Figure 1: Time to learn cursive, kids! Because in another 70 years, everyone will be typing and that swoopy, unreadable script will be just perfect for giving your wrist a mighty, useless cramp. But it'll be great for writing anonymous poetry-filled, sachet-ridden loveletters.
Because my daughter started kindergarten this year, I decided to stick my big toe in the volunteer pond and go to a PTA meeting.
Whoa, mama.
I thought I'd just blend into the woodwork of our super-70's media center and take my notes and get my info and blast outta there.
Clearly our PTA is short on help. I made a few comments and bam! They nominated me for a officer position. Ho Lee Shit.
Well, it seems I can handle being Secretary - writing being my calling and all - but among some of the to-dos I was given (write bilingual flyer, sort Campbells soup labels, etc.) was to research fundraising that was more ecologically-minded and less consumerist.
So I google a few things and come up with a couple of ideas.
There's Greenraising, which is basically the same kinda catalog you pass to your friends and relatives concept; your loved ones get to choose from a bunch of magazine subscriptions, refrigerator magnets, and quirky kitchen gadgets like Taco Propers.
Except in the Greenraising catalog, instead of chili pepper-themed oven mitts and porcelain dolphins jumping over mirrors, you get a slough of SIGG water bottles and gift wrap made from recycled paper. Great. My idea of eco-consciousness isn't buying recycled paper gift wrap. I already have recycled paper giftwrap. It's called yesterday's newspaper.
Along these same lines falls One Planet Fundraising, whose clunky-looking Web 1.0-style site gleefully promises "40% profits!" in large glaring blue 20 pt font, as well as "KLEEN KANTEEN" water bottles, CFLs, reusable tote bags and...wha? What was I talking about? I got all dizzy with the abundance of "K's" in KLEEN KANTEEN and then fell asleep after "totebags."
Finally, there's Greenspark, which is like an eco-minded Happenings book. Being that I HATE coupons (all the beggary, pain-in-the-ass fussy clipping fritters away my life, I feel) the less said the better.
Unless my readers can point me to another source, it looks like it's magazine subscriptions and tankards of cookie dough as far as the eye can see around my house this year.
Photo: Elementary school children standing and watching teacher write at blackboard, Washington, D.C. by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1899, via Library of Congress digital collection.
