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• Horses to Horsepower
• Torturing Pants for Profit
Kenyans Greet Obama
If Senator Barack Obama ever wants to run for President—or become a rock star—he got excellent practice when he visited Kenya in August. Thousands of people lined the streets of Nairobi, Kenya's capital, just to get a glimpse of him. Obama, a freshman Democratic Senator from Illinois, was touring Africa to raise awareness of AIDS and to reconnect with his roots. Obama's father was a goat herder-turned-economist from western Kenya. And, although he never spent much time in Kenya, many Kenyans claim Obama as one of their own. To Kenyans, he is a role model; a black man succeeding in a white man's world (he is the only African-American in the U.S. Senate); a symbol of American opportunity and multiculturalism (his mother is white and from Kansas); and a friend in a high place.
Horses to Horsepower
Some of western China's Tibetan nomads are trading in their horses for motorcycles. They're using their new wheels—which cost less than horses—not only for traditional tasks like herding livestock, but also for long-distance travel. Some nomads still live in tents and move their herds of yaks and sheep between summer and winter grazing pastures. But those no longer able to live off the land have moved into relocation centers and must travel to buy supplies. Tupten Jikmay, 29, uses his bike primarily to ride into the nearest town. "It used to take two days on horseback," he says. "Now it is much faster."
Torturing Pants for Profit
Jeans with the used, worn, or beat-up look have become a major object of desire in America's $15 billion jeans market. At the heart of this trend are artificially aged garments engineered by Giovanni Petrin of Vedelago, Italy, whose factories in Italy, Turkey, and Romania specialize in giving jeans that "distressed" look. Petrin's company, Martelli, employs 9,000 workers who take jeans made in low-wage countries like Morocco or Turkey and stylize them for clients like Armani, Calvin Klein, Gap, and Levi Strauss. Giant washing machines tumble jeans with pumice gravel, and workers rough up the denim by scrubbing, patching, discoloring, creasing, and poking holes. The workers must be careful to achieve the right degree of wreckage, with every hole just the right size. "If they ruin a pair," says Petrin, "they pay for them."
