Comments on: THE HEART: RICK BRAGG AND “THE CHOICE”

By: ‘The Most They Ever Had’ Winner « « Alabama Chanin Alabama Chanin

‘The Most They Ever Had’ Winner « « Alabama Chanin Alabama Chanin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:30:01 +0000

[...] Congratulations Marjorie on winning our extra copy of The Most They Ever Had. [...]

By: Ashley Boccuti

Ashley Boccuti — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:56:08 +0000

I have no mill in my life, but I have grown up here in the South, and I love our beautiful history and the dignity of the mill workers. I would love to read this book and learn more!

By: Kim Bennett

Kim Bennett — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 07:02:24 +0000

For the last 21 years I have had the good fortune to work for two iconic apparel companies. Each has been in business for more than 100 years. Over my short tenure I have watched factories close and jobs lost at heart breaking speed. Quality suffered in favor of stock holder dividends. People lost their jobs to help the “bottom line”.

My current company has been family owned for over 100 years. It is one of the last “vertical” manufacturers left in the US. We still have domestic factories but in order to compete much of our production must be overseas.

Whether we will admit it or not most consumers would not choose a hundred dollar” made in the USA” shirt over a twenty dollar one made in China. We have only ourselves to blame for the loss of jobs. Our desire for “throw away” clothes trumped our desire for full employment.

I love the Alabama Chanin business model. I could definitely work there. I left the South 32 years ago and never looked back, but after reading your journal and your books, I am drawn back to that life. One of my life goals has always been to make clothing from scratch. I mean grow the cotton, raise the sheep, spin the fiber, weave the cloth, sew the garment and wear it proudly. Alas my home owners association won’t allow sheep and cotton does not grow well in Oregon(yes I did try), but I can actually see you guys doing just that. You all are so fortunate to have found such a unique way of supporting yourselves while supporting your community and environment. I wish you continued success.
Oh and if you ever need a technical designer with years of experience just holler. I’ll come running.
Thank all of you for being you.

By: india flint

india flint — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:59:07 +0000

oh i loved reading this post and also the comments appended to it. what struck me most was the contrast between our lives…as the product of the marriage of two people displaced from different countries by the 1939-45 war i spent most of my growing-up life moving every few years. and while i’ve now lived in this district for twenty years you’re not considered a local unless you have all four sets of great-grandparents buried here. i’m still not really sure exactly where it is i belong.

you, on the other hand, have the blessing to have been raised where your family has roots. every re-telling of a story or gleaned historical fact nourishes those roots like good fertilizer does a tree.

Rick Bragg’s writing is a delight to read – thank you for quoting so much of it. i’m hoping my name comes out of that hat but if it doesn’t i shall be seeking out the book anyways.

as to mill stories, Australia has few if any left. there was a marvellous one in our area called the Onkaparinga Woollen Mill. it produced warm cosy blankets from Australian-grown wool. at one time i had wool yarn produced from our clip [lovely Leicester sheep] but the mill that spun it for us is long gone, too. these days wool from our country goes to China and India for processing and our textile industry is literally in tatters.

grown to sewn, a lovely phrase and a laudable practice.

By: Karen Guerra

Karen Guerra — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:01:44 +0000

I was a student at Louisiana Tech in the 1970s. A field trip to a mill making double knit fabric in West Monroe, Louisiana has stayed with me all my like. I can still see those circular machines producing yard after yard of knit fabric.

By: Marjorie Rogers

Marjorie Rogers — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:48:19 +0000

I live on the Maine, New Hampshire boarder and there are old mills in every little town around here. Almost all of them have been preserved for apartments, restaurants, shops and most of all artist studios. I work in one in Rollinsford NH, it is fill with musicians, jewelers, painters, cabinet makers, drum makers and my own boss who is a glass architect. The floors can still stain your jeans if you kneel down on them, full of grease from the old shoe machines. Most of them where shoe mills and the others where woolen mills and everyone of them has a pulse that is still beating. I am not familiar with Rick but thanks to your folks I am now. May the heartbeat of this land keep ticking with memories of what people did for work. Thank you for sharing Ricks’ story and sharing what goes on at AC.

By: Linda Selby

Linda Selby — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:47:28 +0000

My favorite aunt, my sweet Aunt Rene, operated a sewing machine in an upholstery factory in Montgomery, Alabama. She went to work there in the 1950s, right out of high school, and retired from the same job decades later. The only “old maid” in the family, she was blessed with more cheerfulness than her four sisters combined. I still have the green stuffed monkey that she made for me from upholstery scraps, his arms reaching out for a hug & his button eyes shining. And I still have my memories of the wonderful, scary stories Aunt Rene would tell. I always requested the same story of the young wife that one day, while her husband was at work, went into the forbidden room and discovered the bloody bodies of all the previous wives. She was so shocked, she dropped the key into the blood and, you know, blood will not wash off the key to the forbidden room. Don’t worry, the resourceful wife did escape and lived happily ever after without her murderous husband. And my Aunt Rene kept her cheerful disposition and loving heart throughout her life. Her tiny house was as neat as a pin; I marveled that after 50 years in the same place, she had empty space in her little closets. But she stored many happy memories and was dear to all her family and friends. I love you, Aunt Rene! I was so lucky to have you in my life!

By: Lynne

Lynne — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:01:51 +0000

Growing up in the south–and living here all of my life, I have always known about mills and their workers. My grandfather worked in a steel mill. I love fabric of all kinds and have been so sad at the closing of each fabric mill that we have lost. I remember passing Avondale Mills as a child and wishing I could stop and go inside to watch the workers make my beloved fabric. I live in an area currently without a large fabric store–and feel the loss of being unable to go just to browse and dream of what could be made from a piece of cloth. Rick Bragg brings so much of our south to life. I am so grateful that he is now in Southern Living magazine each month–so I can get a little taste of his humor and insight regularly.

By: Elizabeth Hardin

Elizabeth Hardin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:52:45 +0000

I’m looking forward to reading this book! I grew up outside of Gadsden. While most of the cotton fields were gone by the 1980′s, when my dad was little, he’d help his mom and aunts pick cotton and then drive it to the mill in Alabama City. Once, 45 years after the incident occurred, my dad’s aunt pointed out a woman to him and said, that’s the woman who stole your cotton! She had taken his tiny sack of cotton and just added it to her own, and my great aunt was not going to forget it.

By: Kendra

Kendra — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:28:18 +0000

I’ve lived in the northeast for most of my life, and have such respect for the presence of mills in my town. Unfortunately, most are apartments or retail stores now, but you cant help but feel the weight of the energy that still pulses through the mill “stores”…energy from years and years ago. I visit these shops, one of which is a fabric store, frequently. There is such a draw to their high ceilings and big windows. LOVE!