Summer reading, viewing, stories, and food for thought...

Summer may be over for many of you, with your kids already back to their school routines, and thoughts of fall in the air... But if you're in New York City, school won't begin again until Sept 9 (public school, anyway), and the summer weather and feeling is still with us. For those reasons, the lucky ones among us may have some "lazy days" left, so I share these thoughts with you, while we all prepare to make the gradual climb out of summer malaise, and into full swing again.

Mollie Makes Magazine

Click through for a sample.

A fun magazine, recommended to me by my fabric-loving friend, Cindy, Mollie Makes offers inspiring ideas, great photographs, and articles I never quite actually get around to reading.  Great pre-nap reading and dream inspiration.  Seriously.

Girl in Translation

Definitely a great read.  This story gives a really heartbreaking view of the tough issues an immigrant mom and daughter face while working in NYC's garment industry. Read my post about this book by clicking through this link.  Fiction, but inspired by a real life story.

The Man Who Wanted to Buy a Heart

A beautiful collection of short stories, as described in my blog post about the author.  Again, fiction, told by a man who is a garment industry veteran.

Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin: 
Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan

Did she make the greatest mistake of her life? Like many girls, she came with dreams of a better future. Yes, the pay was better than in China, but at what price? Would the high pressure of 15-hour quota-driven days of tedious, mind and finger-numbing work get to her? Or would the greedy floor monitors, and scam-artists preying on lonely, naive women rob her not just of her income, but of her innocence as well? At every turn, there were wolves ahead and tigers behind that threatened her dreams of happiness. Could she learn Saipan's secret factory system and get ahead before she lost it all? Could she save money, save face, and return to China better off? Would she even want to, given the real reason she left China in the first place?

It hurts to read this story.  Yes. Hurts.  But boy, does it open your eyes to the sacrifices some will make just to earn a decent living and have a better life.  "Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin" is a Chinese expression referring to the waste/useless stuff left over when cooking.  This one is NOT fiction.

If you read any of these, or are intrigued by the subject (whether in China, the US, or anywhere else), I'm sure you will see that this is not simply about the garment industry, but really about WORK, and what it requires of you, steals from you, provides for you, and/or drives you to do.  This compelling TED talk will whet your appetite for more information.


   

Close to home

"Ma also gave me $2.99 to buy a paperback Webster's dictionary.  This cost us almost two hundred finished skirts, since we were paid 1.5 cents per skirt.  For years, I calculated whether or not something was expensive by how many skirts it cost.  In those days, the subway was 100 skirst just to get to the factory and back, a package of gum cost 7 skirts, a hot dog was 50 skirts, and a new toy could range from 300 to 2,000 skirts.  I even measured friendship in skirts.  I learned you had to buy Christmas and birthday presents for friends, which cost at least a few hundred skirts each.  It was a good thing I only had Annette as a friend."

- Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation.

The above quote is an excerpt from a beautifully written work of fiction, which I highly recommend to you all.  The following quote is from the author herself:

We lost all our money in the move to the United States.  My family started working in a sweatshop in Chinatown.  My father took me there every day after school and we all emerged many hours later, soaked in sweat and covered in fabric dust.  Our apartment swarmed with insects and rats.  In the winter, we kept the oven door open day and night because there was no other heat in the apartment. 

-Jean Kwok

With all of my recent talk about foreign factory labor, unions, the importance of local suppliers, etc.  Here's the kicker: I read the about the author page on the web, after seeing her familiar face with a link on a high school friend's Facebook page. The high school the author went to?  Same as my own.  I didn't know her personally, although the classes were small,  (at least, I don't remember - my apologies if you see this somehow, Jean if that isn't true, but I certainly know your face!) since we were a year apart. 

The hard truth is this:  You have no idea what kind of hardship your neighbor may be facing. With enough food worldwide to fill everyone's bellies, 1 in 8 people is hungry.  This shocking statistic is amplified when visiting the Our Global Food exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City right now.  With our closets and drawers overflowing, and workers are sometimes risking even death to make even more clothing for those of us privileged enough to buy even more stuff, without even thinking twice. A family friend who works as a home health aid had a nearly impossible time trying to find an appropriate school for her autistic son, so she could simply earn a modest living.

The fact is, this is about far more than clothing.

What can we do?  Well, we don't need an official "movement", since everyone can take steps of his/her own.  Here's what my (literal) sister is doing. How about you?