NIKE Store New York

   I've written elsewhere about the dilemma of buying NIKE products... what dilema I hear you say... just don't do it!! The Dominican Republic and beyond, host factories where workers earn a subsistence wage while the Michael Jordan's of the world earn mega millions today even long after a career, in the name of image and brand. At the weight and fitness I was in the late 90s the Nike XXXL t-shirt was about the best fit I could find... I was fit but liked a roomy tough shirt for walking, rugby training etc... I've never worn it for the brand, maybe for the team or the location, but never the brand... The reality is as I sit here today writing, all my clothes are from the developing world, including socks and undies and even my watch was made in Thailand... they're all not such an issue because without a swoosh they aren't paying a golfer 200 million dollars to wear them and their story isn't as visible... they are just as bad!!
   I do at least wear these shirts until they fall to bits and then cut them up for rags and I have many times written to NIKE about fairwear and 'no sweat shops' and it's been 10 years since I've bought a NIKE t-shirt.
   Taking all that on board, this one is from the Nike Store in Manhattan, on 57th St, which is five floors of sports and performance wear that I visited in 1998 when I was running out of t-shirts on our 9 week trip... it did the job and I wore it for the next 4-5 years at least once a week... to remind myself of my favourite world city outside of Sydney... The Nike Store had a whole section of Livestrong gear and an awful lot invested in Lance Armstrong. The New York Knicks baskteball team were due to visit the following day and the store was forever hosting parties and fashion shows...
   With the current female fashion trend of wearing fitness gear as street wear or 'all the time' and I see a cheap range coming into BiG W, I guess the sportswear as casual wear trend will continue...
 
 

"New York Yankees" Subway Series World Series Champions 2010

   "The 2000 World Series, the 96th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, featured a crosstown matchup between the two-time defending champion New York Yankees and the New York Mets, with the Yankees winning four games to one for their third straight championship and 26th overall. It marks, to date, the last World Series with a repeat champion. It was the first postseason Subway Series since 1956. The Yankees were in the World Series for the third straight year, fourth in the previous five, and 37th time overall—the most of any team in the MLB, while the Mets made their fourth World Series appearance—the most of any expansion franchise in the MLB and its first since winning the title in the 1986 World Series." It followed up the series win v Atlanta Braves in 1998 that was another memorable performance. 

   I have enjoyed the baseball since I was a kid and snippets you'd catch on TV in Oz with World Series on Channel 9 a little later on and of course now a staple from March to October on Fox Sports and ESPN. I wanted a Yankees Cap when you only got those from your aunt who travelled in the US or you accepted a trendy Sydney shop snapback... until the advent of the internet meant I could order this t-shirt as the post game interviews were being conducted or in the case of this actual one, on sale from the massive t-shirt sports store in Times Square open virtually 24hrs!!

   The 'Subway Series' demonstrates Americans capacity to find a marketing angle in any contest... in this case recognising that you catch a subway train to the Bronx to see the Yankees or to Flushing to see the Mets [an expansion team bearing two other teams colours]. Both now have new Stadiums on top of and opposite their former ones. The Mets are at the same train stop as the Tennis Centre for the US Open called Flushing Meadows. It's here you'll also see the Unisphere world globe fountain from the World Expo... model for the one in 'Ironman'

   Anyhow, Yankee Stadium was all I expected in 1998 when we went to a game and my fandom continues. Both the Angels and the Dodgers now rival their budget and maybe people will ease up o hating the Yankees?

   Apparently I need to start filling my moneybox for 2018 to see them play at the SCG!!

"Worldwide Pants" The Late Show with David Letterman

   I have already blogged about my 'Late Show' t-shirt and experiences of lining up for standby audience twice in Manhattan but this is the t-shirt celebrating the company that puts the program to air for the CBS Network at the Ed Sullivan Theater [sic] on Broadway!! This was a snug fit even when I was thin enough to wear my whole collection so it's been amongst those ones stored away but no less remembered and valued!!
   Letterman this week [just after April Fools] announced he's retiring next year 'sometime'... and he got it just about right. I think what I've enjoyed about his show over the years is his disdain for 'celebrity' for it's own sake and his poking fun at the whole entertainment industry while asking great questions and leaving some notoriously poor interview subjects 'hanging out to dry.' But this year he has seemed even more tired and distracted and 'ready to go' and spend time with his son and his Indy Car Racing Team!! I'm only disappointed he didn't bring his show here to Oz but other populist trips kiboshed that...
   His silence, looks, support for genuinely good music and his knowledge of the world and politics, while claiming to be 'dumb' are a strength of the format. He has been 'Rolling Stone' magazine to Jay Leno's 'TV Week' all along and his programs around 9/11 were compelling viewing. More than one journo has written about his refusal to ask Paris Hilton about anything other than her arrest/s OR how he laughed when he reminded Selina Gomez that he'd made her ex Justin Beiber 'cry'.... 'that makes two of us' she shot back.... he loved it!!
   Anyhoo, more than one person/family I know have been or are in New York as we speak... an amazing place on the planet to visit!!

MAMBO 'REDNECKS'

   This was a 'Mambo T-Shirts' fundraiser in the hope of combatting the ill considered political stances of Pauline Hanson MP from Queensland [noted as a fish n chip shop operator for one reason or another] following her 'maiden speech' in Parliament. Then came her notoriety, the 'One Nation' political party and the colourful characters such populist movements attract... opportunists, people with strong views that don't feel they've been heard and people with ambition that's been unrewarded elsewhere AND the vocal minority who believe the stuff Hanson stands for

   To put things in context this is also a critical period for Australia's current debacle around asylum seekers. Pauline Hanson's speech was a divisive commentary on indigenous 'advantage' and the handouts culture that means there's preferential treatment for indigenous people. It was a complete misreading of the situation in Australia, filled with common misrepresentations and appealing to a base of people who believe foreigners 'take our jobs,' are part of a welfare culture, threaten Australians way of life and need to "love it or leave it" or put a "f%$# off we're full" sticker on the back of the ute. These are people who celebrate that our soldiers fought and died for our flag by slapping it on boxer shorts, thongs, towelling hats and stubby holders... oh, wait am I unfairly stereotyping?
   Anyhow it's this voter block and movement who mobilised the right of the Liberal Party to find an enemy in 'boat people' and 'illegals' and whose perceived influence has driven both our major political parties to dehumanise people, create severe mental health distress and to once again incarcerate children in the name of 'stopping the boats.' Others assert that when KRudd softened the policies, the 'business model' of the people smugglers was back up and running. Again in the name of common sense or the hope that nobody gets in a boat or because we are unable to offer an alternative solution that's been shown to work... people support human rights abuse as a deterrent. That's crazy... the hope is that cruel processes are the ultimate deterrent... not in my name folks!!

- Spend the diplomatic energy on resolving the conflicts that cause people to flee in the first place
[low chance of ultimate success, but the right kind of energy to spend as a nation]
- Properly fund processing through the UNHCR and genuinely hold Indonesia and Malaysia accountable
- Strike sharing agreements with other than poor small island nations
- Recognise that 98% of those who are in detention are eventually found to be genuine refugees
- Be aware of the 10 Myths relating to these issues here
- As churches offer to billet children so they are not in detention [oh wait, someone's made that offer]

And
While we're at it maybe we could address the aspects of the Northern Territory 'Intervention' that go beyond helping and begin to rob indigenous people of the identity and empowerment to make a different future