Did anyone else know this?  We have a huge convention center?!  It’s right in the middle of town, and I’ve never been there!  I thought it was just the black whole that sucks people in suits into itself, but no, it’s a real place.  I went this weekend and have lived to tell the tale.

Green Festival took up a ton of space; luckily, the Convention Center has…lots of space.  I went up the very long escalator and walked back…and back, into the recesses of the place.  When I saw the entry fee of $5-15, I started to have second thoughts about how green I really was–green as in love the earth, yes, green as in money, no.  But luckily, a little child (magically?) came up with an old cell phone and put it in my hand, which thanks to T-mobile’s recycling program, equals free admission.

I entered the fray of hemp-wearing, organic product-eating, tea-drinking, public speaker-listening, ocean-saving, hostel-going, natural cleaning products-using, yoga-doing, advocacy-loving Washingtonians.  Namely, my people.  Smart, caring people.  Also, pretty goofy people.  But whatevs.

I strolled past booth after booth of Annie’s Organic and fair trade Divine Chocolate, as well as Bamboula Ltd, unique handcrafted gifts from Africa, and Village Green Apothecary (Apothecary. My poverty, but not my will, consents.
Romeo. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.  Eh?!) and so on and so forth.  Everything in the stalls, from expensive food and gift items to the people manning them, made me want to be a better citizen, a better person.  Someone who lets others in his lane in traffic.  Someone who rakes leaves in the lawns of others.  Someone I am not quite…yet.

I think I’d get closer to perfection if I had one of these home soda makers.  This nice lady showed me that with the SodaStream, I could get 60 litres of San Pellegrino-esque soda water and 33 cans of soda with one go.  Did you know that 1 in 4 German and Swiss households make their own soda?  Haven’t you always wanted to be more German and Swiss?

Oh, and I saw Ralph Nader.  He was there to sign copies of his book or something.  I’m still pretty mad at him about that thing.  He knows what he did.

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