Why is it that female fitness instructors in group exercise classes from sea to shining sea delight in exercise moves that always, for some godforsaken reason, involve vigorous thrusting, rhythmic butt squeezing and/or  spread eagle leg formations? Why is it that no male fitness instructors have ever asked me to do anything even close?

Ponder.

And while you chew on that, take this little nugget of advice for the day: when next you’re caught in this situation, don’t try to weasel-out with your own “lite” version of a particular move where thrusts, butt squeezing or spread eagle leg lifts are heavily involved, lest you end up like I did yesterday, with the instructor taking a sudden interest in your obvious lack of thrusting vigor and highlighting this for the entire class by standing right there, going “harder, faster, harder!”

I understand that thrusting is important for certain activities, or else most of us wouldn’t be here today. So I’ll just say this: thank the lord for gay male fitness instructors who love cheesy house music, aren’t afraid of throwing in a little girlie step aerobics here and there, but have no qualms getting drill sergeant on your ass when you slack off. And let’s hope that certain ones don’t take another day off anytime soon, because that might result in more sub instructors who might have a thing for thrust moves that I might have to end up doing.

* F.L.O.G. = For the Love of God!!! (Said in a loud, exasperated tone and not, actually, for the love of any god. Not that there’s um anything wrong with god).

NPR’s Talk of the Nation had a good show on today:

Made in a Sweatshop: Clues for Consumers

(Beware. Lengthy, somewhat rambling discourse follows)

I spend a lot of time talking about fluffy stuff like sales and cool jewelry and clothing made by local folks on this blog, but I was reminded today while listening to the radio of what originally got me interested in the whole idea of an indie consumer culture, something I was spending a lot of time exploring before I even started blogging about it.

Sure I love all the accessories and adornments I mention and admire the designers who make them, but what really keeps me motivated to continue blogging about San Francisco’s indie fashion scene on a daily basis has its roots in something more important than any tangible item or passing fashion trend.

The point, or my point at least in promoting indie consumption as much as I do, is that buying from local entrepreneurs, stores, designers and creators is something I’ve come to view as a better choice all around. It’s obviously better for the indie community in San Francisco, but it’s also just a personal, almost moral (and trust me, I rarely get moral about anything, probably to my own detriment) bedrock choice that I’ve made to decrease my support for companies without a community-minded local presence and whose business practices are opaque, nebulous or blatantly shade-ball.

I don’t take every dollar I spend and put it towards an indie company (I shop at Safeway and Walgreens, own a Honda and buy cheap sunglasses from Ross and tank tops at Old Navy), but I try to put as many of my dollars into independent, local businesses as I can, and I try to promote them in my writing whenever I can. And I’m not sure how much difference it really makes. I mean, like the people on NPR said today, sweatshops will probably always exist in one form or anther, as will exploitative business practices and shadowy multi-international bigwigs.

But at the end of the day, I feel better knowing that, to the extent that I can swing it, my money doesn’t end up fueling the sweatshop cycle or encourage the exploitation of workers or pay for goods that were made in some far off land (and yes, there is irony in saying this while typing on a computer whose parts were likely made in China). And yes, I realize that being all about indie is, to a certain degree, a privilege. After all, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper to buy clothes and household items at Ross and Loehman’s and Macy’s and Target and everyplace else. And it’s often a hell of a lot cheaper to buy them there than to make them yourself. But since I’m in a position to choose between the two ends of the spectrum, I will. And as often as I can. And whenever programs like the one I heard today hit the mainstream media, I’m reminded that we’re in the midst of a consumer shift of sorts, where lots of people like me are making lots of the same decisions.

And that makes me just as bright-eyed and giddy as I am when see something rad at a cool indie shopping event or when I talk to a designer who’s busted ass to get her creations out to the world. It’s just good stuff. Plain and simple.

SF Indie Fashion wishes you and yours a wonderful, safe and happy Thanksgiving filled with too much food, family and good wine. We’ll be having hearty servings of all three today. Thanks, everyone, for reading this little site and for being interested in learning more about San Francisco’s ever-growing community of indie-minded creative folks, crafters, shoppers and designers. Now get outta here. It’s turkey time.

To anyone who has tried to contact me using the contact form, the good news is this: it’s working! The bad news? It wasn’t working until about three minutes ago, when I discovered that I had not done some high-level technical things (like, uh, change the default email address in my administration system) since launching the new SF Indie Fashion about 10 days ago. So, um, if you have tried to email me and haven’t heard a peep from me – that’s why!! I’m an idiot. Many apologies. Please be in touch. I want to hear your news!

Why does the simple fact that the holidays are upon us always seem to translate into… um, no time? No time at all. Apologies for the sporadic posting, but, as you know, I do this in my “free time,” and recently have been swamped with work, moving apartments, out of town guests and  trying to give all my excess crap away on craigslist (woah nelly, that is a fountain of ridiculousness right there). But I am doing my best to keep the news about this season’s indie-friendly sample sales and San Francisco fashion events comin’. So hang in.