consumption culture

I’ve been thinking a lot about style lately. This has been primarily in terms of clothing, but also in terms of lots of other things. This thinking has arisen mostly because I am of an age when what worked before does not now necessarily work so well (and the fact that my secret desire has always been to be a designer of some sort). Choosing what to wear is an everyday activity that can take a little or a lot of time; create a little or a lot of anxiety. The effort around determining one’s personal style is played out certainly in front of the mirror in the morning, but also in the stores. It is probably why people both love and hate to shop. Indeed, Louis Waxman, in a recent Thought Catalog offered the following quote from Ira Glass that captures this anxiety perfectly: Continue reading →

Noodle-ing around the internet recently, I stumbled upon a youtube video about GMO foods. It was rather shocking with regard to the potential for health problems. I was also shocked to learn that baby milk formula has a high level of GMO content. The video said there are just 9 crops that are GMO. These are Soy, Corn (but not popcorn), Cotton seed, Canola, Sugar beets, Papaya, Zucchini, Yellow squash, and Alfalfa. There used to be GMO wheat, rice, toms, potato, and a few other things. I began to wonder, how one might resist buying GMO food here in Hong Kong? Continue reading →