Haptic means of or related to the sense of touch. I am a nursing mother of a little one plus we have a toddler and a 10 year old. My days are full of touching literally; the world around us is broiling in interaction between humans and animals and art and structures- a sort of haptic storm...
I plan to write about these interactions, seasons, cycles, and lifetimes. Enjoy.
Style and Anarchism
kiadso | 07 July, 2008 04:14
I am a white girl with no style. Close to 75% of my current wardrobe was free. I can say without a doubt that I am 99% of the time NEVER bothered by this. I'm a mother of three and I do not have time for shopping, I do not have a need for expensive clothes, and I don't believe in buying new clothing anyway if it can be avoided. For one thing, there's great clothes at second hand shops if you really must go buy another whatever it is you're looking for. None of the money you spend there will go to GAP or Old Navy or any of those sweatshop corporations, and depending on the store, you will probably be supporting a locally owned family business. Also, I strive to be socialist/anarchist in my actions because I believe in socialist/anarchist ideals, and as such, I do not want to wear clothing with all those damn logos all over them and support our corpocracy, the power the US and other Western corporations has over other people in other nations (and our own). So I try to wear free clothes.
My free clothes happen to come from my sisters-in-law who have LOTS of fairly nice clothes to pass on. I mean lots. I have never had so many clothes in my life, even when I was getting second hand stuff for my work. Our diaper bag happens to be a freebie too, and it has "Callaway Golf" logos all over the damn thing. I hate it, but I don't have patches- I don't buy those either!!!
My point? Well, remember how I said 99% of the time I'm not bothered by my lack of style? Yesterday was the 1% I guess. I attended an anarchist event where we didn't know anyone. I looked like a damned Easter egg. These people seemed pretty ok, but I felt EXACTLY like I did in elementary school when I was the poorest kid in school and no one wanted to be my friend. I wasn't turtly enough for the turtle club- again. Only this time it was a little more disturbing because these were people I was hoping to feel at home with for once. I understand there is a security culture to think about, but as my partner pointed out, if your style is so defined, wouldn't it be easier for infiltrators to copy? Wouldn't the best way to prevent infiltration be to talk to newcomers about key issues and get a read on their politics instead of looking for tattoos, dreds, and patches? It felt like just another clique to me. I don't look like an anarchist or a hippie or even a socialist, but that doesn't mean I believe that heirarchies are good or that there should be a class of people who are hungry, homeless, or in need of healthcare. In my own way, my clothing matches my politics just fine.
That said, I would go again (under certain conditions)!! I did meet one couple who seemed really nice and I felt good that we met. It was also good to be around people who have similar politics to us just to know that they exist with all their flaws and vulnerabilities.
So I don't plan to go out and find a hippie skirt and the right bandana. But I might make some patches for that damned diaper bag using scraps of free clothing that either doesn't fit or has logos on it...
My free clothes happen to come from my sisters-in-law who have LOTS of fairly nice clothes to pass on. I mean lots. I have never had so many clothes in my life, even when I was getting second hand stuff for my work. Our diaper bag happens to be a freebie too, and it has "Callaway Golf" logos all over the damn thing. I hate it, but I don't have patches- I don't buy those either!!!
My point? Well, remember how I said 99% of the time I'm not bothered by my lack of style? Yesterday was the 1% I guess. I attended an anarchist event where we didn't know anyone. I looked like a damned Easter egg. These people seemed pretty ok, but I felt EXACTLY like I did in elementary school when I was the poorest kid in school and no one wanted to be my friend. I wasn't turtly enough for the turtle club- again. Only this time it was a little more disturbing because these were people I was hoping to feel at home with for once. I understand there is a security culture to think about, but as my partner pointed out, if your style is so defined, wouldn't it be easier for infiltrators to copy? Wouldn't the best way to prevent infiltration be to talk to newcomers about key issues and get a read on their politics instead of looking for tattoos, dreds, and patches? It felt like just another clique to me. I don't look like an anarchist or a hippie or even a socialist, but that doesn't mean I believe that heirarchies are good or that there should be a class of people who are hungry, homeless, or in need of healthcare. In my own way, my clothing matches my politics just fine.
That said, I would go again (under certain conditions)!! I did meet one couple who seemed really nice and I felt good that we met. It was also good to be around people who have similar politics to us just to know that they exist with all their flaws and vulnerabilities.
So I don't plan to go out and find a hippie skirt and the right bandana. But I might make some patches for that damned diaper bag using scraps of free clothing that either doesn't fit or has logos on it...
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