Fashion Ephemera
I like to dress nicely and snag a bargain as much as the next lady. I also know that cheap clothing is bad for the environment and bad for workers. All the cognitive dissonance makes me crazy! Really, what does it mean to be fashionable? I can’t buy clothes in Chengdu, so the fashion I [...]
Candy Art
This is a sucker I bought at Chengdu People’s Park. You pay 5 yuan and take a turn at the spinner; you win a sucker in the design that it stops on. The proprietor pours caramelized sugar out on a slab in the winning design. The dragon is the best design, because it is the [...]
Why I Love the Olympics
I am an Olympics junkie, I admit. I’m thrilled that it won’t be in Chicago, and I think that the IOC’s demands on cities are unreasonable and unfair. I also love the pageantry, the heartwarming human drama, and the hard work of obscure athletes in obscure sports. As I writer, I love something else: the [...]
Endless Construction
The hotel where I’m staying is on the Second Ring Road, which is being more or less rebuilt to accommodate all of the traffic. Hence, there is continuous construction in both directions – crazy, huh? This is life in China’s cities in 2012. By the way, I also took pictures on the street, and a [...]
Made in China, the Environment, Our Budgets, and Other Thoughts
It turns out that the Team USA Olympic uniforms are made in China, and that is creating all kinds of outrage about offshoring of different U.S. industries. This is, of course, big news in China, where the story is that Americans should be grateful that our economy has evolved beyond garment work. Certainly, America’s strength [...]
Vote for the Chicago Episcopal Cathedral Shelter!
Facebook is iffy here in China, even with a VPN running, so I will put this plea here instead of there. Cathedral Shelter Chicago is a program of the Chicago Episcopal Charities. I’m involved in it because for the last two years, I have run my parish’s Christmas Basket collection, which provides presents and money [...]
