Fashion Fail #3

OK. So if you know me you know that i generally try not to buy things produced in a sweat shop. I do this with the truly optimistic belief that what i choose to buy has power, and what i choose not to buy holds power. This is the general idea of the t-shirt show above.

Let me tell you where this shirt came from. This shirt is apart of the product (red) campaign. Good idea right? Get popular companies to sign on to having novelty products that will then help benefit the global fight against AIDS..... yes please. This is apart of the Gap's new campaign of getting famous artists to design a product red shirt. This particular shirt was designed by Geoff McFetridge. Who is a graphic designer in LA.

but when you put a slogan like this on a tshirt to help aids victims that was made off of sweatshop labor in peru, please think about what you're saying. So thank you gap for kind of thinking of others. PS you did it off the backs of small children all over the world, who are occasionally raped and forced into labor with no pay (http://tinyurl.com/lj9aao).

So yes the message on your shirt is correct, we can change the course of this world by what we choose to spend our money on. This goes for everything from clothes to food. We can choose to think about who made it, where was it produced, what was it like to grow, how did it get to my hand, why is this price so high (or so low?). OR we can ignore it. and buy a seemingly "good" tshirt and ignore the fact that some one in Peru is suffering because there are no better options for jobs, and so they must work 20 hour days making clothes sold in shinny pristine stores in shopping malls for the affluent in america. Meanwhile they sleep in a dorm room with 8 other children, and live of of 20 cents a day.

So please. I encourage you. THINK about where you put your money. THINK about where this product came from. THINK. don't just blindly accept. and definitely think about what word you are putting on to what product

We Homeless... Paul Simon's song strikes a chord personally

This last weekend some of our community members went on a street retreat with Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

We were dropped off at a park on 9th and Guadalupe with nothing but what we were wearing, a backpack holding some reading material, a water bottle, and some small hygiene supplies (aka a tooth brush, cuz i don't go anywhere with out it). I had a small sleeping back as well. From here on out we just lived as homeless, there was no agenda. No tour guide like walk through homlessnes. just honest to God living for 48 hours on the streets. i will try to recap as much as i can, but since i tend to process things in list form (so as not to forget something), this could be a little stream of consiousness...

FRIDAY
-dropped off at park, IMMEDIATELY meet this guy ?joe?. 39 lived on the streeets for 15 years. tells tall tails but seems pretty nice.
-food truck comes from MLF. chips/pbj/cookies/apple/water. not healthy, but food. so eat it
-Meet Kim, she lives in the woods off riverside. Invites us to her camp for the night. This way we'll have a safe place to stay. She has access to bathrooms, clean water, and a swimming hole (sounds good to me!)
- First time riding the bus system in austin.
-walk to camp, drop off stuff and go to get cold water.
-explore the river area, look for swimming hole. FOUND IT. but watch out for those cliffs.
-head back to the camp
-already dark, man it feels so early, but it's so dark outside.
-trip down memory lane in song
-inappropriate jokes galore
-Clint leaves, and doesn't put up his food back. Ants attack us all
-No sleep that night, for any of us really
- Got over my "fear" of peeing in the woods

SATURDAY
-7:15 rise and shine (if you really were asleep anyway)
-head on to the bus system, takes about an hour to get downtown
-Free breakfast/lunch/ clothing at the Methodist church on Guad. Met up with Alan and some of the other folks that we traveled with.
-Chatted up by a mildly creepy guy.
-brushed my teeth (thank you Jesus)- i found myself meaning that statement more than i EVER had this weekend by the by.
- Our group decides to head down to the farmers market and check that out (it's at 4th and colorado.... we are at 24th and guad.)
-how does this whole bus system work anyway?
-get on the bus and head down town.
-get off the bus near the park we started at
-hey.... free hot dogs and hamburgers.... heck yes!
-meet up with some folks we met the first day
-Ashley accidentally answers a bible question right and gets a free steak sandwich, which she gives away
-This free meal has a total of 2 strawberries. thank you jesus- again that statement
-Create street names: Bubbles, Tiny, "the enforcer", and Marmy (short for man-arms)
-continue on our way to farmers market. When there run into old friend from highschool, told her what was up, thought that was cool.
- Out of water, found a free container at farmers market (saweet!)
-head down to the starbucks at 6th and congress for a rondevous with kim to fix her laptop.
-sweet jesus ac feel's soooo good
-bull shit there for a few hours while waiting for matt to figure stuff out.
-started to get really hungry
-3pm meeting with alan in the park
-Meet up with alan along with everyone that we started street retreat with.
-Watch some music in the park in the shade of a big tree.
-MLF truck comes at 5. more of the same food pbj/fruit/water/chips/cookies
-Decide to take a bus to go down to lower barton springs and get cooled off. Andrew aka "razzle dazzle" adds on to our group
-run into Robin (met her a year ago), and Chappy (whom we met saturday), and thier friend kurt at barton. Robin has a SUPER precious puppy
- there is a very high man with dred locks who is convinced every dog is a wolf, and proceds to try to tell robin that her puppy is from the same litter as his, and that she is also a wolf. uses phrases like "thats his sister, man, thats his sister"
-We decide to go try to find a coffee shop, maybe we can bum some money off of someone to buy some coffee
-sit at the bus stop with a couple heroin addicts (can tell by track marks and squinty eyes). Nice enough guys
-sing songs and beat box, heroin addicts join in.
- on the bus and headed back down town. Head over congress street bridge. None of us have seen the bats, so we get off the bus. and plant ourselves down. This is a moment that it sets in for all of us that a)we really don't have anything better to do b) there is a strong sense of no strings attached.
-Watch the bats with an amazing view.
-take back up to walking downtown. Decide to go to Halcyon (recomendation of heroin bob). Tim "cheats" because he forgot his wallet and buys he and ashley a coffee, where as i got a free milk (on accident, but we took it)
- Chronic homeless man who is drunk comes to talk to us, and says some very intense things. This is the most intimidating thing we have experienced as of yet. Ashley is pretty freaked out, and happens to be sitting closest to him. he walks off eventually drinks teh rest of his flask and then throws it on the ground behind him.
-from there we decide to dumpster dive at whole foods.
- no such luck, nothing good there to eat
-walking back downtown, we'll pan handle for some whataburger
-decide to put on an act for it. start singing and dancing along the way. Bubbles and Razzle Dazzle can do some hard core beastie boys. a bachlorette party joins in!
-at 6th and congress we run into kurt and robin again! (it didn't take long to realize that the city is not as big as you think it is, and when the streets are your home and so you are at home everywhere)
-Ask them for pan handling tips. Then head on to 6th to hit drunk people up for money. (it is currently 10:45 pm)
- We split into groups. After two blocks ashley and i have 20 bucks and some leftovers (that came from TWO people after two blocks of asking everyone*) and the boys have none. We decide that there is enough there for eveyrone to get whataburger.
-We find a bus that will take us down to barton and 1st street (or near it) past 11.
-We get a pretty decent meal for 5 people for 15 bucks.
-We then walk back to the downtown area and start our search for cardboard.
-Once we've found enough pieces we head to a parking lot near the park to sleep
-This the most terrifying night. Besides the fact that we are all to exhausted to hardly stay awake, our brains realize that we must not get too deep into sleep because everything is uncertain around us.
SUNDAY
-6:15 rise and shine and bubbles is off to home (we'll see him later that night at worship)
-7:15 start heading down town, stop by st mary's cathedral to use the bathroom.
-We park it on a bench on congress street for a few hours reading
-10am we head over to church under the bridge. this is really overwhelming
-at around 11 am we head to a more quite location to relax a little bit.
-at 12:30 we head back to randeovus with alan.
-We talk some more with Chappy, and say good bye to some friends, and head home exhausted, smelly, and a lot more knowlegeable.

here is our closing thoughts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8oRJ7CLXU8

*honestly the pan handling is the most marking experience for me. I had a man actually shield his wif and children from me when i asked them for a dollar so i could eat. Which left me with this. You never know who is asking you for money, or what they are going to do with it. But when you are the person on the other end asking and your intentions are honest, you start to loose faith in humanity real quick when no one trusts you. As christians if someone asks of you, you are to give. We are not god, and so we don't get to decide who is worthy and who is not. I mean just think about it.

John Mayer trumps all... aparently

Last nights dreams are a blur:

sitting in matts car, cd is playing and mumford and sons comes on, matt sings a long. I think "how does he know this?"

but the big one was that i left matt for a celebrity (can't remember his name). Move into big house, and start taking care of my niece anastasia.

But then i meet john mayer, and we hit it off. he asks me to marry him, and gives me a ring with a word ( i believe it's made up) that is a synonom for a kind of quirky love... it's starts with a "c". The word is written in diomands. Being married to john is living in a somwhat empty large house with an exhausted man. he works "5-9" ( he uses that phrase a lot)... like he works 5pm to 9am. well he doesn't work those hours all the time, but a lot....

what does that dream mean? and why celebrities?

also theory de jour:

celebrities are real people who can realizes celebrity crushes with other celebrities. for instance lets say i'm jenifer aniston and i'm sitting in my car going "oh that john mayer, i just love his music, and he's so good looking... i bet i'm perfect for him... if i could only meet him. WAIT! i'm jenifer aniston!! i CAN MEET HIM." but just because you develope a crush on someone from afar does not infact mean you are good for each other.... this is my why celebrities get so many divorces theory.

Fashion Fail #2: Sorority Girls Gone Wrong

I have been driving my friend kasey around campus today (since she was hit by a truck.... she's hard core). And i have noticed something that really started to bother me. Now this girl right here (below) thought i was creeper extraordinaire as a took a picture of her "discreetly" from my car. But let me just tell you what is wrong with this picture.....

First off. EVERYONE dresses like this. Do you belong to a sorority? Do you wish you did? Do you have long wavy hair that is o-so-perfectly disheveled just slightly? Then you probably looked in your closet this morning and thought..... track shorts, over sized t-shirt (preferably v-neck) and either top siders or athletic shoes.
i can understand fashion trends... and i can understand laziness (really i was wearing my husbands sweat pants for the majority of the morning), but what i can't understand is if you're walking around UT's campus, and at any given cross walk you can point out 12 girls that are wearing a variant of your exact outfit. Honestly the "well her shirt is green, and my shorts are black" will only get you so far, because with the number of girls dressing this way, sheer numbers come into play and there is probably another girl (or 7) with your exact outfit. In fact i didn't even notice this... but there are TWO GIRLS in that photo with the same outfit on. that second one was by accident! Maybe this trend spawned out of the conundrum of "what do i do with all these lame ass t-shirts i keep getting for free?" There are several correct answers to that question: donate them, do yard work in them, wear them under sweatshirts, pj's, give them to your boyfriend, etc. none of those answers are wear them every single day with athletic shorts. If this trend spawned out of laziness.. i can't quite buy that either. Because it honestly takes just as much effort to pull on a pair of jeans, and a shirt that fits you, as it does to pull on what she's wearing. And if it's a comfort thing.... when did jeans and a t-shirt (that fits) become uncomfortable? i thought that was like the epitome of comfort. which means this trend honestly started by someone (probably a sorority girl) thinking that this look was cute. ew. It is NOT cute to look like you're going to or just came from working out all the time. And if another girl in class decides to wear a sun dress, or well fitting jeans and t-shirt.... boys will probably notice them more. Your baggy tshirt is not as flattering as you might think.
so please all girls on campus. STOP LOOKING GENARIC. put on some jeans and a flattering top. you can even keep wearing your top siders (as long as it goes with the out fit somewhat). it takes just as much effort, and you look a whole lot better.

painting

I am almost finished with a commission that i've been working on for like a year.. hooray!

also random thought....

there is an entire generation out there, who will one day have to go to school and convince thier prom date that they do not dance like the you tube video their parents posted of them (when they were 5) any more.

that "charlie don't" kid will perhaps be friends with that kid on Novocaine who kept asking his dad if "this is real".

who need scrap booking anymore when we can publish all our families most precious and hilarious moments to the world, and let them laugh with us. new parents are so tech savvy what is that going to do to the next gen we raise?

our children will someday be sitting in thier HS cafeteria discussing the embarrassing things we put on youtube of them.

i enter in to the scene and i am in my bedroom. I am on a ship, and jackaboo is sleeping on my bed. I walk over and start to pet him. I notice that part of his left ear has been cut off. I'm very upset, but i notice that the wound is clean, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain. I find the piece of the ear. I am walking to the main deck of the ship to show my parents what happened to Jack. When i get there they tell me that we have taken on a stranded ship. i have not put together yet that these two things are connected. as i am walking out of the control room i run into a very tall man. he seems to be about 6'4" younger looking, red hair. He is wearing a tight suit and holding a helmet (this is my first clue we are on a space ship... and thus in space). We speak back and forth, it is curt, it is sarcastic, and it is flirty. There is tension there, but i instantly recognize him as an assassin. I have a flashback memory to earlier having someone talk to me over a telecom wanting my key card id. I had slipped in a pool of blood, and did not want to give it to him. I put 2 and 2 together, this must have been blood from Jacks ear. I realize now i must outsmart this assassin. I am now in my bedroom petting on jack. the room goes blurry. I must have been drugged, i am trying to pull through it. I see someone very tall move into my room. "i can still see you, you know" i say "what is it that you want?" He responds "why?" i respond "i might be able to help you". He moves out of the room, i pass out. I come to, and walk around the deck. I find his room. He is laying in a loft bed. I climb up the ladder and stand there to talk to him. "i know what you are" i say. "oh really" he responds. "you're an assassin," i start to climb into the bed to sit next to him, " you want to kill me and my dog," i am scooting closer to him, "but i want to be your friend," i am moving in to kiss him, " a friend?" he responds , "yes a friend," i say just inches from his lips, "please don't kill me and my dog." contact.

end of line

Fashion Fail #1: SXSW

Ok, so i said i would do this. and i have been waiting for some photo's from my camera..... which i don't have the chord to get off. BUT i did get some fairly decent "fails" via iphone that i will share now.

Exhibit A

there were three young gentleman who seemed to be wearing these. One was gold, one was silver, and one was red(?). I believe they were in a band, i believe that band has the word "galactic" in the title. I can understand gimics in bands. I really can, kindof. Devo, B52's, even our more subtle of gimics like My Chemical Romance. There is that huge post punk trend of black outfit red tie..... don't even get me started on that whole thing. But what makes a person wake up in the morning and go, full body metalic leotard! It's the answer to all our problems. This kind of outfit is usually only attractive on teh very skinny, and the very goth. perferably on someone in a vampire movie. and lets hope that the body suit is black, not metalic. Basically you have to be Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. Now i can't tell if it helps or hinders this young man that he has clearly falsly enhanced his neather regions. I can tell you that when i was sitting on the steps eating my spinach and mushroom quillsadilla, and this mans everly huge shiny shiny crotch was in my face, i almost choked it startled me so. So there is that.

Exhibit B

I see this trend on many a girl/gay boy. It's 90+ degrees outside and you're thinking, i need shorts/skirt. Denim is best, oh.... and they must be cut offs. The more pocket i can see the better. And then you think, but all this hot weather has left my poor tosies cold (for no reason what so ever because it's 90+ outside), i shall wear my Uggs. This look to me always says, "i am confused, i am slutty, and my feet are sweating but i'm gonna play it off." And for this reason i am begging you. Just don't. It looks bad, everyone else is confused by it. And by the way Uggs were never that cute to begin with! There is so much cuter, more attractive, more functional summer foot ware out there. really there is! Sandals, they are fantastic! you should try them. And also stop cutting off your denim anything above the pocket. It's wierd, and it doesn't look good, no matter what you think. And if your ass is small enough that it can actually be covered with something cut off above the pocket, i'm sorry. But i can almost see your underwear. And if your ass can't be covered we've entered a whole new rhelm. You've also just confirmed my pre-judgement that you are slutty. Go out, get yourself a nice tunic dress. Preferably something with a big spring print. THEN get some really cute sandals that compliment it. then... you can wear your little short things (as long as i can't see pockets), and you can also not look horrible. I promise, you'll feel better about yourself, and i won't feel sorry for you. It will be fantastic!