Posts that stuck in my mind this week.

Scruffy and comfy is good for the planet

I particularly liked Nimue Brown’s post about smart new clothes being bad for the environment, as I’ve always been a bit of a scruff, and I love shopping for second hand clothes in charity shops / thrift stores / Value Village. I also pride myself on owning a blouse from C&A that I’ve had for over thirty years. It’s still good.

Cultures that take the long view of clothing and sustainable living make do, mend, and adapt, as Nimue points out:

The current notion of smart, is modern. Our Viking and Saxon ancestors, I gather, took great care of their kit and meticulously patched damaged clothes to keep them going. When your culture says that your smartness is measured by how deftly you can make repairs, then that’s how you focus yourself. When your culture says ‘smart’ is a poor quality garment you throw away after a couple of wears, that’s apparently what we do.

Bread and roses

The River Crow reminds us to live joyfully amidst the awful litany of news of catastrophe and war.

Yes, the world is messed up right now, you don’t need me to tell you that. Look at the news for five minutes and you will see a litany of horrors, each worse than the last.

In such a world, at such a time, how dare we seek joy in frivolous things – in movies and music, self-expression and art, fun and friendship?

How dare we not?

We need, as the saying goes, both bread and roses.

It’s always good to be reminded of the song Bread and Roses. I’m also reminded of how, in The Temple of my Familiar (the sequel to The Color Purple), Shug Avery and her friends always greet each other with “All those at the banquet”, even though they live in scary oppressive times.

Hungry?

Just in case you’re hungry, Pisukkaaq Hansen has posted a list of his recipes. Check out the rest of his blog for awesome short stories in the Indigenous Futurism genre, and buy his books.