The not sucking has begun

Hopefully.

The Bangladesh chapter is about 90% complete. I’m in the process of pulling at and strengthening the narrative thread to make it stand out a little more. I’ve also been toying around with the Honduras chapter, which I’m completely rewriting from the “Made in Honduras” chapter you’ll find to the right, and also the introduction.

Several agents have requested the book proposal and it’s my goal to get it to them before the end of the month. Apparently, the publishing industry is dead in August, which means agents have time to read proposals, but there is not much they can do with them until September.

I’ve posted the rough draft of my intro below the cut. I’m not sure it’s the wisest thing to encourage people to not read your book in the introduction, but in this draft I did.

Introduction: Where am I wearing?

I was made in America. My “Jingle These” Christmas boxers were MADE IN BANGLADESH.

I had an all-American childhood in rural Ohio. My all-American blue jeans were MADE IN CAMBODIA.

I wore flip-flops every day for a year when I worked as a SCUBA diving instructor in Key West. They were MADE IN CHINA.

One day while staring at a pile of clothes on the floor, I noticed the tag of my favorite T-shirt: MADE IN HONDURAS.

I read the tag. My mind wandered. A quest was born.

Where am I wearing? It seems like a simple question with a simple answer.

It’s not.

The question inspired the quest that took me around the globe. It cost me a lot of things, not the least of which was my consumer innocence. Before the quest I could put on a piece of clothing without reading its tag and thinking about Arifa in Bangladesh or Mr. Li in China, about their children, their slim hopes, and their fat problems.

I found guilt.

This trip is about the way we live and the way they live. And why on earth there is such a difference.

I knew the world was imbalanced, but, you know, I never really knew it. Whose fault is it? Is it the factories’, the workers’, the brands’, the consumers’, the politicians’? I’m not sure there is a right answer. It’s our world. It’s our problem. We share it.

What I do know is that it is important that we know about the lives of those who support our lifestyle. It is important that we appreciate what we have.

Where am I wearing? Maybe it’s a question I was better off not asking. Maybe this is a book you’re better off not reading.
Because when it comes to clothing, others make it, and we have it made. And there’s a big, big difference.