The XX files

Go
to the mall, squint your eyes, and look at all the pretty colors. The glaring
store signs, the sparkling decorations. Breathe in the cloying scent of vanilla
candles and fruity soaps. Am I in holiday heaven? Or am I just having an acid
flashback?

            Air. I need air.

            OK, so I don’t like to shop at the
mall. But that doesn’t make me any less of an American, does it? Actually, it
might. Post-Thanksgiving news stories featured crowded malls and superstores,
giddily equating overspending with confidence in the economy, confidence in the
future, confidence in this great land of ours.

            Personally, I think it more
accurately reflects confidence in credit cards. But don’t mind me. I’m feeling
a little strapped.

            There are a lot of reasons not to
shop at the mall. When I’m there buying a sweater for my hubby or bro, it feels
like one million women all across the country are buying the exact same sweater
for their hubbies or brothers at the exact same time.

            It takes some of the fun out of
shopping to wonder if national chains might be buying from factories that run
sweatshops or employ children. Do I want to buy an item with a questionable
provenance just to save a few bucks?

            Don’t get me wrong — I’m raising a
little crop of child laborers myself. And I just can’t wait to put them to
work. As I always say: The economic exploitation of children begins at home.

            And where does the money go? Does it
stay here in Rochester? Some of it does, in the form of salaries and store
rents. Most gets whisked away to Gap or Sears or Payless investors somewhere
else. If I have to go holiday shopping, I’d like my modest contribution to the
global economy to stay a little closer to home.

            One of my friends has a great idea.
She’s sending baskets of locally made products to her out-of-town friends and
relatives. Java Joe’s coffee, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que sauce (it’s a Syracuse
company, but that’s local enough for me), Little Bakery goodies, and small
items from Anderson Alley and the Folk Art Guild.

            I’d like to do her one better. In
light of the ongoing layoffs and shaky local economy, buying foodstuffs and
tchotchkes might not be enough. It won’t keep the Big Three from announcing
more layoffs. And what about all the smaller companies who are trimming their
ranks? The Cornings and Wyeths, the Valeos and Delphis?

This year my
husband and I want to make a significant impact. We are going to dig a
little deeper and spread holiday cheer by shopping at factories. No, not
factory outlets. Real factories.

            Rochester is the nation’s number one
exporter, I’m told. What exactly are we exporting and how can I get some?

            I did a little research and found
there’s a company here — Erdle Perforating — that holds the patent in
poking tiny holes in plastic and steel. It makes those all-over advertisements
that wrap around buses. I’ll bet my brother would love this gift. He can wrap
his rusty old car with a picture of a shiny, new car.

            Tyco Electronics/MID makes Tic
Tac-sized antennae for Nokia cell phones and Microsoft joysticks. I could treat
them like decorative studs and hot glue a few dozen onto a jeans jacket for my
nephew.

            Gleason Works doesn’t just make
gears. Gleason Works makes machines that make gears. And the machines that make
the machines that make gears have gears in them.
It’s like an animated Escher print. Who wouldn’t love that?

            “Made in Rochester” is our
gift-giving theme and we’re doing our part to boost the local economy. Luckily,
our shopping list conveniently fits the format of the “Twelve Days of
Christmas” song, so feel free to sing along.

            On the twelfth day of Christmas,
Rochester gave to me:

            12 Heidelberg NexPress 2100 Digital
Production Presses printing,

            11 Sidewinder Feedback Force Pro
joysticks playing,

            10 Erdle Perforating Bus Wraps
advertising,

            9 Valeo Electronically Controlled
Rear Wiper Motors slapping,

            8 Coopervision Ascend Contact Lenses
peeping,

            7 Gleason High-Speed Threaded Wheel
Grinders whirring,

            6 Palettes of Agrilink Frozen
Vegetables chilling,

            5 rolls of Royal Gold film,

            4 Francesco Rinaldi Sauces,

            3 Fox Run Rieslings,

            2 Delphi Solid Oxide Fuel Cells,

            And a Xerox DocuColor iGen3 printer.

            We’re hoping all our friends will
join us this shopping season on Rochester’s manufacturing floors, trading in
the mall’s blinking lights and ringing bells for the factory’s fluorescent
daylight and humming machines.

            Don we now our steel-toed workboots,
fa-la-la…

This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2002.