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THEINDY.ORG 2News
W E EK I N RE VIEW
KFC Tries Ass-vertisement
e chain-formerly-known-as Kentucky Fried Chicken has recently adopted a
booty-centric marketing tactic that will nally provide buns for its infamous san[s
bread] wich. e creative on-clothing ad campaign, as its described on the com-
panys ocial website, involves paying college girls $500 to wear red sweatpants
with Double Downthe chains 540-calorie fried chicken, cheese, and bacon be-
hemothemblazoned on the seat.
According to spokesman Rick Maynard, KFC borrowed this promotional tech-
nique from some apparel companies and sororities to target its prized young
male demographic after a 7 percent drop in 2nd quarter salesthough Im pretty
certain that most adolescent males actually think the Juicy on sweatpants refers
to the wearers rear, not the couture.
Beetle Juice for Babies
is isnt your summer camp bug juice. Millions of containers of
Similac powdered infant formula have been recalled due to
an excess of unwanted protein: common household bee-
tles. Beetles and their larvae were found in both the pop-
ular product and the Michigan plant that manufactures
it. Although there is only a small chance of buying a con-
taminated product (and even then there is very little risk
of experiencing health problems), Abbot LaboratoriesInc., the makers of Similac, announced last Wednesday
that they were voluntarily implementing a recall be-
fore any disgruntled consumers could bug out.
ere are few clues as to how the creepy-
crawlies managed to infest the factory,
and Abbot is none too thrilled with the
Beetle Invasion. e recall will likely re-
sult in a loss of around $100 million
quite a cost considering that over 99.8
percent of the product line was found to
be lacking in insect activity. At least Ab-
bot isnt alone in its misery: one of its
biggest competitors, Johnson & John-
son, has announced 11 recalls since
September 2009 on products such asTylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl due to customer com-
plaints of a musty or moldy odor coming from the items. Perhaps their plague
of bad luck has spread to Abbott.
has determined that while the formula containing these beetles poses no immedi-
ate health risk, there is a possibility that infants who consume formula containing
the beetles or their larvae could experience symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort
and refusal to eat. Maybe its because babies just dont like the taste of beetles, al-
though I cant vouch for the gustatory pleasure provided by bug-free Similac either.
-LM
by Leah Michaels and Sam Levison
Illustration by
Adela Wu
Healing Bad Carma
Remember that time you lost your temper because
you left your car on ayer Street for just ve min-
utes and got a completely unfair parking ticket? In
Cambridge, MA, the Trac and Parking Depart-
ment is trying to curb that rage by printing drawings of yoga poses on
the front and back of parking ticket envelopes. e city has printed40,000 of these envelopes in hopes that parking violators will em-
brace their inner chakras and release their trac ticket anger
when they see that dreaded envelope tucked under the
e idea is the brainchild of Daniel Peltz, a profes-
sor at the Rhode Island School of Design, who is also
the rst temporary artist-in-residence (his actual job
description) with the Trac and Parking Department.
Interested by the human response when drivers nd their
tickets, Peltz created the illustrations that appear on the
envelopesprobably the only ar twork hes done so far as a
member of the trac court. Although the city didnt com-
mission his artwork for the unique venture, they are pay-
ing a small amount to print the new age envelopes. And
once all 40,000 salutation citations have been handedout, no more will be printed. In other words, they should be used up in
about two weeks, tops.
While the Cambridge Arts Council (a group working with the Trac De-
partment to bring the project to life) and Peltz think the artsy endeavor will
bring about positive changes in the city, others are not quite as willing to
bend in new ways. According to Boston Channel 7 News, one local motorist
called it absurd and unnecessary while another rejected it as a waste
because if I got this as a ticket I am not looking at the poses to relax, believe
me. Seems like they could use some namaste in their lives. Once theyve
paid their nes, of course. -LM
website proudly claims the chain is bringing the opportunity to exchange ones rear
pants, the participants will receive a supply of KFC gift certicates to ensure that
those sweats t nice and tight.
Despite hundreds of likes on KFC s Facebook page from enthusiastic support-
ers, the blatantly chauvinist marketing strategy has been met with outrage from
National Organization for Women president Terry ONeill, who objected to the use
of womens bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy products. ONeill also noted
that women make the majority meal-related decisions in their families, insinuating
that KFCs darling campaign may ultimately bite them right in their cor pulent cor-
porate ass. -SL
TETRIS:
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N
THEINDY.ORG 4Opinions
ever before has the phrase
rearranging deck chairs
on the Titanic felt more
apt. Trusted economic
advisor to the president,
Mr. Larry Summers, an-nounced that he is return-
ing to Harvard after his stint as lookout on a
certain mammoth ocean liner, in this none-
too-subtle analogy. In the last six months,
three of the four most powerful economists
in the presidents entourage have jumped
ship, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
describes the state of the economy as un-
usually uncertain, Congress is gridlocked,
and America continues to slouch towards the
poor house.
erations, in a statement at Goldman Sachss
Retail Conference on September 15:
I dont need to tell you that our customer re-mains challengedYou need not go farther than
one of our stores on midnight at the end of the
month. And its real interesting to watch, about
11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill
their grocery basket with basic itemsbaby for-
mula, bread, eggsand continue to shop and mill
around the store until midnight when government
electronic benefits cards get activated, and then
the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for
those first few hours on the first o f the month are
substantially and significantly hig her.
is is what the modern bread line looks
like. Electronic benet cards (i.e. food-
stamps) have replaced the breadlines of
yore. Gone are the images of hordes of men,hat in hand, wrapped around a Manhattan
city block. Gone are the resolute Dust Bowl
women that symbolized both poverty and
the strength of the American spirit during
the Great Depression. Instead, our huddled
masses it silently in and out of Walmart
in the dead of night: out of sight and out of
mind. ere are no cameras rolling in Rapid
City, Midland, Spokane or Tuscaloosa. Mil-
lions collect their pittance, and disappear
back into the night.
Mr. Simon paints the picture of the Amer-
ican economy on the micro-level. Heres the
macro-level situation: the ocial unemploy-
ment has hovered just south of 10 percent
since the recession ocially ended in June
2009 (recessions ocially end when GDP
growth is positive for two consecutive quar-
ters, not when there are palpable or con-
crete signs to workers or citizens that the
States owes its creditors nearly $14 trillion
dollars (this number is more like $18-19 tr il-
lion when Fannie Mae and Freddie Macs
debts are included), interest rates are at
.25%, treasury yields are at an all-time low,
the stock market had its best September in a
decade, and the Republicans are on the cusp
of retaking the House of Representatives in
a 1994-esque rout.
wouldnt be burdened with the largest out-
standing debt since World War II, the stock
market wouldnt surge on day after dayof dismal economic news, and Democrats
would have a more compelling plan for ght-
ing the economy than a cut in miscellaneous
taris and a tax credit for R&D. In other
words, the data being fed into the magically
mysterious decision-making engine that is
the federal government and the American
stock, bond, and currency markets is contra-
dictory and incomprehensible and people are
nding a way to make money oof it. Surely
this wont end well.
Some of the madness can be explained
verse who head the Federal Reserve. For the
last year, the Fed has pumped almost $2 tril-lion dollars into the economy in the form of
quantitative easing. Or for laymen, print-
ing money to buy banks shitty assets and
government debt. Yes, surelyprintingmoney
to nance government spending will end
you who are not familiar with our nations
central bank, the Fed injects money into
the economy by crediting banks accounts
with money that doesnt exist. For example,
if I have a heaping pile of toxic mortgaged-
backed securities and an account with the
Fed (as all major banks do), they take the
worthless assets from me, and credit my ac-
count with increasingly worthless dollars tobe spent at will. e mavens ofnance of the
Weimar Republic at least had to use real pa-
per.
On the one hand, we have real people feel-
ing real pain across the country, and on the
other, we have the Fed printing trillions of
dollars to buy worthless assets. An unelected
branch of government prints money to keep
bailing out the banks and an elected branch
of government guts foodstamps to pay for a
bailout for teachers unions. e federal gov-
ernment gladly prints money so JP Morgan
wont have to take a loss, but wont borrow
money to help put Americans back to work.
Makes perfect sense.
e course of action that seems most
likely is massive currency devaluation. Politi-
cians and economists have convinced them-
selves that if the dollar is relatively cheaper
to other currencies, American exports be-
come more attractive, businesses start hiring
again, and all will be well. What exactly does
(Japan). Not cheap plastic baubles (China).
Not solar panels (China). Not high-speed
trains (China). us the great hope for the
port more corn, wheat and soybeans to the
world market. From superpower to banana
republic.
eres a way out that has worked be-
foremassive government spendingbut it
requires a political ambition and competence
that no one seems to possess right now. e
,as the country was climbing out of the Great
Depression. We borrowed tons of money to
stimulate demand, and it worked. An $800
billion (less than 8 percent of GDP) stimulus
package that consists of a random assort-
ment of grants and infrastructure improve-
ments has failed predictably. Although the
Great Recession poses slightly less of an
existential threat to America than the Japa-
nese or the Nazis during World War II, there
is still plenty at stake in a meaningful eco-
nomic recovery.
Would todays decit hawks have voted
against ghting the Nazis in the name ofs-cal responsibility? An interesting question to
ponder.e Bank of France actively opposed
troop mobilization in the late 1930s because
it thought that excessive debt would create
a run on the Franc. is didnt work out too
well for them. Behind every bad idea is a
seemingly sound rationalization. In our case,
its that growing the national debt by a few
trillion dollars and risking higher interest
rates will be worse than suering through
years of massive unemployment and the to-
tal evaporation of the American Dream. If
we are set on resigning ourselves to an abys-
mal new normal and the end of the age of
American prosperity, then we should at leastput up a decent ght, instead of simply roll-
ing over.
Over the last twenty years, the average
real wage has remained stagnant. e ad-
vent of Walmart has allowed most people to
buy stu more cheaply, so each dollar goes
farther, and the illusion of growing wealth
was able to endure. at ction has been ex-
posed. e standard of living for most Amer-
icans had been increasing on the backs of
the people who now have their jobs. America
spent much of the aughts borrowing money
from the Chinese to then buy Chinese ex-
ports, while the backbone of the Ameri-
can middle-class was silently disappearing.
Washington shouldnt commit this country
to a Japanese-style lost decade of highun-
employment and stagnant growth in the
name of appeasing the almighty debt clock.
e dollar is the worlds reserve currency
and treasuries are the worlds safest assets.
America is still the only superpower, and we
need to start acting like it, instead of letting
ourselves be held hostage by charlatans and
demagogues. Where there is a political will,
theres a way.
Never before has BRIAN JUDGE B11 felt
more apt.
APRIMERONTURN
INGYOURSUPERPOWERINTOABANANAREPUBLIC
byBrian
Judge|IllustrationbyRobertSandler
O
P
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w
1 1 SEPTEMBER 30 2010 THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENTFeatures
hen Roger Wil-
liams crossed
the Seekonk River
away from Plym-
outh Colony and out
of the reach of Mas-
sachusetts extradition
orders, he did not mourn his dissenters
fate. He did not liken his circumstance to
that of the Israelites, cast to wander in
the desert before reaching the Promised
Land. Instead, he identied his beef with
the pro-Church-of-England colonists
which motivated his expulsionas a
matter of Divine Providence.
Williams could claim the patch of land he
soon purchased from the Narragansett
Native Americans as his promised land.
He duly called his new home Providence,
an overt reference to his belief that God
was on his side.
Williams wasnt alone in self-sanc-
tioning geographic occupation via ref-erence to divine power. Providence ap-
pears to be a favored ecclesiastical and
colonial concept of Britons and their
descendentsor of those who chose
to travel and found it prudent to carry
Gods will with them. ere are Provi-
dences throughout the Anglophone
world, established by colonizers, would-
be colonizers, explorers, and, as we came
to call them in this country, homestead-
ers.
eir shared name evokes a shared
idea: to nd a place providential, one
must consider ones own presence there
no less than an act of God.
COVEN PRIDE
Wherever British ships sailed, Provi-
dence went with them. anks to colo-
nialism, today you can visit several Ca-
ribbean Providences. Modern-day Isla de
Providencia, o the coast of Nicaragua,
was occupied by the Providence Island
Company before it passed to Spanish
(now Colombian) territory. It was once a
pirate hideout and is now a scuba-diving
destination.
New Providence is the largest island
in the Bahamas. (In some tricky, canni-
Providence to attack
and capture the island from the British
during the Revolutionary War.)
Elsewhere, the less-suitably-named
Providence Atoll in the Seychelles con-
sists of two inhospitable islands.
But nowhere are there more Provi-
dences than in this country.
Just 13 years after Roger Williamss
holy venture into Rhode Island, Puritans
exiled from Virginia took the same rosy
view in founding Providence, Maryland.
e city is now Annapolisrenamed
in 1694 for Princess Anne of England
(perhaps reecting colonists shifting
understanding of power to the more ter-
restrial).
Religious pilgrims fantasies of or-
dained exile in the New World evolved
easily to expansionist self-justication
skip, and jump from Williams and the
Puritans divine providence to pro-ex-
pansionist journalist John L. OSullivans
insistence on American divine destiny
in 1839, to making said destiny Manifest
with the annexation of Texas in 1845.
ere are now places called Provi-
dence in 23 of the 50 states. Most of
these Providences are tiny, usually un-
incorporated towns of fewer than 2,000
residents. Providence also lends its name
(if not its divine essence) to a neighbor-
hood in Mesa, Arizona, and a mountain
range in the Mojave National Reserve in
southern California.
e nominal link between expansion-ism and Providence deteriorated, how-
ever, as the West was won. Providence
does not exist in either Alaska or Hawaii.
It is also missing from Montana, the Da-
kotas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada.
Nor can Providence be found in the
southwestern states for which the idea
of Manifest Destiny was rst articulated
in order to justify their conquest from
Mexico. Either the mapmakers felt Gods
absence in their endeavors, or such insis-
tent bluster became unnecessary.
PROVED NICE
properties of American Exceptionalist
belief twinned with Christian-articulat-
was more than just a trend. Whats in
a name, in the case of Providence, is a
theological punch.
Providence in the way Roger Williams
and other settlers meant it is short-
hand for Divine Providence, a concept
that dates back to the birth of Western
monotheism.ough the exact theologi-
cal denitions of Divine Providence vary
depending on your preferred Judeo-
Christian sect, according to most, there
are two types: general providence,whereby a benevolent God keeps an eye
on the natural order of the universe, and
special providence, in which God di-
rectly intervenes in peoples lives.
It is this second kind of special prov-
idence that undergirds ideas of Ameri-
can Exceptionalism and Manifest Des-
tiny. It is also what allowed someone like
Williams to believe God acted specically
on his behalf to secure land in what is
now the Ocean State.
Viewed this way, providence acts
as a sort of dual optimism/fatalism
one believes that God has ones back,
and thats for the best. But if things go
wrong, the misfortunemust be attribut-
ed to the mysterious workings of Gods
will. Providence is a fairly convenient
base belief for those attempting to found
communities with as yet unpredictable
results in foreign territory.
e colloquial uses of providence
also betray this ambivalence. Accord-
ing to the Oxford English Dictionary,
providence can be used to mean thrift
and frugality in regards for the future
something the Puritans would have
sanctioned. It can also mean foresight,
provision, or a persons God-allotted
fate. Specically in New England, a
providence denoted that which is di-
sastrous but which is at the same time to
be regarded and submitted to as the act
of God.
VICE PONDER
tations, Providence as a place name has
meant more than geography and more,
even, than destiny. It represents an ex-
pectation of a certain kind of destinya
successful one, directed by a benevolent
God. And while providential success to
Roger Williams might have meant secur-
ing a bit of land along with his religious
freedom, for later providential pioneers
it meant territorial and material gain
rst, with a bonus halo of divine sanc-
tion to cover the moral rear.
Whether by act of God or man, Provi-
dences were in the money. Post-Wil-
liams, Providence, Rhode Island gainedwealth through the slave trade (another
vocation murkily justied via Christi-
anity). Providence, Ohio (now a ghost
town) was founded as a fur trading post
and grew rich on the gambling money of
travelers headed west. Isla de Providen-
cia supposedly still hides chests of pirate
treasure from its buccaneer days.
Contemporary Providences arent
lacking in wealth either. New Providence
in the Bahamas has been a luxury tourist
destination since the 1960s. Its capital,
Nassau, was once a pirate stronghold,
and now hosts cruise ship tourism-driv-
en casinos. A Princess brand luxuryhotel shares the suburb of Providence,
Guyana, with a newly built world-class
cricket stadium.
Stateside, Providences continue to
spring up around the countryand nor
are they named by accident. ese new
Providences are master-planned com-
munities, aimed at wealthy homebuy-
ers. And while (sub)urban development
isnt exactly analogous to 19th century
homesteader settlements, Providences
in Texas, Las Vegas, Florida, and Ala-
bama share the monikers historic asso-
ciations with righteousness and money.
Providence-as-site no longer means
simply divine foresight or even destiny.
Providence now means Luxury.
Not all Providences are markedly
richin New Providence, Iowa, for ex-
ample, the median household income
was $39,000 in 2000. But it is exactly
these small-town Providences that serve
as inspiration of the developers of the
planned communities. e Village of
Providence (within the Hunstville, Ala-
bama city limits) bills itself as lost Amer-
ican small-town charm revived in a con-
temporary city, perfect for those seeking
the comforts and conveniences of a
modern neighborhood with the values
and traditions of yesterday, according
to its real estate literature. (Providence,
AL also makes explicit reference to the
rst American city of Providenceit has
streets named ayer, Hope, and Meet-
ing, though these dont correspond geo-
graphically to the same streets here.)Developers market simplicity and
neighborliness (providential Christian
values) as tenets of their planned com-
munities, all while charging for access
to such idylls. From the simulated home
tour on its web site, comforts and con-
veniences of Providence Village life in-
clude neoclassical columns, grand pia-
nos, and canopied beds. e Providence,
Florida, website asks readers to check
a price range box (the lowest value is
$300,000) when submitting inquiries on
its contact form. Lighted tennis courts
and a 24-hour guarded entrance come
standard. Providence Village, Texas,shows oits lush lawns and a swimming
pool with waterslideall in the middle
of the desert.
ese Providences demonstrate a
drift from the thrift of the providen-
tial Puritans to the luxury of suede-
ensconced condo interiors. And while
this might seem a corruption of Roger
Williamss faith, providence as Manifest
Destiny, the pinning of Gods will to -
nancial successnone of these are alien
to certain geographic aspirations.
e founders of todays Providences
probably dont literally believe their cul-
de-sacs are informed by a divine hand. Yet McMansion builders that proclaim
freedom, family and beauty as their
motivatorsas the Providence Village
developers doare continuing the prov-
idential legacy. ese new Providences
may be nominal allusions to the divine
rather than literal evocations, but they
demonstrate an American sense of en-
titlement regarding land that dates back
to Roger Williams. Go on, they suggest,
God knows you deserve it.
SIMONE LANDON B10.5 on Corn
Dip Eve.
Place TraceAGeo-Historical
Account
ofProvidence
by Simone Landon
Illustratio nb
yRo be
rt Sandler
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THEINDY.ORG 12Arts
hen the term eco-fash-
ion gets tossed around,
it automatically conjures
up fears of dull eggplant
hues, rumpled organic cot-
tons, and neo-hippie macram accents.
For a while, this connotation was not
far from the truth. But in the past few
years, the disparity between sustainable
designers and the old industry favorites
has been diminishing. Companies like
Bodkin, Behnaz Sarafpour, and Edun,
founded by rocker-turned-human-
rights-martyr Bono and his wife, are at
the forefront of the war for sustainabil-ity in the fashion business. Sustainable
practices in the garment industry en-
compass any and potentially every step
of the manufacturing process. Switching
from chemical to natural dyes, sourc-
ing organic fabrics, and ensuring fair
wages and safe working environments
for workers all signify a more sustain-
able or environmentally conscious mode
of production. ese bigger lines may
be the famous faces of these emerging
practices, but the backbone supporting
them and revolutionizing the industry
from the bottom up is JF & SON, a small
New York-based textile and apparel de-sign team.
BUSINESS AS (UN)USUAL
JF & SON has been concerned with both
environmental and workers rights is-
sues since partners Jesse Finkelstein
B05 and Katie King founded the compa-
ny in 2007 as a vertically integrated tex-
tile project. After giving up on working
in New Yorks garment district due both
the rapidly closing studios and rising
prices, the two decided that the only way
they could stay aoat while staying con-
nected to the process was to start their
own studio overseas. It is in their facili-ties in Noida, India (just outside of New
Delhi) and, as of this summer, China,
where JF & SON strives to control every
aspect of the process while also relying
on local skills and materials. Finkelstein
and King travel to each facility once ev-
ery two months and Skype conference
with their manager every day. In India,
the process involves mostly beading and
dyeing artisanship by the 50 plus em-
ployees, while the China studio focuses
more on impeccable pattern making
and complex production. e company
markets these dierent skill sets to out-
side companies who then hire them for
textile development projects for outside
companies (Gary Graham, Opening Cer-
emony, Loden Dagger, and aforemen-
tioned Edun and Bodkin are among their
clientele). It also designs and produces
an in-house line that is sold at the labels
SoHo boutique.
Maintaining control of the manu-
facturing process aords the designers
creative freedom and opens every step
of the design and production process
up to collaboration. In an interview
with the Independent, Finkelstein sayse big experiment is to take the stu-
dio model of making clothes and see if
we can bring that to an actual working
production system. e studio model of
productionusually used for sampling
and specialized productsopposes the
hierarchical factory model in which one
unskilled laborer passes zipper after zip-
per to the next under the direction of a
designer or production manager. Instead
of mass-producing identical garments,
the studio produces pieces on an individ-
ualized level and thus necessitates par-
ticipation and exibility among skilled
workers. Oftentimes, explains Finkel-stein, this whole outsourcing thing, and
designers being further and further re-
moved from how their things are being
made and even sold, means you can turn
a blind eye to it all. With salaries over
three times the living wage and health
care for all, the workers at the Noida stu-
dio are, as Finklelstein calls them cre-
ative participants rather than workers.
It just so happens that the logic of
their structural goals ts directly into
the aesthetic goals of JF & SON. Katie
and I are modernist in the sense that we
believe that the process takes priority
over the
nal product.
e
nal productwill be powerful if the process is power-
ful. Its our belief that we have an aes-
thetic in mind, but we invite a lot of par-
ticipation and collaboration, so whatever
thing we have in mind gets reworked and
diluted and changed and altered. And at
the end of the day were responsible for
curating it, but its an aesthetic that re-
ally is born out of collaboration. Wheth-
er the aesthetic of collaboration or the
mode of collaborative production came
rst, neither would function were it not
for the other.
MAKE WHAT YOU KNOW, BUY
WHAT YOU KNOW
e companys mission is not limited to
their own operation. JF & SON is not
simply carving out its own niche sepa-
rate from the rest of the fashion indus-
try, it is leading the restructuring of the
entire manufacturing process. With a
revolutionary twinkle in his eye, Finkel-
stein relates his project to the current
demands of the food industry. People
want to know where their food comes
from. ere is a similar deepness going
on with clothing Anything that pro-
vides people with greater information
about how their stu is being made and
whos making it [is] empowering. People
design things, but they forget about the
other part of design, which is how they
actualize those things and the process by
which they are actualized.
e closer the designers get to the
production process, the less limited JF
& SON is to adhere to the traditional
organizational structure of the fashion
industry. Normally, a company has to
nish all designs months in advance in
order to comply with the correct season
(Spring, Pre-Fall, Fall, or Resort) andmust determine its market (Contempo-
rary, Advanced Contemporary, Designer,
Couture) so as to be distributed and
merchandised correctly. is system of
classication dates back to the late 19th
and early 20th century when interna-
tional retailers had to make a long trip
to Paris for fashion and seasons had to
be planned according to itineraries. e
categories remain in place today despite
the advances in technology and the
popular shift in everyday dress to an all-
inclusive, mix-and-match aesthetic. JF &
SON actively rejects systematization as
the process moves uidly from the stu-dios to the storefront, and even to the e-
commerce site. Flexibility is the name of
the game as everything from experimen-
tal textile samples to materials for new
projects to accessory prototypes con-
stantly rotates through the hands of dif-
ferent team members. As they shed the
rigid, dictatorial structure of the fashion
industry, lled with middlemen and ex-
tra costs, JF & SON is able to keep prices
from skyrocketing. A dress for $163, a
blouse for $88, these (believe it or not)
comparatively low prices start to explain
why they were able to open a store and
thrive during a
nancial recession thatcrippled the industry at large. at, or
the Finkelstein family home furnishings
company that makes novelty washcloths
for Ross Dress For Less.
HAVE YOUR CLOTHES AND
EAT THEM TOO?
All of this talk about vertical integration
and freedom from the tyranny of fashion
raises a series of questions that compare
JF & SON to none other than the ver-
tically-integrated, anti-fashion guinea
pig American Apparel. What makes JF
& SON dierent? In other words, why
will JF & SON work when rumors hint
at American Apparels impending bank-
ruptcy? Is it the fact that production is
overseas which maintains a large divide
between the consumers and the products
consumed? Is it the aesthetic produced
by the incorporation of and reliance on
local Indian and Chinese skill that main-
tains the clothings status as exotic and,
thus, fashion-forward? Could it per-haps be the sheer size of the company
with one tiny store, under-cover collabo-
rations with larger companies, and two
home-based leaders that creates an aura
of elitism on which the fashion industry
thrives? Or is it just a matter of time
until this model also fails, when dreams
of expansion turn into the inability to
monitor production or maintain stan-
dards? It seems as though balancing the
goals of sustainable practices, a close col-
laboration between the creative and pro-
duction process, anda progression from
the arbitrary codes of the mainstream
fashion industry might just be too muchfor one company to take on.
YOU CAN DO IT TOO
e people at JF & SON encounter cre-
ative energy on every level of the pro-
cess, from the design to the produc-
tion, and back to the merchandizing of
the store. Finkelstein describes that it
could not be done any other way. When
you work closely with people, at least
in our case, it becomes really clear that
people have their own creative skills
even the people who are sewing It just
makes sense. You want people to get in-
volved.
e ultimate goal is, in essence,to spread the responsibility and render
departmentalized production a collab-
orative process. e company does not
waste time and money on extensive PR
and proliferation of the brands image.
beyond the self-satisfaction of branding
and making money, to open up more
studios in more places, to open up more
stores. To become a company that gets
more people really actively involved in
the designing and the creation of the
clothes, like getting the customers to ac-
tively participate in the designing of the
goods.
EMILY FISHMAN B11spent the past
two summers working at JF & SON.
T H E A E S T H E T I C OF
by Emily Fishman
JF & SON Democratizes The Fashion Industry
C O L L A B O R A T I O N
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THEINDY.ORG 14Arts
Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. 1960) spray-painted poems signed SAMO (short for same
old shit) around Lower Manhattan before becoming the rst internationally acclaimed
African-American artist. Since he died of a heroin overdose at the age of twenty-seven,
praise for Basquiats work has grown exponentially, and in 2007, the record price for
a Basquiat painting was set at 14.6 million dollars. In part, the signicance of Bas-
quiats work stems from his rejection of classical and contemporary methods in favor of
a raw, sprawling technique that, upon rst impression, seems like an exploding collage
of scribbling and color. However, to view Basquiat solely within the canon of great art-
ists that came before him is to ignore the purpose and range of his work. His paintings
explore the complexity and hypocrisy of contemporary society, the diaspora of the indi-
vidual and the rich, often ignored history of Africa and African-Americans.
Basquiats meteoric rise from the New York no-wave/punk/hip-hop scene to the
top of the contemporary art community has made him something of a pop icon. e
new documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat:e Radiant Child, directed by Basquiats close
friend Tamra Davis (Half-Baked, Billy Madison and director of music videos by Sonic
Youth, Hanson and N.W.A.) illustrates Basquiat as even more complex and unr uly than
previous works have indicated. Basquiats close friends and art dealers oer fresh per-
spectives and revealing stories, but the lms nest moments come from a previously
unseen interview Davis lmed with Basquiat two years before his death. For the past
twenty years the footage has remained in Daviss closet. In an interview Davis explains
that she left the footage buried partially because she remained stricken with grief long
after Basquiats death, but also because she did not want to capitalize on Basquiats
fame (many of Basquiats close friends sold paintings he had personally given them).
Although there have been plenty of works on the artist (including a 1991 biopic), Da-
viss friendship with Basquiat creates the setting for an intimate interview, one that is
perhaps the best source for understanding Basquiat.
e lm begins in New York in the late 70s. After dropping out of high school and
running away from his home in Brooklyn, Basquiat sold postcards on the street and
slept on park benches. Although living hand-to-mouth makes a good story for any ac-
complished artist, in his interview with Davis, Basquiat becomes visibly upset as he re-
counts living on the streetshungry and without a place to go. Nevertheless, Basquiats
grati became notorious and soon he was invited onto Glenn O Brians TV Party, a
local cable access show that featured underground gures like Debbie Harry, e Clash
and Klaus Nomi. e show and his grati art propelled Basquiat into the underground
scene.e lm captures the energy and excitement of this period in New York, but also
demonstrates how it provided Basquiat with a community and condence that allowed
him to transition into painting.
His work garnered immediate attention and by 1982 he was showing regularly along-
side other notable contemporary artists such as Julian Schnabel and Francesco Clem-
ente. Yet as these artists were largely praised by critics, Basquiat remained the victim
of much criticism that often took patronizing, racist tones and portrayed him as the art
worlds negro mistress. His work began to reect this frustration and, in turn, reached anew level of complexity and magnitude. e lm expertly demonstrates how Basquiats
position as an African-American art celebrity tortured him, but also provided him with
a unique perspective that he was able to translate into art.
At a time when Basquiat did not know who to turn to, he made an unlikely friend in
Andy Warhol. From 84 to 86, the two collaborated on a number of spectacular works
that explored the dialogue between the individual and American iconography. However,
upon their release, the works were bombed by critics. More vulnerable and with more at
stake than the veteran Warhol, Basquiat was devastated and ed New York. During his
absence he slowly lost touch with Warhol and a year later Warhol unexpectedly died fol-
lowing gallbladder surgery. e shock sent Basquiat into depression and he began using
heroin again. Despite a number of attempts to quit, Basquiat died in his SoHo studio on
August 12th, 1988, at 27.
Although many of his fr iends discuss the end of Basquiats life, the lm avoids talk-
ing about his heroin use. His friends, all of who seem to share a bit of guilt over his
death, explain how caring and incredible Basquiat was, but the lm delivers the truesense of loss by demonstrating his talent and genius as an artist. Backed by a classic,
groovin hip-hop soundtrack and lled with anecdotes that explain his paintings, the
lm gives a new life to Basquiat and his work. Anyone interested in contemporary art or
New York in the late 70s/early 80s will enjoy the lm. Its most compelling aspect, how-
ever, is its opposition to notions of high arta stance true to Basquiats character. Since
his death, Basquiats work has been appropriated by the community and critics that
once rejected himhis work can only be seen in art books and museums. In turn, the
signicance and message behind Basquiats work has been lost. He purposely deed all
of the supposed rules of painting and still created amazing works of art, and as a result
demonstrated that African-American culture is equivalent in signicance and beauty to
its Anglo counterparts. e lm is important because it shows that art is neither created
by, nor belongs to those in charge of museums andNew York Times columns. Rather, it is
by and for the people. Jean-Michel Basquiat:e Radiant Childtakes Basquiat out of the
gallery and gives him back to the public. -EMF
Much ado has been made about the Facebook movie. Rolling Stone has already
said that the lm brilliantly denes the decade, while blogs and top reviewers rarely
refrain from dropping the word Oscar in overwhelmingly positive reviews. ats not
producer Kevin Spacey, director David Fincher (FightClub,BenjaminButton) and writ-
er Aaron Sorkin, creator ofeWestWing, how could the movie be bad?
It turns out the movie is very goodmaybe even greatbut it doesnt de ne the
decade (like Finchers portentous slacker hit Fight Club did) so much as utilize a crucial
moment to tell a story. at moment, of course, took place a mere seven years back
the Holy Grail of information technology, and a year later ended up as the worlds
youngest billionaire. Sorkin and most of his supportive critics have pitchede Social
Network as some kind of modern treatment on Citizen Kane or Howard HawksGreek
tragedy infused with American entrepreneurship.at source of inspiration holds for
the dramatized, partly ctional story, but the appeal as a lm is a bit more compli-
cated. A much riper analogy would be All the Presidents Men, the story of Carl Ber-
nstein and Bob Woodward who broke the Watergate scandal in 72. Both lms are a
back-story that beckons because we already know, or are heavily concerned with, the
headline story.
a college bar arguing over Marks obsession to get into a prestigious Harvard Finals
Club. Why? Because theyre exclusive, and fun. And they lead to a better life. e
ctionalized sequence ends with a breakup whammy from the girlfriend: Youre going
to go through life thinking that girls dont like you because youre a nerd. ats not
true. Itll be because youre an asshole.
And thus continues a string of events that, each and every time, avoid any one
explanation of why Mark is really doing what hes doing. Sore after the breakup, Mark
runs home and drunkenly retaliates at the female gender by coding up facemash.com,
a Harvard campus version ofhotornot.com. Within a couple hours the schools women
are put on a hugely public sliding scale, which gets Mark a deans hearing and about
half the school pissed oat him.
His name popping up around campus, Mark is then approached by two Aryan rower
socialites, the Winklevoss twins, both played deftly by Armie Hammer through the
use of digital editing. e twins have a deal for Mark: help them build their proto-Face-
book website called HarvardConnect, and theyll help him regain his social stature.
Maybe hell get to come to their really elite clubhouse, too. OK, so thats what Markwanted all along, right? But then he says screw the clubs, he can make a better website.
Not for money or fame or clubs, but because he can do it better. Mark gets his funding
from (now ex-) best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Gareld) and the initial success
ofthefacebook.com propels the two into school wide stardom.
is new website gathers interest. Enter Sean Parker, the former creator of Napster,
played by an ecstatic Justin Timblerlake (his midway entrance into the lm feels like a
double cameo). Parker gets wind ofthefacebook.com, calls Mark and Saverin for a 5th
Avenue meeting, and then drops the kicker to starry-eyed Mark: Yo, a million dollars
is cool, but you know whats really cool? A billion dollars.
ally just a big ger rise) matches those same stereotypes of enigmatic entrepreneurs be-
cause there is never any clarity to the end goal. Mark wants girls, Mark wants money,
Mark wants to be friends with famous people. None of those hold to the nale. Just
world more open. Its clearly scripted, but we cant fault the real life or ctional per-son for that. Because Mark, really, just wants to make a better Facebook. But that gets
confusing when the existence of Facebook is contingent on its investors (like every
character in the lm) being set on one of those much simpler fantasies.
Part of the experience of watching the lm is simply the question of what it really
has to do with Facebook, if the lm is verging on some great revelation about those
hours of looking and clicking. Sorkin himself admitted in an interview that he knew
about Facebook like he knew about a carburetor. And so in some ways the analogy
between the actual functioning Facebook as we [its users] know it and the plot of
the lm, doesnt go much deeper than what the title alludes to: that these characters
If anything thats to the benet of the nal product. e restrained grandeur of
the lm, with its soft colors and minimal eects (a far-cry from Finchers awesomely
oversaturatedZodiac) works because it is exactly the opposite of being on Facebook.Its a slow-paced melodrama, not some kind of frenetic postmodern commentary. If
Fincher had chosen denim blue and stark white as the lms color palette, it would
have been a disaster.
eres also a subtle sadomasochistic element to the lm. Whether we admit it or
not, many of usalthough certainly not allhave a love-hate relationship with Face-
book. Yes, it generates connections, keeps us in touch with far-away friends, strokes
the need to stay updated. And then the other common side-complaint: Facebook
wastes time. Its inherently unessential and supercial. e Faustian bargain of Face-
book is one that generates a lot of guilt and shame among many of its willing consum-
ers.
Which is why I dont think its digging too deep to say that theres a revenge-ick
appeal toe Social Network. ink of it as the inverse ofAll the Presidents Men. In-
stead of cheering on those intrepid journalists about to sack corrupt politicians, we get
to watch young, socially inept billionaire act like an asshole. Why is he a billionaire?
Because he created a program that we cant stop using.
The Social Network
Jean-Michel Basquiat:The Radiant Child
rotic speech, but when he sinks inside himself, when he looks like an exhausted vam-
pire. You cant help but feel a little sorry for the guy, even if recently released IMs show
ity/scorn of the elite is a near-universal trope in American media, but e Social Net-
work is a unique case where the distance is not so great. Try going to facebook.com/
zuck.AQR
Director: David Fincher
Director: Tamra Davis
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THEINDY.ORG
Metabolics
eared or poached, topped
with corn salsa or over
lentils, sashimi style or
in a maki roll: no matter
which way you serve it,
theres something shy
going on with salmon
these days.
AquaBounty, a company based out of
Waltham, MA, has presented a product
called AquAdvantage, a remixed ver-
sion of Atlantic salmon, to the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). If it gets ap-
proved, AquAdvantage will be the rst
FDA approved genetically altered animal
to end up on our dinner plates.
FRANKENFISH
According to the plan put forth by Aqu-
aBounty, the new salmonor franken-
sh as it has been dubbed by criticsis
created when growth hormone from the
Pacic Chinook salmon is inserted into
Atlantic salmon eggs. is added gene,
combined with hormone regulators from
another sh, the ocean pout, allows for
rapid and continuous growth. e re-
sult is a sh that grows to market size
in about half the conventional timap-
proximately 30 months for farmed salm-on and between one to six years for wild
salmon.
e eggs would be grown in a facility
on Prince Edward Island in Canada and
then shipped to a land base in Panama.
ere the sh would grow to their full
size before being shipped to markets
all over the world. Only sterile females
would be produced, thanks to a process
called triploidy, whereby the organism
has three Y chromosomes instead of two.
is would ensure that the bred salmon
will be incapable of reproducing if they
were to escape into the wild or even har-
vested groups.
If the concept seems shocking, re-
member that for the past twenty years,
technology has inuenced not only how
we grow and raise our food, but the ac-
tual food itself. Scientists have tinkered
with soybeans, corn, and even oysters in
attempts to make versions that are dis-
ease resistant or more nutritionally ben-
ecial.
SO MUCH SALMON, SO LITTLE
TIME
In this case, AcquAdvantage insists that
the faster growth rate of the genetically
modied salmon is a more ecient useof capital by reducing feed costs as well
as creating jobs. It has been marketed
as a sustainable processa somewhat
ironic argument considering environ-
mentalist groups are often the ones
against such radical food alterations. e
company champions a reportedly lower
carbon footprint, as production facilities
can be built at on-land sites, reducing
transportation. In theory, the process is
able to be monitored, thus creating a re-
liable food source for the future. But one
must consider the kind of a system we
are trying to sustaina human-created
infrastructure of laboratory production,or the natural cycles of growth that the
Earth has to oer.
Meanwhile, shermen and foodies
around the country are protesting the
proposal, citing potential harmful eects
on theshing industry and infringement
on the market for conventional shed
salmon. Critics also fear the possible
propagation of allergies from potential
allergens present in the introduced gene
or in the feed used in salmon harvest-
ing. ey are also concerned about the
inltration of one of these mutant sh
into the wild, which could provoke un-
fair competition between the supersh
and normal salmon, who would quickly
be outeaten and outgrown. ough the
sterility of the triploid sh would osten-
sibly guarantee against cross-breeding,
the decimal point percentage chance of
creating a non-sterile salmon is enough
to cause concern. It only takes one for-
eign sh to wipe out or alter a popula-
tion entirely.
e taste factor seems to have been
ignored in the FDAs complicated and
extensive research endeavors. In fact, in
a 180-page document issued by the FDA
describing the production methods andtesting behind the debate, taste is not
mentioned once.
Chefs and foodlovers are not ignoring
the question of taste. Nino El Gheryany,
sushi chef at Shark restaurant in Provi-
dence has worked with sh for 22 years.
He rejects the idea of genetically altered
salmon, or any kind ofsh, on the ba-
sis that an accelerated growth time
would surely be detrimental to qual-
ity and taste. Other chefs ranging from
the Cheesecake Factory chain to haute-
cuisine restaurants in Las Vegas also
expressed concerns over customer pref-
erence and a commitment to natural,honest food. As AquAdvantage salmon
have not actually been eaten yet, we are
left wondering how much of a dierence
there will be.
16
GUESS WHOS COMING TO DINNER...
PROGRESS AND PRESERVATION
e Independent: You still live in the RI
area?
Doris Burke: I have a house in South
Kingstown and I have an apartment
here.
I: Do you see yourself staying?
DB: Oh, Im staying. I was a Jersey
kid through and through, and I never
thought Id call Rhode Island home. It is
home.
I: How involved are you at Providence
College now?
DB: As you could imagine, doing my job,
which is about 100 games a year, and my
two children, it hasnt left me much time
beyond those two things. I think the na-
ture of being a working mom is you have
two responsibilities: your job and your
children.
I: Your job at ESPN, on-game color com-
mentary, studio-analyst work, and occa-
sional sideline reporting is endless. How
often are you on the road?
DB: I dont count how many days Im
on the road, because it would upset me.
ere is no working woman today who
doesnt feel that pull, that tug: Am I do-
ing the right thing? But, you dont know
how many times I get the question:
What do you like better: the NBA, col-
lege, or women? And Im like: eyre
three entirely dierent sports. I loveeach and every one of them exactly the
same.
I: What are the dierences between the
mens and womens game right now?
DB: In the NBA, if a play is diagrammed
for a guy, nine times out of ten, that guy
is going to take the shot. Where women,
they might think of other options. If they
feel like theres a better option, theyre
likely to nd that option. It is starting
to change though. You have players like
Lauren Jackson, Diana Taurasi, and Cap-
pie Pondexter. Slowly but surely, wom-
ens mindsets are changing, taking overa basketball game. If youve got scoring
ability, is almost selsh not to take over
if you can.
I: e playos this year (e Seattle
Storm swept the Atlanta Dream to win
the title) were wonderful.
DB: I think the league is in a good place
from a competitive standpoint. ere
were nights when I was paid to watch
it during its rst year, as a NY Liberty
Radio announcer, and it wasnt good
basketball. In the 14-year history of the
league, that has changed. It has been an
UNCHARTERED TERRITORY
Scientic research so far has turned up
no signicant health risks, nor major
dierences between genetically modi-
ed salmon and the real deal. However,
tenuous words such as unlikely, seem,
and uncertainty pepper the scientic
conclusions, allowing room for doubt
in the future. Although scientists may
conrm for the moment that no signi-
cant risks are present, there is no telling
what sort of long-term eects may arise
impossible to completely regulate health
and environmental eects of such a syn-
thetic product.
A 60-day consultation period began
on September 19. Should approval be
given, the next issue is labeling. Grocery
shoppers have the right to know what
kind ofsh (or sh-like substance) they
are bringing home for dinner. But if no
signicant dierences between a geneti-
cally modied Atlantic salmon and na-
tures own product are found, companieswould be under no obligation to specify
the presence of transgenic salmon on the
packaging.
With arguments on both sides, the
debate largely comes down to ethics. Do
we have the right to trademark an organ-
ism? Do you want your dinner to be the
end result of a science project? Is Aqu-
aBounty the modern Prometheus, mess-
ing with technology as Dr. Frankenstein
did, unleashing eects impossible to
foresee? As our scientic potential in-
creases, and more and more possibilities
become realities, we have to come to a
decision about whenand ifit will allstop.
BELLE CUSHING B13 is saying no to
GMO.
easy target for talk show hosts to take
a shot at it: its not good basketball.
People have stopped paying attention
to it. Basketball fans need to take a look
again.
I: If the WNBA had been around, wouldthat have been something you would
have pursued?
DB: Absolutely. In fact, I had an oppor-
tunity to play professionally, but in the
nal year of my senior season I blew my
knee out.
I: Why does the WNBA need to stay rel-
evant?
DB: I have a daughter who is a freshman
sports fan at all. But, to me, the WNBA is
still important to my daughter because it
represents opportunity for women. And
Im hopeful the league survives. ereare days when Im concerned about it. I
think there are days when every player,
coach, and G.M. is concerned about it,
but Im hopeful.
I: You got to meet President Obama
at the White House this year, when
he lled out a Womens NCAA
tournament bracket for ESPN.
What was that like?
DB: I was channeling a
little Phil Jackson [coach
of the LA Lakers]. I was
reading the other day that
Phils stomach churns and feels nervous,
but he doesnt show it. Believe me, I was
nervous as heck.
I: You seemed extremely comfortable and
even joked when you met the President.
DB: Oh yes [laughs]. He says: So youplayed at Providence, can you still play?
I said, Mr. President, I tried to play six
weeks after I delivered my second child.
You know the expression the mind be-
lieves, but the body wont follow and
everybody in the room laughs. But then,
he asks me again: Can you play?, like he
President, I think I can handle your left
hand. And everybody starts nervous
laughing.
S
The advent
of genetically
salmonby Belle Cushing
Interview by Malcolm
Burnley
Illustration by Shay OBrien A conversation with Doris Burke, Provi-
dence College Alumnus and ESPN basket-
ball analyst for WNBA, NBA, and CollegeHoops coverage.
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r
FRIDAY | 1
7 PM
Cigar Night at Hillside Country Club.
A Jack Daniels Special Event that
starts with a gift bag at check-in and,
of Single Barrel Jack Daniels. For
FREE.
and tell a story, or just listen to braver
est Mouse totally changed your life.
Eleventh Annual Providence Rotary
Street Painting Festival. Profession-
dence. FREE.
Factory of Terror. I aint afraid of
Kicks and Streetwear. At the Rhode
Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin St.
Rock & Roll Yard Sale. DIY vinyl
Ricecakes, Detroit Rebellion, The
Mercans, and a BSR DJ-ed dance
Pawtucket. FREE.
4 PM - 7 PM
and New Paintings by David Planka;
Mickey Zacchilli and Natalja Kent;
Youth Studio. FREE. Pearl St. Fall
But he saves sick people. Brown Uni-
bosset St. Providence. FREE.
we care about is getting drunk and
Providence.
Air and the rise of right wing radio.
Providence. FREE.
THURSDAY | 7
Playwriting Festival. Including plays
has everythingpeace, prosperity
PhotobyJohnFisher