Trying to follow

The goal of Corporate Responsibility Monday’s (at least my part) is to expose you to companies that are doing a good job, that are making the world a better place, that you can shop at with a clean conscience. Since my goal is to give you alternatives for items that you are currently purchasing, I’ll be highlighting another clothing company, No Sweat Apparel. Be sure to check out Josh’s Post for a company with shadier ethics.

No Sweat Apparel runs as a 100% union made apparel company. They are an “open source” company in that they provide links and detailed info on each manufacturer that makes their products. It’s a brilliant idea and a wonderful way to hear the story behind the clothing your purchasing.

They are both environmentally and labor conscience as they point out in their http://nosweatapparel.com/faqs/question4.html:

The exploitation of humans & the environment are intimately related. However, our first and foremost objective is to provide quality working conditions and a decent living wage for the garment workers. We believe that when humans are exploited they care little about the environment. Their first concern, understandably, is to feed their families. So we start at the root cause, exploitation of humans. The second step, for us, will be to improve the environmental impact of production processes.

And their goal is to be a global company, not just domestic:

For the long-term we expect to that at least 30% of our production will be domestic. But this movement is not about free trade versus protectionism. It’s about free trade versus fair trade. The women in the developing world desperately need these jobs. Our mission is to support their struggle against exploitation–not take their jobs away. Vigorous unions in the developing world will certainly take some pressure off UNITE members here. We believe the only way to protect workers anywhere is to defend workers’ rights everywhere.

Now that your fully convinced of the wonderfulness of buying fair trade clothing from No Sweat Apparel let me highlight some of the quality products available. You see, most of you and others, will ‘amen’ everything about the ethics behind buying fair trade in that it supports the values above, but when it comes to doing it, it’s either to inconvenient to buy online or you say it’s too expensive. So, let’s take a brief shopping trip together and let me highlight some of the great products from my favorite section, Clearance.

So, I don’t know how much Yoga Pants are usually, but right now they are on sale for just $18. For women looking for some black slip on shoes, how about a pair for $7! (By the way, they use UPS and most orders are about $6-9 for shipping. Though if you order $100 worth of items shipping is free!). You know the really nice vintage tee material? They have shirts and tank tops for just $10 each!

So, I’m not sure what your waiting for, but I suggest you stop by there and take a look around. By clothing that supports a sustainable world. And if you don’t want to buy clothing at least buy these sweet pink sneakers, for just $11!

And for a company NOT to shop at check out Josh’s post.

It’s Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, a holy day to many, a day for chocolate and presents for many more. I’ve been thinking for a while about what I wanted to say about today. I’m well aware that not everyone who comes across my writings here believes in God, nor do many believe in the Bible or Jesus Christ in any way as authorities. I’ve appreciated those who have stuck around and interacted with me despite my off-the-wall radicalism and extremism at times, and have taught me many things I would not have been able to see myself. I’ve been trying to think of what brilliant thing I could say to allow me to acknowledge my belief in the resurrection without being written off as a complete fool and a loony.

Whether you or I believe in the Easter Bunny or not, in no way affects whether an Easter bunny really exists. Someone said they found Jesus’ bones a few months ago, but whether you or I believe it has no effect whatsoever on whether they really are ‘Jesus’ bones’ or not. There are some things, such as the Easter bunny, that you and I could examine the evidence, and more then likely come to an agreement on a belief, and if I continued to disagree with you, you might say I’m nonsensical. We might also be able to examine the evidence concerning the Tomb of Jesus that was discovered, but if we come to different conclusions, it is probably not fair to write each other off as nonsensical in the same way that we did concerning the Easter Bunny.

I will be the first to admit that there are a great many things that I currently believe that are wrong. I recognize I am a flawed human being, and that is why this post is not a structural argument for why you should believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s also not an attempt to say that that idea is nonsense. I think my point is to say that I believe there is truth out there and we are all wandering travelers on a search for that truth. You might think it is nonsense that I believe I have found truth in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, but that’s okay, because I’m willing to believe it is nonsense too. You might say the impact this belief system has had on my life is all psychological, and I’m willing to believe that might be true as well (though at the moment I disagree).
I don’t intend to come across in any way as relativistic. I believe there is absolute truth. In the same way that there is a truth concerning gravity, there is also a truth concerning whether Jesus Christ rose again or is dead and buried somewhere. I’m not sure what that truth is, as a finite and flawed being I’m not sure I’ll ever have an exact answer to that. And I can understand anyone’s critique of my beliefs, because they to do not see conclusive evidence to prove one way or the other.

If you remember anything from this rambling remember this:
Truth exist.

A while ago I wrote a series of posts “Thoughts on War.” It mainly involved an on going conversation with Brian (glad to have you back).
Below is a brief take of mine on the famously referenced Romans 13 from, Let the discussion begin:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
This is the first verse of the primary passage I hear cited in reference to why we should support the war. The argument I think is that quite simply God has put our president in place and therefore if our governing authorities call for something we should submit (support) it. To a large degree I find no disagreement with this argument. The struggle with this type of thinking for me comes when I start to think about who “Everyone” entails. That means an Iraqi Christian, if called to join the armed forces under Saddam, should join, and support the cause of the governing authority above him. That means the Nazi German soldier’s where simply following this same Scriptural reasoning when they begin killing the Jews. That means if the authorities in this country have deemed abortion as an acceptable practice, Christians should stop protesting Abortion Clinics and instead should be supporting them.

What followed (and preceded) was an ongoing discussion entitled, Thoughts on War.

Global hunger is a global problem. I don’t know that there was a time in the history of the world that we were better equipped with the resources, technology, power and money to be able to solve world hunger then we have today. It’s so obvious we have the resources and ability to do this that the UN’s first Millennium Development Goal is to:

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

We, as the human race, have agreed to accomplish this goal within the next 8 years (2015). It doesn’t look like we are on track. It seems we can talk the talk, but we can’t walk the walk. It seems we need to do something more drastic to make this goal a priority in the world.

What if we (meaning the human race) collectively took a ‘hunger strike’ of sorts and refused to eat out until we figured out this issue of global hunger? Could you imagine the implications something like that would have?
First of all, just in the USA we spend 354.4 billion dollars eating out each year. Just that, without the help of any government could solve world hunger. If we stopped eating out an entire sector of industry would suddenly be crippled and can you imagine the outcry from the CEO’s to the burger flippers? If there was no demand for beef overseas, we might suddenly free up enough livestock and grain to feed the people who need it most.
Blow up a building or start playing with nuclear stuff and we’ll hope in multi-million dollar jets, mobilize thousands of troops, and unify a whole country to zero there energy and hatred on one man. Thousands dying every day is the same story that was happening before I was born. It’s the same dull, unexciting, situation that was happening as relatives bought me cute little baby outfits when I was little, friends bought me cheap plastic toys, as pizza and breadsticks were enjoyed at Showbiz, and it’s the same story now as I take my fun money and go for a night on the town.
It should disturb us today, it should have bothered us ten years ago. Could you imagine a collective hunger strike and the implications that would have?

Now that we’ve laid some groundwork for discussing Hip Hop, I’d like to jump into the first lesson we can learn: Listen to People’s Struggles. I work with a lot of urban and rural youth, many of whom are a part of the hip hop culture, some of whom are not. At times, there are youth who share some of the same comments that many adults share, “that music is so negative.” My caution to them is that, though it is okay to disagree with some of the content, it is important to listen to a person’s struggle when they are sharing it.
Song writing is an art form, and it often involves vulnerability and the bearing of one’s soul to some degree.  Now, not all songs are like this (Nelly’s song Grillz would be a good example, and I’m sure you can think of others in different genres), but many are to varying degrees. There are many hip hop songs that talk about violence, drugs, hustling, gangs and other issues, but through the lyrics you hear the struggles of a person trying to find meaning and purpose.

Tupac (I’ll probably reference him more in these posts) has many songs that talk about struggle. Here is an excerpt from Dear Mama:

They say I’m wrong and I’m heartless
But all along I was looking for a father, he was gone
I hung around with the thugs and even though they sold drugs
They showed a young brother love

And then there is the Notorious B.I.G. who sings in Juicy:

I never thought it could happen, this rappin’ stuff
I was too used to packin’ gats and stuff
…
Puttin’ 5 karats in my baby girl’s ears
Lunches, brunches, interviews by the pool
Considered a fool ’cause I dropped out of high school
Stereotypes of a black male misunderstood
And it’s still all good

I referenced these two songs for a particular reason. One of the local Hip Hop stations (101 the Beat), consistently plays those two songs throughout the day (probably the only two songs they play that are more than a year old). In other words, these are songs and lyrics that many people connect with. They are struggles many people today still understand and share.

What songs do you know that contain lyrics of people sharing their struggles?
(It doesn’t have to be exclusively Hip Hop)