let's start with a metaphor, shall we?: WINDOWS OF HOPE

bee my guest?

Howdy Beezers! I'm excited to share something new with you... Over the upcoming months, most of the content you'll be seeing here will be from special guest contibutors! This is sure to add a new texture to this thing we've been weaving over the years. I know that many of my readers (yes, you!) are writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers. PLEASE feel free to contact me if there's something you'd like to contribute! I'd be most honored to pollinate... send me a note: m.mckinley@rocketmail.com

April 28, 2009

WINDOWS OF HOPE

I love happy accidents. When I was strolling through The Third Ward last week, I was stopped dead in my tracks by Anthropologie's windows. As a person who makes part of his living doing visual merchandising, I have to say that Anthropolgie's windows and displays ARE ALWAYS top-notch. So what was it that blew me away this time? Honeycomb, beehives, and lots of it!

Naturally I had to go in and introduce myself...

Of course I was dying to know what the story was. I learned that Anthropolgie is beginning a series of initiatives to bring awareness to important global issues. The plight of the honey bee happens to be their first. The following is an excerpt from Anthropologie's e-newsletter....

Raise your hand if you enjoy any of the following: almonds, apples, oranges, peaches, pumpkins, sunflowers, blueberries, avocados, and soybeans. Delicious, right?You can thank honey bees for that long list of goodness, as these hard working insects are responsible for pollinating more 100 crops nationwide- in other words, $15 billion worth of U.S. agriculture.

Sadly, in recent years, beekeepers have lost more than one-third of their bees to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder[CCD], in which bees mysteriously abandon their hives and die. Pesticides, viruses, poor nutrition, and cell phone signals are often cited as culprits; however, the exact cause of CCD remains uncertain. Experts agree additional research is integral to the preservation of honey bees.

To this end, our goal for the entire month of April is to raise awareness of the plight of the honey bees. How, you ask? To start, our store windows and displays will celebrate all things bee- from amber-filled honey jars to gigantic hive and honeycomb formations made from recycled materials. Secondly, we have partnered with socially responsible clothing company EDUN in the design of two bee tees, made of 100% organic cotton. Lastly, and most significantly, we will make a generous donation to the Department of Entomology at Penn State University, a leader in honey bee and sustainable pollination research. Pretty sweet, eh?

Anthropologie's Layne Cozzolino...thanks Layne for hooking me up with the info!

AND! A BIG BRAVO to the visual artistry team of Tera Cares and Kim Weiss for creating such beautiful and effective displays...helping to bring awareness to such an important issue!