Image credit: Suzanne de Chillo/The New York Times
Hi all,
I haven’t had as much internet access as usual, and I’ve also been laying low for the holidays. I did want to pop my head in and post though, so that nobody worries.
I also wanted to blog about an article published recently in the New York Times:
A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed
The article focuses on a rather horrifying practice of H&M and (come on, you knew it was coming!) Wal-Mart.
In the dead of New York winter; a third of the city poor and/or homeless; perfectly good unsold clothing is being tossed into the store’s trash dumpsters. Which actually might not be all that bad if a homeless person could rummage through the dumpsters and make use of what they found.
Except… H&M and Wal-mart have been slashing the clothing with razors and punching holes through them with machines, so as to render them unusable. Meanwhile, other large chains such as Target have been donating their surplus stock to Goodwill and other charities or homeless centers for years.
Wow. Talk about a waste. Talk about complete disregard for human LIFE.
I’m currently in a very rural area receiving a large amount of snow – several feet within the past couple of days, in fact. At this time, I’m not going to talk about why I’m here… let’s just say that I always manage to get myself into SOME sort of predicament, right?
On New Year’s, I somehow managed to find myself out in the snow, wearing every item of clothing in my suitcase – 12 layers, to be exact, along with four pairs of socks and snow boots. I looked like a roly-poly Violet Beauregard, post-blueberry-gum.
Yet, I still managed, in the time that I stayed out in the elements, to contract for myself rather quickly a lovely case of hypothermia, and endured some not-so-lovely hallucinations in the process, before I managed to get the hell back inside (thanks to the kindness of the police and of some fantastic people).
At this time, I don’t want to talk more about why this whole experience happened (I’m fine). The point is that I can’t imagine how a homeless person survives full-time in this kind of weather. I simply can’t. And, to be frank, many don’t. Stories about homeless individuals found frozen are as common as stories about homeless people beat up and set on fire (that is to say, VERY common).
I can’t imagine being a homeless, freezing New York woman rummaging through a dumpster and excitedly pulling out a pair of gloves, only to find that the fingertips have been cut out. I don’t want to imagine how hopeless I would feel at that moment.
Seriously, H&M, there’s a charity collection point right around the corner from your Manhattan store. And Wal-Mart, I know there’s no love lost between us, but there’s no excuse for you, either. Have a little humanity. Do the right thing. It’s no skin off your ass. In fact, it just may improve your public image quite a bit (and gawd, we all know you need it).
