Bemoaning the Color Line

Frere-Jones, Sasha. “A Paler Shade of White – How indie rock lost its soul.” The New Yorker 28 February 2008, 28 February 2008 <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/10/22/071022crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=2>
Sasha Frere-Jones, a staff writer and pop-music critic in 2004 for The New Yorker, laments the loss of “soul” in indie rock music in this article and writes from a music insider’s view or at least an indie rock fan’s view. He paints detailed a picture of what an indie concert he attended and named many popular bands and their musicians to open and it was all lost on me. It was not until quite a bit later in the article that I found what indie rock music was. I gained more perspective on his point of what he meant by “A Paler Shade of White” as he detailed rock and roll’s history of white people appropriating black people’s music. He goes on to describe how the political correctness of modern culture has changed the attitude of appropriating the black man’s music, citing that when rappers were to become popular, very few white musicians were willing to emulate the black rappers because of that view of co-optation. He further bemoans the loss in indie rock music of substance regarding musical style, voicing and lyrics. This he attributes to social progress of the black musician who has now risen to equal footing with white musicians. The appropriating of the blues, jazz and soul music by whites generated a dynamic mixing in the creation of rock and roll. His view is political correctness has now drawn a definite line to make the whites’ whiter, the blacks’ blacker and mixing the two a risk and a lost to the vitality of music today.

"Selling in Minnesota"- Picking Up Clothes in Wal-Mart

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Selling in Minnesota.” Nickel and Dimed, On (not) getting by in America. New York: Owl Books Henry Holt and Co, 2002.

“Selling in Minnesota, ” another adventure into trying to get by on welfare wages, exposes the deep housing crisis that many people face working in low wage jobs and the vicious cycle that has easily trapped many in the paycheck to paycheck survival mode.

Barbara Ehrenreich makes the transition from a Wal-Mart doubter to a believer and back to a doubter again. She explores the mindset required to work in the unskilled labor market and what it takes to stick to it. Part of working for Wal-Mart or any job that you don’t love is the mind games one plays or the created motivations one makes up to stay there. Ehrenreich brings an insider view into the job culture of Wal-Mart and how the corporate culture and atmosphere seems to be a more enticing place to work than the other options out there.

She also delves deeply into the emotional cost in this world. The little friendships and human connections that come at any level seem more fragile in the high job turnover environment of the low wage job world. For in situations of stress it is in the connections to people that one is sustained and is encouraged by to endure. Her vivid picture of the life of barely making ends meet show more than the facts and numbers of the poor.

The pieces of reality of the experience come through the description of own her transformation in mindset and personality. The stresses of constant worry about a place to live, the fear for ones safety and the drudgery of the work combine to change people. Ehrenreich sees her regression to a slyer meaner person in survival mode and notes this could have been her real life if her father “hadn’t managed to climb out of the mines.”

The reader is taken into her confidence as Ehrenreich writes in a very readable personal style. She brings you along on a ‘smell the mold’ and a ‘nitty gritty in your face’ kind of ride of what it’s like surviving in a low wage welfare world and gives you a real feel of what it’s like being at the bottom trying to stay afloat.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Serving in Florida.” Nickel and Dimed, On (not) getting by in America. New York: Owl Books Henry Holt and Co, 2002.

A widely published columnist, essayist and author of twenty books, Ehrenreich’s interest in political activism takes her into the world of the unskilled working class woman. In this book she documents her experience of trying to survive on the low wage jobs available.

Working as a waitress in Key West, Florida, she documents the transformation of her former affluent mindset and attitudes. The difficulties of trying to find affordable housing combined with the hard physical work of waitressing for low wage quickly changes her persona from an observing scientist to a woman trying to survive.

She shows the constant conflict of the need for the job and the “wage slave” resentment of the workers through her insight of the logic of the smoke break, where “work is what you do for others (and) smoking is what you do for yourself.” She details that the little acts of autonomy waitresses have, that shows up in the “covert distribution of fats” in extra butter or whipped cream, is not only a poke at the establishment but is also a part of the psychological motivation that help one cope with the job. It becomes the expression of humanity in the service to others.

She writes of the human connections and conflicts in this new reality and how this base level of survival alters her view of what is important and how brave or trusting one can afford to be. Her storytelling is engaging and as a former waitress myself and soon to be back out on the job hunting track as well, I found many of her insights and feelings right on the mark.

Every time I walk into the grocery store lugging my assorted collection of shopping bags I am hopeful. Upon entry I anxiously scan to see if others shoppers are carrying a collection of bags as well. So far, since the beginning of the new year, it’s been a futile search. I know there must be others out there who bring their own bags but I just haven’t seen them.

When I made my new years’ resolution to bring my own shopping bags, it took me almost a year to make good on that resolution. I could never remember to take my shopping bags with me to the store. It would hit me when I was checking out. This would happen many more times until I figured out that I should put my bags in the car. Then when I got to the store it would take me several more times before I would remember to take them with me when I got out of the car. And then, after I had actually used them and brought groceries home in them, it would take me several more times to remember to put them back in the car again. The short story is free plastic bags are a hard habit to break, and no one helps you to remember to bring your shopping bags.

Plastic bag use is unconscious. No one thinks twice about taking a shopping bag to the store to bring the things that they’ve purchased home. The stores automatically provide shoppers with free bags that advertise their store. Some stores even insist on bagging your purchase, so they know you have indeed, purchased the item. A free bag with purchase is a right for every consumer. It is a deeply ingrained habit in America’s consumer culture and is a modern convenience that is completely taken for granted.

Plastic grocery checkout bags are probably used on average for about fifteen minutes at the most, and then they are thrown out. At least at my experience that’s how long it takes me to get home from the grocery store. According to an article on WorldWatch Institute’s website, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year, and only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.

Plastic bag use is one of the most wasteful, hazardous, environmentally expensive and totally correctable habits modern humans have, and in reaction, cities like San Francisco last year have resorted to a plastic bag ban and other countries like Ireland charge a plas tax of twenty cents per bag used.

I think we should be creative and start a new holiday tradition. In February, one automatically thinks of Valentines, in March its shamrocks and in April it should be shopping bags. On Earth Day April 22, we should all bring our reusable shopping bags to the store. If everyone, for one day, brought their own shopping bags just think how many plastic bags would not be used and not dumped in the land fill, or not become liter in our forest and streets and not be a threat to our wildlife. It would be a lot of bags. It could catch on and people might remember. Earth Day April 22nd – BYOB, bring your own bag.

Thank you for Shopping

The essay by Jeffrey Goldberg, "Selling Wal-Mart, Can the company co-opt liberals?" tells the story of big business public relations spin. The fictional story that Chris Buckley tells in the movie "Thank you for Smoking" is the real life story of Wal-Mart and the real Leslie Dach who is the executive vice president for Wal-Mart corporate affairs and government relations office.

Goldberg writes an in depth report about how Wal-Mart is trying to "scrub its muddied image" by hiring a people with "ethical ambidexterity" such as Leslie Dach, who has had professional as well as personal association with environmentalism and democratic causes. His investigation and visit to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas give you a very good picture of the immense economic muscle that Wal-Mart wields and the ominous corporate culture that dominates it.

Regardless of the PR spin anyone could put on this liaison between an environmentally conscious democratic public relations man and Wal-Mart, it is always about money in the end. Morality has nothing to do with it.


Goldberg, Jeffrey. “Selling Wal-Mart –Can the company co-opt liberals?” The New Yorker 2 April 2007, 28 February 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/02/070402fa_fact_goldberg