To get a letter, write a letter

If we lived in New York, which we’ve sworn we would never do short of amazing jobs and/or educational pursuits available to us both, I would join Reverend Billy’s choir (assuming, of course, that they’d have me). In my less glamorous younger life, I dressed in hideous costumes and paraded around as part of a show choir. As a low alto, I’m not a particular asset as a lone vocalist (nevermind my blind terror of solos, mostly due to my base clef voice). But having grown up in a church, however unpleasant it may have been, softens me to gospel music. I spent a good portion of the time – between the end of show choir and now – in independent radio, and while I don’t work in music anymore, I miss it. I left my final radio gig because it had always been a means to an end: sharing important tunes. Freedom was being programmed out, so I bailed. I was going to resent the supposedly-indie system if I stayed any longer. I also always knew I could never be a roadie because you simply can’t be the veg*n down with a migraine in a tour bus, so I put aside any desire to go on the road in that way. But when I think about what a guy like the Rev gets to do – go on tour, sing about the death of capitalism, talk to people and help them cut up their credit cards – I get nostalgic for adventures I never lived.

In lieu of acting on this strange combination of dreams and picking up to join the only preacher I know with a bouffant, I sent him a note the other day. Browsing around his website on Buy Nothing Day, prepping to cut up my credit cards (which I totally did!), I noticed a disturbing link. Thinking Rev probably knew what was up, I sent him the following email:

Reverend Billy,

Because of my love for what you do, I write to ask that you please remove links to American Apparel from your site. AA has a history of union busting and sexual harassment in the workplace, among other unsavory practices that do not make the company a healthy alternative for anyone seeking to purchase things from a humane, cruelty-free, small-business perspective. You can read more about their history of abusing their workers through the following links:

link
link

Please consider not supporting a company that operates on such a principle of hypocrisy.

Happy Buy Nothing Day and with love and hope for a capitalism-free world,
Brittany Shoot

About three hours later – 8am EST/Rev time – I got a reply.

I agree with you about American Apparel. We will delete that link.
Thank you for pointing that out.

Rev

To get a letter, write a fucking letter.

The same day, after meeting Andreas downtown for falafel and fries, buying some cat food (Malcolm is only as anti-capitalism as his belly will allow) and Murakami’s Birthday Stories (mine is approaching and damnit if I don’t need some literary commiseration), we were heading home and saw this young man dancing alone, to unknown music, on the platform in the train station. If I hadn’t seen him myself, I’d never have believed this moment happened. This is a lumiere video and has no audio.

click for private dancer (in a new window)

That was after we found the transit system’s mascot roaming around with no apparent vision, guided like a blind man in a crowd of overanxious children. Again, seeing is believing (though no pun intended). (This is also a lumiere video.)

click for harry and his helper (in a new window)

If you bother to spend the money on the mascot costume – surely an expensive investment – wouldn’t you order matching feet and possibly include a way to see out? Whoever was in charge of this incarnation of Harry did neither. I hope those people hear about BND, which is, by the bye, not about refusing your purchasing power for one solitary day and depriving the masses of their hirsute purple alien bug man. It’s about rethinking consumption, chains of production, material goods, labor, wealth, and needs v. wants.

As usual, I’ve saved up a batch of boring, soundless videos to post in one chunk. If you have the opportunity, you really should go to the beach in the winter.

click for tide steps (in a new window)