[Vision2020] From a lurker, mostly

[Debbie Gray]

One of the ideas in the t-shirt/global book is that textile factories tend
to pave the way for more civilized working conditions. I think her summary
was they started in Britain and were outsourced to the cheapo labor in the
New World and then on to other countries, now china but China will soon
have workers benefits and conditions that make it too expensive to produce
their and they'll move to the next developing textile manufacturing pool
(which is already starting to happen)

this is from memory so i am sure i am leaving out lots but that's the
general idea... it's not praising the textile industry but just seeing how
improved working conditions seem to follow it and then drive it to the
next country.

debbie

On Mon, 6 Mar 2006, Louise Barber wrote:

> In response to Debbie Gray’s last post on tracing a T-shirt, sharing this
> Pinsky poem might move impressions along a little faster.  (I don’t know
> whether this is a copyright violation to post this or not, and would
> appreciate having someone correct me, or report me, if you will.)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The Shirt
> by Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States
>
>
>
>
>
> The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
> The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
> Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
> Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
> Or talking money or politics while one fitted
> This armpiece with its overseam to the band
> Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
> The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,
> The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
> At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.
> One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
> On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes--
> The witness in a building across the street
> Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
> Up to the windowsill, then held her out
> Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
> And then another. As if he were helping them up
> To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
> A third before he dropped her put her arms
> Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held
> Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once
> He stepped up to the sill himself, his jacket flared
> And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,
> Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers--
> Like Hart Crane's Bedlamite, "shrill shirt ballooning."
> Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly
> Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked
> Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme
> Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,
> Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
> Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,
> To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed
> By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
> Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
> to wear among the dusty clattering looms.
> Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,
> The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter
> Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton
> As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
> George Herbert, your descendant is a Black
> Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
> And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
> And feel and its clean smell have satisfied
> both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality
> Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
> The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters
> Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,
> The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.
>
> Copyright
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.0/275 - Release Date: 3/6/2006
>
>

Debbie

%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%
  Debbie Gray      dgray at uidaho.edu
  We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
  so as to have the life that is waiting for us." --Joseph Campbell
%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%