Page 17 of A Boy Is a Gun: Part II
Book V
Jamie and Ethan
One
Taylor
The world keeps movingregardless of your broken heart.
I’ve been on autopilot for the past month and trying to avoid anything that’s Cameron-related unless I have to interact with it.Staying busy is good because I can concentrate on the shops and the new restaurant.
Election day is quickly approaching, and Atlanta is on edge.We’ll have someone new who adheres to the same old, same old, or someone old who will keep the bullshit going at a fervent pace.
Jamie has fully taken over the launch of Earth, Wind, and Flour, and I couldn’t be happier.The customers are a mixture of all races and ethnicities, which is what we wanted.Food is meant to be enjoyed by everyone and to bring people together.
Open Mic Thursday has been a smash hit out of the gate, with many poets, rappers, and spoken word artists coming out.So far, we’ve had a few women (both Black and white) talking about how the future is female and that we all should fight the patriarchy that has been installed since slavery.
Then, we’ve had a few no-name rappers who have much money to afford to be tatted up everywhere, talking about how hungry and broke they are.Pick a struggle, babes.
Next, we had some Hoteps (because they seem to be sprouting out of nowhere) tell women that we should bow down, and honestly, I stopped paying attention because it occurred to me that he was inmy business anddidn’t even tip my servers!
Finally, we’ve had a white liberal feminist who declared we all had the divine feminine within us and shouted that with every word being punctuation.Ouch, my ears.
As all this is happening, Jamie is doing the good ol’ Page charm and interacting with everyone, ensuring they’re comfortable and things are running smoothly.She can claim to hate the family all she wants, but it’s clear they influence her.Heavily.
I finally figured out that thing about Jamie that makes me tick.It almost seems like because their parents are so evident with their racism, Jamie is extra-hard with her anti-racism, to the point where it’s almost perverse.
A quick glance at her Instagram feed will tell one how she’s read several books within the past year, includingThe Autobiography of Malcolm X,andThe Souls of Black Folk.She gladly shows off her Telfar and Brandon Blackwood bag purchases.
Her stories often feature a backdrop of her cooking and prepping to Jill Scott and Erykah Badu with a touch of Cleo Sol and Lucky Daye.Not to mention, Jamie has friends of every shade and ethnicity one could think of – one of her best friends is an Indian (the dot, not the feather), her college friends are Black, and her high school friends are white.As a bonus, Jamie is also fluent in Spanish.
She threw a lot of her money (read: Cameron’s money) into opening Earth, Wind, and Flour, and she wanted to ensure it was centered in the heart of East Atlanta.There are a lot of Black customers, expectedly, but the clientele also appeals to the white customers who want to appear woke.
