the pop box

We used to be in an after-school club called TRUE. That's Teaching Respect Understanding and Equality. We pretty much started it with a small group of other like-minded teenagers and we did lots of good work, I guess and having a club like that makes a pretty powerful statement.

But I'd say one of the things we were known for were Bake Sales. We had a lot of them. And I mean a lot. Same goes for the GSA. j. and I always enjoyed creating flyers and the like. Check out this one, which I might add, was actually approved by the Assistant Principal.

Now is that a plate with three little J's on it or a loaf of bread? I'm not quite sure...

Bake bake bake.
Money money money.
Party party party.

J's Commentary:

Actually, it was the Assistant-to-the Assistant Principal that approved it. The prehistoric secretary with a hairy face held up the flyer and read it just as it was written:

"True's baked.

...Sale.

That's nice."

And with a flourish of her rubber stamp, the picture of three little joints on a plate was approved to be hung all over our school.

Two more images from the highly sought after Gershwin Hotel Series were discovered inside a file folder labeled "Shiznit" in the basement of a house located in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Thought to have been created by young students from the prestigious Haverford Senior High School, these images are the result of an overwhelming need to express new ideas about art and red ink combined with small doses of alprazolam. Today, The Gershwin Hotel Series stands to redefine the concept of Modern Art. - POP by E

Way back when, we used to have these "creative sessions" where we would hang out, sometimes dabbling with experimentation and um, create things. Often these took place in J's kitchen, where we would cook many delicious foods and write strange messages on post-it notes, sometimes sticking them weirdly throughout his house. The other sessions took place in my basement. These basement sessions are remembered by all, as the cellar was a haven for our young creative minds. Sometimes, we created beautiful things. But truth be told, there are also quite a lot of papers filled with chicken scratch and "profound" ramblings. Take these for example. I will call them The Gershwin Hotel Series.

Oh, there are more. Including a crude drawing of a spanish dancer, a house shaped like a boot and a map of the United States that says "AMER "ICK!" AH." PS: J, do you remember being locked in the kitchen with me at Ben's old apartment in Powelton Village? We couldn't get the door open... Good times! - POP by E

UPDATE: In response to The Gershwin Hotel Series images, J explains: "I had returned from my studies in Paris in the summer of 2003, ready to share my complex new worldview with anyone who might feel like reading some scrawl on a hotel notepad. In Lets Not Waste, it seems the "STUPID LAZY AMERICANS" are quick to throw away spare body parts, while a "big apple" takes center stage on a cushy sofa. In young post-9-11 world, the greater public continued to fixate on the tragedy in Manhattan, but was removed, to some degree, to the American losses overseas."

He also adds, " Oh, and I vaguely remember being locked in that kitchen, I think we had gone there seeking a bottle of flavored rum. I'm not sure I remember the conflict that is described on that paper, but I certainly do recall that flavored rum."