Poetic, Inspirational Living

I was listening to Italian music today, which reminded me of my brief stint living in Italy. It brought to mind one particular recollection: the time I ducked out of a Venetian opera. I had been lying on the divan in the living room of my apartment, reading a copy of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Mermaid Chair. Reading in Venice is unlike reading anywhere else - you can hear water rushing beneath you if you are quiet enough to listen. Anyway, I was really enjoying myself when I remembered that I had purchased a ticket to the opera, and should probably get ready.

I dressed up and walked over to the Opera house, which was about 20 minutes away. I seated myself and read until they began. I soon learned that rather than being an actual opera, it was a collection of songs from different operas. So rather than following a storyline, I just listened to song after song, performed by people in wigs.

At intermission, I felt disappointed. I had wanted to follow a storyline like all the operas I had been to in the past. I hadn’t signed up for a concert. Then I had a thought: what I would really like to do is go home and read the rest of my book.

I immediately dismissed this as ridiculous. I can read any time I want to in America, so am I really going to waste an Italian evening on staying at home and reading? Eventually I decided that my happiness was more important than adhering to some arbitrary foreign country leisure activity policy, and I trotted home happily, book in arm.

There is a moral in there somewhere, I’m sure. I recall the story whenever I feel obligated to do things I don’t want to, just because I am “supposed to.” Life is short. I think, barring serious obligations, we are all “supposed to” do what makes us happy.

*Photo taken by April D. Boland, (c) 2006.

We recently revamped the whole way we create t-shirts here at 302. We’re going the open collaboration route with the spirit that bringing together passionate, opinionated people is a good thing. So, I’ve brought all of our designers, poets, along with some 302 enthusiasts into a open dialog discussion board format where the whole process from brainstorming to finalization is there for you to participate in. I’m slowing bringing more people onboard that are interested in this collaboration. All past customers of 302 are invited to join in and not only watch the designs being created from scratch, but to help guide it along. It’s been fun so far! If you’re interested in participating, send us a note!

Here’s a screen shot of the forum with a long list of all the active discussions thus far:

I found a great site recently.  It is called “Joe’s Goals” and it is an online habit tracker.  You simply enter behaviors you want to perpetuate and behaviors you want to curb, and then you track your progress on a day-to-day basis.  I have found it really helpful!

I remember a few years ago I was in a summer program where they required us to sit down at the beginning of the summer and create a list of goals that we wanted to achieve in those few short months.  We were then given that list at summer’s end, to remember what we had hoped for, to see what we had gained, and to compare how the two matched up.

Thinking about this again inspired me to create a goals list for myself.  I created a spreadsheet with three columns:

1. What I Want to Achieve This Week
2. What I  Want to Achieve This Month
3. What I Want to Achieve This Year

Perhaps it is because I am to-do list oriented but this has really helped me!  I love the feeling of satisfaction I get from crossing things off

I have to admit that while I spend may too much time browsing tee sites and finding out which brands are going organic and whose still employing sweat-shop workers (again…), I’m not devoted to brands (except 302 Designs, of course!). And I hate wearing logos.  If I wanted a little crocodile on my polo shirt, I’ll buy one that isn’t so small.

When I was little, I remember my mom telling me that wearing a logo was giving free advertisement to a company. Of course, the complexity around logo and brand politics can be presented in a more complex form, but it’s still boils down to getting a name out there and cash. Of course for some of us, logos are more then just advertising. They represent identity, lifestyle, and sometimes political values. However, I with Naomi Klein on this one when I say that brand identity loyalty is a false choice. And this is best defined by the fact that there exists things like Baby Dior. Because apparently little kids care whose designing their bibs. Considering how quickly children grow out of clothes, and I realize this is one of the attractions of that demographic, branding kids really, really bothers me.

Wait! I digress. This is not a post about the evils of branding. No, I’m bringing it back to the presidential campaign again.  While branding kids really bothers me, using them as political billboards doesn’t bug me as much. Because I don’t see it as advertising, but rather getting them involved with politics at an early age, which is why my kid walks around with “Future Feminist” onesie on most days.

Since this is a tee shirt blog…check out the following stores for baby political clothes:

• Babies for Obama
• BabyWit
• BabyPolitico

What’s your take on political clothes on children?

Since March is National Women’s History Month, I thought we could highlight a few women who have really made significant contributions to the world.

• Harriet Tubman - Antislavery activist who led countless American slaves to freedom through her Underground Railroad.
• Hatshepsut - Female pharaoh who was responsible for serious development in Egypt.
• Benazir Bhutto - Prime minister of Pakistan who was the first woman to lead a Muslim nation.
• Eleanor Roosevelt - American First Lady and humanitarian who worked for various social causes.
• Rosalind Franklin - Scientist who greatly contributed to the discovery of DNA, though her work was credited to her male colleagues.
• Andrew Dworkin - Writer and activist who raised awareness about crimes against women such as rape and violence.

Who are the inspiring women in your life?

More information on notable women can be found at InfoPlease. Painting of Rosalind Franklin done by Denise Wyllie and courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Hey there! So you’ve probably noticed there’s not much company related news/updates on this blog. Originally I had thought it would be best to totally separate company announcements from the usual inspirational and thought-provoking posts made by April and Ann because I didn’t want to sound like a sales person, trying to pitch our products all the time. But on further thought (and via insistence from a few comments made to me) I’ve realized that people might actually want to know 302 related updates.  Awesome!  So here are a couple:

1.  We recently revamped our entire creation process. Before it was a series of disjointed emails back and forth between a number of designers, poets, as well as Abdon and I. Now, it’s a process built entirely on community collaboration. We’ve set up ‘302collab’ which is a discussion board that allows designers, poets, and 302 enthusiasts to easily collaborate throughout the entire creation process. It’s still very new, but it’s been a joy to watch it all come to fruition. We’re working on finalizing three new shirts for a release this month.
2. A few places on our website have been added or redesigned lately to include more information and a better user experience. Some pages of note:
   
   About 302, - Added more information about our collaborative process as well names, photos, (and in some cases) bios, of the 302designs team
   Press & Publicity - We’ve been covered in a number of blogs lately, so not only have they been added to our press page, but the whole press section has been redesigned

On a personal/fun note, one of my close friends, John, and I have really gotten into “power kiting” lately. It’s quite a rush—I definitely recommend it for the adventure-seeker in you.

Cheers,
David

I came across Green as a Thistle yesterday. You probably haven’t heard of Vanessa Farquharson or her blog , unless you read the National Post and/or are into green blogging, but you may very well see her book in a store near you in the next year or so. But let’s start at the beginning.

One year ago, Vanessa gave herself the challenge of doing one green thing a day for a year. And it had to be continuous, i.e. if she gave up her car, it had to be for the whole year, not just one year. Slowly, she started giving up Kleenex, her fridge, etc. The idea was to see how hard it was to be real environmentalist and that you didn’t have to be radical to live a green live.

Her last blog post was on February 29th, where declares three points about what she has learnt:

1. ” In order to be truly green, we need to maintain a constant awareness of everything we do, use, eat and throw away, everywhere we go and how we get there, what we buy, why we buy it and what happens when we don’t need it anymore.”
2. “Ironically, the greenest way to live is in the gray area…There’s no point in trying to be so absolute about whether or not you’re officially green; just determine your own value system, try to make your choices accordingly and allow yourself occasional slip-ups because, well, pobody’s nerfect.”
3. “Stop buying crap. You don’t need it. In fact, you don’t even want it — you think you do, you want to be like that pretty girl in the commercial who has it, but it’s crap, it’s all crap, and you’re better off without it.”

I think green living or trying to be an environmentalist is an area that many people shy away from because they assume that it’s associated with radicalism and they don’t want to end up feeling hypocritical. What I like most about Vanessa’s project is she is trying to dispel the notion that making an effort isn’t enough.

It’s also a matter of how you approach it and Vanessa’s progressive approach (literally one day at a time) is one of the most convincing projects that I’ve seen in a while. Most of us don’t have the will power to one day get rid of the car, throw out the fridge, start biking the 15 miles to work, and only buy organic food. But doing all of the latter over the course of a period of time is a realistic prospect.

I urge anyone interested in going green (which frankly should be all of us…) to take a look at her blog, especially if you think you can’t make a difference.  Remember - one day at a time.

Image courtesy of Green As A Thistle.

The other night I went to my very first caucus. It turned out to entail more than I expected, as last minute voters prevented us from starting for about 45 minutes. I practically live on the local college campus, and so last night I found myself surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of college kids, standing in line without complaining, just to make an impact on their nation. They wore t-shirts and stickers, they chanted, they held passionate discourse. I have never really seen anything like it.

It reminded me of my studies on the college student protests of the 1960s. It is an inspiring thing to see young people, who are generally pegged as consumed by MySpace and music, rallying for something they really believe in.

I have been doing pretty well with my New Year’s resolution of improving my health, if I do say so myself.  If anything, I have become more aware of what I put into my body each day and what effects it will have.  Sure, I still eat the occasional cheeseburger but discovering the joys of exercise and healthier foods has been exciting.

I thought for this post, you might be interested in some natural health boosters.  Whether you’ve got aches or pains or want to focus better, there is likely a food or vitamin you can take to help you out.  Here are some suggestions from WebMD:

• Dark chocolate contains antioxidants and lowers blood pressure
• Fish (and now various dairy products enriched with Omega 3 Fatty Acids) can lower blood pressure, fight heart disease and improve brain function, even helping prevent depression
• Nuts and oils can block the absorption of cholesterol
• Yogurt can prevent urinary tract infections, prevent digestive problems and boost your immune system
• Green tea contains antioxidants that fight cancer, heart disease and stroke

Here are some more resources, if you’re interested:

7 Foods to Keep You Young

The 10 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

I’ve avoided posting about politics for the obvious reasons but I can’t resist any longer. I’ll try to keep it neutral as possible and avoid any actual political debate, besides the initial statement that I am a Democrat and this post will be discussing Clinton and Obama.

Visiting with a few friends this week, I announced that I was still undecided between Obama and Clinton but that whenever I saw Clinton in the press, I couldn’t help but get emotional over the fact that there might be a female president in my life time. My two friends quickly chimed in and said that Obama was by far the better candidate and the thought of having a great president in the White House was enough to get them emotional, let alone the fact that he would be the first black president. I admit that the latter statement also gets me pretty  soppy.

Although I am undecided about whether or not I support Clinton, as a female politician she is making huge headway for women to come. While my baby daughter runs around, I feel that perhaps she won’t grow up thinking that politics is just an old (white) boys club, that there is a place for women in politics.

In the past few months, there have been a number of times where I realized that for the first time in a number of years, I have heard the people around me be inspired again by politics. My mom, who is turning 65 this year, is campaigning  for Obama. She calls me and tells me stories about what she’s doing and I hear an enthusiasm in her voice that I haven’t heard in ages, something that was lacking whenever she talked about the USA and politics. As a young woman who was a strong political activist in the 70s, I’m relieved that she again has found that passion.