Hey Turds! So here we are…the home stretch of our busiest time of the year! Between festing, graduating, and celebrating moms, it seems there are hundreds of reasons for people to come get cleaned up. We’re always so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this community. In fact, you may have noticed that Chris has shifted his focus to include gratitude along with airing his petty gripes and grievances! We think this is an important part of our growth as a business and as individuals.
We also appreciate your patience with us when we took some personal time to refocus our energy. Jenny got some much-needed time with her family up in Massachusetts and Chris caught up with an old friend in North Carolina. Being away from home always brings a unique perspective and for us it is a reminder of why we are so drawn to and committed to the service industry. In many ways, our travels helped us reconnect with our values.
We talk about our values a lot at Liberty Barbers. If you visit us regularly, we hope you have a good sense of how we view the world. Every day we strive to be a welcoming place. We open our doors to anyone who treats others as equals and with respect. We want people to feel loved. We want people to be safe and leave feeling better than they did when they arrived. This is especially important as we’re seeing such a rise in hate crimes and our loved ones being victimized as they simply try to live and thrive in this world. This is especially true for our trans community.
To witness the volume of anti-trans legislation being introduced nationwide is terrifying. There are legitimate issues that we need to tackle to improve the quality of life in Louisiana but instead we are being distracted with legislation that addresses nonexistent issues. When we say that our friends’ and family members’ lives are at stake…we’re not talking about theoretical people here. You may feel like this is a political discussion, but politics has nothing to do with it. A barbershop is a place where people develop relationships, and it often feels like an extension of your family. It’s also a place where we can help people by matching how they feel inwardly with how they present themselves. It is a beautiful and meaningful part of what we do.
So, if there was ever a question of who we are or where we stand, we firmly stand on the side that our loved ones are not up for debate. We will always be a safe place for you to land. If you are someone who will debate over whether the people we love deserve to exist, then you should probably find a shop with different values. We all need to educate ourselves and not turn our backs on people who need support. We also understand that the issues we face feel insurmountable and it’s so easy to just do nothing. We don’t have all the answers…but silence and avoidance will get us nowhere. At the end of the day, we’re all individual humans who love and care for other individual humans. We can’t lose sight of that.
With Love,
-C, J, & H
NEW ART INSTALLATION… That’s right y’all…we have a new art installation on display at Maple Street! Fox Capone’s work is visually stunning and uses the exploration of light and color manipulation to stimulate the viewer. Prices range from $125 – $235. To learn more and to contact the artist, please visit www.foxcapone.com.
MARDI GRAS IN APRIL?… Well, sort of. Our friends at Oklawaha Brewing in Hendersonville, North Carolina throw an annual Mardi Gras party…usually the Sunday before Fat Tuesday. The 2023 celebration was postponed because the headlining band’s lead singer became a dad! Though it was too bad they couldn’t have their party during Mardi Gras season, the timing was perfect for us since Chris had already planned a visit for the last weekend of April. We hauled up two sacks of crawfish and helped them celebrate Mardi Gras in the most Louisiana way! It gave us the bright idea to make this an annual tradition for the first week of Jazz Fest each year. We really look forward to continuing this partnership in the future!
FRENCH QUARTER GRAND REOPENING… We’re very excited for the grand reopening of the Liberty Barbers pop-up, courtesy of Deurty Boys Gallery! We took a little break during our busy season on Maple Street, but we will be back at it in June! Please make sure you’re following us on Instragram to stay tuned as details develop.
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH…when you know, you know. #moxiestyle #getusedtoit.
GRIPES & GRATITUDE…MTV is shuttering MTV news as an overall workforce reduction at their parent company Paramount. This is an end of an era for me as well as many other people my age. MTV news was the only news that I received as a kid. I was not interested in news and politics when I was young, but I watched MTV incessantly (mostly to mock or watch Beavis and Butthead). The limited worldview I had was shaped by the small amount of news I received while waiting for something else to be on.
I guess what bothers me so much is that it feels like this generation is being written off as unaware or lazy, but it seems like little to no effort is being placed in informing this generation of things that will directly affect them.
Young people should have more mainstream access to news and world events pertinent to their lives. The simple fact that the internet exists now should solve this problem of dumbassedness in young people. The problem is that the internet just vomits nonsense on to young people’s devices with no context or fact checking.
This is the role of journalists, to inform and educate free of influence as possible This is not MTV’s job, nor is it any other for-profit business’ responsibility to inform or educate the youth; although I think they make their money exploiting dumb and bored kids for profit. To be honest, I don’t know whose job it is.
The fact is that this generation are lousy consumers. They are impervious to most mainstream advertising meaning that they don’t make companies money. They are also very savvy in finding the best deals on things (usually at the expense of brick and mortar). They are constantly inundated with ads and targeted marketing endeavors that they simply shut down and do not even see the product anymore. What is most alarming is that this is not only limited to their spending habits but also, they are woefully unaware of basic civics and nearly illiterate in world events. This is a societal failure; this is the generation large enough to replace the post war generation. My generation (Gen X) is simply not large enough to affect real societal change. This next generation needs to be educated on their role in determining the future of this country.
Significantly more money needs to be invested in engaging young people in the educational space to get these people to catch up on basic governance. Effort must be made to reach them by older generations listening and empathizing with young people. Many issues may be uncomfortable for older generations, but these conversations need to happen. This was the role that MTV news filled for my generation. Ideally, this should be a collaboration with private enterprise and public education for the purpose of educating young people. Also, these kids will be taking care of us when we cannot take care of ourselves, so if you want a dumbass wiping down your dumb ass, do nothing.
