Correction :
The best subject line in an e-mail I received last week was, “The ghost of Abe Ribicoff…” It was from one of several alert readers (and obviously ones with a better memory than me) who, ahem, gently reminded me that former Connecticut Sen. Abraham Ribicoff was indeed a Democrat, not a Republican (moderate or otherwise), as I had incorrectly written in last week’s Up Front column. Some suggested that I might have been thinking of Lowell Weicker, a downright liberal Republican from Connecticut. But, no, I just shouldn’t have trusted my memory. Next time, I’ll look it up.
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And no sooner did I write about the demise of North Carolina-made Converse All Star sneakers and their resurrection by the Nike marketing machine (Up Front, June 30) than a pair of pink All Star high tops appeared as the symbol of the new movie A Cinderella Story, and my daughter insisted I buy her a pair. I did (made in China), and the store manager at the mall assured me, upon questioning, that Nike had made sure they had plenty more and were not in danger of selling out.
It was later that I learned that Code Pink, an organization that calls itself “a women initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action” is selling its own pink high-top sneakers made at a union shop in Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s being produced by the same company, NoSweat, as the black sneakers I wrote about. For more information, go to www.codepink4peace.org .
