ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN
ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN is a grant offered by the New York Foundation for the Arts. And this document is my application for said grant. A friend told me about this grant award literally a day before the deadline! Nobody is to blame for that, and it is certainly not your problem, but given the state of climate change on planet Earth, I just had to give it a shot. (Yes, that will make sense shortly.)
And--if you are reading this grant application on moviesforyourmind.com, it is because I had problems uploading the application (I accept full responsibility for said failure; what can I say, I am a Luddite), but more importantly, the discipline of the application has provided me--and hopefully you, The Reader--with the best possible summation of what the Trash Museum is about. I may be running a contest to come up with a better name for the museum!
A DETAILED SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT:
Let's start by me lifting a story from my own letter that I wrote to the crew at Queer Eye--my dream, go-to gang for this extraordinary project: THE PITCH, & BACKSTORY: The city is Los Angeles; the year--1994. (And no, this is not going to be a Dostoevskian epistle--it’s a five minute read at most.) It was January 17th, exactly 4:30 a.m. And the Earth moved. Many, in the moment, would attribute it to great sex, but in point of fact, the cause was the infamous Northridge Earthquake, a whopping 6.6’er. As fate would have it, I was awake, in an apartment just a few miles from the epicenter. In a bizarre moment of anal retentive non-panic (even as the floor beneath my feet was still moving), I put my dogs on their leashes, grabbed my Allstate Renter’s Policy from my dropleaf desk, and started filling up the bathtub with water, knowing the city would probably be without water for days. Then I hurried outside. The next day, curious, I started rifling through the dumpster behind the apartment building, even as neighbors panicked and packed and moved the hell out of Dodge. I found, among many other things too lengthy to list here, a faux Ming Vase, bottles of booze, and, (?) some birth control pills. I hauled the vase up to my apartment (laying it sideways on my mattress, along with other breakables, against aftershocks), started drinking the booze, and as for the birth control pills--well, Hollywood was still Hollywood, plate tectonics notwithstanding.
CUT TO: 29 years later. Today. This project is actually a “mini-museum” unto itself. For about a third of a century, inspired by the Tucson Garbage Project, spearheaded by the eminent Dr. William Rathje (author of "Rubbish: The Archaeology of Garbage"), I have been collecting clothing from dumpsters in order to point out to a warming world just how much we throw away. The aim of this project, this mini-museum, is threefold: first, to show the perfectly good trashed clothing at its best. Secondly, to run a continuous film on a large screen explaining both the harm to the planet caused by clothing waste, and the brilliant recycling model being practiced in places such as Italy and Norway. And thirdly, to show the burgeoning phenomenon of both upcycled clothing and recycled fabric–the twin champions of sustainable, practical gorgeosity.
CURRENT STATE OF THE PROJECT: I have already amassed about 2000 pounds of clothing that was put into the dumpster of thrift stores for no other reason but that those clothes had been on the rack in excess of three or four weeks. Other than that, they are perfectly serviceable. Under the category of (and I just made this one up), “Sacrifices We Make For Art”, I have traded my lovely three bedroom home nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a little anteroom tucked away in a building in Gloversville, New York. The entire 4th floor (about 4000 square feet) will be dedicated to this “Trash Museum”. I anticipate that all of the clothes could be hung and steamed in a couple of standard work weeks, if I had a couple of volunteers or salaried helpers–all 2000 pounds of it (one or two contractor bags full of clothes per hour). I could do it myself in maybe a month, depending on if I can afford to go at it full time. The audio/visual component–a ten minute look at the harms of clothing waste, and also of the potential of recycling, short enough for a full viewing in a museum setting–should take me about two weeks of solid work. (I have a Master’s Degree in Film and Video from The American University in Washington, D.C.) By the way–my partner and I have already spent the bulk of 2022 moving everything–the clothes, our lives, our four rescue pets, and even my partner’s own separate museum–up to New York. We own the building outright, so the headaches of a business model in which the rent or mortgage must be paid every month is something we will never have to worry about! We anticipate that this museum (to be donated within the next few years to the appropriate foundation) will be open forever, or until climate change wipes us all out, whichever comes first!
THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROJECT: As upset as people are by the hundreds of pounds of beautiful and practical clothes (including pillows and comforters and blankets and coats and jackets and sweaters that could save the lives of so many homeless people), the problem is not without a solution. And a great solution it is: our goal is to turn fabric recycling into a standard and routine matter. Full stop. We can look to Italy, and to Scandanavian countries for their cutting edge work in this area. And the recycling centers can be viable businesses which not only can employ legions of people, but also turn a profit–not something I care about, but certainly incentivizing to the public writ large. And as for what happens to all of that clothing, rescued from the trash? They are turned into fibers that are turned into clothes that compete with anything on the racks of Macy's or Harrod's. Happily, some of the biggest names in fashion are jumping on the bandwagon. There is also a wonderful niche for individual artists who are highly creative, with an eye for the quirky: the Upcyclers! Oh–-did I mention?--also, we could all just possibly save the planet from total annihilation. Perk worth noting. And by the way, if any of you have any doubts about the impact of the massive amounts of clothing that has been thrown away in the trash and--WITHOUT RECYCLING--made its way into the earth's ecosystem, just do spend some time looking at the pictures of piles of clothes in beach adjacent landfills, as well as the damage it does to ocean life and marine birds.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: I am guessing that the public engagement part of this is by now obvious–this is a museum, sandwiched in between two other museums (a miniature museum, and a museum of storytelling gadgets), so the Trash Museum should be in a robust and vibrant atmosphere. So opening it to the public will be its entire reason for being! The building that we have purchased is on Main Street in Gloversville, New York. I have done a fair amount of spreading the word both in person and online, and I have a fact sheet that contains my "go-to" bullet points to wake up the world, when it comes to clothing pollution and "fast fashion". That fact sheet can be found at the end of this document--after the Oscar Wilde bit. And perhaps most importantly, in addition to speaking about the museum project at a variety of local venues, we are on a campaign to connect with anybody who can help us spread the word: social influencers, climate change academics and scientists, politicians, the media, and celebrities. Of course our dream connections are those celebrities who have made fighting Climate Change the central feature of their social commitment, even as much as their desire to perform: we are thinking of Jane Fona, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Ben Affleck, Meryl Streep, and of course, David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg. The great dream is to have a grand party when the museum opens, although one expects that Greta Thunberg might have to show up by Zoom, as she has eschewed flying to lessen her carbon footprint--even her opera singing mother has stopped international touring and taken to performing from her home country. Another goal: I was fortunate enough to have a choral conductor in my youth who won a Grammy for his work; he is also a brilliant composer, and it is my hope to have him compose a piece on the subject, which Greta Thunberg's mother might then perform.
Big Dreams, I know. So they should be petite dreams?
There is not and never has been anything petite about me.
BIOGRAPHY: After traveling the world as the daughter of a noble Air Force serviceman, and my wonderful, brilliant physicist mom, I went on to get my Bachelor’s at George Mason University (double major in English Lit. and Communications), then I got my Master’s at The American University in Washington D.C. (Film and Video Studies), and then did my PhD work at The University of Maryland, where I learned one of the most important lessons of my life by confronting a corrupt athletic department. I later spent many years loving the business of teaching Speech and Communication at GMU, U. of Maryland, and North Virginia Community College. I suppose it is worth noting that after languishing in the Top 20 for decades, when I got involved with the George Mason University Forensics Team (speech and literature events), we catapulted to Number One in the Nation. I am even in a Hall of Fame. (Inducted April of 2010--OK, a big, flailing fish in a small pond–but it is right there, in Wikipedia!) I have spent the last three decades working as an author and an artist, creating outside art for shows in Los Angeles, with my work being featured in both the Topanga Canyon Gallery, and in Santa Monica Fine Art Studios. There, I displayed a kind of three dimensional painting that I developed myself, and I am currently trying to get the method copyrighted or patented--but those themese are different from, and apart from, the Climate Change museum. (If you visit the museum and I am not on the fourth floor Trash Museum, look for me in the basement working on my 3D art.) But back to saving the world: In essence, I would say this about my museum: THERE IS NO OTHER MUSEUM IN THE WORLD LIKE THIS ONE! They say that “all caps” is considered shouting, and folks, that is precisely what I intend to do, Shout It From the Rooftops! But before I do that, let me say that you can search the Web and the World all you like, nobody else has devoted an entire museum to cataloging and displaying and educating the public about what we, as a society, throw away. Even a couple of other trash museums, which focus on trash recycling are sadly closed. Why is there no such museum? I know exactly why, so please listen up: YOU NEED SOMEONE CRAZY ENOUGH TO PICK THROUGH DUMPSTERS FOR A THIRD OF A CENTURY. BUT…. you need someone sane enough, together enough, TO BUY A BUILDING ON MAIN STREET USA, IN WHICH TO SHOW IT. (That said, I wish to give a shout-out to Nelson Molina, who does have a trash museum in New York City, but as a former sanitation engineer, his museum is dedicated to the odd, unusual, fabulous, freaky finds that he acquired over 40 years; my approach is the opposite, and as such I do believe that we compliment each other: I am about showing the sheer volume of perfectly serviceable clothes (and bedding, shoes, books, toys, school supplies, party supplies, dishes, cookware, cleaners, cosmetics, car parts–etc, etc, etc) that we throw away. Last week, for example, I had my hands on about 50 new, state of the art plastic OTTER cell phone cases, New In Box.) So, Mr. Molina and I are compatriots of sorts.
PROJECT BUDGET: This matter is relative and subjective, and, given the serendipity of my having learned of this AWAW project just hours before it was due, I can speak to you of budget issues as much as those last-minute circumstances will allow. How’s this for hyper specific: A FIRE STAIRS, making a legal egress for the fourth floor. My partner and I happily traded a house for a little bedroom in the back of a building, but we have literally run out of money, and a grant is what it would take to buy the outside egress/fire escape that would make the building pass inspection. Without it, well, nobody can legally enter the museum. Estimates range from $10,000 to $15,000 for an outside fire escape that would pass the fire marshal's inspection. As for the contents of the museum itself, the time required to put this together could easily run into about 400 man hours–roughly ten weeks worth of forty hour weeks–for a single person to put everything together. At $20 an hour, just a shade above minimum wage, that would be another $8000. Lastly, regarding budget, the point of this collection of cast-off is to make the clothes look like they are hanging in the showroom of Macys; these clothes really are beautiful, and showing them off to their best advantage will convince visitors to the museum that these clothes should never have been thrown away, but rather could be changing lives–making possible warmth, cleanliness, and pride. I’d like some beautiful racks to hang the clothes on, some fabulous mannequins to show off the finest garments in the collection–and of course, did you see this coming–NO WIRE HANGERS! My dream, of course, is to have this transformation from black contractor bags to “Have I awakened smack in the middle of a Macy’s wet dream?” done by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and/or Ru Paul.
WORK SAMPLES: I confess that I am somewhat stumped as to how to address this issue--although it certainly seems like a reasonable and straightforward enough request. But I would rather state that truth than present you with a rhetorical song-and-dance. (As much as I love a good Broadway musical.) To wit: my goal here is threefold: first, to show the perfectly good trashed clothing at its best. Secondly, to run a continuous film on a large screen explaining both the harm to the planet, and the brilliant recycling model being practiced in Italy and Norway. And thirdly, to show the burgeoning phenomenon of both upcycled clothing and recycled fibers. But all of the above factors do not constitute “samples of art”, per se. I believe that THE MOST IMPORTANT work I can present to you is my ability to write and conduct research, presenting my findings and fictions in a manner that are both persuasive and beguiling even. That writing, in the form of blogs, novels, and non-fiction books can be found at my sister websites, moviesforyourmind.com and moviesforyourmind.net. For example, I just finished two novels at about the same time; I had a superstition about what might happened to me when I finished the one about death--totally unfounded, of course. One novel is about a young man who goes through a tragedy and comes through it with the ability to see your Date of Death floating above your head: "Reaper's Waltz". The other is about a mad scientist who figures out, through the common contemporary practice of oxygenation-in-production, how to infuse a vintage of wine with the soul of a woman: "Woman Wine". However--let this love of storytelling that abides in me not shake your faith in my ability when it comes to the visual and plastic arts. Although samples of my writing may not at first seem like the typical submission from an artist when asked for “work samples”, both my practical and spiritual life experience constantly affirms to me that a person’s ability to express themselves clearly and creatively is the essence of almost every great artist.
After all, many of us simply wouldn’t be artists if it only involved coloring inside the lines.
Nes Pas?
Post Script: Thanks for taking the time to read this, and all of the other noble applications! And should my work not be suitable for this award, perhaps you might think of supporting it, as its growth is evidenced on my webpage, by your general chatter, writings, gossip, and of course, supportive social media behaving and beehiving. I am new to social media, a former Luddite, and my idea of social media is going next door to Linda, the biggest gossip in town, to find out who’s up to what.
Parting thought: “It’s what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you'll be when you can’t help it.” -Oscar Wilde
Now here is your bedtime story, guaranteed to induce nightmares: which it should, if that is what it takes to wake us up.
---The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of all global carbon emissions. That is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
---The fashion industry accounts for about 20% of the planet’s wastewater.
--The UN estimates that a single pair of jeans requires a kilogram of cotton. And because cotton tends to be grown in dry environments, producing this kilo requires about 7,500–10,000 liters of water. That’s about 10 years’ worth of drinking water for one person.
---Jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss estimates that a pair of its iconic 501 jeans will produce the equivalent of 33.4kg of carbon dioxide equivalent across its entire lifespan – about the same as driving 69 miles in the average US car. Just over a third of those emissions come from the fibre and fabric production, while another 8% is from cutting, sewing and finishing the jeans. Packaging, transport and retail accounts for 16% of the emissions while the remaining 40% is from consumer use – mainly from washing the jeans – and disposal in landfill.
--Polyester, the most frequently used fiber in the fashion industry, takes 200 years to decompose.
---A single polyester garment can shed over one million microplastics each time it is washed.
---Every year a half a million tons of plastic microfibers are dumped into the ocean, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. The danger? Microfibers cannot be extracted from the water and they can spread throughout the food chain.
--According to a report conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2013, a whopping 15.13 million tons of textiles ended up in the waste stream (landfills or incinerators). Of that, a mere 15.2 percent was recovered for reuse or recycling. In total, 12.83 tons of textiles--for perspective, the equivalent of more than two million male elephants--ended up in the waste stream in 2013. (And we can assume that the situation hasn't improved in the last decade.)
---Ponder this: there are only about 3500 tigers left in the wild. A century ago, there were 80,000. The finest minds and most august foundations in the world agree that pollution like that caused by the current fashion industry will be directly responsible for the disappearance of tigers from the planet. Experts in the field all sadly agree: tigers will be extinct within 10-20 years. And that is just one species. There are virtually an infinite number in jeopardy. There is a direct correlation between clothing pollution, climate change, and the coming extinction of the tiger--just one of many, many beautiful species we are slated to wipe out.