There followed that beautiful season…
Summer…
Filled was the air with a dreamy
and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created
in all the freshness of childhood.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GOODBYE TO THE WATER BOTTLE


Worldwide sales of plastic water bottles are $60 Billion a year.

That's a lot of money for an essential resource that you can
get for free from any faucet in most, not necessarily all,
countries.

And once that water is consumed, those plastic bottles --
70 billion bottles a year in the U.S. alone - end up in
landfills or perhaps bobbing along bodies of water and
ultimately, the sea.

But there is a movement afoot in the U.S. to get rid of plastic
water bottles and it is called the Unbottle Water Campaign.
And big cities are getting into the act.

On March 4, San Francisco "became the first major city in
the U.S. to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on public
property, building on a nationwide effort to curb waste from
the billion-dollar industry," reported The Examiner.

Sales of bottles holding 21 ounces or less of water will be phased
out over the next four years. Violators risk fines of up to $1,000.

Reacting to the ban, the America Beverage Association called
the action a "misguided attempt by city supervisors to decrease
waste in a city of avid recyclers."

More such "misguided attempts" are needed in the U.S. to break
the habit of the plastic water bottle. With potable water available
nationwide, there is no reason to be buying this product which
in addition to filling up landfills poses a health hazard to people.

The polycarbonate plastic of water bottles is made using an
industrial chemical known as BPA or bisphenol A. Some research
studies have found that BPA can leach into beverages and food
(BPA is also used to coat metal cans) with potentially adverse
effects on the brain, behavior, and the prostate gland of fetuses,
infants and children.

It's time to move away from plastic to glass:  the water bottle is
a good starting point.

newdream.org/unbottlewater

Photography by Denise Blasor

Wake up today, 
and look into the heart of the universe,
at this very moment you are here,
and you are alive.

Martin Suarez

THE ELECTROSHOCK OF VINTAGE

All pictures taken at Electroshock on Loiza Street

San Juan -- Feeling the jolt of the past is as easy and immediate
as entering a vintage/thrift store and on Loiza street, that corridor
of commerce with so much going on these days, there's two of
them right across from the other, each beckoning with unique
delights.

Much of the charm of both Len.t.juela and Electroshock is in the
contrast between the cache on shelves and racks that speaks so
vividly and colorfully of past decades and the modern, edgy
look of these two stores, a contrast that reiterates how well the past
and present can coexist in mutual appreciation.

Also, they are so bright and neat, unlike so many thrift stores
one finds even in New York that are dingy, grimy and messy.
The emphasis here is on neatness and making it easy for
people to appreciate the variety of objects carefully curated
by their owners.

Electroshock's owner Monica Oquendo says it took a while for
San Juan consumers to warm up to vintage. "There was a mysticism
about it," she said. "It's been a learning process."Today she runs two
vintage stores: the one on Loiza street, which she opened earlier this
year, and another one in Rio Piedras, near the University of Puerto Rico.

















The large clothing selection, for  men and women, hangs
neatly from racks that occupy much of the store. There are
dresses, skirts, blouses, tops, t-shirts, jeans, and shirts galore,
plenty to choose from if you have the patience and time to
look around.

Additionally, Oquendo has contemporary and vintage jewelry
on display in a glass case, plus assorted items like records,
luggage, artist comic books, totes and bags. Most things in
the store are under $30.

Styles have certainly taken all kinds of twists and turns in past
decades and one of the delights of looking through racks of old
dresses is to spot those that in addition to recalling a way of
dressing also bring back a moment in history like the chic orange
frock with black lace seen during a recent visit that instantly
flashbacked to the Valentino dress that Jackie Kennedy wore
to marry shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis back in 1968.

Jackie's dress, a tunic ending in a pleated skirt, was beige and
had a high neck but it too featured bands of lace across the bodice
and the long sleeves, much as in the above dress.

The joy of vintage is all about making such finds or in the best of
cases, uncovering surprising aspects of the past one had completely
forgotten or was not even aware of.

Len.t.juela   #1852 Calle Loiza  787.408.7111

Electroshock  #1811 Calle Loiza 787.727.5428

Photography by Denise Blasor

I don't want a future, I want a present.
To me this appears of greater value.
You have a future only when you have no present,
and when you have a present, 
you forget to even think about the future.

Robert Walser

ⓒ  2014 Lorraine Blasor all rights reserved❥