American Apparel

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_26/b3939108_mz017.htm

I know this is from a few years ago, but American Apparel is still having these issues. To save you from reading the whole thing, here's a summary: the CEO sexually harasses employees, and rationalizes it by claiming a casual workplace atmosphere. He talks about his non-sweat shop mentality and how well he pays his workers. I'm not saying we should live in a sexually repressed culture. There's just not a place for it in the workplace. Unless you're actually in the porn industry. Which American Apparel is bordering on, honestly.

So, the moral debate: do we buy the plain, comfy American Apparel t-shirts and the American Apparel circle scarves (since those are two of their few items that don't make normal people look like fat hookers; because, seriously? zebra lamé hotpants?) I've been boycotting American Apparel since I've heard about all the sexual harassment associated with the company, unless I buy a shirt that another company has printed on American Apparel (like Alterra or moveon.org), because there's not much I can do about that. Just doing my part, I guess.

Oh, and seriously? Their prices suck, too. I would never be able to rationalize paying $10 for an extra Le String for my Le Sac. Sorry. And they have a kids section, too? Scary.

Political Activism

(Blogging about my actual experiences rather than an article again. Erm.)

I went to go take pictures of the peace activists at Cutler Park this afternoon, and it was a great experience. I'm always a bit nervous about approaching strangers, especially when I also want to take their pictures, but they were so friendly! Judith, a woman who I've met at church a few times and whose political activism has always inspired me, greeted me. I told her about my project, and she was really excited about the whole thing. I was handed photocopied articles about their group and about one of their most devoted members, Ernie, who passed away in December. I also received a picture CD; one of the members takes a group picture every week. I took my pictures, and talked to everyone. We waved at the supporters, honkers, wavers, peace signers. We laughed off the obscene gestures: "It's half of a peace sign; we're getting there!" I got to know some of the activists: a photographer, a few veterans, some Catholics, a Canadian. At 1:00, we took the group picture, packed up, and said our goodbyes.

I'm really inspired by this group. There were only about eight people this week, but judging from the pictures, good weather and bad presidents bring larger crowds. Either way, such devotion. Judith has not missed one Sunday in the seven years of the group, and neither had Ernie before his death. After watching The War Room in class last week, I've been craving political activism. Society is never perfect; there's always some cause to fight for. And that cause is different for everyone. But whatever it is, we need to go out and fight for our causes. If you're not part of the solution, you are the problem.

will.i.am is a pretty cool guy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/who-are-the-colored-peopl_b_166952.html

"National Association for the Advancement of Consciousness and People"

I really like that. It's so all-encompassing. Not only can we look towards wiping out racism, but we can try and get people more aware of, well, everything. Because apathy is boring. (see below.) smileyface indeed, will.i.am. :)

I really have nothing else to say about this. will.i.am seems to put things into words so well; it's that whole musician/political activist thing.

Maybe I'll leave you with this?
http://www.apathyisboring.com/en

Now I have more to write about! This is a pretty cool site; it's all about teaching youth about democracy through art and technology. It also produces great quotes such as: "Democracy can’t be sexy until we understand what it means." It's a Canadian site, actually, so I've been having fun reading about all the different political parties. I hope the United States can end up with a less bipartisan system such as this one. That's a hard thing to move toward, though. More recognition for third parties (actually allowing them in the debates, etc), please?

On another note, I wonder if the Neo-Rhino party's ideas would actually work? Here's some of them, if you don't feel like poking around the website:

• The Neo Rhino Party are the ultimate anti-party. They don’t follow the political cliché of making empty promises; instead they offer outlandish ideals (as well as budgets) that sound both perfect and impossible.
• The elimination of ads on TV.
• To invest $5 million to create an army of clowns to save the world.
• A country with so rich with culture, it will drive our economy.
• Abolish the prescription of Ritalin.
• They also intend to adopt proportional representation in Parliament, give children the right to vote, increase voter turnout by paying electors $10 to vote, and redecorate voting booths with soft music.
• The Party recommends a preventative approach to healthcare where laughter is the best medicine.

(All points taken from the Apathy is Boring Website.)
Also, the party is run by a guy legally named Satan, they refer to themselves as “Marxist-Lennonists”, as in Groucho Marx and John Lennon, they're closely aligned with Great Britain’s Monster Raving Loony Party, they're involved in an electoral lawsuit called Satan v. Her Majesty the Queen, and theire main priorities are "army of clowns to promote laughter and world peace, abolish the environment, guaranteed weekly orgasms for everyone, national gas barbecue registry, if ever elected would dissolve government." Oh, Canada. (And here's the Monster Raving Loony Party. http://www.omrlp.com/index.php?page=manifestoproposals-1. Their proposals are pretty spectacular as well, but I don't really feel like posting all of them. Boo.)

(Sorry if this post makes no sense. It's midnight, and I just felt like talking. A lot.)

More of a commentary on media than anything else...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2009/02/weve_found_one_of_dick.html?wprss=sleuth

Dear Washington Post,

I'm not exactly a reader of your newspaper. From a brief look around your website, though, you seem to be a legitimate newspaper that has the capability of reporting real stories. Plus, it appears that The Onion is one of your partners, which allows me to overlook the fact that CBS is also one of your partners.

This leads me to Mary Ann Akers' most recent column post. Thank you so much for informing me that Dick Cheney does indeed love him some skim latte! I do love me some skim latte as well, and I feel so much closer to our former vice president now. Thanks for relevant, poignant news!

No, seriously, Washington Post. This isn't even a human interest story. Who gives a shit about Dick Cheney's hot drink choice? Millions of people go to Starbucks every day. You could have picked someone more interesting (and less dangerous) if you wanted a portrayal of Starbucks. And nobody would have cared anyway. If you're going to do human interest stories, make them interesting. If you're going to do political stories, make sure they're relevant (because there's kind of an economic crisis right now).

Thank you,
Renee, On Behalf Of The American People

P.S.-If you want to do a good Dick Cheney story, take ideas from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/cheney_dunk_tank_raises_800

Photography and Social Issues

(Screw articles. I'm blogging about government/politics that I want to blog about, rather than finding articles that aren't really relevant to me just so I can get the assignment done.)


The VAC (Visual Arts Classic) competition theme this year is "Art and Social Issues". I thought for me, being fairly involved in government and probably less ignorant than most, this assignment would be easy. The darkroom photography prompt is: Create a single portrait of a person documenting a personal struggle or triumph that pertains to a specific social issue.


This has been much more challenging than I had expected. First, there's finding a relevant social issue. Poverty and homelessness are too obvious, but many less obvious ones are challenging to portray without being tacky. Even if I were to portray poverty, it's not as obvious as it used to be; achieving a beautiful portrait in the style of Lewis Hine would be hard.
















"One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, N.C." -Lewis Hine

I'm leaning toward gay rights or health care at this point, but I'm not really sure. My mind is going in ten different directions, and none of them are that good. Yet. Hopefully I can streamline my ideas and come up with one or two that are really poignant and easy to portray, without being too obvious or tacky. Maybe I'll go to the anti-war protest at the library on Sunday. I'm not sure. Any ideas?

Crossing Party Lines

(There's not an article, but I just attended a meeting which most people wouldn't ever expect to see me at...)

So, a few of us decided to "crash" the Young Republicans meeting this afternoon. (Thanks for the idea, Sam!) I walked in with Will Reichardt and Sam Anthonijs, and everything was going crazy--apparently they were watching the fight outside. Soon after, Allie Mueller and Sam Tang walked in. Cody Kallin, their president, was kind of yelling at us and everything was still a bit crazy. We were told we could sit down and listen to the meeting or leave, so the five of us sat. Cody started the meeting by talking about what the Republicans were planning on doing; local elections, etc. We then moved on to possible nonpartisan events we could plan, and the group actually had a civil discussion about politics. We decided we would plan our own events and meetings, and also plan nonpartisan events and meetings. It was agreed on that, together, our clubs would promote political participation and reaching across party lines.

I'm pretty excited about what happened this afternoon. I went in there not knowing what to expect; essentially thinking we would walk in, Cody would get pissed, and we would leave. I was surprised when we were invited to sit down, and even more shocked when we actually had a civil discussion. I'm glad we ended up agreeing to work together instead of against each other. I think it's going to be a great example to the rest of the school that, yes, we can join together and get along because, despite party affiliation, we're all Americans and want what's best for our community & country. Hopefully more people will join the combined group as a nonpartisan thing, especially after seeing or hearing about the service projects we'll be doing.

Overall, this whole idea went extremely well, considering it started as a bit of a joke. Thanks, Sam, for a great idea, and thanks to all of you who showed up! (Not that you read this blog, but whatever.)

PS-I'm going to take this opportunity to enjoy the fact that 5 of us showed up, while 3 Republicans were there. Yay Young Liberals! =)

Constitutional, or Cruel?

Article: A Life Term for Rape at 13: Cruel and Unusual?

I had mixed reactions when reading this article. When first reading of Joe Sullivan's crime (breaking into a 72-year-old woman's house, burglarizing it, and raping her, along with 2 friends) I was shocked due mainly to the extreme ages; Joe was 13 at the time. At this point, I was strongly in support of the life sentence he had been given. He committed an adult crime, and should be given an adult sentence. The Constitution goes against "cruel and unusual" punishment, but nothing is especially cruel or unusual about life in prison, right?

After reading through the rest of the article, my opinion changed. I considered the Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, which banned the death penalty for 16- and 17-year-olds due to the fact that they "are less mature, more impulsive, more susceptible to peer pressure and more likely to change for the better over time." I agree with this statement and think it should be applied to Sullivan's cases and future cases like it. 13-year-olds can be very susceptible to peer pressure, especially when that pressure is coming from two friends who were apparently older than him.

I believe Sullivan should've been given a shorter sentence (15-20 years) which involved counseling along with prison. After the sentence, he could be put through psychological tests in order to determine whether he is still a threat to the community, or if the majority of his problems have been treated through the counseling and his growing up. These tests would then determine the severity of the remainder of his sentence (life sentence, probation, 20 more years, etc.), and other cases like this could follow similar procedures.