Original posts by Ms. Contreras regarding labor practices in Pakistan and items produced for Threads for Thought:
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Wanting to quickly boil water for tea and not owning a tea kettle, I decided to post an ad on Freecycle. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Freecycle is a “network” where people list things they Want or have to Offer to others – free of charge. My add went like this:
Wanted: Hot pot or electric kettle in working condition Looking for a hot pot or electric kettle in working condition for heating water for tea. Thanks!
Shortly after it went up I had two responses, one of which was for a brand new hot pot, still in the box. I was thrilled! I exchanged a few emails with the person making the offer – we’ll call her Betty – and in one of them she explained that she could not leave it on the porch (which is often customary wtih Freecyclers) because she lived in a “bad neighborhood.” I wasn’t concerned. I had lived previously in LA, New York, and Cleveland -working and volunteering as a social worker. I’ve been to “bad neighborhoods” before. And this was Greeley, CO that we were talking about. I mean really – how “bad” could it be? A few days later I rode my bicycle over to Betty’s apartment, on the other side of the tracks, in the “bad neighborhood.” On the way I rode past the Boys & Girls Club of Weld County – Pawl Unit. Cool! I didn’t even know that existed! When I arrived at Betty’s apartment she greeted me at the door, introduced me to her son – 5 years old, entering kindergarten, and very excited about his bicycle. After about 15 minutes of friendly conversation I put the hot pot in my backpack, got back on my bicycle, and waved goodbye. As I was riding home I started thinking about Betty’s email comment about living in a “bad neighborhood” and what exactly that meant. What it might mean to her and to her son. My best guess is that she was referring to the fact that she lives in low income housing. And that maybe it’s not always safe and comfortable. Which, of course, is tough. But does that make it “bad”? Did Betty come up with that description of her neighborhood on her own or did she hear someone else describe it that way? What does that mean for Betty and her son? Do think less of themselves because of where they live? Is there a way for us, as a society, to use different words? Do we really need to label everything? You tell me….please sound off by replying to this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts. I like ice cream. A lot! And if it’s in the house, it will call to me. “Tracy . . . come here….I’m just hanging out in the freezer. Grab a spoon. Treat yourself to a few bites. You deserve it.” A few bites turns into a few more bites and before I know it, the container is empty. Most frequently the ice cream in question is a pint of Ben & Jerry’s – either Vanilla Carmel Fudge or Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream.
Eating like this, of course, is not healthy to do on a daily – or even weekly – basis. And so I’ve developed rules for Ice Cream Management. Rule #1: Don’t buy ice cream. Rule #2: If you do buy ice cream, eat it all right away so that it’s gone and no longer able to tempt you. Yes – there are only two rules but they work. Very well. In fact, I follow these same two rules for Annie’s Mac-n-Cheese. And Kozy Shack chocolate pudding. And….
*photo: I Splurged on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream by Heather Weaver used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. Sharing this passage because it is a direct reflection of how I strive to live my life every day. Perhaps it will mean something to you, perhaps it will inspire you to live your life this way as well, if your aren’t doing so already. — Direct quote from the book Offerings: Buddhist Wisdom for Every Day by Olivier & Danielle Follmi. 21 May You cannot live sheltered forever without ever being exposed, and at the same time be a spiritual adventurer. Be audacious. Be crazy in your own way, with that madness in the eyes of man that is wisdom in the eyes of God. Take risks, search and search again, search everywhere, in every way, do not let a single opportunity or chance that life offers pass you by, and do not be petty and mean, trying to drive a hard bargain.
Arnaud Desjardins Today is my first day of school. Not ever, of course, but it’s been 14 years since my last degree – a master’s in social work from Case Western Reserve University. And today, I return to school to start work on another master’s degree, this time in teaching at the University of Northern Colorado. A lot is different this time around! All of my previous schooling was during my late teens and early twenties. I am now in my late 30s (I’ll leave the math as to my exact age up to you). Disclaimer: I will be in class with others ranging in age from mid-20s to 50s. So it’s really not as bad as it could be. But that doesn’t’ mean I’m not nervous. In fact, I’ve never been nervous about school until now. Will I make friends? Will others know more than me? Will I be challenged? All of my previous schooling took place without the assistance of caffeine. Coffee drinks were just gathering momentum when I was in grad school and while I would have an occasional café mocha or latte, it was rare. Now, each day begins with 16 ounces of coffee – black. Does this mean I’ll be even more alert and focused? All of my previous schooling took place in Ohio. This time I will be in Colorado. Greeley, Colorado to be exact. The first thing most folks ask when you tell them you’ll be in Greeley is “how’s the cow smell?” Home to several cattle feedlots, the pungent smell of excrement can often be noticed as far as an hour in any direction. When Spring first breaks the odor is fairly strong, but I don’t notice the smell most of the time. In any case, I’m not only going back to school, but I moved to Greeley in order to do so. Not a big deal considering I spent the last 5 years just a short drive West in Boulder. All of my previous moves involved the idea – at least in my own mind – of reinventing myself. I relocated to California, New York, and Colorado without knowing anyone. This time, my community is still nearby. And so it’s not a reinvention. I’ve had stability these last 5 years. Boulder is the longest place I’ve lived besides my hometown of Marysville, Ohio. And in some ways, the stability – the leaving it behind and yet it’s still there – the lack of “reinvention” – seems to be leaving me more nervous than all of the other moves combined. How will it all turn out? Let’s find out! Time to walk to my first class…
So for Christmas this past year I asked – and received (much thanks to my family) - It begins with a sweet potato, or yam. Pureed. Well, I’ve never pureed a sweet potato, but thankfully, the cookbook explains just exactly how to do that (p. 191). I chose to cut my sweet potato (in my case, an Organic Garnet Yam, bought at King Soopers) into quarters, lengthwise. *Note: LEAVE THE PEEL ON! Put it in a pot, cover with water, and boil until soft – much like when boiling potatoes for mashing. Once it passed the it’s-so-soft-it’s-falling-off-the-fork test, I drained in a colander. Next step was to scoop out the sweetness. *Careful! It’s hot, and therefore, hard to hold! I scooped the sweetness into a bowl, and then put into the food processor to puree (thank you, Anita, for the donation a couple years back of your old school, Norelco Food Processor!).
It turned out great!! Yay! How did I survive all these years w/o such a wonderful gadget! Next step – cook the noodles. In this case, whole wheat spaghetti. Who knew, right? I never would’ve thought to use whole wheat spaghetti, but hey – why not! Being that I LOVE pasta – and have it close to 4 nights a week – I’m loving this recipe that makes an Asian dish out of my pasta! Yay! While the pasta is cooking, I’m mixing together the chicken broth (I like to use Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth), sweet potato, soy sauce, brown sugar (oops! I added a little too much), sesame oil, & cornstarch.
Next up is sauteing the garlic, onions, and pork. Except that instead of pork, I’m going with tofu and veggies (red, green, yellow peppers, zucchini, & yellow squash). Final step is to reduce the heat to low and throw it all together in the skillet – stirring to coat the noodles. Jessica says to add additional chicken broth if sauce is too thick, but I didn’t find that to be necessary. The verdict: It’s good! I wouldn’t say that it tastes a lot like Lo Mein – perhaps more Sesame Oil could help. But it is definitely tasty and I would definitely make it again! Yay!
The original post can be found here: http://bit.ly/gV3eLl I’m very excited to begin the Year of Used! It interesting to think about…I haven’t owned a car for 9 years, I belong to a local carshare group, take public transportation in the winter, I haven’t paid for cable TV in 4 years, I shop at consignment stores, re-use boxes and containers wherever possible, frequent the used bookstore…etc, etc….but I can do more. I was at a bookstore recently and wandered over to the travel section. With a trip planned to Paris in April, I thought hey – I need to get a travel book – perhaps Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. And then I thought no….I can wait and borrow one from a friend or the library. I don’t need to buy a new one. That’s purely a result of the seed planted in my brain by the Year of Used. It’s like that with many things. As a kid, we never recycled anything. It all went into the trash – papers, bottles, cans. Composting is the same – now that it’s a part of my life, there’s no way I’m throwing out those veggie scraps or coffee grinds! To do so would be a crime! At the same time, I struggle with the concept of only buying used next year. On the one hand, it feels like I’m an addict about to check myself into treatment. Let me get that one last fix. I need to buy new stuff that I want now, because in 2011 it won’t be an option. Quick – to the store! Here I come Amazon.com! I also wonder if I’m hurting an already struggling economy. If we only buy used, what will happen to retailers whose livelihood depends on us as consumers? What will happen to workers who are employed by companies creating new things? As we share cars and bikes and take public transportation, doesn’t that mean the closing of more auto factories? And as a result, more people out of work? In the end, though, these arguments in my head lose to the greater benefits that I believe will be afforded by the Year of Used.
I look forward to taking this journey with all of you! It will be quite a ride! CardStar CardStar is a dream app! I discovered this app when looking for a simple solution to the problem of always forgetting my library card. You can search by category and add the cards that you use by entering either their number or by scanning them using the Barcode Scanner app. Categories include: Airline, Association, Beverage, Car Rental, Convenience Store, Cruise Line, Drug Store, Entertainment, Gas, Grocery, Gym, Healthcare, Hotel, Library, Local, Museum, Restaurant, Retail, Service, Train, Travel. CauseWorld Check-in apps are all the rage right now with the most popular being Foursquare & Gowalla. However, if you want to use a location based check-in app & make a difference at the same time, then CauseWorld is what you want. In addition to earning badges, you also earn Karma points, 5 points for each check-in. These points can then be donated to a cause of your choices. Donations range from 1 – 200 Karmas. One of my favorites is Donate a Book which, for 100 Karmas, Room to Read will donate a children’s book to one of the countries where they work. Keep in mind that this is all free to use – all you have to do is check-in and you can accumulate points to donate! Checkers Free This is simply the game Checkers. It’s a free version which means there are ads along the bottom. You can select from the One Player or Two Player version, enter your name, select Level of play, and choose who makes the first move. There are options to turn on or off Sounds and Forced Jumps. ColorNote I use this app for all quick notes that I need to take while on the go. The app icon looks like sticky notes. You can write a basic note or create a checklist. Each note can have a color. The default is yellow. Other available colors are red, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, grey, and white. This is helpful if you want to organize your notes. You can also set a reminder for a note, lock a note, or share a note. The list view of all your notes can be sorted alphabetically, by date, by color, or by reminder time. There is also a search option. Compass This app is just what its name implies – a compass. At the top is your current location with coordinates. Below is the compass. Connect4 A childhood favorite, this is the Connect 4 game on your phone. This is a free app and so there are ads at the top. You can play online or offline. I’ve only played offline. You can undo or redo a turn, choose board size, change your chip color, select level of difficulty, and turn sound effects on or off. Very easy and very fun, just like the original. Craigsnotification This is a Craigslist app. You select search options just like on the site and it populates a list. Select an entry in the list and view the full posting with images. You can star a posting, trash it, email the poster right from your phone, or view it on the web. If a posting has been deleted, it will have a red X over the envelope (email icon). The app updates regularly and you can enable notifications, which is helpful if your search is time sensitive. Daily Horoscope What’s your sign? Just pick from any of the 12 Zodiac signs and view your horoscope for the day as well as your sign’s main characteristics. You can also share and post to Facebook, DroidLight I took the bus home from work one day and had to walk along a bike path to my house. It was winter and so very dark outside. Without a head lamp or any other source of light, I began my search for a flashlight type of app on my Droid. This one fit the bill, and I’ve used it many times whenever I’ve been in need of a flashlight and not had one with me. It uses the light from the phone’s camera flash. The picture you see when opening the app is giant light bulb. Simply touch the image to turn the light on or off. When on, the light bulb glows yellow. This is a must have app! Adobe Reader This one’s a no-brainer. If you want the ability to read PDFs on your Droid, getting this app is vital. Amazon MP3 The Amazon MP3 app makes it super easy to download new music to your Droid. You can, of course, connect your Droid to your computer and transfer music onto the Droid. For the occasions when you want to download it direct, however, Amazon MP3 makes it a snap. Bebbeled This app falls into the game category. The goal of this game is to score a required number of points in a limited number of moves. Moves are made by touching groups of like colors which earn you points. The more “bebbels” you group, the more points you earn. There are several different levels. WARNING: THIS GAME IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! HOURS HAVE BEEN LOST TO THIS GAME! Beer Map (Cost = $.99) A project of the Beer Mapping Project, this app helps you to locate beer. Filter for breweries, brewpubs, bars, & stores, including homebrew stores. The default search is near your current location, but you can search anywhere in the U.S. View places on a map or in a list. You can also share, favorite, get directions, and call. If you have an account with beermapping.com then you can connect it with this app. Browser This is the default browser on the Droid. The home page defaults to Google. Bubble Hold your phone horizontal or vertical – it doesn’t matter. The Bubble app serves as a carpetner’s level to help you in hanging your pictures straight on the wall. Bump If you’re tired of collecting endless business cards, consider getting Bump. Simply enter your information and then “bump” phones with others who also have the app. Works with all smartphones that have the app – be they Droid or iPhone. Great websites for tracking the latest updates on the wildfires raging in the Boulder area. InciWeb: Incident Information System Boulder Office of Emergency Management Boulder County Fire Air Operations Live Audio Feed |
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Comment posted today in reply to blogs by Rosa Contreras regarding the company, Threads for Thought (Sustainable Apparel)…
08/14/2011 – Tracy J. Collier
Thank you, Ms. Contreras, for looking into Threads for Thought. I recently purchased two of their shirts on sale at Whole Foods in Boulder, CO. I was thrilled to find such nice, organic cotton shirts with NRDC endorsement. Just this morning, as I was putting on one of them, I noticed the “Made in Pakistan” label and became concerned. After some “Googling” I came across your blog post. I’m glad to know that someone else is thinking about global impact issues that go beyond materials to worker conditions. Thank you for researching Threads for Thought and posting your findings. I agree that it does sound like they’re doing what they can to use sustainable products and protect against human trafficking. This is good news.