Do It Yourself : the What and the Why a Piece of Stuff by pluta (jane curtis) Most of us have been raised with d.i.y. in some way... Making your own school lunch, for example (and yeah, weren't you always jealous of the kids who got tuckshop?) but somehow this was forgotten, and things you could buy seemed so much better.... When some financial independence came along with my first part time job, i relished my new power - the power to consume. Shopping with my girlfriends was a big part of my fun ("i'm bored. let's go shopping") and bonding ("of course you don't look fat in that") and what i bought represented, in part, who i was ("brand x is so cool...i must be so cool"). It was not until later did i realise i was some company's market ("brand x is so you"), that advertising images affected how i felt about myself ("you'll never look as good as this... but brand x can help") and that what i was consuming could have involved the exploitation of people, animals and the environment. It's undesirable (and impossible) for me to try and live in a world without consuming, but it is empowering to realise that i can exercise my power to consume in as ethical way as possible, and furthermore, that i can create things myself. These could be things that i could buy, like food, and stuff for the house and garden. They could also be things that i couldn't buy but that no one would do for me - like publish me and my friends writing, artwork, music, ideas.... We in the West are so lucky of having the luxury of being able to even consider the choice of diy - we can choose to make things for ourselves cos we have the time, resources and money. In bypassing and/or boycotting products made by people who had little choice when a multinational decided their village would make a really nice place for a factory/mine/cash crop is one small but significant way of refusing to be a part of the exploitation and inequality that moves our modern world along... Here's what some other diyers have to say... Yep that olde hippy ideal of doing yr own thing, growing yr own shelter, repairing yr own food and fixing yr own clothes still holds true...not only are you saving $$$, learning valuable skills etc, but also increasing your independence from mainstream culture iain in Woozy zine #6 DIY, the idea that you can Do It Yourself, your way, your ideas, without relying on the multi corporate mainstream society we have around us....making everyday items like washing detergent and bean sprouts yourself. Using paper bags to buy food and reusing plastic bags, or better yet your own bag. Making a garden in your back yard to grow your own veges, doing a fanzine of your ideas and passions, printing it supercheap and then giving it away, or selling it to just cover costs. Recording your music yourself then releasing it yourself, make the covers, do the artwork, send it to people, put it in shops. I like the feeling i did this myself, the satifaction of knowing what i have in front of me is built by heart. Abbie We're all so conditioned by the advertising we see on television that it doesn't often occur to us that there was a time before super markets when people had to make things themselves. Had to make everything themselves. Supermarket and mass production has given us ease of convenience and freed up our time, but in the process we gave up our independence and choice (and too much money). We have fed a handful of companies who now control what range of products we find on the supermarket shelves, what ingredients are inside them, where they are made, how much people we paid to make them...we were given convenience and in return we made monopolies of these companies. And they made the advertising which encourages us to believe that something you buy is better than something you make yourself. My version of diy is essentially about making my own consumable products like laundry detergent, cleaning products, face cleanser and shampoo. Others are about growing their own vegetables, making their own furniture, their own clothes. There is a strong diy trend in music and books and zines. DIY can be whatever you want. It's that point in yr mind when you stop and suddenly realise that you don't need X Company to do something for you. You can do it yourself. Marisa Created on Sun, 21 Sep 1997 and last modified on Sat, 25 Oct 1997.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998