Juneteeth

Today was a great day. I spent my Saturday afternoon with my little sister (big brothers/big sisters), my best bud and her friend at the Armstrong Park in Dallas. The occasion was Juneteeth (a holiday I wasn't aware of until I moved to Texas). Evidently, here in Texas most blacks celebrate the day that Texas finally decided to follow the rest of the civilized world and free the slaves. The weather wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, and I was definitively in the mood to be in the company of some people who looked like me. This was also my dear friend's first time participating in the event as a vendor. She's a very talented undiscovered artist. Initially, we were a little disappointed that people wasn't buying any of her artwork. The majority of people would come over to the booth and look at the pieces, tell her how talented she is, and never made a purchase. I could sense my friend's frustration. I also became a little annoyed with the situation myself. We were in the middle of two other vendor booths, on the left there were some ladies selling Avon and some gold wind chime (junk trinkets) and on the right there was a lady selling gift baskets.

I couldn't believe people were actually buying the wind chimes and even Avon, but when they got to us $10.00 on a reprint of a creative digital image my friend created through Adode Photoshop or the $80.00 hand painted portraits of some of the digital images wasn't worthy of their dollars. Again, people would come by waste our time, give compliments, take business cards, but didn't buy shit. After four hours of not selling anything we finally called it a night and that's when my friend's first and last customers came to buy some of her artwork. Even with the time not being as productive as we would have liked, we did enjoy each others company. I was particularly feeling great. I had my little sister hanging with my friends and I having a good time and I must say I looked pretty good today. (We all have those days when we know we are working it). Unfortunately Mr. Right wasn;t at the park and no one even worth at least going out on one date was in proximity. But I did enjoy the validation of my existing confidence. Needless to say, I don't understand why black people don't really appreciate artwork as a whole. I guess if it's not shiny, it's not of value. But regardless, it was a damn good day!