Yuen: This Black Friday, resist the forces of fast fashion

OK, so what do you do with a problem as seemingly intractable as mass consumerism that is killing our planet?

One thing I’ve heard a lot of depressed liberals say after losing this election is that we have to think small. Control what we can. Focus on local communities. Humphrey, an activist and former Marine who says she’s started to veer away from talking politics, said we shouldn’t dismiss the power of tending the fires in our own backyards. She learned this truth while participating in large-scale environmental protests.

“In my younger years, I would leave home to fight against things. And I remember I was out against the [Line 3 oil] pipeline, and my grandson would say, ‘When are you gonna come home?’” she recalled. “And I thought, ‘Yeah, what about home?’ Everything behind me is where I can make a real difference, and all this stuff out in front of me is so big. So I just came back home. That’s where it’s at for me.”

For Fire in the Village, she’s teamed up with public artist Shanai Matteson, musician David Huckfelt and other cultural organizers. The collective visits high schools, mostly in rural northern Minnesota, to promote art, music and community-building, without political affiliations.

“We’re not swooping in to create a fire. The fires are already there,” Humphrey said. “We just want to lift the spirits of people and inspire them. Our fires will connect, mine to your friends, and from theirs to other places.”

At the fashion shows, Fire in the Village recruits models from the crowd on site during an hour of print-making. Word snowballs quickly as those volunteers recruit their friends to model the reimagined garments. The items showcase the beauty of something discarded, and the magic of a second life.