16 July 2009

God said...

have you ever seen those billboards on the highway, the ones that are all black with white type, and say something like "i am the way, the truth, and the light. - God"? it's pretty common to see signs that say "Jesus saves" in people's front yards where i stay. there's also this one intersection with a long, low to the ground sign that has two arrows on it, one pointing up, the other pointing down. the message reads "turn to Jesus before it's too late" (check the pic).

it doesn't really bother me to see these signs all over the place, but i'm really curious about how other people feel. what do you think when you see these signs on the highway, or in your neighborhood? how different is this to when people put signs in their yard broadcasting who they plan to vote for in an upcoming election? or hanging a flag in front of your house? is it any different from wearing a shirt with a picture of somebody's face, like che guevara for instance? how important are these statements we make about ourselves and our beliefs based on signs we put around our house, stickers on our cars, clothes, or even tattoos and piercings? do these things really reflect something about who we are inside, or should they be regarded as simply superficial things meant to be fashion? personally, i tend to try and stay aware of what my outer trappings might suggest about who i am. what y'all think?

07 July 2009

road trippin'

sorry for being away for so long. the last few weeks have been pretty busy, and recently returned from a week long road trip all up and down the east coast. you may have noticed the amazing photo that accompanies this post. at a rest stop somewhere in Pennsylvania we discovered this claw game called "Bling King".

This may seem unremarkable at first, but upon further inspection there were some interesting things to note about this special claw game. The majority of the prizes were amazingly cheap-looking pieces of shiny plastic jewelry. Thrown in the mix sort of randomly was also an assortment of different sea shells, and some polished rocks.

the crowning glory (excuse my sarcasm) of this realest truest hoodest claw game, is the picture at the top of the white guy in the suit, surrounding by these two black-face women fawning over him. i'm not even sure what to say about it really. i'm not the only one who finds that absurd right?

how does that happen? you know, who came up with idea for this claw game, pitched it, and had somebody with money to make it happen say "yeah, make a 'ghetto' claw game and put a picture of a white dude pimpin' a couple black chicks at in between the name Bling King. that'll be perfect." there's race and gender issues at least involved in that process somewhere. i would love to hear what your thoughts are on the matter. holler at me.