free calls to the homeland

Me, in an alternate universe...

Earlier this year i was having problems with my DSL connection at home. It was something about my router and not plugging in the right numbers in the right places, so i went online to the Pacbell/Yahoo website for help. Of course, it's incredibly hard to dig through the information to get a phone number, but when i finally found one, i made the 1-800 toll-free call. The young female voice on the other end of the line was incredibly pleasant, perky, and articulate, but what gave her away was a soft lilting accent that i am all too familiar with.

"Are you Filipino?" I finally asked her, after she had walked me through my routing problem. "Are you in the Philippines?"

She hesitated a moment and I could imagine that running through her head were the probable protocols for how to deal with Americans asking about their call center helpers. "Yes," she slowly said.

"Oh, cool! I'm Filipino, too!" I wanted to start asking her all sorts of questions about herself: how do you like your job? What did you do before working for the call center? Do you get paid well? What did you go to school for? (Many Filipinos working at call centers have had college educations).

But I stopped myself from pestering her. I could already predict that our phone call was being overseen or even recorded for later playback by a managerial type who would give her hell for talking about things other than how to fix my computer problem. So here lies the rub: it costs quite a bit of $$ to call the Philippines to talk to relatives there, but it's now a free call to talk to the Philippines in general, if you don't mind talking to an anonymous countryman/woman. I've been wondering at how this strange confluence of intersections is indicative of both the positives and negatives of global cultural and economic exchange--positive in that we can "reach out and touch someone", but negative in that it is essentially a one-way conversation. The woman at the other end of the line is supposed to be anonymous, perhaps vaguely even American, and she's not supposed to make an issue about where she is located. She is here to serve me and my stupid router question. She could have easily been me if I was born into a different family and never made it over here to the States.

I want to talk to anonymous call center people the world over, find out first-hand what's going on in their nick of the woods. Chances are, you've most likely had a similar overseas exchange and may or may not have been aware of it.

Statistics say that by 2008 the Philippines is expected to surpass India in the number of callcenter employees, meaning that Americans will have even more intimate contact with invisible Filipinos a world away. And such continues the interesting and even one-sided relationship between the US and the Philippines, where Filipinos have saturated themselves into US culture and dialogue, but without the reciprocation of even a nod from their former colonizers.

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My last musing on the politics of the reuse/recycle ethos has inspired these links:
"Production, Consumption, and Garbage: Global Capitalism and the Transmigrating Brown Body" by Frederick Aldama

more on the politics of garbage here.

Thanks to the "Bad Subjects" website for the hefty info! They're my new heroes...From their front page: "Bad Subjects seeks to revitalize progressive politics. We challenge progressive dogma by encouraging readers to think about the political dimension to all aspects of everyday life. We seek to broaden the audience for leftist and progressive writing through a commitment to accessibility and contemporary relevance."

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RESTOCK: Psychic Network!

Howdy! Just restocked with over 20 new items (yowza, i've been busy!) so please check out the store for the new goods :)

Included are tons of patterns and i've been chanelling some pseudo-hippie folk aesthetics to add some spice to winter's wardrobe. That swirly red-purple fabric will make a comeback with more tops in the near future, so watch out!

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the wonder of freckles

Jenny of Frecklewonder has done it again: a revamped website and the best of vintage clothes and handmade jewelry. Super cute! Her taste is delicious and pop-arty and colorful and too many more adjectives to add. Mosey on down to her newly-stocked website before it's all gone...



On another note, i heard yet one more interview with the Readymade magazine lady on NPR today--this time on Talk of the Nation. But it was totally horrible since the interviewer woman was sort of coming off as snide and snickering over the idea of crafts and insinuating it's just for girls, etc. Whatever! Damn philistines! ;p

Earlier tonight as i was sitting in front of the tellie sewing buttons onto Anti-factory items i caught the first half of a horribly lame movie starring Claire Danes called Brokedown Palace. The only thing i knew about it before tonite was that ms. Danes was quoted in a Filipino newspaper that she absolutely hated the Philippines and thought it was a nasty nasty place (the Philippines doubling as Thailand in the movie). Because of that comment alone I have skirted a wide berth around this movie, until boredom got the best of me tonite. And I have to say, it gave me a bit of glee to see the story unfold of two over-privileged squeaky clean white American teenage girls who get thrown into a nasty rat-infested Thai prison when they get framed for drug smuggling. Ms. Danes gets beaten by a screaming female Thai prison guard and has to befriend all sorts of "unsavory" prison types, all the while whining "but I'm an American! I deserve a lawyer!". Take that, all you people who think Thailand is just a tourist playground! Basically, it was one of those moralistic tales of middle-class innocence meeting up with the big bad Third World. It could have almost been directed by John Waters, only it wasn't nearly as good as that. I never got to finish it because my boyfriend came home and promptly said, "oh lord, is there anything better on?" Click. Goodbye, Ms. Danes. I don't think the Philippines likes you much, either.


the ladies in prison: "but I'm an American!"


ms. danes holding up her hands to get whacked by a surly female Thai prison guard. i'm mean, i know.

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n.e.e.t. is way neat!

Check out N.E.E.T. magazine, a new online publication devoted to the DIY and vintage aesthetic. FINALLY, a classy, sassy, and super cool journal and showcase for people like us!

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shortly now...

just wanted to give the heads-up that i will be trying to have new items available online by this Friday at the latest, but probably even earlier (thursday?) depending on when i can wrap up the final details on the bunch. i've been incredibly distracted by the holiday season, and all the time that i thought i could devote to quietly making has turned into all sorts of partying and socializing. not a bad thing, really, but a bit irritating for productivity's sake. not to mention that what i really have to be focusing on is getting together my class syllabi for next semester, which starts the week after new year's. one great thing is that i'll actually have a TA working with me for one of my classes, so i don't have to necessarily take care of all the xeroxing of materials, etc--thank god!

i really shouldn't complain about being overbooked since it's really a wonderful amount of riches--as well as teaching at Stanford i'll be returning to the California College of the Arts to work with junior and senior sculpture undergrads on a directed study/tutorial basis (hey, if any of my ex-students are reading this, i'd love to have any of you back working with me!). at the end of january i have an important studio visit to prep for, and i need to start thinking about a possible new piece for a show in beijing in may...it's not too early since shipping deadlines may come into play, not to mention if i want to work on anything that is site-specific versus already made and delivered from the studio. and then i've got soooo much reading to do--i make my best artwork when it's been informed by some theoretical or research-oriented topic, and i've been sorely neglecting the reading end lately. argh! new on my list is the Journal of Protest and Aesthetics, published in LA and a nice little collection of essays.

oh, i almost forgot: email me at ssyjuco (at) pacbell (dot) net if you wanna join the anti-factory email list. over and out!

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happy birthday, jesus!

happy birthday, jesus! as one who was sent to sunday school as a wee girl by a mom who just wanted to make sure she was covering all the bases in preventing her daughter from going to hell, i know all about you! thus, here is a half-finished paint by numbers portrait of you from the 1960s that i scored on ebay a while back...isn't it just crazy?

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ready, set, go!

The ladies who started Readymade magazine in Berkeley have been all over the airwaves lately--yesterday they were on KQED's radio show with Michael Krasny doing an interview, and today they were on NPR talking up their new book Readymade: How To Make (Almost) Anything. I used to have a subscription to the Readymade magazine, which can range from really wonderful recycled craftiness to sometimes irritating yuppy snarkiness on design issues. I think part of what bugged me is that they would show pictures of lamps made out of soda bottles photographed in a sparse and sleek Eames-style loft which made it look totally rad and uber-designy. But I knew that when the same item was placed in my shabbylicious house, it would look, well, sort of crappy, not cool.

Oh well! But I think I'm falling sway to their new book, which will come out soon and is a compilation of all these cool handmade things you can make, most out of scraps of other things. I appreciate their ethos and their ideas that design can be handmade and made of recycled stuff. Below are some images from said book, to be purchased shortly be moi.




And, least I forget, when I was in LA a few days ago checking out the "Ecstasy" show at the MOCA Geffen (which I *highly* recommend you see if you can--is it travelling?), the bookstore had a smart little publication by Todd Oldham called "Handmade Modern" that was also rather thrilling. Yet one more thing to get myself wrapped up in down the road! Who doesn't want a faux Isamu Noguchi moonrock sculpture thingie?

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gocco go bye-bye?

awe, shit! pardon my swear but i just spent $150 on a Print Gocco system only to now stumble across an online mention that it has been DISCONTINUED. argh! of course. now there will be Gocco hoarding and we will all be bidding the stuff up on ebay into astronomical territories.

unless you help stop the madness at savegocco.com!!!!

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grinchy grinchmas

be a grinch. stop shopping and make something instead. go here for more info. thank you.

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desert vacation

Just got back from a holiday vacation in Joshua Tree, California, about 2 hours east of LA and 9 hours from our place here in San Francisco. We've been gone for the last 6 days with little or no internet access, so i'm sorry if i've missed any emails and fun stuff from the internet community. But i'm back, so fill me in on all the gossip, har har!

Kurt and I drove first to stay with friends Christina and Paul in Venice, LA for the night, and then hi-tailed it to the desert with them for two nights where we had rented a little house. We wind up going to Joshua Tree about every other year or so and usually stay at the 29 Palms Inn, an old-style adobe bungalow place with a great restaurant, hot tub, and bar. But this time we decided to try something different and rented a vacation house tucked in amongst the rocks...Paul and Christina work in the LA movie biz as film editors and special effects makers so there was a lot of industry talk. I didn't take any photos of a fancy schmancy party we went to the night before we left, in some film guy's wealthy digs, but needless to say we all got super smashed and I wound up having a heated drunken debate on the pitfalls of the neoliberal capitalist system with a true Southern California conservative (the worst kind). it was rather ugly, for sure, and gave me the biggest adrenaline rush. i think he wound up calling me a communist...

OK, on to the trip! Here's some pics with captions. Needless to say, it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e.!


first off: happy holidays! ha ha--this photo of a christmas tree shape made out of soda cans hanging out in front of a raleys grocery store in LA just KILLED me...(hey kate of obsessive consumption--this one's for you!)


the house was on the edge of the Joshua Tree National Forest, and had the most amazing large rocks right outside


view of the house grounds from the living room...note the roses blooming in the middle of the desert sands


one of several terraces outside the house. oh, and watch out for scorpions...we didn't see any, but were warned not to walk around in bare feet


mmmmmmm! we love the meatsies. sorry. we're not vegetarians. i know. oh well, it's certainly yummy though :)


Kurtie cooking potatoes for breakfast. rawwwwrrrrr!


paul, christina, and kurt in front of big-ass boulders


desert flora


yet more


hello pokey yellow thing!


more pokey


shenanigans


did i say there were pokey things? these are awesome cholla cactuses, also known as "teddy bear" cactuses, or "jumping" cactuses


hello, my baby!


poke


i know...i'm a bit enamored of cactuses, aren't i?


drinks at the 29 Palms Inn bar...niiiiiiiiiiccccccce


the high desert


down the block from our bungalow was the craziest piece of architecture we've seen in a while...loooking like it's a cross between something out of the jurassic age, an h.r. geiger drawing, and a futuristic abode, it had an amazing gate in the front and we watched people ride little golf carts to and from the front parking area up to the living structure wedged into the rocks. sometimes rich people are seriously great, aren't they?

i want to be better about posting fun things in the future, so watch out for more photos of stuff and things in general :) hope ya'll are having a good holiday season and it's not too hectic!

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R.I.P. Stanley "Tookie" Williams

Whether you believe he is innocent or not of four murders, or even if he has "redeemed" himself by time spent in prison and writing anti-gang books for youth, it's all moot now. Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed by the State of California at San Quentin Prison early this morning, a minute after midnight. Years ago I used to be ambivalent about the death penalty. But with more evidence in the books showing others who have been exonerated from their death sentences (luckily!) as well as realizing that when a state executes a prisoner they do so on behalf of all the people who live in it, i've come to realize that i don't want to be responsible for putting another person to death, no matter if they are guilty or not. i think it's important to really let this point sink in: that death sentences are done on behalf of and with full complicity of the public citizenry who make up the state in which it is done. It's done for the good of society, in retribution, and that society is composed of folks like you and me.

So for me, it was a sad day.

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bad bad girl

yes, that's me...bad bad girl. instead of sending an email message out that i've put new stuff up, i'm leaving it to linger in the internet world for a while so that people who just happen to visit can stumble cross some inventory for a change. even though it defeats the purpose of an email list, it's hard for me to justify having so few new items for sale and then spamming a whole bunch of people. i hate spam and so do you too, probably? i'm in the process of making more stuff, too, so don't fret. :D

kurt and i will be taking a roadtrip to LA/joshua tree this friday for a long weekend with friends in a rented cabin in the desert. huzzah! i love the high desert and i'm lookin' forward to VACATION!

i cooked the best thai coconut red curry eggplant with chicken thing tonight and my insides are thanking me, if a bit pissed about all the spiciness. ha. yum!

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more event photos & tidbits

amee just sent me more photos her friend took at the hobbyhorse sale...


me (on left) wearing the cutest blue top i just bought from Joanne, a girl who just started a label called Chibi, along with Amee on the right


Amee checking out the racks...thanks for sending these in, lady! if anyone else out there is lurking with photos for me, send 'em in, y'hear?

on a side (but nicely important note): i just got hired to teach at Stanford in january! hooray--now i'm officially "visiting faculty" and get to take advantage of one of the most amazing libraries and research centers on the west coast. really, the perks are fabulous even though the commute will suck--it's about 30-45 minutes each way depending on traffic. plus cost of gas. ick. it's actually a bit of a homecoming since i just graduated from there in may. now i'm back and will be teaching a sculpture class (the only one they offer once a year!) while they search for a replacement for the tenured teacher who is retiring. it's all good for me--i need the resume experience as well as the income. i taught my own class there during my final year in grad school as a requisite for graduating and was very pleasantly surprised by the type of work my students made. being economics or political science majors didn't stop 'em from really pushing some boundaries and making interesting work. if anything, their lack of seeing themselves as "artists" actually helps them because they have no initial boundaries on what type of artmaking they define themselves as doing. my previous syllabi are heavy on "social sculpture/performance" and conceptual art, but i'll also teach them basic woodshop, casting, hand tool use, and whatever else comes up for their projects.

just call me "professor" syjuco, why don't you?

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next up? soon!

oh, and ps--i sold about half my inventory at the hobbyhorse sale last night, but i still have a BUNCH of new stuff i want to post to the website. stay tuned for new listings by mid-this week (wednesday, i think). anything bought this week will have plenty of time to ship out before the holiday mail slowdown.

xoxox

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sh-sh-sh-shopping!

yes, it's those crazy days of rushing around frantically looking for gifties for those you love...last night was the big sale at hobbyhorse boutique in berkeley, in which anti-factory was having its debut in-person sale event. i've never participated in one and it was lovely and frantic all at the same time. jess' store had tons of stuff spilling out of it, with vendors set up in all the nooks and crannies, tables, and clothing racks, as well as a back gallery of artworks, beer, and a dj setup. yow!

a fun time was had by all and i had a chance to show off the goods in person, which was a real treat. not to mention the folks that stopped by to say hi to me--customers and friends--and helped me place the face to the names. THANK YOU! i had items selling as low as $20 (shrugs and off-season items) as well as "samples"--stuff that had a slight mar to them or mis-sewn seam, but were for all intents and purposes barely noticeable as being "not perfect"--and people got some fab deals!

below are some photos of the event...now i wish i had taken more, but i got caught up in all the hubbub and frantic chatting that wound up taking place. PLUS i wound up spending more $$ on other people's stuff and trading items rampantly. i'll post photos of my acquired goods soon...


the anti-factory rack!


lovely customers and supporters michelle and ruby (actually, i am having a brain glitch on michelle's name and she may not be a michelle...please email me if you see this and correct me, lady!). ruby turned out wearing a top she had bought from me, and then ran away with another little woolen number that i almost kept for myself. and "michelle" went for 2 items and was such a support! you guys rock-- :)


amee and her friend who stayed a long time and chatted with me and took tons of pictures


this photo is actually not from the sale, but was pulled from the hobbyhorse website and shows the store layout in general.


look at all the fab loot at the store :D

again, thanks everyone for making this experience so fun and wonderful! i wish i took more photos...i'll post images of what i bought later on to share :)

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The baby turns ONE!

HEY! I just realized that this Dec 10 my little baby called Anti-Factory will turn a whopping one year old! Well, actually, not exactly: the website launch happened a year ago--I started sewing the clothing line more like in April 2004 but dealt mostly with consignment shops. Gosh, I remember one of my first customers was a guy buying a top for his girlfriend for christmas and it was so sweet. So after a big learning curve in setting up the shop (and it's not even over, really, i have some bugs and streamlining issues to work out), I can honestly say it's been a wonderful ride and if it weren't for the support of the online crafty community, the customers, and everyone else who's written me words of encouragement I wouldn't still be here today in this capacity!

Really, I love you all. no, really :) Let's toast to living and thriving and trying to say stuff in the wider world, and finding new ways to be creative!

(wailing noises start up in the background) oops, that's the "baby" calling. must tend to it. ha ha!
xoxoxox

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RESTOCK: Pattern Avalanche!

hola, chicas y chiquitos! the anti-factory store is now OPEN with new items...will post details on this soon :)

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store update Sunday morning!

OK, here's the scoop: the Anti-Factory store will be officially updated tomorrow (Sunday), 12/4, at 9am PST...that's noon for all you East Coasters. I valiantly fought against the crappiest winter light to take my garment photos today, and spent way too much time trying to color correct them...argh! Now it's just too late to start the ball rolling because i'm going out to a birthday party/karaoke night in japantown and won't be around to babysit the website.

I'm seriously thinking of starting some other kind of way for people to purchase from my website, because since i don't have a database that handles the buying, lots of times several people will buy the same item before i can update the website to say something's been sold. it super sucks! i know i've been complaining about this for ages now, but i'm thinking of just starting an policy where i have people email me to purchase an item, and it'll be first-come first-served without everyone having to drag out their wallets only to be immediately refunded.

hmmmmm. must think on this more. in the meantime, please come back tomorrow morning and enjoy your saturday night--go out and have some fun! below is the vintage corduroy turtle pattern to look forward to :)

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size question--what gives?

here's a general size question for both makers and gals in general: have you noticed that different manufacturers have different size labels? like, i've come to realize that it's incredibly hard to label things as XS/S/M/L/XL because they're kind of "relative" now. like, if you go to urbanoutfitters.com, they're relatively tiny (i myself have tried on things labeled "small" and found them to be incredibly *too* small...same with forever 21 clothing, which is so wildly weird with sizing). and if you go to gap.com, they're a whole size bigger than what urbanoutfitters say. thus comparing between the 2 websites will render different "size" results. i've always thought i'm an XS/S generally, but it's always a crapshoot now. not to mention that if you ever travel to asia, the sizing is totally different (like, i'm more of an "average" size and height, as compared to an XS/S). it's enough to drive someone batty, really!

so here's the deal: in trying to list sizing of my anti-factory garments, i recommend you check out the inches measurements first, and give them priority as opposed to the "size" measurements (that is, the XS/S/M/L/XL, etc). I wish US clothing measurements would stay consistent, but since they don't, i just don't know what to do!

isn't it just weird? like, at the gap i'm sometimes a size "0" (lord!) and at forever 21 i go between an S or M, and then at urban outfitters i'm an S but sometimes an M. it makes me think that the people who are designing mass-marketed clothes these days aren't exactly talking to one another or even paying attention to any consistency in labeling.

ok, yes, that was my rant. enough with the pet peeve!

what have you noticed? do tell, because it would help me in my own sizing labels...

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holiday sale event: 12/10

Come on down to Hobbyhorse in Berkeley next Saturday for a holiday sale that will feature Anti-factory goods along with loads of other makers and artists! I'll have a little rack set up so you can peruse everything in person and check out your favorite designs, as well as pick through "sample" items from past seasons and experimental items that will be super cheap (like $20 on up!). I've been wanting to do some sort of in-person sale, and this is a good opportunity as any...come by for snacks and stuff, too :)

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