I will be sharing a bit about the 100 Thing Challenge at the DoJustice Network meeting in San Diego this Friday. It would be great to see you there, if you can make it.
Often I write down my thoughts in order to organize them for a discussion or presentation. When the time comes to speak, I do not always say exactly what I've written down. So I thought I'd share the writing part here. This one summary of what has motivated me to do the 100 Thing Challenge.
I have gained some notoriety because of a personal project of mine, the 100 Thing Challenge. I am living one year of my life with only 100 personal possessions. The reason I am doing this is largely self-examination. If that were not rationale enough to turn away practical-minded cynics, also I have a few more than exactly 100 things, because I am counting my library of books as one item, and also I count my underwear, socks, and under shirts as groups, thus they are a total of three items on my list. Moreover, I have not banished myself to the streets where I would have no access to our couch or dining room table or other household items, which I do not count as personal possessions.
Instead of flashy or austere, the 100 Thing Challenge might be viewed by some critics as mediocre. It is a very run-of-the-mill experiment. A lot like most of our lives, which is hard for us to admit. But also unlike American-style consumerism, which is hard for us to resist.
When we combine the reality that most people are not celebrities or geniuses or rich or sophisticated with the consumer behavior that acts as if we are all of those things, then we get the confusion of American-style consumerism and the failed social structures it has encouraged us to create. Structures that damage our world, ourselves, and those around us. Structures like, “The customer is always right.” Or like, “Sometimes you just have to pamper yourself,” which in our dominant culture really means, “Always you are entitled to whatever you desire.”
Well, I am just an average person. Yet sometimes I have listened to the siren-craft of branding consultants and imagined myself to be someone very special. And I have sometimes behaved and consumed as if that were true, as if I were a celebrity and a genius and rich and sophisticated. Which is another way of saying that I have worn certain clothing brands and expected the world to listen to all I think and gotten myself into debt and made a fool of myself.
Then also, I have been a critic of American-style consumerism. I have become indignant with the cheapness of Wal-Mart and Costco, whose prices are slashed on the backs of labor, manufacturers, and suppliers. Equally, I have become offended by the sumptuousness of Nordstrom and Banana Republic, whose expense is visible on strapless prom dresses, thousand-dollar shoes, and always-changing fashions that demand always-purchasing humans.
But I have shopped at all those places. (Except Wal-Mart, yuck!) Even in the midst of my 100 Thing Challenge, I have ducked into a Banana Republic store to browse the sale racks, but sneak peeks at the full-priced extravagance. Perhaps American-style consumerism has been and in many ways still is my problem.
I just do not see any solution to any problem until I am willing to ask myself and ask others to honestly assess me, “Am I the one responsible for this?”
The 100 Thing Challenge is many things. I have some hopes and fears for what I might accomplish before it is all done. At its most fundamental level, though, the 100 Thing Challenge is an attempt to answer the question about my role in American-style consumerism.
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