Dear Professor Folta:
Yesterday there was some news coverage and commentary about our use of the state Freedom of Information Acts to obtain the correspondence of professors who wrote for the agrichemical industry’s PR website, GMO Answers. We’re glad to have a public conversation about this topic with the professors involved. We believe that transparency and open dialogue are fundamental values by which we must operate in a democratic society and a truly free market. To that end, I thought it would be useful to explain why we FOIA.
Since 2012, the food and agrichemical industries have spent at least $103 million dollars on a massive PR and political campaign to deceive the public about genetically engineered foods. As the public relations firm Ketchum bragged in a recent video, “...
Lifestyle
Dear Oil and Gas Industry,
Photo courtesy of Blair Broussard.
Photo courtesy of Blair Broussard.
I’m writing this because we have had a lifelong relationship – not just for obvious reason, but because I was born and raised on the Louisiana Gulf Coast…I’ve unknowingly been dependent upon and directly affected by your successes and failures. You’ve employed my brother, friends, uncles, aunts and boyfriends – we’ve had a pretty interesting relationship. I’ve monitored your behaviors, activities and been privy to some interesting conversations during late-night Bayou bar talk. You’ve been stereotyped as the old stogy man, beating down change with a cane, but I know you know better than that – traditions may be important, but survival is too. While you find yourself influx yet again with...
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Dear Linda,
I'd love to take a second of your time and share my thoughts about the #ImNoAngel campaign with you.
We met a couple of months ago in NYC along with a dozen other bloggers and your Chief Marketing Officer. We gathered to discuss how Lane Bryant can better serve the plus-size community and it turned into a passionate discussion where those in attendance openly requested more diversity both on the catwalk and online. That, and less Sharkbite dresses, wink wink. I left the lunch inspired and looking forward to what Lane Bryant would produce next. Truthfully? While it's absolutely gorgeous, I expected more than the #ImNoAngel campaign.
Even though I was disappointed, I’ve been reading the responses with great interest since your launch; observing those who applaud the...
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Dear Style Bloggers (or is it more politically correct to call you "Fashion Bloggers"?), How do you do it? How do you find the time and motivation to get all done up each and every day, take photos of yourself, edit those photos, and post them online? First, let me address the fact that you are indeed picking out a perfectly accessorized outfit and doing your hair and makeup every single day. Most days I'm lucky if I make it out of my sweatpants let alone even think about accessorizing. Does my daughter's hair tie that she yanks from her head every time I futily attempt to put a pony tail in and inevitably end up wearing on my wrist count as an accessory? That's technically a bracelet, right? Second, let's talk about taking photos of yourself. How in the heck do you get over that...
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Dear Maria,
Thank you! Thank you for still smiling at 10am in the Women's Department during the #LillyForTarget sale. You were still in such great spirits and so nice and helpful. I'm so sorry you had to break up a fight today. Those Ebay re-seller's are nuts! Clearly by your awesome attitude you won that fight! :) Thank you for keeping the department so maintained today. I have no idea how you did it. I also appreciate that you instantly put returned merchandise back on the shelves right away. (See sometimes it's not just the early bird that gets the Lilly worm.) I love that you answered the phone letting callers know you were all out of Lilly Pulitzer. Why have them make the trek for no reason? I think it's super cool that you gave purchase limits to folks this morning. You rock! Man...
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Dear Zoo Jeans,
After reviewing your new-fangled project of ripped denim (which is my favourite) I would personally like to thank you for creating such an innovative process to making jeans look as fierce as they can be (literally). I was casually lurking the Internet (like the lioness blogger that I am) and came across an article explaining in detail, the work you’ve created with lions, tigers and bears. I must say that while making my own distressed denim, it had never come to mind that zoo animals could very well be the face of fashion one day. We applaud you, Zoo Jeans.
Here at FORA, we’re grateful for like-minded creatives like yourselves to have the ability to come up with such fresh ideas to making denim co0Ol. It takes a strong-minded individual to literally step over to...
2,277
Dear SoundCloud:
While tens of millions of users continue to enjoy the use of SoundCloud on a daily basis, there is an ongoing epidemic on your site that must be stopped. SoundCloud needs to put an end to the actions of abusive users who use artists’ and labels’ SoundCloud pages to boost their own plays and promote their own personal tracks/mixes. If nothing else, if SoundCloud does not have the manpower to police its ten million plus users, one way to remedy the situation would simply be to reach out to your users with global messages via your site and via your social media to put a halt to this madness.
Artists and labels work hard to continuously put out music we love. Most of these established artists and labels are paying to use the service of your site and have spent years...
2,595
Dear Messires,
Now that my fellow islanders have blogged about their fashion pet peeves here and here, I figured it was time for me to jump onto the bandwagon and grouse about what irks me the most.
Popped collars!
For those of you unversed in American urban slang, a “popped” collar is, quite simply, an upturned collar, such that the back of the neck is covered and the adjunct flaps of fabric left to flop around the neck, like two dysfunctional flippers. Usually pastel, always neck-high, and sometimes even layered (oh the horror!), the popped collar is a perennial favourite on my list of unforgivable dressing faux pas.
A quick search on Google reveals that the popped collar has existed in fashion since the 19th century. According to Mark Pantoja, a San Franciscan science and...
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Sir,
Allow us, the humble image consultants at Henry A. Davidsen, to begin this letter by commending your talents as a professional basketball player. Being a guard for the Miami Heat for the past decade has brought you fame and fortune, and you certainly deserve it; your scoring 2386 points in the 2008-09 season is superlative to say the least. You’re one of the best of your time, an Olympian, and clearly a great guy whose involvement in philanthropy is as selfless as it is profoundly generous.
With that out of the way, we’d like to ask you what you were thinking when you put these pants on:
dwayne wade short pants
It’s tough to tell whether you had your pants hemmed at this length or if you just rolled them up, but either way we respectfully question your sartorial judgement...
2,489
Dear Fashion People,
Today I went to the mall to buy a shirt. Just a shirt. Something girly and springy to put with my khaki capris, something dressier than the solid knit shirts that serve as my spring and summer uniform.
I looked and I looked and I have finally reached a breaking point on an issue that has bugged me for some time:
The camisole.
Everything requires a cami, seemingly by design. It's a vast layering conspiracy, and the salesgirls are in on it. I come out of the dressing room wearing a shirt that plunges down to there. "Is it supposed to be this low-cut?" I ask.
"Oh," she says, "just throw a cami under it."
So I try on something else. The bodice has a lot of eyelet-ish trim on it, and eyelet has holes. Holes, all over my abdomen, including one...
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