Last week I wrote about having lunch with our neighbors at Bitch Magazine. The section on their site where they talk about their name really strikes a chord with me. I've had more than a few not-so-pleasant conversations with people who find the name GladRags offensive. They can't quite make the leap and see that we are taking the derogatory slang term for menstruation "on the rag" and turning it on its head. The dictionary definition of "gladrags" is one's finest clothes or party clothes. And that's the positive light in which we view our cycles and the products we make. Therefore, we take a demeaning term and take the sting out of it.

Over at Bitch Magazine, they discuss this issue much more eloquently (they are in the writing business after all) and I'm pasting an except below. But I hope you'll go to their site and read it in its entirety. It's an important thing for all women to hear.

"The writer Rebecca West, back in the day, said, "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." We'd argue that the word "bitch" is usually deployed for the same purpose. When it's being used as an insult, "bitch" is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don't shy away from expressing them, and who don't sit by and smile uncomfortably if they're bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we'll take that as a compliment, thanks."

 Well said, neighbors. Thank you.

 -Brenda

Endless hours can be stolen from our days as we search wikipedia for answers to any lingering query that we can possibly recall (or concoct) – what IS baby corn anyway?  Is it really just the younger version of grow-up corn or is it a different breed all together?  Does it grow in the midwest or Southeast Asia?  Can you make fuel from it, just like its bigger cousin?  Does it have to be husked?

Now, wikipedia has its place (wonder no longer, the answer is here) but maybe there are questions out there that you didn't even know you wanted the answers to.  Maybe there is a greater Internet guide that offers true browsing fulfillment.  A guide that doesn't just provide answers to the questions that we have, but to the questions that we should have.

Maybe that guide is StumbleUpon.  StumbleUpon is a browser supported and sculpted by users just like you and me.  If you come across the coolest site ever (like this blog) then you will just want to give it the StumbleUpon thumbs up so other users check it out.  That way, when they want to kill some time at the office, they can click that 'Stumble!' button and perchance happen upon GladRags Gab.  I already found this site and now pretty much want to stay in a tree house in Cave Junction, Oregon.

Pardon me, did I stumble?

Paz,

Diana 

I’m sorry to all who don’t live in this city (for reasons beyond the following, but we can discuss that at another time – I heart Portland) but this tip is for all locals.

A warm, sunny Friday afternoon is a perfect setting for walk to Mississippi Ave armed with the singular mission of sipping at a revitalizing concoction from Moxie RX. Ah, stepping off the sidewalk and up to the counter of this old Airstream trailer is bliss – an escape from a rapidly bustling street (they did film Feast of Love with Morgan Freeman at the coffee shop, The Fresh Pot, next door – this avenue is famous!).  Moxie’s smoothies and elixers are dizzingly delectable.  My favorite is the RX – almond butter, banana and dates.  Decadent.

Alls I gotta say is, make your way to Moxie.  It’ll rejuvinate you for those painfully slow final hours of your Friday workday (just kidding, Brenda!).

What is YOUR favorite smoothie combo?

Peace out!

Diana

P.S. Jodi was an extra in Feast of Love.  If you want to see her – something about being on Shaver when a girl looks through the coffee shop window and Greg Kinnear passes.  Whatever, she’s famous ok?!

Bitch Magazine moved its offices to Portland recently. They are located about a mile down the street from the GladRags office so we took them out to lunch to say welcome. They are a great bunch of women doing important work. I encourage you to take a look at the magazine and to check out the writings on thier blog. I especially love their mission page.

-Brenda

Increasingly, the aerial view of city outskirts is a predictable pattern of lined houses filling standard sized lots with cul-de-sacs and swimming pools circularly accenting the rigid geometry.  I can zoom down and picture the added attractions as everyone tries to keep up with the Joneses – the basketball hoop, the play set (with a canvassed play house if you’re lucky), the pool floats for lazing about, the ATVs for weekend trips to the open country; there always seems to be too little paycheck for too much “Can you buy me that, pleeeease??!!!”  It’s like running a race on a treadmill – it’ll wear you out, but it’ll never get you to where you need to go.

As we plug away, trying to make a career, a family and a community, and to arrive ultimately at financial independence, how do we keep perspective?  How do we remain healthily critical of our lives so that we can avoid choices that waste resources and segregate communities, and remind ourselves of the things that are truly important in life?  How do we gently nudge our neighbors and loved ones when it seems they have lost this perspective and, worse yet, when that misguided sort of life is interfering with our own potential happiness and freedom?
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I have to admit, I have never been a kid person.  I never really saw myself as a parent, most of my friends didn’t consciously chose to have kids, and I am the youngest of the majority of my extended family.  I enjoy being the baby and have never felt like that needed to change.

So my sister has a bun in the oven.  As well as 2 of my close friends, added to another close friend who had a kid less than a year ago, and another who is trying.  All of a sudden, I am surround by breeding.  To say the least, it is freaking me out.

Now, as a consumer, a responsible one at that, with this new baby craze sweeping through my world, I am inspired to research new green baby products.  I love to shop, I admit it.  And this is giving me something new to shop for.  Let me correct that, I love to research products, yet rarely buy them.  I am an e-commerce analytics tease (many abandoned shopping carts).  Back to the main issue here, eco baby products.  Adorable.

Here are a few links to get started with:
GreatGreenBaby
EVO
allthingsgreen.net  

And don’t forget that Gladrags Night Pads can be used for post-partum!

There are tons of other companies out there making amazing new responsible baby products.  Comment if you find more!  I will pass them on to the sister…

-Jodi

I think breastfeeding is one of the most rewarding, important, and wonderful things that happens between a mother and her child. Here’s a dismaying article reported in the Washington Post about how the politically powerful formula industry toned down some intense and provocative ads produced by the Health and Human Services Department to increase historically low breastfeeding rates in the U.S.

While these ads were blunt and used scare tactics like showing an insulin syringe or an asthma inhaler with a nipple, the facts are that breastfed children suffer significantly lower rates of conditions like type 1 diabetes and asthma. But with $8 Billion in worldwide annual sales, those formula makers have some clout and they know how to use it.

-Brenda

Two of my favorite people, Ellen and Miguel, were wed in the most beautiful and intentional ceremony I have ever attended.  Last weekend I visited them in Olympia, WA and we clicked through their wedding photos, sighing with the flood of memories that rained upon us.  We happened upon the pictures of the happy couple washing one another’s feet in an act of humility and service (I know, your hand just went to your heart and you said, “aw, how sweet!”).  Ellen leaned over to me.  Conspiratorially she let me know that the cloth they used to dry their feet was none other than GladRags Organic Cotton Hankies!

Working at GladRags has its perks – I get free menstrual supplies for all my friends and loved ones.  Ellen received a gift of a Keeper Cup.  Not to leave out Miguel, I enclosed in the package the only thing in our stock that a non-menstruating person could also use, our hankies (I gave him a 3-pack cuz he’s just that special!).  That Ellen and Miguel put these booger bound cloths to such a special use makes me wonder… what else are GladRags users doing with their pads and hankies?

And, did they use sea sponge tampons for the foot washing?!

Peace,

Diana

I had a “remember when” moment today. Remember when the gym teacher came into the classroom and took all the boys with him (he was invariably a man) and the school nurse came and took all the girls with her (the school nurse was invariably a woman). Ooooh! We were going to learn about our bodies! Woohoo!

This experience was somewhat mortifying for a youngster who was raised in our sexually repressed society. I mean, why else would they make the girls and boys be separate? Obviously there was something that us girls were to talk about the boys shouldn’t hear and vice versa. For the record, I still am not positive what the boys talked about.

But us girls learned all about our periods. We learned that once a month one of our ovaries would release an egg and if it wasn’t fertilized (by some act that we won’t actually talk about), then the lining of our uterus will shed, causing us to bleed. Sitting there all, embarrassed and sheepish, we were taught that – no really, our bodies weren’t broken if they bled. However, it was this somewhat clinical, rather gender separate experience that I believe causes young women to be embarrassed about the changes in their bodies. Girls will stealthily put a tampon (hopefully organic) in their pocket without anyone seeing. Boys pretty much pretend that the whole thing isn’t happening. And why should they acknowledge it, they weren’t made to watch with period video with all the girls, so they can claim ignorance. If we remove this taboo about menstruation at a young age, maybe our children won’t be so freaked out by it when they are adults?

Anyway, I digress. Recently, this video clip was brought to my attention by former GladRagger, Sara (Green Light Design). The video is a 1940’s Disney/Kotex production called The Story of Menstruation. It is a delightful look at how our bodies change with the onset of puberty and things to remember when attempting to avoid cramps and stay healthy and happy. This is just the sort of video that I watched sitting with all my female classmates, most definitely embarrassed of my body. Alright folks, grab some popcorn and Dots candy and enjoy The Story of Menstruation (see below)!

 -Jodi

Labor Day always signals to me that summer is over. But it really isn’t over, because here in Oregon, September is a wonderful warm, dry month. I’m getting amazing vegetables in my weekly basket from Pumpkin Ridge Farms. I’ve belonged to this CSA for over twelve years and without a doubt, my family and I are healthier people because of it  – I would never actually buy the vast amounts of dark, green leafies I am forced into cooking! It feels great knowing I’m eating an organically-grown morsel picked that very morning and that I’m helping local farmers Polly and James make a go of farm life. In every delivery, they include a note with recipes and a report of how the sun, the rain, the wind, and the bugs are effecting the crops. It’s great to be in touch with nature through your food.  Check out the CSA in your area.

Happy eating,

Brenda