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My alarm clock came on at 6:01 this morning to an NPR story about trade inequities between the United States and China. I hit the snooze bar. Lying there in the pre-dawn silence thinking sleepily about the story as I waited for my snooze time to run out, I realized that the problem with stories of that kind is that I think most people tend to start to fuzz out when percentages and statistics are involved. I know I do, at least. It's difficult to know exactly what those statistics mean to our everyday lives. I sat up and turned on the light on my nightstand, picked up my clock radio and turned it upside down, searching for the words on the bottom that I knew would be there somewhere. "Made in China" was stamped into the plastic mold. Intrigued, I grabbed a pen and a notepad and started a list of all the items that I came into contact with during the day, and where they were produced.

The pillow and mattress I had just been lying on were both made in the USA, but the sheets covering both came from Pakistan. I shuffled off to start the coffee maker- the machine was made in Mexico, but there's no indication where the coffee came from. I would assume Latin America somewhere. My coffee cup, however, clearly stated Made in Italy. Off to the shower, where my soap and towel were both made in the good old U.S. of A, but the shampoo came from Spain. My razor was made in China, and the shaving cream and aftershave lotion made in Germany. My hair gel was made in the USA. Toothpaste and toothbrush were both made in Mexico. Interestingly, the dental floss was the product of a combined effort- the yarn was credited to Brazil, and the processing took place in the Dominican Republic. It made me feel eerily egocentric that two countries, thousands of miles and an ocean apart, pooled their resources so that I can run a piece of minty string between my teeth.

The flip-flops that I shuffle around with in the morning are from China. My underwear is from India. My undershirt is from Bangladesh. Pants and belt both come from China. My dress shirt is from Korea, but the tie is from China. My Dell laptop was made in Malaysia. My cable modem and wireless router were, of course, both made in China, and the Philippines produced my printer. A brief scan through my desk shows that my pen is made in Japan, and the paper clips are made in Taiwan. Gathering my things as I prepare to head out for the day, my cell phone claims "Origin in Japan, but finished in China".

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