Overheard in the 99-cent store.

Today I hit the 99 cent store in search of a bottle and some milk. Despite the fact I was in scraping-by mode with change, I bought Savannah this super-cheap monkey washcloth puppet, probably made by some infant in outer Mongolia.

When I get broke, it's not like I just "don't shop fair trade"—a concept which I believe in and love, don't get me wrong. But when I'm mining my coin collection, I shop in emporiums stocked with NAFTA-enabled items whose greedy carbon footprint and global trail of economic casualties ensure that anyone who goes there by choice is doomed.

(I know. That's a lot of guilt in one sentence. I got a plastic bag, too : (

But back to my outing. I saw a teenage black girl point to a package of those little cereal boxes, in this case featuring the brand "Pops."

She said, "I used to like those when I was a kid."

Her friend one-upped her. "I used to TEAR those up."

And I get it. Because I used to tear them up, too.