Be Green Challenge
Week 6
Finally, the Be Green Challenge has come to an end. They say it takes 5 weeks to make or break a habit, and after completing this challenge, I can say that this is definitely true. Towards the beginning of this challenge, I struggled a lot. I was too anxious about not being able to buy an outfit for banquet, not being able to buy presents, and just not being able to shop for things in general. I would constantly window shop. I would go to the stores, try stuff on, and sadly put them back. I would browse the web for hours and fill up my shopping carts on so many sites but never actually check out. Slowly but surely, that all stopped. It could be because the quarter started to pick up and I didn't have the physical time, but I would like to believe that it was because of what this challenge has taught me. It taught me to save my money. It taught me that I don't need to constantly shop for things. It taught me to be cautious of where I shop as I could be supporting unfair labor laws, unfair pay, and unsanitary workplaces.
Surprisingly, not buying anything made me more aware of my own sense of style. I was forced to work with what I have-- not what I want. This made me pay more attention to how I style my outfits in order to better represent who I am as an individual. In this week's reading "Asian On My Mind", Thuy Linh Nguyen speaks about how Asian American fashion is "partly inherited, partly modified, and partly invented". She says these modifications were not drawn from Asia but rather from various other "streams of internationalism". Basically, it has been whitewashed. Kate Betts expressed her disappointment in the fall fashion shows of 2004 because all the Asian American designers "betrayed no hint of their Asianness". This made me upset. My culture is beautiful and I realized I have so many clothes with "Indian" patterns that I rarely wear out because I'm afraid to stand out. However, since I wasn't able to buy anything, I became more appreciative of these pieces and wore them out more. What better to represent me than my own culture??
References:
https://www.sciencealert.com/how-long-it-takes-to-break-a-habit-according-to-science
Thuy Linh Nguyen. "Asian On My Mind"
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