Imagine you’re on vacation. You’ve collected your loved ones together and planned a vacation to western France. You imagine yourself sipping on fancy coffee and smoking a guilt-free cigarette under the canopy of a small bistro. All around you are the sights and smells of stereotypical French life, oddly followed by the sound of a far off accordion. You decide to take a walk on the beach to experience the Atlantic in its full rocky beauty. The water is calm, and more blue than any you’ve seen before. The breeze off the shore cools your slightly sunburned skin, allowing all the tension of hectic New York City life to finally leave your body. You sit down on a rented beach chair to let your surroundings sink in, when your foot hits something hard in the sand. When your bend over to investigate you find, after brushing away a layer of sand, an orange figure with grotesquely large white eyes. The eyes of Garfield, everybody’s favorite lasagna loving, Monday hating cat, staring deeply into you.
This odd scenario has been a reality for the last thirty years on the beaches of Brittany in the west of France. Bright orange Garfield phones have been washing up on the shore since the last 1980’s and until recently nobody knew where they were coming from. As it turns out, nestled deep in a cave on the shore line, there is a shipping container that was lost at sea more than thirty years ago. The container was once filled to the brim with Garfield phones which it has now, thanks to rising tides and erosion, been littering the beaches for over three decades.
These phones, made entirely of plastic, have an immense longevity. Due to how long the faces of Garfield have been plaguing the beaches of Brittany, the cat himself has become a sort of local symbol of oceanic pollution. We’re lucky to have solved this seemingly unimportant mystery, but underneath the slightly hilarious situation of possibly finding Garfield out in the wild lies a much more malicious reality.
Plastic is useful. It’s easy to produce, easy to manufacture into any shape, and is durable. But plastic doesn’t degrade. Most of the plastic used in our everyday life will live a much longer life than any human ever born. Plastic takes on average up to four hundred years to degrade into something usable by the environment. That’s five hundred years of nature being unable to take its course. It’s an unfortunate reality that can be hard to understand in its full context. We live relatively short lives compared to course of nature, and understanding the consequences of our actions can feel like an abstract concept in nature’s scale.
I know this is a worn and ready cry, but we all need to be more conscientious about how much plastic we consume in our daily lives. The effects of our plastic usage can be and will be felt by the environment for generations.
So if you happen to find yourself on a beach in Brittany, and by chance find the orange, smirking face of Garfield staring back up at you through the sand, remember that this world may be strange and often hilarious, it is still our world. And we’re responsible for it.
-Tim Caston
Rest Peacefully, Neighborhood Nip…
I was doing my shift in Olive Garden when my coworkers and guests began grieving. Tears falling from faces and tight embraces over the news of a man who died in the same neighborhood he was building and saving. The news outlets began putting the blame on gang violence while the people scream government conspiracy and Illuminati. I say this wound to fresh and a lot of people with mainstream opinions are not even fans of him. I say let us honor him.
Nipsey Hussle, born Ermlas Davidson Asghedom, was an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and activist. Nipsey Hussle is survived by his two children along with his longtime girlfriend, actress, Lauren London.
From Los Angeles, California, Hussle’s music career began in 2005 with mixtapes but started making a buzz with his Bullets Aint Got No Names mixtape series. A Rollin’ 60’s Crip and a man of the people, Nipsey Hussle was a business mogul who hired family, friends and local residents in his Marathon clothing stores. Hussle was investing his money back into his community in land ownership and putting money up to restore infrastructure in his Crenshaw neighborhood. He was not Hip-hop’s largest name however, he was up there with some of the best moguls.
You would constantly hear Nipsey Hussle speak about unity among people in his lyrics and interviews. Though he was part of the Rollin’ 60’s, he often worked and collaborated with rival gang members on various projects and even establishing intimate friendships with them. Hussle spoke of peace. Some called Hussle a Millennial 2 Pac by his philosophy. Check out his interview with The Breakfast Club.
According to police, yesterday Nipsey Hussle was shot six times in front of his Marathon clothing store and two others were wounded. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He was 33 years old. Nipsey Hussle was also getting ready to produce a documentary focusing on the life and teachings of Dr. Sebi in which Nick Cannon vowed this morning, to finish producing.
It is an absolute tragedy. However, we will honor and remember this man for what he has done for his community with his message and end with something he has instilled in himself and his team:
1. Control your time. Use every minute wisely.
2. Create a plan and then attack it. A Dream without a plan is a wish.
3. Don’t expect from others. Put in your own work.
4. Don’t let your past create your future. Everyone can change.
Rest peacefully Nip.
– WIB
The Good, The Bad, and The Ridiculous
After rage quitting my last news brief topic (which you probably wouldn’t have seen because I deleted it right before it was supposed to go up), I decided to talk about something other than, you know, the terrible events that keep happening around the world.
The Good:
Around the beginning of March, several inspirational stories were reported in the news. At least in my case, the one I kept hearing about the most was the one about a teen who saved his paycheck for 2 years in order to buy his friend an electric wheelchair. For those of you out there, who remain ignorant of this inspiring story about compassion here is a summary:
Once upon a time, there lived two really good friends. One went by the name of Brandon Quall, there other was called Tanner Wilson and both lived in the until now unknown to the narrator town of Norman, Arkansas. One day, Tanner decided he had enough of seeing his friend struggle every day with his metal steed – Brandon’s “arms would get really tired” and he “would have to stop and take rests.” And so, Tanner, being the kind-hearted, compassionate and determined boy that he was, for 2 years set aside money that he earned at his part-time job at a local car mechanic shop and when he had saved up enough – Tanner purchased an electric wheelchair that Brandon had been dreaming about. And they lived happily ever after. Leaving us with a message:
“I feel like life is a little too short to, you know, be judging everybody,” Tanner Wilson said. “You should think more of others than just yourself.”
The End.
Truly, a beautiful story about empathy and friendship, right? Was it worth it? As the hero of our story reports – “Yeah, 100 percent.”
Check out the full story here.
Now, unto the Bad:
You must be wondering: what problem could I or anyone possibly have with this story? And even if there is one, why did we decide to comment on it rather than leave this tale be? It’s simple, it’s something only a few articles addressed – the “simple” problem of how the story was covered and what news outlets decided to focus on, instead of what they perhaps should’ve. For example, in her article (which can be found here), Karin Willison, argues that this story, shouldn’t be reduced to a plain “feel-good tale.” While Tanner Wilson did something amazing, going above and beyond what many others would have done, and should be commended for his actions, the media portrayed Brandon Quall, as Karin notes: as “merely the grateful recipient of his friend’s charity, objectified to make readers feel better about the state of the world.” Having read more than 10 different articles, Willison reports that none of them questioned what she had wondered when first hearing about this news story – why Brandon didn’t have an electric wheelchair “despite his evident need for one?”
The truth is plain and simple, medical equipment designed to aid people, allowing them to complete day to day tasks and jobs, and enjoy their lives to the fullest, like wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc. – should be covered by insurance. And insurance companies shouldn’t be getting away with covering the cheapest options when they don’t even meet the individual’s needs.
The media should not only be reporting on good Samaritans who take things into their own hands and inspire others to do the same, perpetuating the idea that “the needs of people with disabilities” should be met by random acts of charity, “rather than treated as a human rights issue.” And I agree with Willison when she notes that: Just once, I want to see a headline that says: “Teen Calls Friend’s Insurance Company Every Day for Two Years, Gets Wheelchair Covered.”
Finally, more often than not, “matters of life or death routinely hang on the successes of a GoFundMe (and similar websites) while politicians make excuses and insurance companies rake in profits.” Nowadays, building useless walls and creating space forces we have no need for (as far as I know) seems to be regarded as more important, instead of improving the current outdated healthcare system, leaving it up to the people to address and correct these injustices on their own. Ridiculous, don’t you agree?
-L.L.L.
The Junction Journal 