Heya Folks!
I’m now blogging…sometimes at The LA Daily News’ blog Friendly Fire. Stop by and have a look.
Cheers.
On November 28, 2007,
in General Announcements,
by Tina Dupuy
This article ran in the LA Times.
Americans get really weird when we talk about obesity. We treat fat people like anorexic teenage girls. We don’t want to freak them out or hurt their feelings. It might turn them into cutters.
We dance around the reasons for obesity as if it’s a mystery, a phenomenon that modern science may someday unravel. It could be hormonal or glandular or genetic or — even worse — contagious! Every week, half-baked studies are published and reported on, and (like everything else) we eat them up. Bacteria in your stomach may cause a craving for chocolate, according to a study last month by Nestle Research Center in Switzerland. Um . . . it’s never OK to be your own spoof.
We think about obesity the way Cro-Magnons thought about pregnancy. It’s a fact of life, but random and unexplainable. If you can’t drink a couple of 2-liter bottles of cola a day and remain a size 2, it must mean that you have a slow metabolism or something. Just can’t figure it out.
According to oft-cited research published in the journal Obesity, the annual cost to the state of medical care attributable to obesity is estimated to be almost $7.7 billion. If every man, woman and child in California put $200 into a fund on a yearly basis, that wouldn’t be enough to cover that tab. And that’s just what the state spends.
So with these facts in mind, Democratic leaders in the Legislature, in the latest bid to get uninsured Californians covered, this week proposed to tax (drum roll) . . . tobacco!
The California Department of Health reported that as of May 2007, only 13.3% of adults smoked. So the financial burden for the 6.7 million uninsured rests on the shoulders of an estimated 4.7 million nicotine enthusiasts.
What’s worse, the proposed $2-a-pack tax — besides being punitive — is an attempt at prevention. In other words, the more effective the tax is as a disincentive to smoking, the less money it would generate. Opponents of the idea have been quick to point this out.
I have a better proposal: a snack tax. We had one for about 18 months in the early 1990s. Granted, it was shot down in the polls by a huge margin, but that never stopped George W. Bush or Richard Nixon, or Dennis Kucinich for that matter, from making a comeback. In fact, a tobacco tax also was voted down here last year. So we’re clearly not afraid of reruns.
I have a motto: Alliteration makes for good legislation. So we can sell the snack tax like this: Tack 10 cents onto anything beige, battered or bite-sized.
The obesity epidemic is a serious health crisis. Even cockroaches are coming down with Type 2 diabetes. And it’s all from — surprise — the food we eat. Fast food. Fried food. Sugary food. High-fructose corn syrup. It’s in abundance, and its super cheap. We’ve overindulged, and it’s driving up healthcare costs each year.
But it’s really unpopular to bring that up. We can sin-tax smokers all day long. Don’t let them smoke in public areas; don’t let them smoke in their apartments. Fine them if they smoke in their cars when there are minors riding with them. Shame them into being social pariahs. But mention the connection between late-night drive-thru and Lane Bryant, and you’re the jerk.
Tax junk. If you look on the package for the nutritional facts and there are none to speak of — that’s not food, that’s caloric entertainment. And paying another dime for that is reasonable. Junk-food makers won’t feel the pinch. Junk-food eaters might not even notice. Ditto for those who abstain (health-food nuts and terrorists mostly).
But it finally would force junk food to contribute to healthcare instead of just weighing on the system.
It is time to de-mystify why we are fat. It is what and how much we eat. As the state debates how to pay for healthcare, let’s keep what’s on our table on the table.
On November 12, 2007,
in General Announcements,
by Tina Dupuy
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On November 12, 2007,
in Articles, Favorites, General Announcements, Hey Look, I'm a Writer,
by Tina Dupuy
On November 8, 2007,
in Column,
by Tina Dupuy
This is cross posted at Huffington Post, BrooWaha and the LA Daily News.
I love swag. I do. Free stuff! I have a menagerie of acquired t-shirts in my closet ranging from production companies to Bar Mitzvahs.
Through my swag infatuation I discovered American Apparel. I was given a t-shirt that fit perfectly and I googled the name on the label. This was back in late 2003. There was only one retail store for American Apparel, and it just so happened to be walking distance from my house in Echo Park.
In 2003 ‘outsourcing’ was the worry de jour. I was touring around the country at the time, and there were two kinds of towns – those that were complaining about the pollution left by factories and those towns that were just left by factories. American Apparel was made in the USA – more specifically in Los Angeles. It was great – reasonable label-free clothes made 3 miles away by people that were paid a decent wage. A Prius pizza delivery uses more fuel. That was something I could buy into!
The first time I went into the store front I was engaged by a bunch of enthusiastic kids that fancied themselves as stylists. I rarely ever interact with anyone who likes their job, especially when that job is retail. These people were the exceptions. They liked clothes, liked talking about clothes and were excited about American Apparel. They boasted about their company’s mission statement. And I was given a 10% discount because I lived in the neighborhood! Almost as sweet as swag.
However, even though at times I wanted to, I could never fully embrace the company. It’s like my relationship with tofu – yeah, it’s good for a lot of reasons – but it’s also kind of gross.
‘Gross’ meaning the cult of personality of the founder Dov Charney. He is a now slightly under 40 hipster that wears his sexuality (literally) on his sleeve. Think Angelina Jolie pre Brad Pitt…only very oily, hairy, and male. He famously started masturbating during an interview with Jane Magazine, boasts about sleeping with employees and is solely responsible for those saucy advertisements.
I’ve never liked the ad campaigns for AA. It’s not that I am afraid of sexy images of 15 year old girls. It’s just that you can only be so edgy until you fall off into parody. It’s like, okay, we get it – you’re a pervert – is that all you got? I like my perverts to have some depth (see: J. Edgar Hoover).
Your feelings on it would depend on whether you view Hugh Hefner as a stud or as a one trick pony.
I won’t defend the advertising but I will say that not buying AA clothing because of the sexual nature of the ads and opting instead to buy Chinese imports from Wal-Mart because it seems more wholesome…is ridiculous.
With some consumer power comes some responsibility.
So, almost overnight American Apparel started to use the condensed Starbucks business model. Suddenly, there were stores everywhere. According to the latest press release (in Aug. of ‘07) the company now has 157 retail locations (half of which are on Sunset Blvd.) in 11 countries. The business boomed and then they announced a merger with Endeavor Acquisitions in December 2006. They will go from being a private company to being traded publicly. Will they still be sweat-shop free? Their idealistic mission statement was taken off the website.
Then it started happening. The sales people started becoming more and more like Emo Gap Store rejects with a fraction of the vocabulary. The clothes started becoming more shoddy. I bought three garments at one time and they all shredded after the first wash. Where I used to be able to walk in and exchange an item with no questions asked, now it’s a lip smack and a, “Yeah, we’ve never done that.”
To which I asked, ”How long have you worked here?”
“Like almost (dramatic pause emphasized by author) a year.”
“Uhm, do I still get the ‘hood rat discount?”
To which he replied with yet another lip smack, “Yeah, we don’t do that anymore.”
I can deal with the apathetic yet snotty sales people. I can deal with the nauseating advertisements that were provocative back before Gray Davis was recalled. I can deal with the occasional pair (or two) of defective yoga pants. I can deal with the lack of a mission statement. I can deal with having to pay full price. I can even deal with neon colored clothing (which should be listed as a crime against humanity).
I just can’t deal with all of them from the same store.
Now I’ll buy all my t-shirts from China, but all my produce from a farmers’ market. I’m hoping the two cancel each other out.
With some consumer power comes some responsibility.
On November 5, 2007,
in Uncategorized,
by Tina Dupuy
In the goodwill spirit of Hollywood, I will stand together with my fellow writers.
I am happy to report that I have preemptively not written a joke in almost two weeks.
I wish I could say the same for Tucker Carlson.
Yuk. Yuk.
But seriously, I have been watching the fall season and I think that the ‘writers’ of Dirty Sexy Money have yet to work this
year.
Them going on strike is like a truant officer picking up a corpse.
The point is – that show sucks and it made my TiVo itch.
Damn it…I think that was a joke I just wrote. Oh well. The internet stuff is off the table anyway.
Solidarity!
