Harry! Harry, come upstairs! I think them kids is throwing rocks again!

The following letter of mine was published in the Winnipeg free press a few weeks ago. It appeared in the paper heavily edited for actually saying something unambiguous:

Since American Apparel has opened its doors in Osborne Village it has had rocks thrown through its windows more than once and with more frequency than any other business in Osborne Village. Most recently the words "soul destroyers" were spray-painted across its windows. These incidents are not random but are rather socio political statements that are sadly all too predictable. The sins committed by American Apparel are two-fold in the eyes of Winnipeg's socially conscious, left leaning youth of today.

The first and perhaps most cardinal sin is that the word "American" is now on the front of a building in our beloved pedestrian village. For those enlightened individuals concerned about saving their city from the greasy clutches of corporate America, perhaps they should vandalize one of the many Walmarts built on farmland on the edge of the city paying part-time workers minimum wage rather than a boutique clothing store whose manufacturing takes place in downtown Los Angeles, and whose world renowned hr practices include "subsidized public transport, subsidized lunches, free on site massages, a bike lending program, a program of paid days off, ESL classes, etc" and wages higher than most garment industry jobs in Winnipeg. Or better yet, instead of vandalizing your own neighborhood, open a business that you feel doesn't "destroy souls" but rather appeals to the local sensibilities that you feel are being threatened.

The second sin committed by American Apparel is that they occupy a building that was formerly a small and sadly in the end unsuccessful music venue that hosted several popular weekly themed dance parties for Winnipeg's hip cultural (not-so) underground. Why someone would aim rocks and spray-paint at the next business with the gall to occupy the building (in effect saving it from death by dereliction like so many other historical theaters in Winnipeg) instead of aiming them at the people who did not support the previous owners enough to keep them business is anyone's guess.

The Collective Cabaret's extremely popular "80's Night" celebrated an essentially American phenomenon, whether the patrons knew it or not. Those responsible need to think about how somebody can dress up in spandex and dance to Madonna and Michael Jackson one week, and publicly lament the invasion of American culture the next.