As our society revolves more and more about little pieces of plastic, what do your cards say about you?
Tell me about the cards in your wallet or on your keychain.

[Read more →]

It Feels Good to be Home

It’s that time of year again. Mardi Gras. In New Orleans. You see it on TV. You read about it in the newspapers. But until you come down here and FEEL it, you’re missing out. There’s a lot more to it than Bourbon Street. Here’s a little musical taste of some classic Mardi Gras songs. When they play these songs, you know what time of year it is baby.

“Go to the Mardi Gras” - Professor Longhair

“Hey Pocky Away” - The Meters

“Do Whatcha Wanna, Pt. 3″ - Rebirth Brass Band

[Read more →]

I look out the window at the clear blue sky. Its been dreary most of the week, but today the weather is glorious. I am driving. Tapping my thumbs on the steering wheel as I contemplate my next move. Going back and forth within my head, in search of the appropriate decision. The mix CD Victoria made continues to play. I’m trying to drown out my thoughts. The eleventh track is Kanye West, “All Falls Down,” an audible sign of confirmation.

Here are the facts:

I’m walking down Magazine Street, with a stack of Curious Tribe flyers in one hand and my cellphone glued to my ear with the other. I am coming to meet Victoria and a friend at Funky Monkey, a resale clothing store.

“Wait, let me call you back. Victoria is outside with the police.”

I hang up the phone and cautiously cross the street.

A small crowd block the entrance to Funky Money. 3 police officers, 1 sales associate, and 4 customers stand outside. Victoria, a friend and her mother are dressed to the nines having just come from Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club Brunch. The fourth customer is a Tulane student, wearing a pair of jeans, a white tanktop and her heavily decorated Sorority jacket. She is black. Her torn Funky Monkey bag sits with the contents spread on the pavement.
The Tulane student has been accused of stealing a pair of 3 dollar fake eyelashes.

She pulls out her receipt that shows that she has spent nearly 200 dollars in merchandise at Funky Monkey including a pair of 68 dollar jeans and 2 shirts.
She is checked by the police who find no evidence of stolen eyelashes.

The Tulane student is in tears. Angry. Confused. Embarrassed. She wants her money back.Inside the store, the friend’s mother confronts the sales associate.
Do you honestly believe that she would spend two hundred dollars in a store and then steal a pair of fake eyelashes? Are a pair of eyeslashes worth losing a customer? Why can’t she return these clothes? You embarrassed her in front of her peers. I would want my money back to.
The money is placed back on the card and we exit.

Funky Monkey keeps small items, like fake eyelashes, behind the register.

[Read more →]

A popular shopping location for many of Uptown New Orleans’ fashion savvy, Funky Monkey participates in racial profiling.

Most people of minority ethnicity are familiar with the undercover prejudices that exist at most retail outlets, being followed around the store, going unacknowledged by the salespeople, and simple disrespect. These practices are quite common, however, today a situation unfolded before my eyes that led to my outrage and utter shock.

I entered Funky Monkey along with my roommate and her mother. As we began to shop, we noticed an altercation in the rear of the store. As the conversation grew louder, we realized that a customer was being accused of shoplifting. I recognized the voice, it was a friend that was being accused. This friend is black. I was shocked that this person would be shoplifting and began to take the situation into account. I noticed that this friend had a large bag of clothes, obviously purchased from this store. I then noticed that this friend was wearing her line jacket representing her Greek organization, I instantly KNEW that there was no way she had committed this crime. We spoke up for her. Of course thankful to have someone on her side, this friend explained the situation to us.

She spent $155 dollars in Funky Monkey and proceeded to leave the store and continue shopping across the street. A salesperson found an empty case of eyelashes and sales tags that had been pulled off in the fitting room my friend used. Without any consideration of the fact that three other WHITE customers were in the fitting room at the same time, this salesperson instantly called the police. The police accosted my friend while she was shopping in another store across the street and brought her back to Funky Monkey, which is when we entered.

We stood up for her. The police searched her and found no eyelashes. They searched her purchases from earlier to find that all of her clothes in fact had the tags on them. The salespeople were unrelenting in their accusations despite the fact that there was no tangible evidence or first hand witness to their account and the fact that their story seemed completely ludicrous. (Why steal $3 eyelashes when you just spent nearly $200 on substantial merchandise?) It then dawned on me that this is not the first time I had seen this situation within this same store.

A few months back a similar situation arose between the salespeople and a young, Black, high school student. I mentioned this to my roommate, she told me that she had seen this happen before as well. We quickly recognized this as racial profiling, so did the police. We became even more involved in the situation, demanding an explanation from the salespeople, demanding that they refund our friend for the purchases she made earlier. The situation worked out in my friend’s favor, but what if we had not been there to speak up for her? What if the police were not willing to hear an explanation from my friend’s side? She would be in jail. She would lose her scholarship. She would lose her letters. She would lose her integrity and credibility. One of the salespeople apologized. We informed them that we would no longer patronize their store and would encourage our friends to do the same.

So here’s my plea to you guys…don’t support Funky Monkey. Don’t perpetuate the incredulous criminalization of black youth simply due to the fact that they’re black. Stand up for what you believe in.

[Read more →]

http://mcsweeneys.net/2008/1/17molyneux.html

This is just a taste from McSweeneys.

Anyone familiar with the sheer genius who is Dave Eggers should know this place, but in case you’re not down, I’ll give you the skinny. If hipsters made a summer reading list, Eggers would be at the top. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house. McSweeney’s puts out a magazine: The Believer, an amazing literary journal: McSweeney’s and a bunch of other things that I can’t remember right now. Eggers is also the founder of 826 Valencia in San Francisco, a writing and tutoring center aimed at helping children and young adults, which has now expanded to 6 other cities across the US.

McSweeney’s is behind some of the greatest, newest authors out there at the moment. McSweeney’s doesn’t produce the typical “dead white guy” literature, at least that’s the way I put it to my students. They seem to know what I mean.

If you’d like to read more on Dave Eggers, check out the wikipedia page on him, as it is probably the most biographical one on the net: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Eggers

But, back to McSweeneys.net. Bottom line, it’s hilarious. Not fart joke, BET Comic View haha…but more like Frasier heh heh. It’s high brow and it might not appeal to everyone.

The layout of McSweeney’s is outrageously simple. It’s blog-style, and it just keeps scrolling. Eventually, you will reach the bottom and will see links to the various articles and the archives with red dots indicating what’s new today, and black dots indicating what they call is “newish.”

Here’s another snippet I find funny, but you might not: http://mcsweeneys.net/links/danliebert/17popeyeandspinach.html

mcsweeneys.net

[Read more →]