Hung-OVER. I'm over it. Literally, this sucks. Remind me to never, ever, EVER order another $5 Pomegranate Long Island Iced Tea from Joey's. It may sound like a good idea, but it tastes like Jungle Juice- not the canned kind, but the kind you consumed copious amounts of freshman year at upperclassmen parties. Remember the hangover you got from that sugary mess? Yeah, I guess the lesson learned is to always remember that terrible feeling and pull yourself up by the bootstraps and JUST SAY NO to a $5 drink from hell. Just because it's $5 doesn't make it worth it.
So now that I’m done with that- what I will rant about next may be a little offensive (I was personally offended when approached about it last night) so be forewarned. The story begins around 11pm last night. Mr. Landon Nagle was in town and a bunch of us got together at the "old stomping ground" (if you could call it that, Joey's Brickhouse) (see note above). After we challenged Gerber to an Iced Tea chugging contest (I can only imagine how HE must feel today, haha) we decided to pay our tabs and continue drinking for much less at Marie and Sater's. First of all, I’d like to give a shout out my roommates who BOLTED out the door without me. One of them goes by the title of Miss Shrimp and the other is Becky. Jerks. Thankfully, Gerber was kind enough to wait for me to finish and we headed out onto the street. As he was unlocking his bike, this kid, all dressed in white, jumps up off a bench outside the bar and yells at me (I have decided to continue this as a dialogue below for your entertainment)
Kid: HEY, I’M NOT FROM AROUND HERE I ALMOST JUST GOT ARRESTED AND I NEED TO KNOW WHERE DIVERSITY IS.
Me: You mean Diversey?
Kid: Yeah, where is Diversity?
Me: You mean Diversey?
Kid: Look, I’m from the South-
Me: Me too, we’re from Virginia.
Kid: Oh okay! We’re from Louisiana and my friend here [refers to a sloppy kid behind him also clad in all white slumped on the bench] really needs to get to bed and we almost just got arrested. We need to get to Diversity.
Me: You mean Diversey?
Kid: Yeah, Diversity.
[This is where Gerber interjects thus sending us on a wild ride of hilarity]
Gerber: [Pointing in a million directions at once] Diversey is North of here, no South, no wait, it’s definitely East because…. [blah blah blah blah]
Me: [Arguing with Gerber at this point] No, I definitely no it’s that way [Also pointing in a million directions at once] because I pass the Diversey stop on the brown line every day.
Gerber: No, no, it’s definitely- wait, where are you trying to get to anyway?
Kid: Okay, so just a little bit ago we were down at the red line stop and I swiped my card to get in [to spare you the entire story, basically this kid tried to use his card twice to get him and his friend in the station, dumbasses should have just bought another fare card] So now we can’t go back because this asshole cop said that if we go back there he’d arrest us. We just need to get to Loyolla… or DePaul.
Gerber: Ohhh, you need to get to DePaul? I can tell you how to get there- wait, which campus?
Kid: You guys are from the south, do you know the difference between a black person and a N*gger? [I know what you’re thinking and YEAH, HE JUST SAID THAT!]
Me and Gerber: Uhhhhhhhhh………… WHAT?
Kid: You guys know the difference, right?
Me: No. What the hell are you talking about? Let’s just go [I start walking away]
Gerber: [Trying to engage this piece of shit kid in a conversation to teach him a lesson] No, wait. I think you got the wrong impression here. We’re not going to relate to you just because we’re also white and we’re from the south. We aren’t racist.
Kid: All I’m saying is that that asshole cop wouldn’t let us into the train station because we were white. He was a real N*gger, you know what I mean?
This shit continues for like another 5 minutes and all I want to do is literally sprint away from these two ignorant children and just go hang out with my friends and have fun and just ignore the fact that people like this actually exist. But Gerber insists on teaching these kids a lesson so I reluctantly stick around. I guess you could call me a coward for wanting to leave- but for some reason it seemed like a battle I knew I could go on trying to fight valiantly but end up losing in the end. I have learned from experience that trying to fight ignorance is one of the toughest battles you can ever choose. It’s exhausting. Can I also, one again, touch on the fact that not only were they dressed in all white- angels? Hardly. But they were asking me how to get to a made up street named Diversity? Alanis Morisette would call that ironic.
More importantly though, I’d like to note that I am so very thankful to be the person I am. I am so grateful for all the training I have received from VCU and TCP that has taught me to be open and accepting. I love that I am an artist and I see the world and all of the people in it and appreciate life. I am so lucky to have the friends that I have, such beautiful people who want to better the sad ignorance.
I wish, more than anything, those kids could get lost in the wrong neighborhood and get the shit beaten out of them for being such low-lifes. But, no. My amazing friend took the time to tell them how to get to where they were going because in the end, we're all human. I was so proud, and I will continue to be proud of him and any one of my friends who would have done the same thing. I only wish I could possess the same amount of patience for such fools. I love my friends.
PS today is September 11th. Such blind hate that those two children possess is the same that has taken the lives of thousands on this day 9 years ago. I am an American and I am grateful for all the freedoms this country has given to me by just being born here. Although I understand those two kids are entitiled to their opinions, I hope that someday everyone is of the same mindset that we should be holding one another up and not tearing our fellow neighbor down for differences in religion, beliefs, or skin tone.
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