Dear Salsa Kate,
What a great feeling to get your letter this morning. Yeah when we wake to it - it does feel so obvious, and then a going over to a local economy, you'll be a hot pepper in threads coming from the other direction, from home-made, thrift, swap shops... The packages and ads and waste are gone and the discovery of the local clothing is more satisfying - you're your own detective, finding the clues. --Rev


Reverend Billy,
I buy WAY TOO MANY clothes. They give me a sense of prettiness and beauty for a little while (maybe half an hour?), but in the end, I'm just left with a full closet of things made with the compromise of basic human rights.
I watched your movie tonight and I realized that my obsession with clothing is really just a product of mass marketers taking advantage of gender constructs in our society. To make matters worse (and ironic) it is primarily young women who work in sweatshops to make the very clothes that I buy to make me feel more "feminine." Well, I'm sick of the bullshit. I'm sick of being pressured to look a certain way and to purchase a lot of things in order to achieve some idealized and objectified version of myself. And to top it off, I'm also sick of supporting a system that oppresses people, primarily women, in sweat shops. Reverend, I'm sorry for all of the tee shirts, pants, sweater sets, belts, dresses, skirts, scarves and hobo bags (!) I have purchased at J.Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, Target and Express. Thank you for listening and preaching the good word.
Kate