I’ve noticed a new NYC microtrend of people wearing billowy checkered cotton scarfs around their necks. They remind me distinctly of Yasser Arafat’s Keffiyeh. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keffiyeh). Fashion can be pretty fascinating in its ability to absorb and appropriate otherness. So while we are at war with much of the Arab world, and Arab-Americans are feeling threatened and misunderstood enough that they have had to launch an advertising campaign in the subway, NYC consumerist fashionistas have appropriated the Keffiyeh. I wonder whether the wearers know what they are wearing, and whether they see it is some kind of statement, or just “cool.”

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1. Murky(ting) Water

a New York City bottled water company with a local twist and knack for honesty. We don’t travel the world from Fiji to France seeking water or offer the usual bottled water gimmicks. We work with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles.

Fuji Water and Evian and San Pelegrino are bad offenders in terms of transportation miles. I’m not going to argue with that. BUT, it is still filtered, which takes lots of energy. So its basically like the Coke/Dasani and Pepsi/Aquafina products in that respect: filtered local tap water.

Get a water bottle folks. Carry it with you. And if you are still afraid of NYC tap water, get a britta. But drink the water. Not the marketing coolaid.

It reminds me of Tiffany Holmes’ Lake Water project, where she bottled Chicago’s Lake Michigan water. The point being that bottling local water was exactly all the big Coke and Pepsi distributors were doing.

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2. You have got to be kidding