Freetown Press Episode 1 – Dub 37

Freetown Press interviews local reggae infused jam band Dub 37 in this premier episode!! Let us know what you think…

Freetown Press gets “Hands On” in the latest interview with: Pottery Alley

Ever noticed that exceptionally large warehouse situated on Garfield St. in Freetown, next to the train tracks? Well even if not, all that matters in this story is that I have, and the mystery behind what it functioned or functions as has been completely eating me up since I first moved to Lafayette. So, today I decided to do something about this lingering curiosity and went home, grabbed my car keys, threw on my lucky interview shirt (that corduroy one I promised to never wear again), checked my camera power, looked for my notebook for 15 minutes and jetted out the door. Today would be successful I promised myself. Today curiosity will not kill the cat, it will feed a community of cats and everyone will live happily-ever-after. As cats.

Vroooooom. Park. It was short drive, that’s the beauty of Freetown.

The first thing I noticed, as anyone would passing this building is the large Odell’s Pottery sign. Earlier in the day I did some research and found a website for Odell’s and the various clay ceramic creations they offer. It was all quite expensive, but for good reason, handmade objects are difficult to come across nowadays. Power to em’

As I approached the bright red side door I was greeted with a blinking “Open”, neon sign and a message that informed all newcomers and possible ne’er-do-wellers that there was a dog present inside. Taking a deep breath, as I always do before jumping into uncertainty I knocked firmly Tap-Tap-Tap. I paused a moment, then reloaded my fist for round two just as the door quietly creaked open and I was greeted by a welcoming “Hey There!”. Standing in the doorway was a woman in her mid-fifties with a smile as friendly as I’d ever seen in Freetown. She encompassed every aspect of your stereotypical ceramics aficionada: clay stained palms, paint stuck gently to the tips of her bangs and a handshake that contained the firmness of a blue collar steel worker. Her name was Susan, I was definitely in the right place, and she was the in-house ceramics artist (not owner or manager)  for Pottery Alley.

Susan ushered me in and quickly dispelled the first lie I had come to believe about this place. This warehouse was not “just” Odell’s Pottery, Odell operated in the back, the front was a completely different business called “Pottery Alley”. In fact if you direct your gaze underneath the large Odell’s sign on the front of the building you will in fact see the hanging “Pottery Alley” sign. Small, but once you see it you’ll notice it every time from then on, I promise.

After our initial introduction she went on to explain that Pottery Alley specializes as a ceramics studio that offers multitudes of workshops, classes and events for persons of all ages. I’d go into detail about the specifics of these various offerings but that would be a waste of time, if you’re interested, just check out their website at pottery alley.

A pause in conversation allotted me a moment to really take in my surroundings. The main room consisted of four walls, each of which was completely filled with shelving, and amongst this shelving, ceramics making supplies and current student’s work. On the left hand side there was a corner specifically for the chemicals used to make the glazes. Apparently this is an exact science, pottery alley only has one person who does this and they require complete silence when calculating measurements. The right hand side of the room contained a “slab” used for free forming clay and a table with huge chunks of material they order for their projects. Amongst the middle of the room were between five and seven (can’t remember the exact amount) “wheels” used for creating bowls and circular pottery that the public is most used to seeing. It was actually pretty awesome walking in on Susan using one of these bad boys, we were so immersed in conversation that it remained spinning, mesmerizingly, the whole time.

Finally, following a little over 15 minutes of touring the facility Susan began getting to the exciting stuff, the stuff I came here to learn more about…..the process. In the following photo essay I’ll describe in as much detail as I can, the process of making ceramics. Start to Finish.

Step 1: Wedging (not pictured)

Sorry for not getting the VERY photo for the beginning process y’all! I probably bring shame to my family or something for that. Basically, in this step you mix the clay by hand and knead and knead it until there is absolutely no air bubbles left in the clay. If you leave even a few your beloved project will explode in the kiln….EXPLODE.

Step 2: Forming

Personally my favorite step in the ceramics making process. Forming can be done by methods of molding, pinching, coiling, wheeling and slabbing. Pottery Alley only uses two forming techniques… Slabbing and Wheeling. The photo below is of the wheels used to form the clay.

Step 3: Drying

This stage comes once you’ve formed your clay to the basic/almost complete shape that you’d like to see as your final product. You wrap your creation in plastic to slow down the drying process and then place it in the Damp Room. This allows you to return back to the piece a few days later and still have the ability to work your ceramic. You can see the plastic wrapped around some of the pieces below..

Step 4: Greenware

Greenware is the name given to pottery that has dried completely and can no longer be formed or carved. Your piece is in its permanent state and is very delicate, any forms of pressure risk the cracking of your ceramic. At this stage the pottery is ready to be fired in the kiln.

Step 5: Bisque Firing

If you’re a fan of extreme heat and danger this is the step for you. Bisque firing takes place in a ceramics oven known as a “kiln”. Here the piece is hardened and strengthened at over a period of three days at temperatures of up to 1800 degrees F.

plugs used to regulate temperatures

Step 6: Glazing

This is the process of coloring the ceramics once it leaves the kiln. The glaze material is made up of a mixture of ground glass, water, clay, and color dye. It can be applied in many different ways such as brushing, sponging, pouring etc..

Step 7: Glaze Firing

This is the last step in the ceramic making process. The kiln is set and programmed to over 2000 degree F this time! It cooks for almost 3 days and when completed needs a day or two to dry. After, You’re finsihed!!

I’ve definitely kindled a new love for the art of ceramic/pottery making after writing this article. It was an incredible and extremely “earthly” process that left me itching for more after I left. I definitely recommend Pottery Alley to anyone interested in pursuing the art, the people there are insanely friendly and passionate about their work. Thanks Susan and the rest of Pottery Alley for the interview!

By: Damon Robert

Local Poet Moonshyne Monceaux covers: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

Freetown spoken word poet Moonshyne Monceaux returns yet again. This time to cover the song Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen. Let us know what you think! And if you got a problem with the wind in the background….

Baby It’s Louisiana “Natural”

Freetown Interview: Herb Stewart dishes out much needed Advice

“If someone actually shows you who they truly are, believe them. Don’t try to come up with excuses for them because in the end they are no longer fooling you. You are only fooling yourself.”

Freetown Press Contributor JaRon Marshall: Gets the Low-Down on “Genterie” with owner: Ross Fontenot

I was heading down the Jefferson Street sidewalk on a sunny, South Louisiana morning. As I walked through the glass doors of Genterie I humbly accepted the AC’s cold welcome. Turning to my left I was quickly greeted by a woman, Yetta working at the front register whose job description was women’s wear. After our brief conversation my gaze turned inwards towards the cavernous store. I was blown away. An almost rustic vibe, with relics such as buck heads, bicycles, and a retro barber’s chair were among the countless meticulously chosen items that covered the store. As I perused the various shelves and display tables I felt like the heat had actually ended my life, and this was what heaven looked like. At least my heaven…

Midway through giving one of the store manikins props for its swanky suit style, Mr. Ross Fontenot owner of Genterie Supply Co. walked in and approached me. After we chopped it up for a few and held a brief photo shoot, we began the interview..

JaRon – Tell me something that is unique about your store?

Ross- Well I think everything in the store is pretty unique, but I think unlike a lot of stores in town, I think we try to use a lifestyle… we convey a lifestyle in our clothes and the rest of the products, and that is not common

When was the store founded?

We opened as a men’s store in June of 2011 and December 2014 is when we expanded into women’s apparel.

What inspires your company to continue?

Just because I think we’re doing something different and I have a lot of fun doing it, I enjoy it. It’s a labor of love. I think it’s something that Lafayette deserves; we’re just providing Lafayette with products they don’t really get anywhere else in town.

And when you push something that’s unique to yourself and achieve success from it, it always will feel like a labor of love, like you said..

I agree.

What does fashion mean to you?

I’m not like one of the most fashionable people out there, I just think on some level it’s fun to dress well or dress with a flair, I always kind of enjoyed that myself.. I think it’s a way of self-expression. I think that’s it.

How important is self-expression in fashion versus trends?

As a store we’ll somewhat follow trends, but we’re somewhat of a classic store, we do a lot of that because not only does that sell well, its timeless, I think those are the pieces of the wardrobe that are great. Classics at the same time are sort of trends..

Me- I feel like “Classic” is in right now…

Yea, I guess so.. I think it always is.. Every time you see a trend it’s always based on something done before.. It depends on the trend… But to answer your question, I think self expression is important, I try to do a balance of self expression and trends, but I think all fashion is self expression.. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I feel like this store may give inspiration as to where either trend are going or something that you might feel is just more of your own self expression. I personally have a balance, but some people completely do their own thing; those are my favorite dressers, those that just boldly completely do their own thing.. To each its own.. I feel like trends guide us, we as a human race, we follow trends for the most part”

What are some of the most common trends that you are seeing in Men’s Fashion?

Whenever we opened, a big reason that we opened, was that you see a lot of classic Americana.. Your denim, your simple button up shirts.. “Made in the US”; a lot of American work wear combined with some suiting.. As far as trends go you see a lot of urban street wear progressing into fashion. It’s still a mix; I think there’s a place for everything.

Which trends do you dislike the most?

I don’t like wooden bow ties, I haven’t necessarily seen it as a trend, but that’s just a pet peeve of mine.. But I don’t think there’s anything that upsets me.. Once again I think there’s a place for pretty much everything.

What about things that you don’t see on the street now, but you see with celebrities, such as men wearing dresses?

There’s this store somewhere in Europe, and they made themselves entirely unisexual, and I think that’s cool. Its just an evolution of everything that’s been done.. I personally won’t be wearing a dress anytime soon, but I think it’s bold. But if I start to see it everywhere…

It’ll be watered down

“Yea.. And I think when it’s good when it’s done right and the people that are doing it are doing it right”

Are man bun’s here to stay?

[laughter] I think they are going be around a little bit longer..

I feel like with long hair and fashion in general, it is gearing towards a more metrosexual vibe”

Exactly.. But that’s the thing, we realized that 4 years ago.. It’s funny when I hear the term metrosexual, for guys, because I feel like it doesn’t really exist anymore, now it’s just guys taking care of themselves.. Wanting to dress well or stay groomed, there is no metrosexual, its just guys doing what women always did and it being more widely accepted

Are beards here to stay?

I feel like the way the media talks about lumber-sexuals, its going to get old ..

Everything gets blown out of proportion..

Right the media has a very funny and interesting [way of doing that]… I don’t really like the word hipster either because everyone has a different version of what a hipster is.. Some people call the store hipster [laughter] I’m like you have no idea, yea we’re up to date.. I mean hipster to me is always further out there.. I feel like the term doesn’t apply to anyone anymore

I feel like hipster was always associated with vintage wear that you get from your local goodwill, but now that classic wear is in, people get it confused with vintage or something that is weird, but it’s actually a staple…

Exactly, there’s so many definitions of it now

I feel like fashion is more accepted now, movie stars have always done it, but your NFL stars or your NBA stars are dressing big. They were always the big icons, but now there expected to do that, and I think that a lot of people who were once hesitant about dressing well are now following.

I love it

Right, right it’s the best thing to happen to sports.. Its’ great.. for fashion, for menswear brands, Its good for my store

And for the women, they don’t have to worry about a man that doesn’t want to dress up

That’s one thing I never liked to see.. A woman dressed nice and her guy wearing like a fishing shirt to go eat out

EXACTLY

Its good to see men on par with the ladies

What inspires you?

Gosh.. Music, musicians, other entrepreneurs who have done something similar to our store in larger cities. To see it being done is always a drive. To see how successful other entrepreneurs could be in retail is always inspiring.

What is your favorite quote?

Cock your hat, angles are attitudes and that’s Frank Sinatra.. I think it goes deeper than just how to wear clothing.

What advice would you give to up and comers in the clothing business?

Don’t open up anything similar to my store [laughter]… Know your market

What advice would you give to someone who has given up on life?

It has to get better, from wherever you are at.. I can only imagine what its like to not want to live anymore, but I would say that it can only get better, it has to.. Everyone needs someone to talk to, find someone to talk to about it.

Be sure to visit Genterie Supply Co. located in Downtown Lafayette, visit their website at http://www.Genterie.com, and follow them on Social Media!

Freetown Local JaRon Marshall: Stop Glorifying Plantations

We have and will always maintain a deep-rooted sense of pride in the south. What we are accustomed to, whether it’s our traditions or lifestyle choices, are commonly passed along as generational standards. Those of us in this special generation see things in a different light. Although we gave way to most bigoted views that our (confederate) forefathers shared, to some degree we still portray those views. A common way of keeping yesterday’s culture alive is by appreciating its relics and celebrating the symbolism of the past. When traveling around the south, the fossils of yesterday are still visible if not preserved. What we tend to mistake for beauty is usually more synonymous with tastelessness or vulgarity. We see a majestic antebellum home, with ivory pillars, immense shutters, and land as far as you can see… Regal Magnolia trees, enchanting Spanish moss, and slow-moving waterways scour the land, making it seem like a fantasy. Still, this beautiful home that is cherished to this day was actually a much different place in a past life. This home was a plantation.

A plantation by definition is a large piece of land usually in a tropical or semitropical area where one crop is specifically planted for widespread commercial sale and usually tended by resident laborers. Although a plantation by definition seems like the perfect composition for harvesting goods and creating commerce, the southern business model played to a much a sadder tune. Slaves were the gears that ran this all-too-well functioning machine. These people came in as supplies to aid in the exploitation of natural goods. There are 100+ plantations in Louisiana listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of which followed the law of the land; slaves were to be utilized for the good of the business. As we appreciate these structures today, we don’t necessarily rejoice with slavery, we don’t even have to agree with it, but by celebrating its relics we are essentially supporting the slavers.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you are in post-Nazi Germany. Have the concentration camps become a place of celebration and identity? Not exactly, most concentration camps are memorials, dedicated to the memory of those whose lives were taken away from them while present in those facilities. Dachau, the first concentration camp, was preserved to be a memorial to the prisoners. When touring Dachau, you are shown the atrocities that prisoners had to face while living in a world where they were seen to be subordinate human beings, if considered to be humans at all.

Most plantation homes that I visited in my home state fail to mention it’s original owner’s wrongdoings. They tend to utilize the scenery to beautify the place, giving it a label of perfection. Unscathed. Belle Grove plantation, arguably the largest plantation in the South, boasts on its historical marker “One of the grandest plantation mansions ever built in Louisiana, Belle Grove was built at the pinnacle of prosperity during the 1850s sugar boom, in the South,” while the website marquees at the bottom of the page has “read wonderful stories about her past, join the Belle Grove Discussion Group.” There would be no “sugar boom” if it wasn’t for slavery. There would be no “sugar boom” if it wasn’t for the 1850 fugitive slave act, which even caused freeman of color to be captured into slavery.

This all brings light to a current situation. A situation where our country is once again divided over which flag should fly free over the Southern States. Living in the South, I haven’t seen a shortage of confederate flags. Without understanding the meaning I accepted it as a harmless symbol of the past. We must always remember that our present is rooted in past events. What feeds yesterday will always be relevant for tomorrow. The confederate flag represented the subsidiary of a country with very exacting views. As stated by Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy:

“Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature’s laws. With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation with the proper material — the granite; then comes the brick or the marble. The substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is best, not only for the superior, but for the inferior race, that it should be so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. For His own purposes, He has made one race to differ from another, as He has made “one star to differ from another star in glory. The great objects of humanity are best attained when there is conformity to His laws and decrees, in the formation of governments as well as in all things else. Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws.”

The Confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with the laws fore mentioned by Stephens. You may support the relics of the past but by doing so you open yourself up to yesterday’s views. You belong to a sect, who still believes in the Confederate law. Harmless? Seemingly. Symbolism plays an immense part on the subconscious mind. Most racism of yesterday has been played out, not by the overreaction of bigoted views, but by those who refused to take a stand on something that we know is not right. Will you support those outdated views or will you take a stand?

Freetown Interview: Tyler Davis on “Travel and Getting in Touch with Your Feminine Side”

“Hi, I’m Tyler and I’m from Lafayette and am definitely not from Freetown. I’m from Scott, Louisiana.
Not so much Freetown…but close.”

I know we talked briefly the other night about men getting more in touch with their feminine side.

“What I said was that I really appreciate you guys because of the fact that y’all are really in touch with your feminine side and like more receptive and compassionate and sensitive and kind of in tune with those watery ways.
And that’s really refreshing because many times when I meet men it’s that dominance-game. Sometimes they wanna be alpha-male instead of collaborating together; its like they’re above you somehow. Sometimes, most of the time, they kinda look like an idiot, I don’t say that but it’s really refreshing to meet people who aren’t immediately aggressive and  are open to other peoples ideas, which is sweet. I think its something a lot of women do and are kinda just naturally better at then men.”

So you’d say women are generally better at that compared to men?

“Yea. I feel that men and women both have masculine feminine sides and I feel like a lot of men are in touch with that side themselves and often times repress it because of this idea of having to be a ‘man’ and all the things that that encompasses.”

Especially in the south, would you say that this is an issue? The whole you either have to be a coon-ass or a T-Boy?

“Yea, it’s just college life is all that bro fraternity kinda thing and I see the validity of frats, I love that whole ‘I’m chilling with my brothers mentality’,
But I dunno, it seems like it’s been warped into this weird dominance thing.”

Do you have any advice in getting more in touch with that?

“I feel like everyone has their own way. I guess everyone has specific things that are blocking that. I feel that overall diet, exercise, and meditation are always gonna open stuff up. Stretching hard, creative pursuits like music,
those are all things, actually doing charity and volunteering at places. The other day Ben and I picked up trash around Freetown. Just to get in touch with helping others. And just being receptive and especially open to other people and their ideas. No matter how different they might seem. Just being receptive to people. Giving everyone a chance.”

Do you directly correspond that with a feminine side?

“I feel like that’s more of a feminine trait that I see inherently in women than men. Its more of a motherly thing. You go to her instead because she’s the one who’s gonna listen to you when you get in trouble as opposed to your dad. And there’s a ton of those images in our culture. It’s a very real thing. And I feel like compassion is a very feminine thing. And that’s the weird thing, we live in a patriarchy, we live in a domineering male society.”

And guys are afraid to cry.

“And yea that’s a very valid way to release your emotions. As opposed to bottling that anger and exploding punching a window.”

Do you have any personal experience with finding yourself? Finding your inner compassion? Was there a moment of enlightenment in your life in which you were like ‘Aha! I need a change!’ Or have you always been this way?

“I don’t know man. I went through a pretty cynical, very rational, closed off, anti-receptive kind of nihilistic life for a while when I was a young teenager. And then eventually I dropped out of high school, started working and living on my own, and started having a lot of new experiences and opening my mind up to different things. But I was still pretty closed minded to anything beyond what I could prove by science. Which truly isn’t a lot. Honestly, there is a lot we don’t know so it’s hard, it’s a very small frame of reference It seems very realistic but cynical, so it’s depressing. I was very depressed for a while so I just left and went to Brazil and started traveling pretty much with 4 to 6 month breaks.”

How long did you spend there?

“I spent 7 months there and then I spent 3 months in India and then I came back and worked for my father in Baton Rouge for a while.”

You just traveled there or lived there?

“I went to Brazil. I met these chicks at a bar called the Wild Salmon. One I had already known as my friend’s cousin and the other was this Brazilian chick. And we started talking about our interests we started talking about permaculture and farming. And my rational mind was asking, ‘How do we save the world? We should grow our own food’. And we talked about that and had similar interests and we talked about going to Brazil because her father is a shaman and goes to this place in Brazil and goes to the beach and stuff. And they take volunteers and they were supposed to be totally sustainable eco-village. But it turns out that was all bullshit. I actually met a chick from DC who was going to college in Costa Rica for eco-village management and she was doing her senior thesis on traveling to eco-villages to do her paper on whatever and was going to these places and she came and was like this isn’t an eco-village at all.”

“It was really funny, they were very manipulative, they were super new-age people. There were Ayahuasca ceremonies going on and Aura readings. They were vegetarian and just like very new-age and very into all that Eckhart Tolle and every new-age book you’ve ever heard. They seemed very open and inviting but they also were kind of enslaving people ion these weird ways by peer pressure and work trade. They would give you these things and let you do this because you were volunteering here. And after you did that they would say that it would cost $1,300 and you’re gonna pay that off by working for us for $3 an hour.”

Is that why you were there for so long?

“I was doing that for a while and then some friends of mine that lived nearby who knew those people said, “Those people were fucking crazy right?” “And I was just like its not just me? Because a lot of people go in there and totally give in and go ‘Yes I’ve found the most beautiful place!’ But they were paying to be there so they treat them really lovely. But anyone who’s not giving these people thousands and thousands of dollars its very different for. The people running this are independently millionaires, they’re super rich. But yea, it’s crazy and its becoming this whole tangent to the other thing.”
“But after, I lived on this farm with this physicist and her boyfriend from Sweden and I learned a lot from them and I helped them start their farm. And then I lived with some friends that I had met when I was playing video games when I was 11. I got in touch with them. I was 11 years old and I met this lady playing this game YOHOHO Puzzle Pirates and we met and we had a good conversation. And I told her, “Dude, I’m going to Brazil!” and she had just moved to a city next to the city I needed to fly out of to go to India, so I lived with them for a while and that was awesome. I went to India, came back home, then went back for 5 months. Then I went on a tour of festivals in the north with my friend Ben for a couple months until I crashed his car and then we came back home. And then I hitchhiked to a Rainbow Gathering, then to Oregon, and worked in Cali and lived in Hawaii with my girlfriend.”

You met in Hawaii?

“We’ve known each other for a while and we just happened to bet there at the same time and it just worked out.”

What were you doing in India?

“Just traveling, I had met these people in this Ayahuasca community, they had this guru named Primmbaba and they were really cool. These cats are really legit and I hadn’t been opened to all these things. I was like, “What the fuck?!’ Because I had some crazy experiences on Ayahuasca and didn’t know what to believe anymore. But these guys seem legitimately nice and they seemed like what I was looking for. And now since I know what I’m looking for the first time they seemed comforting and closer to it than the people in Brazil. They told me to buy a plane ticket and so I did it and hung out there for 3 months and it was awesome. I went back and traveled around the country, which is huge, I didn’t see much at all but I got a lot more in touch with the culture and philosophy. And that’s what I would say was the period with the process of finding myself over four years.”

Traveling right?

“Traveling and really being receptive to the ridiculous other stuff that is totally different than here. I grew up thinking that. When I went to Colorado for the first time I said ‘Oh my god, the world can be clean and have public transportation and roads that aren’t broken.’ It blew my mind knowing this can exist in my own country.”

Were you receptive before you went to Brazil, or did it take you going there and having to immerse yourself in their culture?

“I was open-minded but extremely skeptical. I was open-minded to certain facets but only to certain facets, I wasn’t completely open-minded.”

So it wasn’t until India?

“I would say Brazil was the start of the train of that spiritual center getting introduced to all that stuff. I was like I’m here I’ll try it. I was working, I was going to learn about sustainable agriculture, but they weren’t sustainable at all so I ended up working in a kitchen.”

So I guess what you couldn’t learn in university you learned through travel and on your own?

“Yea dude, I was just thinking that. I’ve learned how I learn and how I can relate with the world and be part of it. Now especially since a lot of my friends are graduating from college. They have such a breadth of knowledge and information that I had no idea about since I didn’t go to university. I was talking with my girlfriend last night about going to college, just potentially. I found out you can go to college for free in Germany. So I thought if I can afford to go to college, I can travel to Europe and go to Spain on the weekends and its free and even if I don’t finish, even if I just go for two years, I get this great education as well as wonderful experiences.”

So to conclude, you would say that open mindedness is pretty much directly correlated with being in touch with your inner-feminine side?

“I would almost say receptivity, because when you say open-mindedness it’s a masculine kind of idea. “Oh my mind is open, my intellect is allowing you to be a thing.” When I’m being receptive I’m allowing you to take me in. It goes to an emotional level; people are more than their thoughts. They are more than their words. There’s a lot more behind what they are saying; that people can’t be themselves, or that they can’t be normal. It makes a barrier and you can’t perceive them.”

So you understood things, but you didn’t think deeply about them until you opened your mind. You listened to everyone and then listened on a whole new level?

“Its funny we understand the same things, it’s just two different journeys.”

Spoken Word Poetry: Moonshyne Monceaux

A little bit of sauce but a good bit of spice. Moonshyne Monceaux puts the malitons in the gumbo with his blend of Cajun and Creole heritage and culture based spoken word. Born and raised in Kaplan LA, Moonshyne now resides in Freetown.

Spoken Word Poem: Louise.

Freetown Local Cy Paul Fontenot: 7 Interesting Thoughts

 1. Push the Envelope, Watch it Bend.
Throughout my life, people have always told me to stop “pushing the envelope” or testing my limits. I say do push the envelope and by all means test your limits. Because once you do you’ll find that envelope of limitation surrounding you, and your perception of things will begin to expand exponentially.

2. What it means to create something exceptional.
Whatever your passion is, whether it be music, art, photography… knitting, etc. Make it exceptional. People seem to forget that no one is going to care about what your doing unless its something that they haven’t quite experienced before. Who wants to listen to bands that just play a shittier version of other band’s style of music? If you want to make good music, find your own way of writing and producing music, develop a unique sound, and put something out there that people haven’t heard before! Here’s a good article about creating exceptional alternative music and breaking the mold while still managing to rock your audience socks off!

3. Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise.
Yoga and Meditation are incredible ways of finding the solutions to life’s problems, and forming a path to success. It’s my way of organizing my thoughts and goals on a day to day basis, all the while becoming more physically and mentally fit.

4. Achievement Requires Hard Work.
Success does not come easily. Most successful people probably failed 100 times before they finally found a way to succeed. If you put in enough effort and keep trying, you will eventually stumble upon your path to success.

5. I think we might be close to discovering how we were created…
Jeremy England, they are calling him the new Darwin. He believes that under the right conditions, a random group of atoms will self-organize, unbidden, to more effectively use energy. Over time and with just the right amount of, say, sunlight, a cluster of atoms could come remarkably close to what we call life. This is an extremely big theory that can potentially set off a major leap in what we know and understand about the creation of life. You can learn more about Jeremy and his theory by following this Link.

6. Solar Sailing… Riding the Lightening.
There is a new type of space craft that actually sails on sunlight floating above earth right now. In the past, space ships have only been able to travel so far because they rely on thrusters to propel them through space, which limits the distance we are able to travel because eventually the thrusters are going to run out of fuel. Well now we this new solar mirroring technology that allows moving particles of light, known as photons, to push a spacecraft through the vast emptiness of outer space! Learn more about this Here.

7. Embrace the Random.
Too many people confuse happiness with comfortable-ness. Discovering your true potential requires you to constantly step outside your comfort zone and always be trying something new. There are so many amazing things to be experienced on this earth that I can’t fathom a good reason not to try something new every chance you get! Trying new things is the key to broadening the way you think about things and the expansion of consciousness.

Ride the Spiral to the end, and you may just go where no one’s been…

BIO:

Local musician, bartender, and student Cy Fontenot can usually be found serving delicious food and well priced drinks at La Carreta downtown, jamming with Freetown musicians or socializing at bars like Artmosphere, Blue Moon, Legends, or Greenroom. He’s a friend to all and knows how to treat a lady… If you like the way Cy thinks about things you may also like his music which can be found on his SoundCloud!

Freetown Interview: Morgan Stone

….I decided something today….

“Why do you do yoga?” I asked. Morgan replied, “To use every single part of myself and seek ultimate growth mentally and physically. I refuse to limit myself and seek to be completely boundless. Starting a challenge such as this, yoga, is so much more than just a hobby. It’s setting that ultimate goal for yourself, reaching it, and repeating that process until you realize you yourself are becoming better and better with each victory.”… “Damn that’s cool” I said