Denim delight

After a brief time away from the computer thanks to a trip to Hawaii (post to follow soon) and a trip to the operating room for carpal tunnel, herewith I triumphantly return, albeit a bit trepidatiously due to a lingering sore paw, to discuss one of my pet peeves (of which there are many but this one particularly irksome)…

…cheapo made in China jeans.

Now without going all political all over the place, let me just state it plainly in one sentence….

…what happened to MADE IN AMERICA?

I mean, truly what does it mean when we get all patriotic all of a sudden (I can think of a particular Presidential candidate crowing about his patriotic post-911 Salt Lake City Olympics pins MADE IN CHINA) and rush out every Memorial Day or Fourth of July donned in some form of Americana with flags emblazoned on our persons or waved in our fists and we don’t stop to READ THE LABEL and see that with few exceptions 99.99% of these All American Products are now made in China.  Or Taiwan.  Or India.  Or Bangladesh.  Or Sri Lanka.  Or some other country willing to exploit its workers for pennies on the dollar in order to turn a quick profit at the expense of American workers.

Is it truly patriotic to wear a Gadsden flag hat that had its origins in some sweatshop in Shanghai?

Or to wear the quintessential Levis jeans on our butts without bothering to notice that the company ceased its American operations in 2003?

I mean, like the kids say nowadays, “really?”

How patriotic is it to shell out our hard-earned cash (especially in this economy) without looking into the ultimate destination of our money?

For this, and other reasons, I never buy clothing in a “real” retail store anymore unless I see that the garment has the beautiful words, “MADE IN USA” on the tag.

This is getting harder and harder to do.  And how much exactly are we saving when the new jeans we purchase at the big box retailers is destined for the rag box within a couple of years?

This question, posed in the article, “Is Your Stuff Falling Apart?  Thank Wal-Mart,” author Stacy Mitchell, of Grist.org, is something we really must examine.  In it, the author discusses how a friend of hers had a pair of Levis bought after the Great Levis Manufacturing Migration to China; jeans that already showed premature signs of wear, and compared them to a pair well over 20 years in age, the quality of which far surpassed its Chinese imitation.

Again, I don’t care if you’re Left, Right, in-between, Red State, Blue State, Purple State, or State of Ignorance, the fact of the matter is we are getting ripped off, and it’s not fair.

Do your clothes speak Chinese?

Not fair to American workers who saw their jobs outsourced.  Not fair to the Chinese laborer who most likely toiled for hours for insultingly tiny wages.  And not fair to us as consumers who continue to, with our complacency, financially support this madness.

I remember buying a pair of 501s back in the early 1980s.  The dark blue ones you had to wash 100 times before they got soft enough to wear properly.  Somewhere my Mum has a photograph of my jeans standing straight up by themselves on the back deck of our home in San Diego, drying in the sun, as if donned by the Invisible Man.  Man, those were great jeans.  The only reason I don’t have them to this day is, unfortunately, I (ahem) have outgrown the size 27 waist.

Who doesn’t have a favored pair of jeans; the ones  you drag out again and again, even though you may have other newer pairs?  The old, good quality ones from days gone by just feel sturdier, more substantial, have a “I’m here to stay” feel to them.  They are like old friends who may wrinkle with time but never seem to go out of style or entirely out of your lives.

Because I won’t participate in the Buy-Everything-In-China madness, yet I still seek a bargain, I can still find “real” jeans, made in America, that despite their patina still have a lot of life left in them, owing to the superior workmanship of likely a member of the Garment Workers Union.

Where, you might ask?

Silly question; if you have read even one of my posts, or even better, my book,  you know that answer.

Thrift stores.

Spend an afternoon at your local Goodwill or Savers or any other nice thrift shop and I would be willing to bet a serving of Freedom Fries that you will come home with a fine pair of slightly used, but very serviceable , pair of jeans that you know will last for years to come.  And you may have the added satisfaction of knowing that your purchase helped others, kept these fine dungarees out of a landfill, and no slave laborer in China toiled to sew them.

So next time you find yourself in need of a nice pair of jeans, look no further than a thrift store.

Levi Strauss would be proud.

Popping the Question!

It’s Valentine’s Day again. 

 Time to express our devotion to those most important to us in our lives.

 Time to send roses, proffer chocolates, and maybe even spring for a nice dinner.

 But most importantly, it’s time to distribute the ultimate erstwhile token of our affection for one another.

 The Valentine card.

 I don’t care how old you are, what station in life you find yourself, or your political affiliation, putting aside all of that for this most special of romantic days is only appropriate.

 Who doesn’t like to get a nice Valentine?

 There are the hand-scribbled signatures on the obligatory mass-produced miniscule boxed cards strategically placed near the entrances of every retailer in the land, from the expected Hallmark stores to even Home Depot.  Every schoolchild from preschool to elementary level (with some older middle-school holdouts still continuing the tradition) summarily selects his or her own preferred genre, ranging anywhere from Hello Kitty to Transformers and everything in between. Then this is followed by reviewing the (hopefully) preprinted class list and ensuring that every last pupil receives an individually inscribed note; misspellings at the early grades notwithstanding.  They then dutifully cart these cards to school for the breathlessly anticipated distribution, hopefully with a sugar-laden party tossed in for good measure.  I remember well bringing home my loot from my parties, dumping them all on my bed, and rereading scrawled names of those boys I, in my 6-year-old mind, dreamed of one day marrying. Oh the fun it was!

 This tradition, unfortunately, dies out far too soon, as exemplified by my son’s admonition to me this morning when I enquired as to whether he expected to receive any Valentines.

 “Mom!  We don’t DO that in 8^th grade! That’s for little kids!”

 Sigh.

 Well he’s destined then to join the next bunch of prospective Valentine shoppers.

 You know who you are.

 Guys…

 The bewildered chaps all lingering around the endless stream of pink and red cards all offering similar sentiments.  You last-minute husbands and boyfriends crammed together on the fateful day all trying to find the perfect one.  It’s actually kind of funny really.   I mean, why does the purchase of one $3.50 card automatically garner so much FEAR in the hearts of these fellows?  Do they really think that if they don’t plunk down the cash and come home with AT LEAST a card for their sweetie, they will be met with a frying pan?  I mean, isn’t love supposed to be for more than one particular day?

 What the heck is Valentine’s Day anyway?

 According to History.com, the exchanging of heartfelt sentiments has evolved over the years.  From the days of ancient Rome, there apparently was a legendary priest called Valentine, who when learning that Emperor Claudius II decided to outlaw marriage, he

 … defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today.

Thus a romantic star was born and his actions may have set in motion the traditions we see today.  There may also have been some talk of the Roman Feast of Lupercalila, a pagan ritual celebrating fertility, which the Church attempted to “Christianize.” 

However Valentine’s Day truly started may be a mystery but its influence and scope today largely owes its origins to lovers beginning in the Middle Ages who longed to express their love at the same time as the birds’ mating season, around the middle of February each year.  Again, according to History.com,

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Apparently love conquers all indeed.

But how did a poor Duke in the Tower’s sweet sentiments to his lady love translate into the Hallmark holiday we see in our modern society?

According to History.com,

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.

 There exist today a plethora of greetings just waiting to deliver themselves into your beloved’s possession but for this lover of vintage, I invite you to look at some charming Valentines of days gone by. 

 Check out the Scrap Album site.  In it, you can see the history of the most romantic of holidays and view samples of art from long ago.  It’s a great resource for all old-timers like myself.

 If you haven’t got your old-timey Valentine fix yet, there’s also the Vintage Valentine Museum, which shows quite an extensive collection of amazing and beautiful notes from those days when the selection of the perfect note was of utmost importance.  From whimsical to highly stylized, there seem to be no end to the creativity of those artists assigned design duty for these fabulous sentiments.

 For those needing a printout of a charming vintage Valentine, I invite you to check out Vintageholidaycrafts.com.  They have a wide selection of free-to-use printouts for all the important folks in your life.

 I’d like to think I am a fine writer but my skills pale in comparison to those flowery words written by a finer author than I, so I leave you with this beautiful poem…

 She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow’d to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

 

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair’d the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

 

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

 

She Walks In Beauty
by George Gordon, Lord Byron

 Happy Valentine’s Day!

Occupy my tree!

Before the last of the Halloween 90% discounted leftovers have even disappeared from their shelves, retailers are already hoping against hope that you’ll get even more motivated to return for their next huge sales. This time it’s gonna be a biggie.

It’s Christmas! So what if there’s no sign of snow and the mercury has not dropped below 50 degrees? At your local stores, chances are they’re hoping you’ll ignore the weather and focus instead on what’s most important this Festive Holiday Season.

Spending money!

It’s hard to resist. The wildly decorated windows chock-a-bloc with “must-have” items for this season lure us in. And once we step inside the stores, we’re toast. Why? Because if we have not turned up at 2:30 a.m. on Black Friday, standing shoulder-to-bundled shoulder with our equally crazed co-shoppers, we’re not likely to score the really good stuff for a great price. So instead, limp sales flyers in hand, we approach the overflowing shelves usually with a bit of reserve and our pocketbooks jealously hidden. We peer hopefully around our neighbors’ heads, silently cursing them to Christmas shopping hell, as they’re inconveniently blocking us from the one thing we even remotely hope we can afford this season. It might be a cuddly teddy bear, a set of glassware, or perhaps the erstwhile Snuggie. Whatever special item we seek, invariably our best-intentioned lists drop, forgotten, to the depth of our pockets and our souls despair at another holiday of trying to fulfill some lost commercial void.

Times are tough out there and unless you’re a trust-fund baby, you’re likely to find yourself in this situation at some point before now and the Big Day, with a too-lengthy wish list and a too-short stack of twenties.

So what can we do about this dilemma? Vow to give only to the kids this year and exchange cards or small boxes of candies with the grownups in our lives? Splurge on everybody on every conceivable thing they even remotely mentioned wanting, putting the whole shebang on our credit cards, and then hide from the mailman come January? Or are we going to boycott the whole thing and attend the latest incarnation of A Christmas Carol, identifying with old Mr. Scrooge or try to emulate the hapless Grinch?

There’s another solution.

The holidays are coming, and whether or not we’re ready to celebrate whatever particular aspect thereof, gifts will likely still need to be provided. So if you’re not planning on knocking over a bank (helping yourself to some of your taxpayer-provided bailout money), I’d suggest looking at another avenue for your gift-giving this year.

Thrift stores.

This practice (which I admit to quite happily doing myself) is no longer the stuff of hippies or folks down on their luck. It’s become hip and cool to cruise the aisles of your local thrift store for a holiday treasure.

According to author Mimi, on the website, Thrift Store Junkies, in her article entitled, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” 

Because shopping for Christmas at your favorite thrift store will allow you, too, to find unique, vintage and recycled goods, while staying well within your shopping budget.  So many people spend SO much money during the holidays and it’s all for naught.  You can save a ton of money by selecting one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts at a thrift store near you.

 

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Like I’m going to give a musty-smelling sweater to Dear Aunt Gracie!” Not so fast, doubting Rudolph. With a little time, knowledge of product value, and a little ingenuity, a savvy thrift store shopper can score a plethora of truly unique and soon-to-be-treasured gifts.

Know somebody who collects vintage ornaments? For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can most likely find a special trinket or two in the holiday aisles, sure to please even the most discriminating connoisseur. I’ve seen Shiny Brite™ ornaments scattered amidst the cracked candy canes and the one-eyed reindeer plush dolls. Any self-respecting ornament virtuoso will tell you that such a find is worth the time spent knee-deep in the thrift-shop dust of ages. These fabulous ornaments, first made by Max Eckhardt in 1937 were hugely popular and were sold by the thousands in stores like Kresge and F. W. Woolworth. According to the website, http://www.ornamentshop.com/history_story/part3.asp, it’s all about nostalgia with these particular pieces.

For those in the Baby Boomer generation, childhood memories of Christmas often revolve around the tree and its ornaments and other decorations as much as they do of a specific present (unless it was a pony – everyone wanted a pony; fortunately, few of us got one.)

Originally selling for around 10-20 cents, these colorful pieces of glass decorated many a home during the 1950s and 1960s, and now their popularity owing largely to nostalgia, has shot up the price to well into the $20 range for a set of 4 reproductions. If you want the originals, try eBay. One listing had a set for $150.

If ornaments aren’t on your list, a detailed perusal of the clothing racks may yield a surprise or two. Many times, retailers like Target will sell discontinued merchandise (think of the red clearance tags and the end caps in the stores) to Goodwill. Usually these items are perfectly new, with tags still attached. Again, for the price of an afternoon, the potential to save hundreds of dollars on truly valuable and quite appropriate gifts makes it all worthwhile.

Know somebody who gets all wistful at remembering their childhood Christmases and receiving that special toy? With a little time and some ingenuity, it’s highly possible that they could revisit that amazing day with all the kid-like excitement of finding their coveted diaper-wetting/speaking/walking dollie or action figure. A great resource for these toys is timewarptoys.com. I personally had the thrill of finding an almost-perfect Steve Austin (not the wrestler; come on old-timers, explain who the Six Million Dollar Man is to your kids) doll on the shelf of my local Goodwill. Peering through his head, out his bionic eye, I could almost look back 30-plus years, watching my brother’s face light up as he unwrapped this cool toy.

Other possibilities include vintage LPs for the vinyl purist on your list, books (some with the stickers still on the dust jackets), unique glassware, wreaths, baskets, funny mugs, and picture frames. And what book lover would say no to receiving a vintage copy of a childhood favorite? The list is virtually endless for those intrepid enough to venture into the land of secondhand.

And even typical non-thrift shoppers are getting in on this trend.

There’s even some fun to be had this time of year with your thrifty finds.  According to author Will Higgins in his article “There’s Green in Those Ugly Christmas Sweaters,” on the Indianapolis Star website,  parties have cropped up where…

Smirk-prone people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, try to outdo each other by showing up in something Andy Williams might have worn during his Claudine Longet period. Or Florence Henderson, when she was a Brady.

If you’re interested in coming to the party, the site is Uglychristmassweaterparty.com. 

 As you can see, Thrift Store Christmas is possible. So even if you have to be especially budget-conscience this holiday season, you can still hunt, shop and buy gifts your friends and family can proudly display in their homes, and even have some fun to boot. Now that is a great Christmas success story if I ever heard one.

After all, aren’t the holidays about spending time with those we cherish rather than shelling out wads of cash on something perhaps they’ll never use again? The true value of the holidays, I’d hazard a guess, is in the smiles of our loved ones as they gather with us on those special days, reminiscing about days gone by, laughing at old stories, and sharing a meal or two.

As Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss reminds us,

…”Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more.”

~ Dr. Seuss (1904-1991), American author of children’s books. From ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas.’

My latest literary appearance

Bragging rights.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada took my story, “When Do You Stop Being Canadian?”

Page 19.

’nuff said.

 I don’t even know what street Canada is on.
–Al Capone

Remember remember

Peace on Earth

 

 

Pretty little girl

  

I met a new friend today.

At a thrift store.

In a plastic bag along with other fading photos of anonymous faces.

Crammed between a chipped coffee mug and a dented frying pan.

A bargain for $1.99 for the whole lot.

I picked it up, brought it home, and forgot about it.

Until the other day when my son tossed the bag onto my desk, asking me who these folks were.

Sometimes I wonder why I am attracted to these things, these societal castoffs.

What draws me to a dilapidated bag of old photos of people I don’t even know?

And why am I so compelled to bring them home and transform them into what’s known euphemistically around my Fair City’s antique stores as….

Instant ancestors.

See, this is the second time this has happened.

About a year or so ago, I visited a local antique mall and stumbled across a collection of vintage photographs. Not just one or two but an entire shoebox full of long-ago faces imprinted forever upon now-sepia paper. Above the box some clever vendor had a simple sign, “Instant Ancestors.”

It moved me enough to write a post about it.

Why would family discard such an intimate keepsake?

Why didn’t the portrait of this dear old relation garner enough love to stay within the family?

I mean, this was somebody’s mother, aunt, grandmother, uncle, father, son, grandpa, Nana, sister, or brother.

I find it hard to get my mind around the reason why I keep finding these vintage photos.

Like last time when I brought home a portrait of my new great-aunt Ivy, restoring her to the dignity of an elegant frame upon a shelf, evidently again I felt moved enough to bring this new bag of photographs home.

This time I not only speculated on who peered out from the now-sepia paper, conjuring an imaginary person to match the image.

I looked her up.

Her name was Catherine Agnes. She was born on August 3, 1916 in Pickneyville, IL.

They loved her enough to take a couple of Christmastime portraits of her in 1917. I have one of them here.

Catherine was well read

 Catherine had a relation who was a military officer. Perhaps someone smarter than I will know what type of uniform he’s wearing. His name was James.

James, Catherine's relation

She married a doctor. They had no children of their own but she had some nieces and nephews.

Catherine was smart. She went to university and received a Master’s degree in teaching. She taught both little ones and college students.

Catherine loved animals and liked to help with anti-cruelty societies.

But she sure loved to fish!

Made the men jealous!

She loved to spend time with friends and family. She enjoyed reading and gardening.

And she loved antiquing.

She passed away in 2006 in Morton Grove.

Her photos made it from there to a Saver’s thrift store in Aurora, Illinois. Next to Old Navy.

Catherine may have been forgotten by some, but her memory hopefully lives on in this post and on my wall.

I may go visit her someday to officially make her acquaintance.

I feel I know her so well already.

Catherine was beautiful.

To find out about your ancestors, instant or otherwise, try the Family Search website, a huge database maintained and continually updated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 ”Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson