Dear Comrades,

All of our shirts are produced in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua at the "Nueva Vida" women's sewing co-operative.

Our shirts are proudly made in a fully worker-owned environment where all decisions are made democratically and where all workers enjoy profit sharing privileges and control over company policy.

In addition to being ethically made, our products always conform to strict environmental standards and many of our clothes are made using only certified ring spun organic cotton.

As a part of our commitment to the principles of fair-trade & social justice, [Comrade Clothing] will donate $1 for every shirt purchased towards an organization or cause of your choice which supports the global struggle against poverty and inequality.

If you're interested in switching your company or organization's apparel to an ethically made alternative or carrying [Comrade Clothing] in your retail location, please contact us as soon as possible!

Solidarity, Peace & Blessings,
The [Comrade Clothing] Team

P.S. Here's what some people in the blogosphere are saying about us!:

"This whole enterprise strikes me as a fantastic idea, both for consumers in the States who wish to shop ethically and for the labor movements in Latin America, who have been mistreated through-out history and into the present day particularly through Reagan’s funding and training of the anti-communist Contras. This strikes me as a way to finally move past that horrific period in the 80s when people just disappeared like ghosts and nearly weekly there was another bomb blast in a market. And from my viewpoint, the benefits are twofold: you give your hard-earned cash to an equitably run and managed garment collective, and you avoid giving it to people-hungry garment factories that plunge workers into hellish working and living conditions all for the sake of saving a buck."

Steilacoom-based author Margaret Starbird will present a talk and slide show titled "Mary Magdalene: Reclaiming the Sacred Union in Christianity" on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 11, from 2 to 5 PM at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Olympia. The event is sponsored by Fern Haven Center, a local nonprofit educational program center (www.fernhavencenter.org), and all admission proceeds will benefit the Center. The admission fee is $20/person. There is no advance registration, just pay at the door.

Starbird, a "cradle catholic," religious scholar, and mother of 5, is well known for her books, several of which were mentioned by author Dan Brown as primary source material for his famous novel The DaVinci Code. Her work seeks to restore the figure of Mary Magdalene to the preeminence it had in early and Medieval Christian circles, as well as to reintegrate the Divine Feminine into a Western Judeo-Christian tradition that has been male-dominant and grossly imbalanced for several thousand years.

Starbird's presentation includes an extensive and fascinating slide show of medieval art associated with the heresy of the Holy Grail as well as medieval images of Mary Magdalene.

For more information on the event, visit the Fern Haven website or call Rod Davis at (360) 754-1600. 

Jon blogs out of Lacey and this joke he has crafted is just what the doctor ordered. Awhile back I asked here on OlyBlog what type of humor is specific to our region, I'm thinkin' this answers my question.

He has comments enabled so you can express your appreciation or perhaps even try to top his joke with another.

It's on.  The Mayor and I will be walking at noon on Monday to meet and greet the street folks and speak with them about the Pedestrian Interference Ordinance.    The Mayor is working with OPD to see if the OPD element can be a familiar officer, maybe a more friendly face, on the street than if we just take the biggest meanest looking guy available for a stroll. 

I have informed Mayor Foutch that we may be joined by a small contingent of Olybloggers - citizen journalists for the walk.   It was nice to drop names of Sara, Janet, Opera Girl, Rob - in that context since the subtext in all this is trust, the chance that we all take in agreeing to meet another person on the street.  In that subliminal conversation, there is the unconcious risk assessment - hmmm, could I be assaulted by someone identified as "opera girl?"  How does that look on a resume?  More threatening probably if it was "opera grrrl" as the norm de plume.

Today I saw things that made me want to cry. I wanted to cry for Bread and Roses, the guests I work with, and all who come through out doors. How can the problems of homelessness and substance abuse ever be helped when the outside world just makes fun of the odors, behaviors, and speech?

When I was on the bus today, A couple that come into BRAC regularly boarded. She sat down next to me and told me about this cool bag of clothes she got at the senior center goodwill for only a dollar. (she's not a senior) Then she went on to show me her new slippers and tell me that she was getting read to go to treatment up in Bremerton. Then we got onto talking about counselors/psychiatrists. She was telling me how ticked off she gets when they just listen to her. She was saying how she wanted them to take what she was saying and tell her how to fix things, at least give her ideas.

Anyway, it just made me sad when these two deboarded the bus and the bus driver and another passenger said something about the stench in that way, you know what they're thinking about those two dirty homeless people that just got off the bus that smelled like stink and alcohol. These people have issues because of people like the bus driver and the passenger thinking their better than them. These people need help and listening ears. They know (most of them) that they have problems. Have you ever stopped to ask a person that you know gets drunk frequently or has mental issues, what caused them? Why are you having such a hard time?

I just wished people saw more than a stinky body taking up space.These are real people with real needs. When these needs are met these people can be really productive and use their talents.

I know i don't know the whole story, but i do know that these people suffer through hell on a daily, even hourly basis. They get treated like crap, like they don't exist, they get pushed aside. They get told that there is atleast a 1 year wait list minimum to get into housing and off the streets. For a section 8 voucher, the waitlist is about 3 years. Even that doesn't always help. Several apartments are illegally refusing to take section 8 vouchers or have such long wait lists that by the time a person can even get into a place their voucher has expired. For cooked meals they can mostly go to the Union Gospel Mission, which, they have to listen to a prayer service before they can eat. These are the people that go into churches and get turned away because they stink or whatever their problem is. Then their's Salvation Army, or Sally's as the familiar call it. They are the most common option because you don't have to do anything to get food. However, I've heard that a meal there has consisted of a roll with gravy and some carrot sticks or something similar. It's not good. I've heard that there arefeces in the showers and that it's so dirty there. I've heard that there are people that go about their drugs and alcohol abuse while there. i've heard that the kitchen isn't cleaned all that regularly. i've heard that they turn people away that only have a tribal ID, families with young children had to sleep outside in a car when it was below freezing outside. Apart from meals, sally's opens for women at 5 and 9 for men. I'm working with a young man who just got out of prison a couple days ago. He couldn't even stand Sally's. You'd think prison would be worse than a shelter right?