others are hanging on for "dear life," they ignore the ruckus -looking the other way, they assure each other that they will survive this too, for are they not at the pinnacle of the construct, living as removed as possible from the dust and crumbs of the cultural demise?

For some reason, Humpty Dumpty comes to mind and just like in the nursery rhyme, "nothing will put HD back together again."

This is good, for once we finally realize that repair is not an answer, we can actually  move into the new stories. (Creative diversity will guide us as it has nature, health is in diversity)

The new stories will allow our potential to expand. We have done the pro-creation thing and it is so time for the co-creative partnering thing.

As we learn to embrace that which we once saw as chaos, when we appreciate the Earth and all life, learn to recognize the light in everything and learn to love without fear, we will heal and transform.  (part of the Mythic Deconstruction story, thnx David Felker (Kerf Gallery) for the discussion last night, we all need to address the crazy emo side of things. Madness by Muse brings it home fairly well.)

According to this film, we can be the designers of a world that is equitable, sustainable and beautiful. So why not go there?

I am.