← Clotheshorse with Amanda Lee McCarty
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- [00:00]
Amanda Lee McCarty
The night that Trump won the election. It remains way too sharp and painful in my memories. Like, I can remember what I was wearing, what the air felt like outside, and I just still live in that sense of despair and rage and disappointment. Such disappointment. I still live in that. Now, if I, you know, not every moment of my life, but if I sit down and remember it, it all becomes so real. And I'm not talking about that election, the one that just happened. I'm talking about the one in 2016. I know this week's episode is not about Trump, I promise. I'm just illustrating an experience here for you. And I'm just going to tell you now, if you are that listener, what was her name? I think Julie, who hates when I talk about personal stuff and just wants me to talk about fashion. You should just skip this episode altogether because we're barely going to talk about clothes this week, and I'm probably going to share some stories from my life. Okay, well, it was nice seeing you, Julie. Everyone else, thank you for staying around. Let's talk about this. So back in 2016, during that presidential election, I was living in Portland, Oregon, and I was working at my worst job ever. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, that company was called Wildfang, because all of you who've been listening for a long time, you already went to LinkedIn, you looked at my work experience, you figured out the timeline, and, you know, that's where I was working. So Wildfang, at least at that point, I'm still. I'm sure they're still doing this, really sold itself as a feminist brand. Like, we sold T shirts that said Wild Feminist on them, and we sold a lot of T shirts. And so this election was a very big deal for us. We planned, like, literally for months, an epic election party that was going to be held at our offices, and it was open to the public, and we were going to be celebrating our first woman president. We got all dressed up. We. We were all super excited. We invited our friends. It was gonna be a big night. Like, I was already like, wow, I'm gonna cry so many tears of joy tonight. Okay, so, well, everybody knows how that turned out, but I want you to understand, like, the timeline of it all. So for those of you who don't live in the United States, election results start to come in as polls close. And since the United States has three time zones, by the time our party started in Portland at, like, I don' 6, 7pm, that's in the Pacific time zone, right? Well, results from a significant chunk of the country were already available. Like polls have been closed for quite some time on the east coast. And they were counting votes and had a good idea of where the election was going. And strangely it was going faster than it ever seemed to like that counting and the obvious direction of the outcome of that election. Right. It was coming in fast. And those results, they were coming in very, very dark. Now the party started out rambunctious and hopeful. Like I said, we were all dressed up. We were having snacks, we were having drinks. I'm pretty sure we were sponsored by multiple liquor companies. It was great. People were like over the moon. We were getting ready to hug it out and cry tears of joy. And I will also add, we. Oh man, I'm just remembering this. We had filled the ceiling with balloons that we were going to drop when the election results were announced. And I will tell you, because this is not a spoiler, you already know how the election turned out, that those balloons stayed up there for months, months. We stared at them and watched them slowly, slowly deflate. It was very sad. And then one day we hit the million dollars in sales mark for one day or something. It was something epic like that. And then we dropped the balloons in the middle of the workday and like I said, they were semi deflated and there was this weird, like we all know why we really had those balloons there. But man, the relief of just the balloons being gone from that point on was celebratory enough. Anyway, so we're stoked we're going to drop these balloons. We're, you know, we're having the time of our lives. But, but over the next few hours, as we're all watching the election results on multiple screens come in, we got quieter and quieter and it became more and more like viscerally uncomfortable. And at some point I just couldn't take it anymore. I don't know, maybe it was like 9, 10 o'clock. It was not late. So I left and I went to a nearby bar with some of my friends like Raina and Colin, Todd and Christine. You all know Christine, she's Lady Hog vintage. She's been on here before. Dustin, that night was doing sound for an downtown. I feel pretty strongly that it was election themed and interestingly enough, we were not texting one another when this was going down. Even though we were both watching it separately happen in real time and had many, many feelings about it. It was just like too much. So I'm sitting in this bar, we're all sitting in silence. Kind of just like trying not to cry, trying not to spiral, trying not to flip the fucking table over and scream into the void. We're drinking our drinks way too fast, and we're just sit. Eventually, Raina, Colin, and I, we decided to head back to our neighborhood on Southeast Foster, and we stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes because, well, everyone was feeling that kind of way, right? So Raina and I waited outside the store. It's called Plaid Pantry. All of you Portlanders know Plaid Pantry very well and probably have some story about it. So we're standing there, and these guys, they pull up in this, like, monster truck with Trump flags and stickers all over it, and they don't even park in a parking spot. They kind of just, like, skurch into the parking lot, like, sideways, blocking everybody's access in and out. And they jump out and they turn to us and they say, I bet you f. Slur crybabies are really crying right now. And I was like, huh, sir, we are women. And then they were, like, saying some other crazy shit, and they went in the Plaid Pantry and wreaked havoc. And Colin came out and we went home, all of us feeling very sad. Dustin came home at some point in the middle of the night from work, and I was just like, I don't want to talk about it. And he was like, me neither. The next day I woke up and I just felt. I felt so sad and shocked and disappointed. And I was walking to the bus stop to work to get to work, you know, and a guy just stopped his car on Foster, which is a. A busy road, all Portlanders will agree. Very busy road. People drive way too fast on there. But he, like, slams on the brakes, winds down his windows. Now, this is a man I do not know and have not since known who he is. And he just yells at me, you're a stupid, ugly bitch. You know that, right? And I stood there for a second, like, shocked. And then he wound up his windows and just, like, you know, squealed his tires and drove off. And it was so surreal. Cause it was like, you know, 8:00 in the morning on a weekday. And I just thought, wow, if this is how the next four years are going to be, like, I don't know how I'm going to survive it, but somehow I did. And there were times in those four years when I just didn't know if I was going to make it another year. My job was horrible, but I felt trapped financially. One of the first things the new administration did was. Was try to Repeal the aca. That's the Affordable Care act, sometimes called Obamacare. And the ACA was a big life changer for many, many people. It made insurance accessible to people who did not receive it via their employers, which is, believe it or not, a lot of people. But even crazier is how fucked up is it that we get our health insurance via our jobs, which, by the way, traps people in bad jobs and bad situations. The ACA also guaranteed coverage for things like checkups and birth control and other necessary services. And yes, believe it or not, insurance did not always cover those things in the past. And it finally struck down the pre existing condition clause that allowed insurance companies to deny coverage for all kinds of care. Like if you had Ms. Or lupus before signing up for a new health insurance provider. Before the aca, the new one didn't have to cover any of your treatment or tests for those conditions. For me personally, as a person who is a cancer survivor and has bipolar disorder, I often couldn't get anything tangentially related to my cancer history covered, much less the blood work and the care necessary for treating my bipolar disorder. Like, for example, I have a birth defect in one of my kidneys that may be related. Like, it's a congenital defect. I may not have been born with it. It may have been related to cancer treatment. And that meant that I could never get my insurance to pay for any tests or treatment related to anything kidney oriented for, like, forever. Like a UTI was like, oh, I don't know, we might not pay for the urinalysis. It was really, really shitty. And then, like, of course, like, no one wanted to pay for me to, like, you know, go see my psychiatrist for my medication either. So just a really bad situation for a lot of people. And so the ACA was like a big game changer. But in 2016, when I took the worst job ever, the ACA was intact and pretty good. And that was great because that employer of the worst job ever, Wildfang, did not offer health insurance despite millions in sales. That's a whole thing we could go on and on and on about. And it's one of the reasons I left the company. Ultimately. I was promised at the time I took the job that they were working on it, we were going to get insurance eventually. Spoiler. They were not working on it. And a couple years later, when I emailed the CEO and was like, when is this coming? We really have to figure this out, she was like, it's not a priority. To me, our number one priority is profitability. So insurance was never coming at that job. I heard they got it after I left. Whatever. Anyway, it didn't matter to me at the time. I took the job because the ACA was pretty good. It let me have health insurance that was pretty affordable and decent, and I didn't think too much about it. But that all changed when Trump became president and began to dismantle the ACA the next year. The cost of my health insurance doubled while the benefits decreased. The deductible increased, like, a lot. And some services, like ER visits were no longer covered. Well, of course, because this is how life works. That year brought two really big events in my life. One was that I got mono, which, you know, when you're a teenager is, like, supposedly fun and you get to miss school, but I doubt it's fun when you're older. When you're, like, an adult, it makes you so sick. I had pneumonia, I had an enlarged spleen. I had a lot of health issues that made it hard for me to just get through a normal day, much less do anything else. I mean, I was just exhausted, in pain, could barely breathe, could barely eat. It was a very, very bad time. And it required X rays and ultrasounds and medications and blood work and other tests. And it lasted like six. The problem was that my deductible was now so high on my insurance, I think it was like $10,000, that it meant my insurance wouldn't pay anything until I had paid $10,000 towards my health care. So that $10,000, which I was not making a lot of money at that job, that was the other thing. There was a raise that was promised that just wasn't coming. And I was making less money than when I'd lived in LA to pay equivalent rent, have more expenses in certain regards, definitely be paying more for my insurance. That $10,000 was killing me financially. Then my daughter had some serious health issues that required multiple hospitalizations and a fully not covered at all ER visit. I was. The bills just kept coming and I was seriously considering bankruptcy because we were just drowning in medical bills. So I couldn't leave the worst job ever. So that was already, like, happening in my mental space. I'm like, ugh, I'm so stressed out. I hate this fucking job. I don't know what's going to happen to us next. And then there was always something outside of me and my family to be worried and upset about. There was always a reason to fight the Muslim ban. Kids in cages at the border, cuts to important parts of the social safety Net cuts to the education system, the list was endless. And that's before we even got to 2020. The thing is, with all of that, living through all of that, all of that swirling around me in various rings around me, yes, I felt profoundly sad, I felt profoundly angry. I. The anxiety was overwhelming, but I never felt doomed. Like, I felt like all of this was temporary because people would fight back, the next election would change things. And really, how bad could it all get? Well, of course it did get worse, right? And as this was all happening, there was this scar on our country. In fact, not even a scar yet, even now in 2025, really just like an open wound of division amongst our people. There was this MAGA versus everyone else stuff. But moreover, the infighting within the left side of the political spectrum, it was appalling. And it still exists, right? Like the people would rather be right than, I don't know, change things, right? They'd rather be right than take action, I guess, is what I'm looking for here. And I remember this division getting crazy before the 2016 election. I remember people who I felt shared the same concern for people and planet that I have. I remember them saying that they couldn't wait to watch it all burn, as if human suffering was a great trade off for, I don't know, being right. I saw this kind of division play out in the Facebook group for the Portland Women's March. Like I was this close to not going to the Women's March because everybody was behaving so horribly in the Facebook group. It just seemed like it would be, I don't know, a big fist fight when I got there. I did go with my friend Mary and her daughter Maple. And it was great just to be with them, although it was really, really cold. But we laughed and had a nice time and we saw a lot of people. But it wasn't this like life changing moment that I thought it would be because of all the infighting leading up to it. And over, I kept seeing this division, like on social media everywhere, even outside of the Women's March. Once again, this drive to be right versus, I don't know, collaborating, taking action together. And over time, that watch it all burn crowd, you probably know someone who was saying that they shifted to, well, we're all so fucked anyway, so who cares? And when you get down to it now, right, the list of scary, oh my God, we are so fucked things, it's like, it's pretty long, right? It's like climate change and plastic pollution, the mega volcano under Yosemite yes, I do have nightmares about that. The inevitable Pacific Northwest earthquake. Also have nightmares about that. The rise of fascism, war and genocide. Another pandemic. That's just the beginning of the list, right? It goes on and on and on. People's rights are being eroded all over this country and this world. So you can't blame people for being like, fuck it, we're all doomed. And I'm gonna go on a shopping spree at temu. Like, I get it, because, like, this is a lot to worry about. And if you're having nightmares about Volcan under Yosemite, like, maybe. Maybe a new pair of pants would cheer you up. I mean, the spoiler of it all is it probably won't. But, like, I get that jump, right? And I do think that this doom, this overwhelming doom, it fuels over consumption, right? Because it's a coping mechanism. Okay, wait, actually, before we keep talking about this, like, sense of doom, I want to tell you, speaking of doom, maybe this is a different kind of doom about this post I saw on Reddit that I had to send to Dylan and we were having a good laugh about, and it's from a subreddit called Old People Facebook, which is pretty funny because, you know, we've all seen some older people wiling out on Facebook and this one is a. I don't know, it seems like, you know how there's all these weird suggested accounts for you to follow on Facebook that just seem to share weird news and images and a lot of it's fake or false or AI or whatever. Anyway, this is like some article about. Well, it says Aldi goes fully organic, bans pesticides, and rivals Whole Foods as healthiest grocery store. Now, I don't know if that's true, but Aldi does have some smoking hot deals on cheese and butter and, I don't know, some other ingredients. Their produce is weird. Anyway, people are commenting like, I saw this, it's amazing. And then the next person says, I love this store and I hate to hear this, I don't want to pay the prices and fruit doesn't last as long and the Lord is returning soon. So basically, like, hey, I don't want to pay more for produce and my health doesn't matter because the Lord is returning soon. And this is not dissimilar to saying, hey, I don't want to buy clothes that last longer and don't involve exploitation of people because you know what, like, the world's going to end soon. And yes, saying that out loud, that just sounds like, wild. But I want to tell you, I see comments like that all the time. I receive comments and messages like that all the time. This mindset of despair, of apathy, of not believing that things can change and be better, just like fully discounting any possibility of progress, that is the definition of doomerism. And if you are, I suppose, subscribing to the way of thinking that is doomerism, then you would call yourself a doomer. And I'm going to tell you, I too, cope with doomerism. Quite often. It is a regular battle with this fugly little troll who shows up when I'm tired or when I read more bad news, when everything just feels so overwhelming. And there are times in my life, I will tell you, in the past where it took months to dig myself out of that pit of doomerism. I will tell you, strangely, it has gotten easier as I have gotten older. Maybe because experience gives me broader perspective. I don't know. So even when I'm just so tired and when the news is just so bad, I just. Well, I care too much to give into it. You can call me a foolish optimist, but I really do believe that we can change the course of this world. And you know what? Actually, don't call me a foolish optimist. Because while I am optimistic, I'm pragmatic, which means I'm sensible and realistic. Yet I see what we can do. I can see the potential of humanity to overcome major obstacles and to thrive. And I see that potential in all of us. So it's optimism, but it's also realism. In this week's episode, we're going to talk about my quest for finding reasons to feel optimistic and how we as individuals can fight off doomerism and still have plenty of energy left to make the world a better place. I've been wanting to do this episode for a while. It's been on my mind since I was in Japan, where I started jotting down ideas for it, but I didn't feel quite ready. And this week was going to be part two in my series about slow fashion and inclusivity. But knowing that this is inauguration week in the United States and wildfires have been raging in California and people have been fretting about TikTok and so much more, it feels like right now is a good time to have this conversation, and I hope you finish this episode feeling empowered and excited, or at least strong and sturdy enough to just keep hanging in there, because I know it's hard. Welcome to Closed Source, the podcast that is honestly just so Glad that you are here. This is episode 223. 1 I am tentatively calling winning the battle against that fugly little troll doomerism. Yeah, fugly. We're bringing it back in 2025. We're throwing it out there and we're only using it to talk about bad things. Now more than ever, we need to talk about how we can stay motivated and engaged in the movement for a better world. Because it is hard out there. Okay. The news has been brutal, even just since the first day of this year. Let's see, we had a mass murder in New Orleans. A guy blew himself up in a cybertruck outside Trump Tower in Las Vegas. And by the way, both of those happened on New Year's Day. I also think there was a mass shooting in Queens, which is in New York City same day. Also there's been lots of violence around the world, wildfires in la, a few plane crashes, which technically were at the end of last year, but very close to New Year's Day. Of course we've got a couple of ongoing genocides, the looming threat of bird flu, and oh yeah, who could forget Trump is becoming president again this week. Or maybe he's vice president to Elon. I don't know. You decide. Talk amongst yourselves. So yeah, cool. Things are totally cool. Everything is fine. Yeah, not really. I already. I'm just going to tell you as a self care for myself, I've decided that tomorrow, which by the time you hear this, it will be tomorrow, Monday, Inauguration Day. I'm going to try to unplug from all media of all types. I'm gonna listen to music all day long and I'm gonna just work. Cause I have a lot of work to do for my clients and it's a lot of the nice kind of work where I'm just like buried in spreadsheets and I can listen to music and it just feels, feels comfortable. I'll probably be wrapped in a blanket while I do that because it's like gonna be seven degrees outside. So it all sounds pretty cozy, right? And I'm gonna drink a whole bunch of peppermint tea. It's gonna be awesome. I hope that you have a similar self care plan for yourself. So speaking of self care or lack of it, I recently had a massive and very scary panic attack. That's why there wasn't a new episode last week. I just, I did not have it in me. My brain was like, I need a minute. And by needing a minute, I mean sleeping a lot and reading all of the books in the Wicked series. Hey, I party, okay? But my anxiety has been building since like October, possibly before then, really. And I could feel it. I could feel it happening. And then after the election, it was sort of joined with depression and despair. And I will tell you as not only will I never forget when Trump won the election in 2016 and what it felt like, I will also never forget what it felt like in 2024 when I was in Hakone, Japan. A beautiful, beautiful place in the mountains. The air, it had this like cool and refreshing. I don't know, it smelled like a little bit like trees and mint or herbs. I don't know, it's just like going outside was glorious. And that day I went to an outdoor museum, looked at all this incredible art, mist on the mountains and beautiful trees and just, ah, what a beautiful place to be. And just inside feeling like I was gonna throw up at any moment. And then that night, so I was staying in this like incredible hotel, the kind of place that I never get to stay, but I used my points to stay there. I was like, I'm gonna do something so luxurious for myself. And I think I talked about this in the Japan episodes, but I stayed in this beautiful hotel on the river. And I had my own balcony that had its own hot springs tub overlooking the river. And you could hear the roar of the river. And the room itself was beautiful and the bath products smelled so good. And part of my credit card's deal with the hotel, I got a voucher for food there and drinks and I don't drink anymore. And it actually has, wow, been really good for my brain and my body. But I was like, okay, well, I'm filled with despair. I'm gonna go eat dinner in the restaurant. Beautiful, delicious, incredible food. The table next to me was a whole bunch of Trumpers who were being really, really loud and obnoxious, which is weird in general in Japan. But then like, so insensitive about the election and just saying the most fake news you've ever heard in your whole life. And yeah, so I'll never forget that day either. And you know what? I did end up having a drink and I drank half of it. It was delicious and it kind of gave me a hangover the next day. And the next day started with me laying in bed, eating coffee flavored jello in bed, just trying to be like, you gotta get up, you gotta go on with life. So yeah, long story short, my brain has not been in a great place for a while. And I just leading up to the election, and since then I have seen so much ugliness in every corner of social media and there's just been this like ever accelerating array of crazy bad news every single day. And I've also been physically exhausted. In addition to all the work I do on Clothes Horse, which is a full time job, you all know, I also work a full time job that actually pays my bills and my kids tuition and all these other things. And I also help kind of like a wild number of people with school projects and I help them with, I do free talks for classes and clubs and I act honestly as a quasi therapist and cheerleader for many people. I only know from social media, from our community because I like helping. If I could just win the lottery, I would just be like helping people all the time and animals and I would just, I feel like I would go to bed every night just so happy. So yeah, exhaustion plus anxiety plus depression, that's a recipe for an impending panic attack. And it was terrifying. It lasted about 45 minutes. I was shaking uncontrollably, like every part of my body was shaking. I couldn't breathe. It felt like my brain was no longer controlling my body because I couldn't calm it down. And for days afterwards I just, I didn't feel well and I needed 12 hours of sleep each night. I needed to read all of the books in the Wicked series while I was in my pajamas. And honestly Dustin and I didn't even talk about what happened until like, I don't know, five days later when I was finally like, hey, I don't think I'm going to put out an episode of Clothes Horse this week because I'm just like still not feeling very well and I'm really behind on my work because of that panic attack. And he was like, oh yeah, that was terrible. That was the first time we talked about it. So yeah, that's what a way to start the year, right? But it was because I like to see the positive in things not in a toxic positivity way. Right. Because toxic positivity is in fact toxic. It's putting false goodness on something that's actually bad. Right. Bad faith all around. I actually could see a silver lining to this that was real, which is that it was a wake up call that I needed to make some personal decisions that I think will set me up for a good 2025. And honestly these decisions are part of maintaining my energy, like to fight for a better world because this really matters to me. And these decisions also are designed to stave off doomerism because I need my strength to stay optimistic, to stay excited. Right? We'll get to more things we can all do to win the battle against Doomerism later in this episode. But I want to share my list of life changes for the year. One is that I'm saying no more often. And I will tell you I hate saying no to anyone, but I also have to have time to live my life right? Like to relax, to sleep, to clean, to read, you know, read all the Wicked series books again, whatever. And in 2024 I just like did not have that. If I say no to you, I want you to know that I would love to say yes if I just had five more hours in the day. If it takes me a while to respond to your email or dm, which I know I owe you a lot, a lot of you emails right now, I promise. I'm trying to catch. I want you to know that it's not because I don't care or I didn't enjoy your message. It didn't make an impact on me because that's not true at all. I just don't have time right now. It's me, not you. I'm also calling out misinformation that I see on social media and helping you learn how to spot it. Because I love a mission, right? And this is important to me because we tend to think that false information is a problem on the other side of the political spectrum. But alas, there is a ton of that happening on the progressive side too. And I have found that that misinformation, when I see it, makes me spiral, right? It builds my anxiety, it saps me of my energy and my, I don't know, my commitment to fighting for something better. So I am going to call it out when I see it, and I hope you will too. And I also. Speaking of calling out is I'm calling out people who are rude and mean or shitty. To me, I usually just compartmentalize that stuff. But honestly, it's been taking a toll. Last year I dealt with strangers telling me I'm ugly, stupid, mean. At least once a day someone sends me a message that is in no way intended to actually start a conversation. It's just someone trying to, I don't know, feel better by being mean to a stranger on the Internet. And I'm not tolerating it anymore. If you send me a message that's shitty and I don't even know you, I'm probably gonna block you. And that is just how it goes. I also have had to in 2024 deal with stalking and harassment that extended to my family members. It was incredibly stressful. Dylan and Dustin do not deserve that and neither do I. But like, they especially don't. Not okay, so people are getting blocked and people are getting called out. Done with that. I'm done with just being like, oh, it's my fault where people don't mean to be mean. Yeah, people usually do mean to be mean. Okay. When they're sending you mean messages. Maybe not in other situations, but definitely then these things. They're going to hopefully conserve my emotional and physical energy. Because there's a lot of work to do this year and I hope that you are doing a similar exercise for yourself because I don't like really believe in New Year's resolutions. They never work out. Right. They just help companies sell diet pills and workout gear. Right. But I do believe that sometimes there's a moment and it can be on the first day of the year or the 300th day of the year where you say like, hey, I think this is a great point to reassess things and think about how I'm going to do things next. And mine coincidentally just happened in January. Perhaps yours has too. But I want you to always give yourself the chance to think about how you can make things easier for yourself. Because you deserve that.
- [33:48]
Dustin Travis White
Let's take a moment to thank some of the incredible small businesses who keep Clotheshorse going via their generous Patreon support.
- [33:56]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Spokes and Stitches is a size inclusive pattern making and sewing studio based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pattern maker Ruby Gertz teaches workshops for hobbyists and aspiring designers so that anyone can learn the foundational skills of design and making their own clothes. If you're looking to expand your design skills beyond following store bought patterns, check out Ruby's flagship Sloper Workshop, an in person two day pattern making retreat where you will learn how to drape a set of basic block patterns that capture your unique shape and proportions. You can use these basic block or sloper patterns as a foundation for infinite styles of garments that are custom made to your body's one of a kind contours. No more full bust, flat seat or sway back adjustments. Start with a foundation that fits. Ruby also provides professional services such as pattern digitization, size charts, pattern making and grading services for indie slow fashion brands that want to prioritize inclusive sizing. You can find Ruby on Instagram @spokenSandStitches and get in touch with her for professional services@www.spokesandstitches.com.
- [35:04]
Dustin Travis White
Selena Sanders a Social Impact brand that specializes in upcycle clothing using only reclaimed vintage or thrifted material from tea towels, linens, blankets and quilts. Sustainably crafted in Los Angeles, each piece is designed to last in one's closet for generations to come. Maximum Style Minimal carbon footprint. Shift clothing out of beautiful Astoria, Oregon with a focus on natural fibers, simple hard working designs and putting fat people first. Discover more@shiftwheeler.com late to the party Creating one of a kind statement clothing from vintage salvaged and thrifted textiles. They hope to tap into the dreamy memories we all hold. Floral curtains, a childhood dress, the wallpaper in your best friend's rec room. All while creating modern, sustainable garments that you'll love wearing and have for years to come. Late to the Party is passionate about celebrating and preserving textiles, the memories they hold and the stories they have yet to tell. Check them out on Instagram aytetothepartypeople.
- [36:10]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Vino.
- [36:11]
Dustin Travis White
Vintage Based just outside of la, we love the hunt of shopping secondhand because you never know what you might find. Catch us at flea markets around Southern California by following us on Instagram Vino Vintage so you don't miss our next event. Dylan Paige is an online clothing and lifestyle brand based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Our products are chosen with intention for the conscious community. Everything we carry is animal friendly, ethically made, sustainably sourced and cruelty free. Dylan Page is for those who never stop questioning where something comes from. We know that personal experience dictates what's sustainable for you and we are here to help, guide and support you to make choices that fit your needs. Check us out@dylanpage.com and find us on Instagram ylanpage life and style Salt Hats Purveyors of truly sustainable hats, hand blocked, sewn and embellished in Detroit, Michigan. Find us on Instagram Althats Gentle Vibes Vintage we are purveyors of polyester and psychedelic relics. We encourage experimentation and play not only in your wardrobe but in your home too.
- [37:25]
Amanda Lee McCarty
We have thousands of killer vintage pieces.
- [37:28]
Dustin Travis White
Ready for their next adventure. See them all on Instagram. Entlevibibesvintage Thumbprint is Detroit's only fair trade marketplace. Located in the historic Eastern Market. Our small business specializes in products handmade by empowered women in South Africa making a living wage creating things they love like hand painted candles and ceramics. We also carry a curated assortment of sustainable and natural locally made goods. Thumbprint is a great gift destination for both the special people in your life and for yourself. Browse our online store@thumbprintdetroit.com and find us on Instagram thumprintdetroit Vagavan Vintage DTLV is a vintage clothing, accessories and decor reselling business based in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only do we sell in Las.
- [38:23]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Vegas, but we're also located throughout resale.
- [38:25]
Dustin Travis White
Markets in San Francisco as well as at a curated boutique called Lux and Ivy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jessica, the founder and owner of Vagabond Vintage DTLV recently opened the first IRL location located in the Arts District of downtown Las Vegas on August 5th. The shop has a strong emphasis on 60s and 70s garments, single stitch tees and dreamy loungewear. Follow them on Instagram Agabon Vintage DTLV and keep an eye out for their website. Coming fall of 2022.
- [39:03]
Amanda Lee McCarty
After the new Year okay, well we literally left on New Year's Day. Dustin and I went on a desert road trip. And my goal for the whole trip was to visit places where I could gather hope about the future of humanity, specifically in the fight against climate change. But really beating climate change is going to require all kinds of bad things we're doing right now to be fixed. So I guess it was really just like a road trip to find hope. You really want to go on vacation with me now, right? I sound like super fun. But anyway, the thing is, on this trip I didn't have to look too hard to find it and I'm going to share the places we went on our trip and how they helped me feel hopeful and optimistic and excited and rejuvenated really by that hope. You know, one, to illustrate examples to you. But two, because I would love for you in your day to day life to see these things that have happened around you as well. That should instill some faith that things are going to get better. So first, well, okay, well first off, I guess I'll just say that the trip started off kind of unhopeful because Dustin had norovirus for a day. And well one, of course I'm sitting there like, okay, my minutes are numbered here, right? Like it's only a matter of time till I'm the one doing all this foul, miserable stuff in the bathroom. Knock on Woods. Somehow I did not get sick, which is to me like a miracle. Cause you know, norovirus is so contagious. I did a lot of hand washing and I was just cleaning the surfaces that Dustin touched constantly and I think, I think that saved me. So I'll also just say, you know, you love someone when you hear them barf and pee out their butt for like 12 hours and you still think that they are both the bee's knees and the cat's pajamas. And that's. That's what love is. So after Dustin's guts were done exploding, he felt great. It was like the fastest recovery ever. It was amazing. We hit the road and we saw a lot of cool shit. First, we visited Montezuma Castle, which is a national monument in Arizona. It's not actually a castle, but rather a 20 room high rise apartment. You're like, whatever, I see apartments all the time. Yes, but have you ever seen one that was built into and out of limestone cliffs? Oh, oh, you have? Okay, but have you seen it being built into cliffs that were 90ft up? Have you seen that? And. Oh, you did. Okay, well, did you see that? But built by humans in 1050. Yes, that is the year 1050. Okay, did you haven't seen that. Okay. So please enjoy the wonder of a 20 room high rise apartment being built 90ft into the air into a sheer cliff wall by people in the year 1050, using the most rudimentary tools. It is amazing. I read that women and children actually handled most of the plaster work. Like it was kind of like an ongoing maintenance thing. And you can see if you're up there, which I didn't get to go up there, it's closed to the public. You can only enjoy it from afar. You can see their handprints in the plaster, which I thought was really cool. It took 300 years to build the whole thing. But despite taking 300 years and having rudimentary tools to do it, it is a feat of architectural design and innovation. It still inspires architects right now. No one knows why the original builders of Montezuma Castle decided to take on the epic task of building a home in the side of a cliff. But some hypothesize that they made this decision because they are smart humans, or they were smart humans to protect themselves from the regular flooding of Beaver Creek, which happened pretty regularly during monsoon season. And the thing is, like, they needed to be near the creek, right? So building into the cliff kept them safe, but it also allowed them to retain easy access to the creek for drinking water and cooking and washing and farming. I mean, they did have to climb a series of ladders down 90ft to go out to the water and to tend to their crops, and then, of course, climb back up those ladders with food, water, etc. But it worked. And it worked for a long time, and it kept them safe and dry. The residents of Montezuma castle left around 1425. So they lived there for close to 400 years and they never came back. No one knows why, but most likely they decided to migrate somewhere new. And possibly better. And possibly better. But the structure is still there. It's stunning. It's an incredible experience to just witness it. So it's pretty cool, right? But like, why did that give me hope about humanity and climate change? Well, here were people with no fancy tools at their disposal. They saw a challenge, which was escaping the flooding of Beaver Creek, keeping their family and community safe, and they decided to do something that seems impossible even now, like build a whole ass apartment building in the side of a cliff, 90ft in the air. It took centuries to finish it, but they did. And I just want you to think that they had to start from scratch, even building the ladders that they needed to climb the cliff. It just shows how humans can innovate and create. And we live in a time where we have access to better tools, things that make stuff easier. Right? So, like, what could we accomplish with all of the knowledge and tools at our disposal? Okay, so that's one thing we did. Next we went to Arcosanti. Arcosanti is an experimental town out in the desert just north of Phoenix, Arizona. It explores the concept of arcology, which is basically using architectural design to create densely populated cities with minimal environmental impact. So merging architecture with ecology, that's how you get Arcology. Construction on arcosanti began in 1970, and the goal was to be large enough to house 5,000 people in a relatively small space. But it would feel urban, like it would be a city. It includes a pool and a ceramic studio, a bronze casting facility, amphitheater, apartments, and a greenhouse. And rather than the grid of a typical city, the structures are organic and curved, really inspired by cells and nature, and they're designed to capture the sun's light and heat and make access to all elements easier. That structure is also, it's supposed to increase social interaction, building greater connections between its inhabitants. So it wasn't even just that this city is more environmentally responsible. It's also sort of like more socially responsible. If you know the people who live around you, you're going to be more aware of their rights and their quality of life. And you're going to want to make sure that their life is as good as yours. So that closeness is really essential over time. The project of Arcosanti was never finished to its full fruition, thanks, to, of course, lack of funding. But it remains a place where others interested in Arcology and the Philosophy of Urban Planning can go to take classes and learn about ways to use architecture to build better, stronger communities. Visitors like Dustin and me, we can take a tour and we can hang out in the cafe, which has good books and great sunlight and no takeout containers. There's an art gallery to visit, and it's just an all around beautiful environment. And we met someone there who was in the cafe and he had a cat with him, and he was just telling us about his cat, who I think is like 13 years old right now. She's gray. She's so beautiful. She was a rescue from Hurricane Katrina. Anyway, just another great part of the experience for us. Okay, so why did visiting Arco Santi a place that kind of failed in that it never got finished or saw its full potential. How did that give me hope about humanity and climate change? Well, it's an incredible, like, it's so beautiful. Such a stunning place that passionate volunteers called workshoppers came together to build with their bare hands. People are still learning there regularly, and it's comforting to know that there are humans out there thinking about how the spaces we inhabit have an impact on the world outside them and how we can build them better. To be honest, if Arco Santi had the money it needed, it could have set the standard for urban planning. And it's never too late, right? Those resources could show up. One last thing I just wanted to call out is in their gift shop, which is how they, they fund the ongoing maintenance of the building. They sell all these incredible bronze bells that they make there and stuff by local artists and residents. And all of the T shirts that they sell are actually screen printed on thrifted tees. So, you know, I was stoked about that. Okay, next on our trip, we went to Biosphere 2, which is just north of Tucson, Arizona, in a town called Oracle. And I also just want to shout out that Tucson, Arizona is so awesome and I want to go back there again. We stayed in a really great place called the Hotel McCoy, which is an old, like, roadside motel that was restored and renovated, all that stuff. And it really, it's interesting because, like, the mission there is to, you know, bring art to people, but also make travel accessible to more people, so it's really affordable. And they have oatmeal for breakfast. It's all really great. Hotel McCoy. I highly recommend it. I'll try to remember to put that in the show notes. So there we are. We're in Tucson, Arizona. We drive about an hour north of the city to Oracle to go to Biosphere 2. Not the same as Biodome, the Pauly Shore movie, but definitely one inspired the other. You can decide which one. Okay, so Biosphere 1 is literally the Earth. And Biosphere 2 was built in the late 1980s to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems and its place in the universe. The science and the innovation needed to create the whole thing is, I mean, it's like visionary. If you don't have the opportunity to visit, I would please go read about it, look at pictures. There's tons of video content out there too, about it. But it was incredible. Things with Biosphere 2 originally did not go perfectly. There's a Wikipedia article that you can read about Biosphere 2 if you want a short dive into it. It includes a cameo from Steve Bannon. There's also a great documentary about it, which naturally Dustin and I watched that night in our room at the Hotel McCoy. It's called Spaceship Earth and it's a great overview of Biosphere 2. However, really the story is so complicated and so interesting and there's so many passionate, visionary, deep thinking, hardworking people involved that I would love to see at minimum 10 episode miniseries about this. Dustin, I were like, too bad we don't know anything about this, like making TV shows, because this is the show we would want to make. This is so fascinating. Anyway, the failures of Biosphere 2 are rooted in fear and money. Both things humans need to work out amongst themselves. But it's still an amazing example of what humans can accomplish by working together. Now, currently, Biosphere 2 is strictly used for research around issues related to water, climate change and biodiversity. But initially it was intended to be a fully contained ecosystem for humans, ideally a test case for building biospheres in space. Or if we want to get really dark about it, building biospheres here on Earth, should the climate, the world around us, become unlivable. Right? Unfortunately, things went a little awry because humans are human. But it's still incredible. It contains a variety of different biomes, including a coastal desert where we walked in. Now you could smell were these orchids. It was beautiful. There's an ocean with a coral reef in it, a savanna, a rainforest, so much more. All of it is fully indoors and it's maintained using incredible human innovation. Like there's this other building called the lungs. And all that helps it do is the main facility maintain air pressure, because when it's warm, the air expands and could explode the entire dome of Biosphere 2. When it's cooler, the air contracts and that can make it all implode. So the lungs, the separate building that is connected sort of underground helps maintain that. And this is something that humans had to invent to make this work. It's amazing. So, yeah, I think going there and seeing what humans can do, how they can solve problems when they work together and have a budget. So, yeah, seeing this one, it's, you know, it's pretty obvious why it would be inspiring, particularly when we can see how much humans can solve, can accomplish when they work together. But also it underscored something really important to me, which is that none of that could have happened without the money, and I don't have an answer to this problem. But really, fixing climate change, I mean, it's going to involve all kinds of things, right? Like individual human changes as well as, like governmental policy changes. You know, the way entire industries work will have to change our infrastructure and how we get around and how we heat and cool our homes and, you know, all of these things will have to change. Right? But, but really the biggest change, the biggest tools for solving climate change are going to, they're going to require a lot of money to create. And the amount of money that was spent to build Biosphere is mind blowing. And it shows you what can happen when the checkbooks are open. Now, once again, I said, you know, as I was talking about Biosphere, that one of the problems that ultimately the entire facility, the entire project faced was financially related. And it wasn't that. Well, it wasn't explicitly that they had spent a lot of money to build it. It was that there was a certain point in time where it was like, hey, so like, where's the profit from this? When are we going to start making money off of this? And that really came from one of the primary investors who was, believe it or not, an oil and gas billionaire. Yeah, it's hard to imagine an oil and gas billionaire now being involved in the fight for climate change. But it does make me wonder, do we need to spend more time reaching these people, talking to these people, letting them know that unfortunately, they kind of nicely, of course, have no choice but to help us work this out for the future of the planet? Because money, and a lot of money, a lot more than any of us who are in this conversation right now have, is going to be required to build whatever it is that we need to build to reverse the damage that humans have done to the planet. So that can feel on one hand like such a massive problem. And certainly if you're, you know, a believer in doomerism a doomer, if you will. Then you're kind of like, well, billionaires suck and they will never give us money and they only care about themselves and going to the moon. And so I guess we're all fucked and it's all over for us. But I, yes, I get that feeling, but because I do not believe in doomerism and I want to do everything I can to push back against it, I'm going to say we gotta lose that attitude. And we have to think, how do we collectively work together, make our voices heard to force the people with the real money here in to change into funding the future of our planet? I don't have an answer there, but it's definitely something that I'm thinking a lot about it. And I do think it is a case of we need as many voices as possible in this conversation, which goes back to what we talk about all the time here on Closed Source, which is how do we get more and more people involved? Because the more voices are asking for the same thing, the louder it is and the harder it is to ignore. And it's the questions like that, the purpose like that that keeps me inspired and motivated and excited and it allows me to just shove doomerism as far.
- [57:45]
Dustin Travis White
Away from me as possible.
- [57:47]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Lastly, we visited Saguaro national park outside of Tucson. It's so beautiful, it feels unreal. I kept being like, I can't believe I'm really looking at this. Like I'm really here seeing this. I just kept saying that to Dustin. Saguaros are those huge cacti that look like they have arms. They're like your classic cartoon cactus. They can only grow in a very specific climate. And that is the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. And like one part of Mexico and a sliver of California. Saguaros can live more than 150 years. They probably live longer than that. We just like don't know. And they don't really even grow their first arm until they're about 75 to 100 years old. So when you see how many arms some of these saguaros have, you're like, oh my God, these things are so old. In the middle of the last century, observers noticed that there were a lot less saguaros in the park, particularly after some unusual cold weather. Saguaros, it turns out, can only handle about 20 hours of below freezing temperatures before they die. And while weather is, you know, weather and unpredictable, young saguaros were not appearing to replace those that had succumbed to the cold. And so there were a lot less Saguaros all of a sudden, or it felt like all of a sudden to people. And by 1962, some researchers were predicting that there would be no saguaros left by 2000. There were other newspaper headlines I saw while I was at the ranger center, because, you know, that's where I hang out, that were saying, like, we think we're going to have no seguiros left in the 90s or even the late 80s. It was very, very sad. Super depressing, right? So, like, why would I see this as a reason to be optimistic about the future of humanity? Well, something important to include here is that cattle grazing was allowed in Saguaro National Park. In fact, intense cattle grazing was allowed through the 1970s. The park hired ecologist Warren F. Steenberg to conduct a study into the impact of that cattle grazing. And his research indicated that not only were cattle eating all of the vegetation that helped provide the right conditions for young saguaros to grow, they were also stomping all over the baby saguaros in the first place, killing them before they had a chance to grow. The park was able to take this evidence to court, and cattle grazing was removed from the park in 1978. And you know what? The saguaros are coming back in a major way, especially when you compare photos from the 1970s and 80s to now. So this is a great example of how advocacy, research, and using the law can improve conditions. And so that's why that visit made me feel really optimistic about our future and how humans can fix climate change. The thing is, if you look around you and you look back, you can find evidence of humans capacity to make change all around you. Sometimes it's bad change, you know, everyone using Keurigs all the time. But there's also tons of good stuff out there, like fixing the ozone layer, protecting and nurturing endangered species like the giant panda and the gray wolf who rebounded and were taken off the list. And these are just the beginning of the things that humans can do and have done that are examples of all of our potential when we work together.
- [61:38]
Dustin Travis White
If you're enjoying this episode, then this is a great time to remind you that my work here at Close Horse is made possible by the support of listeners like you, just like NPR and these great small businesses. Please go give them your support. Blank Cass, or Blanket Coats by Cass, is focused on restoring, renewing, and reviving the history held within vintage and heirloom textiles by embodying the love, craft, and energy that is original to each vintage textile. As I transfer it into a new garment. I hope we can reteach ourselves to care for and mend what we have and make it last. Blank CAS lives on Instagram @blankcas and a website will be launched soon@blankcas.com Located in Whistler, Canada, Velvet Underground is a velvet jungle full of vintage and secondhand clothing plants, a vegan cafe and lots of rad products from other small sustainable businesses.
- [62:43]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Our mission is to create a brand.
- [62:45]
Dustin Travis White
And community dedicated to promoting self expression as well as educating and inspiring a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle both for the people and the planet. Find us on Instagram shopvelvetunderground or online at www.shopvelvetunderground.com Saint Evens is a New York City based vintage shop that is dedicated to bringing you those special pieces you'll reach for again and again. More than just a store, St. Evens is dedicated to sharing the stories and history behind the garments. 10% of all sales are donated to a different charitable organization each month. Month New Vintage is released every Thursday@wearsainevens.com with previews of new pieces and more brought to you on Instagram Wherest Evens that's where St Evans Country Feedback is a mom and pop record shop in Tarboro, North Carolina. They specialize in used rock, country and soul and offer affordable vintage clothing and houseware. Do you have used records you want to sell? Country Feedback wants to buy them? Find us on Instagram Country Feedback vintageinvinyl or head down east and visit our brick and mortar. All are welcome at this inclusive and family friendly record shop in the country. Republica Unicornia Yarns Handmade yarn and notions for the color obsessed Made with love and some swearing in fabulous Atlanta, Georgia by head yarn wench Kathleen get ready for Rain Rainbows with a side of giving a damn. Republica Unicornia is all about making your own magic using small batch, responsibly sourced hand dyed yarns and thoughtfully made notions. Slow fashion all the way down and discover the joy of creating your very own beautiful hand knit, crocheted or woven pieces. Find us on Instagram @republicaunicorniarns and at www.republicaunicornia.com. picnic Wear a slow fashion brand ethically made by hand from vintage and dead stock materials, most notably vintage towels. Founder Dani has worked in the industry as a fashion Designer for over 10 years but started picnic wear in response to her dissatisfaction with the industry's shortcomings. Picnicwear recently moved to rural North Carolina where all the their sewing and accessories are now designed and cut, but the majority of their sewing is done by skilled garment workers in New York City. Their customers take comfort in knowing that all their sewists are paid well above New York City minimum wage. Picnic wear offers minimal waste and maximum authenticity Future Vintage over Future Garbage Cute Little Ruin is an online shop dedicated to providing quality vintage and secondhand clothing, vinyl and home items in a wide range of styles and price points. If it's ethical and legal, we try to find a home for it. Vintage style with progressive values Find us on Instagram utelittleruin Is there a little bit of Italy in your soul? Are you an enthusiast of pre loved decor and accessories? Bring vintage Italian style and history into your space. With the pewter thimble we source useful and beautiful things and mend them where needed. We also find gorgeous illustrations and make them print worthy tarot cards, tea towels and hand picked treasures available to you from the comfort of your own home, responsibly sourced from across Rome, lovingly renewed by fairly paid artists and artisans with something for every budget. Discover more at theputerthimble.com Deco Denim is a startup based out of San Francisco.
- [66:38]
Amanda Lee McCarty
And it sells clothing and accessories that.
- [66:41]
Dustin Travis White
Are sustainable, gender fluid, size inclusive and high quality.
- [66:45]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Made to last for years to come. Deco Denim is trying to change the.
- [66:49]
Dustin Travis White
Way you think about buying clothes.
- [66:53]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Founder Sarah Mattis wants to empower people to ask important questions like where was this made?
- [66:58]
Dustin Travis White
Was this garment made ethically? Is this fabric made of plastic? Can this garment be upcycled and if not, can it be recycled?
- [67:07]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Sign up@decodenim.com to receive $20 off your first purchase.
- [67:12]
Dustin Travis White
They promise not to spam you and send out no more than three emails a month, with two of them surrounding education or a personal note from the founder. Again, that's decodenim.com.
- [67:30]
Amanda Lee McCarty
There is something about doomerism that is low key, comforting and liberating, even though it's also depressing and isolating. It's like it liberates you from the work of caring. You don't have to do the work of changing. It's the same reason we see people saying there's no ethical consumption under capitalism and then placing a shein haul order because giving up means you don't owe anyone anything except yourself. Which is, well, it's really lonely. And maybe in a world that is experiencing a loneliness epidemic, we need less doomerism and more Holy shit, we're gonna do this together. Ism. So while succumbing to doom feels easier, it's actually hard in the long term because life just gets Harder and lonelier. That's why it's important for all of us to do the best thing for ourselves by staving off doomerism. It doesn't just help the rest of the world, it helps us. It brings purpose and joy. It gives us a reason to get out of bed every day. And we need that. I was raised in an atheist household, so I don't have a lot of experience with religious faith. In fact, I don't really have any spiritual beliefs. Sometimes that sucks, and it makes life harder. Like when my partner died. I would have done anything to have some faith to comfort me. Then I just didn't have it. But the thing is, I realized this even as I was coping with the grief. I do have faith. I have a ton of it. And that faith is in myself and in the people around me, in the unmeasurably infinite potential of all of us, especially when we're working together. I have faith because while some days are worse than others, there will always be more sunshine and blue skies to see. There will always be reasons to laugh. I promise. So how do we keep the faith and win the battle against doomerism? So here are some suggestions, some tips, some advice. You call it whatever you want. This is stuff that I use in my own personal experience. Some of it kind of joined my way of life after I did a lot of reading about this and how to stay optimistic. So here are my suggestions. And if there's something that's not on this list that works for you, that gives you a lot of inspiration and motivation and energy, send it my way and we can share it in a future episode. Because one of my many priorities and sort of like, I don't know, motivations this year and kind of forever, I guess, is ensuring that our community feels. Feels empowered, activated, and. And just good. So any tips you have are so super welcome. So first things first, get excited about the magic of the world around us. Spiderwebs and bird nests. Like, how do birds know how to build nests? And they're so intricate, and they're just one little thing at a time. Their beaks, they're carrying over, and they're building this. Like, what? That is so amazing. Snowflakes. Snow. And it's snowing right now. And I've had to shuffle a lot of snow in the past few weeks, but, man, snow is so cool. Or how about how seeds sprout into plants which grow flowers or vegetables or trees. You can't see these things and not be filled with wonder. Like, wow, this world is fucking magical. And it's worth loving and it's worth protecting and. And I'm just so glad to be here every day seeing it. And that gratitude, that joy, it comes from how amazing all of these little things are, letting myself witness those things, it motivates me and it gives me comfort. The wonder of the world, man. It's incredible. Next, I recommend that you intentionally curate your feedback and your feed, to use a social media term. That can be what you're seeing on social media, but it can also be where you get your news. It can be who you talk to on a regular basis. It can be what you read and what you think about. It can be the music and the podcasts you listen to. It all is your feed. Let yourself hear and receive good news. I promise that even in the midst of a crazy ass 2025, good things have happened and will happen. You should follow accounts and consume media that is just fun. It makes you laugh or even just gets a little smile out of you or lets you escape for a little bit. I promise that fun and joy, they keep us energized and active. They are just as important as the serious shit. Avoid and unfollow accounts, news sources, etc. That only share bad news without about any actionable steps that you can take in the face of it. Because that's just outrage porn, right? It's not real, real anything.
- [73:10]
Dustin Travis White
Next, I would ask you to regulate the flow of news into your life.
- [73:17]
Amanda Lee McCarty
And this, this is a hard one, right? Because finding that balance is really, really challenging. And I'm not talking about turning off the floor faucet and just ignoring news altogether because I do not think that is an option. However, if you are feeling that you need that at certain times, absolutely let yourself do that. But on a regular day to day basis, when you are feeling okay, feeling as if you can handle news, feeling as if you want to hear the news, I want you to take in as much as you can handle and process like sort of put, put some guardrails around your news time, your news consumption. And I say that because one thing that was just like breaking me back in the first Trump presidency and definitely during the most recent election season. And of course since the election was just this like nonstop rapid news cycle that was mostly conjecture and chaos. Like the new. The media would take something Trump said in a speech, right? And we know just blathers on, they would take something he said and they would turn it into 1,000 news articles that were honestly really, really upsetting. And this shit is exhausting. And over time it kind of beats us down into complacency because unfortunately there is just only so much fear and anxiety and even anger that any of us can really handle, no matter what else is going on in our lives, before we just kind of shut down and disconnect. So I recommend start some like really good news consumption habits right now by limiting your news time. Like I have been telling myself, okay, we always listen to NPR in the morning while we have coffee. I'm definitely going to do that. If I want to take a break at lunchtime and scroll for like 15 minutes, fine.
- [75:25]
Dustin Travis White
But I'm not going to lay in.
- [75:26]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Bed at night for hours, which is really a thing that happens to me. And scroll through Reddit and scroll through different news platforms and scroll through social media. Consuming news, right? It's too much. It affects my sleep, it affects my mental health, and I don't want to lose my passion for what matters to me. I also will just say, and I know I've already told you to be selective about who you follow. Unfollow. I'll probably say unfollow like 50 more times. But honestly, unfollowing is really great for us when we're trying to manage our shopping habits, right? Redefine our relationship with clothing. Unfollowing is also really important for our mental health as a whole, especially when we're talking about news and our work as individuals and activists and making change and just feeling good that we can care for ourselves and the people around us. So I will just tell you also, once again, to unfollow accounts that really just share content nonstop, that is designed to keep you upset. Yes, being upset sometimes is good because it motivates us, right? But like constant upset, it just makes us give up and we don't need that fact check outrageous things you see online because the reality of it is that outrageous, upsetting things, this is just how we are. I'm sorry that we're this way, but this gets engagement. People comment, they share, and then that makes the algorithm show it to more people and it doesn't really accomplish anything, right? Furthermore, a lot of the most outrageous things are actually not completely accurate. And as I said earlier, that includes stuff on the left end of the spectrum. There's a lot of misinformation, sometimes not intentional, I would say, but definitely algorithm driving. It's free and pretty easy to just do a simple Internet search to figure out the real story behind something. And I'll tell you what it teaches you. A lot of stuff. And it also usually teaches you how you can get involved with fixing whatever that situation is. And it really as a concerned citizen and an all around decent person, you want to know the facts, right? So here are my best practices for detecting misinformation. As a person who does this like all the time, you want to be aware of posts that are simply a screenshot of a post from another platform. Sometimes they're just cutting out most of the story and to fuel outrage, right? Read the full caption to see if any sources are cited. In fact, be wary of any post that does not include a credible source, whether it's in the comments, in the screenshot, in the stories, wherever. You want to avoid posts that portray anything in very simple black, white, good, bad terms. Because remember, truth is often full of gray areas and nuance. All situations are full of complication and contradictions. Fact check what you're seeing. Do an Internet search. If you want to avoid Google's use of AI, which is bad for the environment. And also, like as Dustin said, it's never right, you can opt for DuckDuckGo. And I also just say look for unbiased news sources. My favorites are Associated Press, npr, PBS and BBC. And often I will even look at one of those and fact check it against another one. And it doesn't take me more than a minute to do that. So it's not like you're going to spend your whole day trying to like pull out the truth about these posts. Usually it's pretty obvious. You can also learn about where news sources land on the bias spectrum, like are they liberal or conservative? Using this ad fonting media bias chart and I'll share a link to that in the show notes. It's pretty fun and interactive and you can see them all along the spectrum. Also, you know what? Do a favor to everyone else around you. Report posts that are misinformation and unfollow those accounts because they suck. Okay, so that's fact checking posts and curating our feed. Well, next I want you to let yourself relax and have fun and hang out and celebrate holidays if that's what you want to do. Whatever does it for you. I saw a lot of posts last year that annoyed the ever loving fuck out of me. Basically like Americans are so horrible and selfish that they'll celebrate Halloween while a genocide is happening. Or anyone who celebrates Christmas is just a monster. And it's like, listen, it feels unfair, but the reality is that there are people suffering on the same days that people are having the best days of Their lives. And yeah, I hate it for us too. I would love for all of us to be having the best days every day together, all around the world. But we know that that is just. It's a lot more complicated than that, right? And we need our strength to keep going, right? If we who are having an okay day want to have the strength to help those who are having a horrible day, we need to have the strength to do that. Strength is recharged by moments of joy and fun and inside jokes and silly TV shows and rolling around in the grass and making funny cat videos, eating delicious food, talking on the phone. We need those things to keep us strong. So please let yourself have those things and don't judge other people for having those things. Because we need it. Everyone needs it. Next, you want to educate yourself, right? You don't have to go on a climate optimism field trip like I did, but you can if you want to. You can also read books or watch documentaries, visit museums, listen to experts. Someone told me that it's cheugy to say that knowledge is power, so I'll rephrase it. I'll say knowledge is fuel. It keeps us going. Okay? The more we can learn and the more we can know about something, the more ready to make some changes we're going to feel. Of course, you also want to make small changes within your own life and you want to do that gradually, right? So what you buy, what you don't buy, what you waste, what you don't waste. Taking more public transportation, growing your own food, mending and repairing your stuff. There are so many personal things that you can do that make a larger impact when others are doing them too. But beyond even that, these changes in your life can make you feel better. And that's also super important. Next, get involved. And this can be a multi prong approach, right? It can be volunteering in your community, sharing information online, having conversations with people, irl, organizing stuff in your workplace, whatever. Be that good influence within your community, both IRL and virtual. And don't stay silent when it matters. And speaking of staying silent, because that's my whole list now, I've gone through my whole list of suggestions for you. Speaking of staying silent, I want to take a minute to talk about social media. I'm seeing a lot of posts out there about walking away from social media, particularly the meta platforms. Trust me, I've been mulling this constantly for the past few weeks. I have thought about about every angle of it for myself. On one hand, doing that would save me a lot of time and energy because I'm embarrassed. I think about how much time I put into social media, like, you know, creating those posts and responding to people's comments and messages. It's a lot, right? So from a selfish perspective, for me, it's not selfish of you to quit social media. But you know, when I'm looking at it from my perspective, the selfish side of me is like. Like, this sounds like a great idea. Think of all these other things you could do. You could read all those wicked books again. But then I really start to think about it and I have to say, if we all leave social media, then who is left to share the real facts, the real inspiration, the real hope? Aren't we just allowing ourselves to be silenced? Sorry, but bad people have been trying to shut me up my whole life. I stayed quiet for so long and it didn't help anyone except for the people trying to keep me quiet. I have also seen firsthand via Clotheshorse, how social media can bring people together and build community and change some minds. I'll also add that social media, whether.
- [84:27]
Dustin Travis White
We like it or not, is a.
- [84:29]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Lifeline for those of us who have felt alone in our worries and thoughts. And as we've talked about here in the past, the reality is like the, I don't know, the experience of living right now in 2025 under, you know, late stage capitalism, it means that it keeps us apart, right? Because we're working so hard to just stay afloat in our lives, whether it is multiple jobs or a job where we work a gazillion hours every week and there are no boundaries around when we don't work, we might be also caring for family members or others. We still have to like feed ourselves and run errands and take care of our homes and our pets and you know, hopefully see people IRL sometimes. So it's really hard for us to just go outside like we did when we were kids and see our friends and chit chat with them, right? And that means that unfortunately, whether we like it or not, but social media has become that town square where we intersect and interact with other people who share our ideas. And we also learn more about people who are different from us or have different perspectives in that space as well. So in my opinion, social media is actually a really valuable tool right now for bringing people together, for connecting people, for sharing information with other people and really moving forward, making progress us in the issues that matter to us. I also just think it's good for our mental health or when used responsibly we'll say can be good for our mental health. Because for me, as a person who works alone, who has a lot of social anxiety, I have found that I have all these friends all over the world that I would have never met without social media. And as a person who moves around a lot, I have this whole network of awesome people who I've worked with and hung out with all over the place that I can stay in touch with very easily via social media. Like, yes, social media can be hyper destructive, but I have also seen how good it can be in so many different ways and I think walking away lets it just go in the bad direction. Right. But sticking around helps it be powerful, like a powerful tool for good that we need right now. So I'm going to stick around for now. I can't say it will be forever, but I just want to be a voice there and I hope that many of you will continue to do that too. In debunking misinformation and showing what you're doing, what you've learned, and giving people hope, faith, optimism, staving off doomerism for so many other people. Because I do feel like, like if too many of us leave social media, what's left is bad people saying bad stuff. It's an echo chamber for just terribleness. And on top of that, the other people who are left who might be like minded to us, they're going to give up, you know, because there's no, there's nothing to believe in, you know, that you start to believe that this world really is doomed and everybody really is terrible. And I, I don't want that. So like I said, I'm gonna stick around. I'm gonna try my hardest to fight the good fight. And I hope you'll be there too. Thanks for listening to another episode of Clotheshorse. Written, researched, edited, hosted, all the things by me, Amanda Lee McCarty. If you liked what you're hearing, of course, leave a rating, a review, subscribe, all that stuff, and most importantly, tell your friends if you'd like to support my work financially. There are numerous ways you can do that. You can find them all in the show notes and on my website and in my bio on all the social media platforms. I also just wanted to let you know that I'm in the midst of two different fundraisers for la because you know, it's a very special place to me. It's a magical place. It's one of my favorite places in the world. It's where a lot of my favorite people live. It is where I met my husband. And it is where we have always assumed we would move back, but just never really could make it work financially. So I've been doing two different fundraisers for la. One, well, I guess it's not in the midst of It's Happened now, which was I was selling raffle tickets for four hours of consulting with me, business consulting. And we already have a winner there. And we raised a little bit more than $600, which I donated to a variety of different GO funds this morning. It's very good. I felt like Santa. And the other one that is still ongoing is on February 5th, I'm going to be doing a workshop. Everybody's casting votes on it right now, but I suspect by a landslide. The theme is going to be how to talk to others about slow fashion. We'll also be talking about some of the stuff in this episode, how to remain hopeful, how to keep that faith, how to stave off doomerism. Tickets will be $10. I'll be sharing all the information this week about how to pay for your ticket and any other questions you might have around that. So keep an eye out for that. My goal is that we can raise I'd like to sell 100 tickets to this workshop so we could raise $1,000 to give to people's GoFundMes. And by the way, the reason we're doing GoFundMe instead of like other organizations is I listened to a piece on NPR about how GoFundMes in times of crisis like this have been integral, just so essential to getting money into the hands of people who need it asap, rather than waiting around for insurance or government stuff. So that's what we're gonna do. All right. I think that's all I have for you this week. Next week I'll be back. We'll get back into my series about slow fashion and inclusivity. And I hope you enjoyed this little detour we took this week week. Thanks as always to my other half, Mr. Dustin Travis White, for our music and audio support. All right. Bye, Ra.