rise up buffalo

just wanted to post quickly to say that there will be another buffalo indie market this coming sunday (mother’s day). my last post was for the first one and i don’t want to be too far behind. click here for more info… buffalo indie market.

coming up - “why buffalo?” - information about why buffalo is worthy of visitors and residents alike!

peace - hippiegrrl

coming in april…

buffalo indie market

should prove to be a step in the right direction of indie craft in the buffalo, ny area.
hopefully it will jumpstart a movement.

peace - hippiegrrl

a short post today just to show you that it is possible for buffalo to be in the national news.

new york times magazine - faces of social entrepreneurship

michael gainer, of buffalo reuse, was part of a series on entrepreneurs that are doing good things in their community.
check it out!

peace - hippiegrrl

We often write about Roe v. Wade at hippiegrrl.com and now, more than ever, it is important to consider the consequences of having the decision overturned. Several states are trying to pass new initiatives, in the November elections, that will restrict a woman’s right to choose several different things about her body. Not only are they attempting to restrict the rights of women to have abortions, but they are also going after the right to artificial insemination and birth control. Does that make any sense? No abortions AND no birth control. What kind of screwed up system allows this?

Well - you can do something about it! Join up with the following organizations and start fighting the good fight for women’s, civil and human rights!

Naral Pro-Choice America
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
National Organization for Women
ACLU Women’s Rights Project

Now that 2008 is in full swing, we would like to bring you a list of cool e-newsletters and sites that will help you stay healthy and happy in the new year. Ofcourse we realize that resolutions generally don’t work so these suggesstions are a quick and easy way to get a daily, weekly or monthly fix of good things for your mind, body and soul. If you can’t keep up that exercise routine to your expectations at least you can read about good things on a daily basis. After all - knowledge is power!

Nurturing Mind Body & Spirit - Daily OM - A peaceful place on the internet to read a daily inspirational piece, meet nice people, check out horoscopes or purchase meditative gifts.

Thirst for a healthy life - Vital Juice Daily - “Entertaining, uplifting, convenient, free go-to source for all things healthy and wellthy” - (vital juice about us.)

Email to keep you hip - Daily Candy - “the insider’s guide to what’s hot, new, and undiscovered — from fashion and style to gadgets and travel. As useful as it is entertaining, it’s like getting an e-mail from your clever, unpredictable, and totally in-the-know best friend. The one who knows about secret beauty treatments, must-have jeans, hot new restaurants — and always shares the scoop.” - (daily candy about us.)

Girl-centric - girlawhirl - awesome source for fashion, beauty, travel, cuisine, culture, health, home and green finds. You can register for free and have the ability to keep track of different events and ideas through an online list service. My favourite is the food diary! There are also specific areas for several major cities (much like daily candy) so you can check out city specific finds.

One for the guys - Thrillist - Covering only what they like, thrillist is a daily email primarily for guys. Girls might want to get the mail as well, just to keep up with what is hot in guy world. There are currently five editions (sorted by city) and many more to come.

That should be good for now. I’ll be back sporadically with additional sites that we enjoy viewing and know you will too! Happy surfing and healthy 2008!

Peace - hippiegrrl

Okay - So maybe that title is a bit hokey, but I truly believe that 2008 is going to be the best year yet! Anything will be better than 2007. Moving along…

How were your holidays? We completed the season with the celebration of the Epiphany. You might know it as “Three Kings Day” or “Twelfth Night”. It’s basically the day when the Three Kings (Magi) brought the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh to the Messiah. Yes - this is a Christian tradition and it is a bit skewed (in reality it took the three kings 2 years to see Jesus, but who is counting, right?) yet still a nice ending to the Christmas festivities. We don’t do a big celebration, but we do keep our decorations up until at least the 6th for this reason.

Now the rundown on gift giving. Did I stick to the handmade and/or local commitment I made earlier in the season or did the commercialism and fervour of the season win out? I would have to say that I did a good job of keeping it at least 50% handmade and/or local. For those products that I purchased outside of the handmade/local category I made sure that they were put together either in the United States, or somewhere that I could be confident has good working condition policies. In other words, I tried to be sure that the goods were not made in sweatshop conditions. This, I felt, was more important than the handmade/local pledge.

Many of my friends and family received cool t-shirts from threadless.com. Threadless has awesome designs and their t-shirts are printed in Chicago. Also - many of the designs are printed on American Apparel T’s, which are sewn in Downtown LA (About American Apparel.)

Moving forward into the future. I will be opening a coffeehouse in the next few months that will be committed to selling Fair Trade products and having the smallest impact possible on our environment. Sustainability, Recycling, Composting, and Reusing will be central themes for the products. Excellent customer service will (ofcourse) be the top priority. As I move through this amazing adventure I’ll be writing about it here, so get ready to follow along and see what happens with this new direction.

Peace and Happy Protesting!

Hippiegrrl

PS - Don’t forget to vote - it’s coming soon!!!

The big day is almost here. How much shopping do you have left to do?

We are still chugging along, trying to get everything done before the big rush weekend. Since taking the handmade pledge (see below and right for details) it hasn’t been super easy to live up to. I’ve tried my best to get everything locally though, so that is a good thing.

Speaking of the handmade pledge, there was a great article in the new york times magazine on Sunday about the movement. Read about it here!

We hope that your holiday season is merry and bright! Keep the stress level to a minimum and enjoy the time with family and friends.

We will see you after the big day to do a holiday wrap up!

Peace - Hippiegrrl

Sorry for the short entry, but it’s better than nothing eh?

As I mentioned in the last post, we will attempt to bring you good ideas for the holiday season of shopping madness. Keeping in mind that the winter holidays should be about family and friends and not consumerism, we realize it is still fun to give and receive gifts. So, in an effort to help you become more conscious consumers, here is the next installment in our holiday shopping rant series.

Let me begin with a quote from the Organic Consumers Association:

“Hourly wages paid by clothing giants such as Wal-Mart, Ralph Lauren, Ann Taylor, Esprit, Liz Claiborne, Kmart, Nike, Adidas, J.C. Penney and others in China’s “special economic zones,” are as low as 13 cents an hour, well below the estimated 87 cents an hour minimum living wage for an assembly-line worker in China.”

Unfortunately, the companies listed in that quote are not alone. A great majority of clothing products sold in the United States are now produced in poor, underdeveloped countries in sweatshop factory conditions.

“In Bangladesh, women earn 1.7 cents for every baseball cap they sew with a Harvard logo and 5 cents for every Disney T-shirt they sew that sells for $17.99.” - National Labor Committee

Over the years consumers in the United States have become complacent. Buying things they want, no matter where they were manufactured, has become the norm. It is now time to stand up and say NO to sweatshop labour. NO to fashion over compassion. NO NO NO! And here is how we can do it.

Each time you walk through a store, take a look at the “made in” label on items you wish to purchase. Think a little bit about what you are spending your money on. Become an informed consumer. These tasks sound difficult, but they really are not at all. And if it means that you can effect change in the industry that will make all the difference.

To get you started, I will list a few shoppes online that are “sweatshop free” producers. If you prefer to shop in person, just do a little research online before going out to the local shoppes. Good luck with your holiday shopping and remember to take some time out just for you. Have a cup of coffee and relax for a bit during the shopping spree. Conserving energy for the actual holiday is what it’s all about. Who wants to be too tired to participate?

Peace - Hippiegrrl

links to shoppes:
American Apparel
Patagonia
No Sweat Apparel
And for more detailed information and links check out this PDF from SweatShop Watch - Shop With A Conscience Brochure 2007 (PDF)

The holiday season is here. Black Friday (or Buy Nothing Day as we like to celebrate it) has come and gone and we are left with images of crazed shoppers trampling each other on the way into the local Wal-Mart. Highly motivated, yes, but for the right reasons?

In an attempt to make a difference this holiday season, we are going to pledge to purchase handmade items. This pledge will be made through an online group called, interestingly enough, buyhandmade.org. This group is just what the activist ordered. A way to buy products that are produced by the seller. A way to know beyond a shadow of doubt that the products you are purchasing are made by artisans in good working conditions.

Let me back track a bit and explain why this handmade pledge has been made:

• Over the past few years the production for products sold in the US has been largely shipped overseas.
• Products made in foreign countries do not undergo the same scrutiny that products in the US do.
• Working conditions in foreign countries are not monitored in the same way that working conditions in the US are.
• Buying handmade goods will insure that the products purchased were made by the seller under good working conditions.
• We hate malls.

For the reasons above:

Buying handmade isn’t the only pledge I took this holiday season. Buying local is another promise I hope to fulfill. If it works out that I can somehow buy local AND handmade that would be the tops! I’ll follow up in the coming weeks to show my progress and give you some insight into specific reasons for shopping local and handmade. In the meantime - happy shopping! Just remember that people are more important than things. That should be the force that drives you this holiday season, while looking for the perfect expression of love and gratitude for your friends and family members.

Peace!
Hippiegrrl

here are my three favourite local shoppes on the elmwood strip - check them out!
Spoiled Rotten - [where: 831 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222]
Everything Elmwood - [where: 740 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222]
Postively Main Street - [where: 773 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222]

Everyone deserves a home to live in. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to afford or maintain the income to have shelter. In Buffalo, we have a large homeless population that lives day to
day on our streets and in temporary assistance shelters.

Here is an interesting (and sad) fact:

“On any given night in Buffalo and Erie County, 2,100 men, women & children are homeless.”

Unfortunately, the attitude of many individuals (this is a topic of conversation I have been engaged in with other coffeehouse goers over the years) is that homeless people choose to be that way. That they are lazy and don’t want to work. That they are drug addicts and/or alcoholics. Any old, tired excuse not to throw someone spare change on the street when asked for it. I have even heard business people, in the downtown core of buffalo, tell homeless people to “get a job” or some other nonsense quip. People who have the basic necessities of life (and possibly so much more) should stop and think about the reasons the person asking them to “spare a dime” is doing so. Yes, a small percentage of homeless people are drug addicts and/or alcoholics, but those people are the exception to the rule.

Consider these facts:

“…according to Homeless Alliance data, less than a quarter (24%) [of the homeless population in Erie County] experience mental illness and less than a third (29%) experience chemical addiction.” “Those experiencing homelessness in Erie County may include families, victims of domestic violence, the developmentally disabled or veterans.”

It is a myth that homeless people “just don’t want to work” and that is why they become homeless. I believe that the reason that many people judge the homeless and chastise them for being in the situation they are in is guilt. When you pass a homeless person on the street and they ask you for change, the first reaction is to feel sad for them. A few good souls will take this feeling of sadness and give them some change. The majority of people will either ignore them or give them “advice” such as the above mentioned get a job line. This needs to change.

The first thing that people need to do when confronted with a request from a homeless person is to realize that this is a human being. As such, they should be treated with equal and even respect. Rather than pretending they do not exist one can simply say they have no change, in a nice way. Telling someone to get a job, homeless or not, will not make them go out and do it. Considering the fact that many people end up homeless precisely because they have lost a job or are unable to work because of physical or mental restraints this is not the best “advice” one could give.

So what can we do about homelessness in Buffalo and Erie County?

Here is a list of organizations that are doing good things in the community for the homeless population. Providing shelter, food and medical assistance for the homeless population. Giving counseling and helping people get back on their feet and generally doing good things for those that are not fortunate enough to have the basic necessities of life available to them.

Emergency Assistance for the homeless provided by

Please take the time to give to these organizations. If you have time to volunteer or work an event that would be even better. Helping others through philanthropic work is one of the best ways to reduce the homeless population in our city and county.

So, next time you pass a homeless person on the street, don’t just ignore that individual. Give them a moment of your time and treat them as you would like to be treated because you never know what will happen on a day to day basis. That homeless person asking for change could just as easily be you if the circumstances were different. Think of how you would like to be treated and act accordingly. Karma can be a bitch but she can also be a lifesaver.

Peace - hippiegrrl

All quotes taken from myths and facts about homelessness an educational project of homeless alliance of western new york