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Saturday, November 26, 2005 In commeration of the Canadian and American International Buy Nothing Day today November 25th at The Bronte Creek Project we held a bartering blowout in the dining hall. All laid out their goods up for trading at tables filling the room. Some selections included books, toys, clothing of all sorts that was no longer wanted by their owner. There was a ton of goodies out on display including skateboard & band hooded sweaters, gift cards for music stores, DVD's, Nintendo GameCube games, chunks of fudge, pieces of chocolate cake and much more. Everyone perused the tables carrying armfuls of some truly super stuff up for trading. People debated back and forth what they were willing to trade and for what. One of the Bronte teachers suggested that people write what they could make for other people in case their mind blanked or they couldn't scrounge up any selling materials. The idea caught on and fast, even people with masses of materials up for sale started writing out everything under the sun on slips of paper. This included a beautiful paid date out, food from McDonalds, cups of coffee, and promises of a batch or two of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies among other goodies! Over the past couple weeks my family scanned corners of our house for a bunch of items and in the end came up with a wide variety to vend. I laid out all my goods in a section of tabletop and many people had their interest captured by my items. My grouping of goods included : a bottle of high quality scented hand lotion, a stuffed animal of a baby chick, a new toothbrush, a leather belt, notepads with different designs imprinted, handmade beaded bracelets I've made and a pair of pink shades! Entering this novel brainstorm of a bazaar I really was completely open minded and very naive and not at all sure what was to come forth. In keeping with the usual attitude at Bronte people were extremely friendly and even more open for different deals and ways to go about making the deal successful. You would either rest at your post in your personal mini market where your stuff was and barter there. Bartering also happened on the fly where you would simply grab a bunch of what you thought to be suitable objects and carry them over to your desired stuff of someone else's. While the exchange was open for trading, I would do a combination of these methods and it was highly successful. Many delightful products were attained through several successful trades. I got a copy of The Bourne Identity which I have been mentally meaning to buy for a longtime and now it's mine. In exchange for simply a single package of the dipping candy similar to FunDip. BEST BARTER:
FOR
Mark Ciesluk a student writer penned an opinion piece on Buy Nothing Day from the student newspaper of Brock University in Canada's capital Ottawa, Ontario among many believe that it's just a superficial hoax of a day that does nothing for people's mindsets, opinions and the world of people's purchasing powers globally. He believes that the fact that we are so entrenched in material culture that it is far too late and there is little point in even trying to turn back now. You may as well sit back and enjoy it. That life is not fair, the world is not filled with equality and you may as well face it. An Estonian man by the name of Kalle Lasn brought about the beginnings of International Buy Nothing Day after he moved across the pond to the USA. His concept on creating this day set aside from what was modeled at Bronte, spending a day trading goods back and forth amognst family, friends and an assortment of traders. This is to show the world of consumerism that we do believe in the essence of life and we don't absolutely need to have the latest multi purpose printer, the latest model of ipod, the best of the best and we can spend 24 hours without putting money down at stores across our own countries and around the world. Promoting a world and lifestyle where we don't need to be completely obsessed and self reliant of the masses of material stuff that we crave and collect. The day is honored by anti-consumerist shoppers across the planet in Canada & the USA on the same day as well as on different days across Asia, Europe and in Oceania in New Zealand compromising 22 countries on four continents. This day really opens eyes and makes people ponder, ponder a life of simpler means with less impact. MY OTHER TRADING SUCCESSES: FOR  A colourful purse similar to the one I bartered for!  FOR  The Travel Lite Brite I bartered for, a great deal!  AND  FOR   FOR  FROM   FOR  A box of the beloved bubbly Chinese tea creation!  FOR
In return I was handed a handbook on all things writer similar to this one after I grabbed I saw it sticking out of a bag, the beggining of this trade! Teague Neal blogged on 5:46 PM
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Teague Neal |
