#gsuproblems

I'm doing stuff on YouTube with chalk again. Check me out.

Hello Southern,

I wanted to clarify a couple things based on the various rumors that have sprung up (Yik Yak is not a valid source for citation).

I'm not leaving town, never was.  When I said "Goodbye Southern" it was metaphorical.  My wife teaches at the university and I can't drive so I couldn't leave if I wanted to and frankly some jackhole stealing my hat isn't enough to make me leave my wife, lol.  I'm just hanging up the chalk for a bit.  

As for the rumor that I am now packing, I'll neither confirm nor deny.

I know some of you saw me out this morning.  A couple days ago I got contacted by WJCL and they had apparently heard of me and about what happened last week.  They asked if they could do a segment about me and if I'd draw something for it so I gave them Clarice since she's always been one of my favorites to draw.  They shot this morning and it's supposed to air Monday night @11(I think).  The anchor, Meghan (@MeghanSchiller), said she'd send me a link to the finished piece when it goes up on the website.  When I get it I'll post it.

I must say I've been overwhelmed by the response I've gotten since the Asshat incident.  After my goodbye post my various inboxes exploded.  I got hundreds of messages from you guys asking me to stay as well as several messages from people in other towns asking me to come there, lol.  But like I said before, I'm locked to Statesboro as long as my wife is here I'll be here.  I am going to take a break from the sidewalk for a little while but I can't just give it up completely.  It's very hard to walk away from something you love so much.  And the outpouring of love and support that has come my way has really been incredible.  Thanks guys.  I had no idea that my work meant so much to so many.  I'll be back but when remains to be seen.  We'll see what happens after Thanksgiving.  

I do know I'm going to have to make some changes in my Modus Operandi.  I'll not be chalking my traditional pitch by retrievers.  It's just gotten far too sketchy over there.  It has been suggested that I do my work directly on campus during the day.  I find this thought intriguing but more contemplation is required.   There will also likely no longer be a tip hat, if I am graced by gratuity it will reside away from the reach of grubby fingers that aren't my own.  

     I've been painting the pavement in Statesboro, around the campus of Georgia Southern University for several years now.  For almost a decade I've dedicated my time and being to learning how to turn chalk and dirty sidewalks into something greater.  Unfortunately I find it all coming to an end.  

     This past Thursday, the 13th, I was sitting on my normal pitch by Retrievers.  It was a little after 2am, very cold.  I was out a little later than normal because I had decided to do a more complex piece than usual and wasn't ready to quit yet.  The street was quiet since most of the bar traffic had gone home.

     I heard something and looked up.  I see a young black guy in a red sweatshirt running toward me rubbing his hands together.  "Damn it's cold" he said, I chuckled a bit and said "Yeah...." as he ran past me, scooped up my tip hat, which had deep sentimental value to me, and kept on running.  Before I could process what had happened he had rounded the corner towards Eagle Village and was gone.

      I called the police and filed a report, but I know I'll never see that hat or its contents again.  

     Later that night on Yik Yak(local social media) Someone asked "What happened to chalk guy?"  One of the responses was, "Me and my homies robbed that hobo bitch."

     This semester I've been robbed twice, in almost the exact same fashion, a run by snatch and grab.  It may have been the same person, sadly I never got a good look either time.  I've also had a full tallboy of cheap beer thrown at me from a moving car passing along Georgia Ave.  This is what has become of Statesboro and sadly I can no longer be a part of this towns culture.  

     I've had fun painting this town.  It was good while it lasted.  I've been shown great generosity and support by many of the students at Southern and am thankful to have met those students.  I've always been open to talk to a passing student about anything they wished.  I simply wanted to bring joy to this small town but thanks to a few predatory children I can no longer do it.   When I paint the sidewalk I reach a zen like state of peace and relaxation.  But no more, I cannot be relaxed when I am constantly looking over my shoulder for the next attack.

     I don't know if I'll ever return to the sidewalk here but I doubt it.  There will come a time when I leave this town and move on to another. When that time comes I will find a new town with new sidewalks to paint and hopefully I'll not have to fear the actions of random passers by as I have had to here in Statesboro.

A Copper Dragon

The night I drew this was an interesting night.  It was a night where I came to realize that class knows no income bracket.  I live in Statesboro Georgia, beside the campus of Georgia Southern University.  The students don't seem poor, considering how much they spend on luxuries and booze I can't imagine they are in a low income bracket, what they don't earn I'm sure daddy picks up.

As I arrived on this pitch and sat down a group of students approached.  They were somewhere between rabble rousing frat guys and uncouth rednecks.  The first interaction I had with a passer by was one of these young men throwing a full can of beer on the ground for no reason I could understand except to soak my pitch and try and assure that I not draw there.  One of his friends was kind enough to help me try and stop the flow and keep it from running down the incline to make the entire sidewalk unusable.  After soaking up what I could with what little extra cloth i had on me the flow was stifled and the night was saved. 

When I do these sidewalk drawings I put out a tip hat, I rarely make much money, just a little bit for some soda and snacks, by no means a real income, lol.  I try and keep an eye on my hat but on this night, for a brief moment I had to take my eyes off of it as a group passed.  Once they had passed I glanced toward my hat and realized that a couple of the bills that were there a moment ago were no longer there.  I had gotten dipped.  Someone in the group had dipped their hand into my hat and taken a few bucks.

It amazes me sometimes, this town.  For years I drew on sidewalks in Atlanta.  A major city, often late into the night, with raving crackheads and desperate homeless people always nearby.  Yet in all my time there, surrounded by what most people might call the dregs of society, I never worried about my hat.  I never feared being robbed or even pestered by the people around me.  They knew me, they liked what I did, they were often very polite, sometimes striking up conversation but most often just leaving me alone to paint the pavement.  But since coming to Statesboro I've had my hat taken, kicked over, and now dipped.  I've been called names, told that I need to get a job(I do, they're just scarce for chubby male bartenders here), and had people spit on my drawings as I worked.

After my years in Atlanta surrounded by people the Students of Georgia Southern would consider beneath them and my years here surrounded by the so-called future of America I've come to a conclusion.  Class is not dictated by income or upbringing.  Some of the worst people I've ever encountered live here in this small white bread town.  The fact that threats to my being and property are greater here in this place than they ever were while living among the night crawling crackheads of the city tells me a lot about the youth of our nation.  

Only 2 things keep me chalking here.

 #1 I have fans.  There are those who have been very nice to me and I have met some very cool young people who have treated me very well and love what I do and it is partially for them that I keep doing it.  

and #2, there is a segment of the population here, a classless bunch who have no desire to do anything more than harass and belittle everything they don't understand and can't accomplish.  This segment of the population seems to want nothing more than to make me quit and harass me into never painting their pavement again. What this segment fails to realize is that I am an asshole.  And if painting the pavement offends them so much then that is reason enough for me to do it, often, and with great enthusiasm.  Every time I paint the pavement it is my way of telling those unfortunate future inmates and wife beaters to go fuck themselves.