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Ron Thomas
RACIAL RESTYLING:
FUNNEL CAKE FLOWERS & THE URBAN CHAMELEONS
MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER SCOTT
STAFF WRITER
MAIL.MICHAELSCOTT@GMAIL.COM
Over the weekend, Spelman College’s
Drama and Dance Program hosted a new kind
of stage show titled, “Funnel Cake Flowers &
The Urban Chameleons.” Created by HaJ, an
Emmy-nominated film and media producer
with more than 15 years of experience. The
show creates an ambiance of light-hearted
humor focusing on the struggle between
embracing the culture of the “colored” world
while staying afloat in the corporate and aca
demic world.
Funnel Cake is a reporter, or more
accurately titled as "The Urban Chameleon
News Reporter". She hunts throughout urban
neighborhoods in order to discover various
urban people, and to shed light on their urban
problems.
One issue tells that story of a girl
named Crack Boo, who is hired as cheap
labor, performing menial tasks to amass
enough money for her next purchase. The
Urban Chameleon investigates one of Crack
Boo’s employers, Keisha Brown, a middle-class
woman who chooses to remain in the hood for
ifs economic advantages. HaJ allows the audi
ence to question their sensibilities using Twitter
hashtags. In questioning the exploitation of
Crack Boo, we are asked to ponder whether
Keisha Brown is just in aiding bad habit, or if it is
best to leave it all be.
Another sketch portrays a black,
female investment banker named Latisha
Evans, as she manages her upper-class clients
in white-America, yet journeys to the hood on
the weekend in order to get her “hair did”. This
sharp contrast is depicted as a phenomenon
that most black women involved in white-
America undertake. While in a Dominican hair
shop located in the ghetto, Evans sits in the
hairdressing chair in high black heels and a
classy-black dress, as those around her ap
pear underdressed. Evans requests a relaxer
to her hairdresser, Marisela, in order to tame
her “nappy” hair, as she initially believes it to
be unacceptable to flaunt in her particular
occupation. An issue arises, as Hector, young
Dominican man storms into the shop wielding
a gun, threatening and arguing with Jesus,
Marisela's brother. As the two argue, a shot is
fired and pierces Evans’ leg. While injured on
the ground, the relaxer continues to sit, even
tually burning out her hair. None of the other
customers attempt to abandon their hairdryers
and run to Evans’ aid. Nor did Latisha herself
pay attention to her wound, but rather what
she was going to do with her hair. Although
extreme, HaJ exaggerates the relationship
between black women and their hair.
The play was "fantastic because it brought up
issues within the black community in a comical
way, in order to let us know that they're there”,
said Dorian Purse, a student in Morehouse's
CTEMS program (Cinema, Television and
Emerging Media Studies).
“I did not take offense to [the cultural
references], because the whole purpose was
to be multifaceted within the urban culture.”
In summary, HaJ and the remaining
cast introduced dancing, mother-daughter re
lationships, and the difficulty for black directors
to work with corporations to avoid stereotypi
cal media content. An aspect that added to
the production was the audience participa
tion. The choreographer, T. Lang, began the
show inviting all audience members to leave
their cellphones on, in order to tweet responses
to the various comedic sketches occurring
throughout the play. This stage-to-audience
interaction encouraged much laughter and
applause, as various tweets from audience
members appeared on a projector screen
accompanied with hip-hop music and the
atrical choreography executed by the Spel
man Student Dancers, creating a warm and
light-hearted atmosphere mixed with various
nuances of truth.
SPELMAN SPONSORS SPORTS SYMPOSIUM
KEVIN COLCLOUGH
STAFF WRITER
KEVINCOLCLOUGH6@GMAIL.COM
Sports and entertainment executives
introduced Atlanta University Center students
to their field during Spelman’s 5th Annual En
tertainment & Sports Symposium on Thursday.
On the panel were: Parquita Nassau,
who is a radio host and a senior level media
consultant for Cox Media Group; Andrea Cart
er, the Senior Director of Community Develop
ment for the Atlanta Hawks; Omara S. Harris,
an attorney who represents singer Toni Braxton
and her sisters; and Sheryl Gripper, founder of
the Black Women Film Network.
Throughout the event, panelists dis
cussed the multitude of ways in which the AUC
can get involved with media and how they
can network to obtain positions within the field.
Nassau mentioned numerous times
that to be in the media world, students must
make connections with people in the field.
She coined the term "Hollatic,” which com
bines the word "holla” and the “tic” from poli
tic to describe this necessary ability to network
purposefully.
The panel also discussed the ways
that an AUC student can become successful
through hard work, persistence and strong ef
fort. Harris mentioned repeatedly that persis
tence is key in becoming successful and that
small acts of kindness stand out to people.
She went on to tell the story of when
she sent flowers to the home of Tawanda Brax
ton for an occasion and Braxton later contact
ed Harris and became one of her clients.
Carter described a young Spelman stu
dent who met her at an event and continued
to e-mail her persistently. The student is now
set to receive not only a scholarship from the
Hawks but an internship with the organization
as well.
Students left the panel feeling both
inspired and connected as each panelist
gave out their personal information as a way
to contact them. Throughout the event, Harris
also told students that she would e-mail them
and even get them in contact with rapper
Jermaine Cole's (J. Cole) business manager.
Harris said she has already connected Cole's
manager with one Morehouse student.
"It was great to have people like this come
speak to us,” Morehouse freshman Huey Gayle
said.
The event was a success as many AUC stu
dents left with not only an e-mail address or
business card but more importantly - a dream.
Conclave Comes Again
DARRELL FRYE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PRESIDENT, MOREHOUSE MARKETING ASSO
CIATION
Controversy crept at the door while
preparing for this year’s Marketing Conclave.
Whether the infamous BYOB acronym/phrase,
even popularly hash tagged, would yield an
inappropriate response or fail to equate to
the innovative execution needed, were our
only pondering concerns. After a discussion
with President John Wilson about the content
and anticipated execution, we decided to
challenge the norm by solidifying the theme,
#BYOB: Build Your Own Brand; Marketing that
Challenges the Status Quo. Placed on a strong
foundation, we began brainstorming innova
tive corporations to invite that “challenged
the status quo” through brand development
and strategy, as well as recruited a team with
members from the three institutions in the At
lanta University Center.
The #BYOB Campaign, launched on
the last week of January, instantly blew up with
intriguing questions and positive feedback
about the “enhancement" of the acronym.
The campaign featured a creative selling strat
egy entitled, #BYOB Blue Cooler, where regis
trants received themed T-shirts upon payment.
I remained confident that students, both in the
AUC and surrounding institutions, would be
interested in the idea of the conclave, but the
expected corporations sealed the deal! From
Google, Cartoon Network, Procter & Gamble,
Weiden + Kennedy, Macy’s, Porter Novelli, 3M,
BRAG, Waffle House, and Chick-Fil-A, to name
a few, students immediately welcomed the
opportunity to interact with senior recruiters
from these corporations.
Day 1 of the Marketing Conclave
began bright and early on Friday (Feb. 21)
morning with a Lunch and Learn presented by
Social Analyst, Sean McGahee from VML. We
were thrilled that Chick-Fil-A agreed to spon
sor lunch for the participants. Students were
granted with a broader insight behind the
connection between the data analytics from
popular social networks and brand campaigns
for specific demographics. Furthering the pro
gram, the conclave hosted a 3 hour career fair
with brands stated before including: Oracle,
UPS, Auto Trader, Fitzgerald+Co, TBS, and
22squared; even with BRAG interview invites
on the spot! Furthermore, Porter Novelli acted
as our keynote, presenting a panel of repre
sentatives from BBDO and Porter Novelli that
focused on the development of key brands
including: McDonalds, AT&T, & HP. We conclud
ed the day with branding workshops by Oracle
and BRAG, and enjoying a catered dinner.
Day 2 begins and the smell of fresh
waffles, eggs, and bacon instantly woke par
ticipating students from surrounding institutions,
Claflin State, Jackson State, Albany State, and
GCSU. After a few opening remarks, the day
began with an in depth workshop behind the
UPS brand as well as the opportunities afforded
at the company. Following after lunch, Tracy
Barash, Vice President of Brand Development,
served as our keynote breaking down the
strategy behind the Cartoon Network brand.
Students were engaged by the relativity of the
network as well as the peculiar series it show
cases. Gradually concluding, we ended the
day with a workshop hosted by Brand Man
ager, Curtis Friends, from Procter and Gamble.
The conclave was a huge success!
From the controversial theme to the cohesive
branding presentations, the MMA stands proud
of the event and look forward to the inspiration
ignited next year.
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