Tempests & Teapots
I’ve finished my Jaywalker socks, but have been procrastinating on blocking them into shape. Yarnstorm’s horror story about washing her superwash Cherry Tree Hill socks also has me worried about any potential color-bleeding, especially since this is my first experience with the yarn.
We haven’t seen the sun for days, smothered as it has been by a thick, wooly blanket of gray. New York City in the movies never rains unless it’s to bring two would-be lovers together. Where is my swell of violins? The crashing cymbals and singing uteruses? The picturesque drizzle over a horse-drawn carriage ride around Central Park as Harry Connick Jr. croons his left ventricle out? Monochromatic weather always leaves me sullen and pensive.
I turned to my husband last night, cocking my head to the side and frowning, “Do you think you know my secret, inner soul?”
“Yes, I love your tea-drinking, manic-depressive, Gothic, Elizabethan soul.”
And this is why I married the man. He doesn’t think I’m a loon.
I’ve been following discussions about fair trade, especially regarding Starbucks and its less-than-truthful claims. According to its policy, you can walk into any of their stores and ask for a cup of fair-trade coffee, and have the baristas brew it for you if it isn’t already percolating. GreenLaGirl has been putting Starbucks stores to the test, with varying results. Here’s another less-than-visible Starbucks policy that may sour your macchiato.
I’m not as militant as my very socially conscious (and involved) sister, Adelin, but this why I prefer to caffeinate from my local tea shop. Transfair USA, which provides the fair-trade certification, has a list of fair-trade coffee retailers.
Adelin said,
January 9, 2006 at 4:30 pm
You said, “News at 5″… And the verdict from your Starbucks episode is…?
The Worsted Witch » Starbucks Challenge: Manhattan said,
January 11, 2006 at 9:42 pm
[...] On the way home from work, I stopped at the Starbucks on 29th St. and Park Ave. South, husband in tow. (He made me promise to do all the asking, and palmed me $10 for the cause.) I asked the male barista behind the counter for two tall fair-trade coffees. A brief look of bemusement flickered across his face. “We’re not brewing that today,” he said. [...]
green LA girl said,
January 18, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Am I really militant? Wow!
Jasmin said,
January 18, 2006 at 9:12 pm
I emailed green LA girl already, but I also edited the post so it’s clearer that when I said “sister,” I was referring to my real-life younger sister. Plus, it’s “good-militant” (there’s probably a better term, but words fail me right now)–there are too many people who are luke-warm about issues, and that usually makes them not care very much.