Welcome back to Sister Louisa's Daily (G)rantings. Every day leading up to Easter Sunday, Grant Henry, owner of Edgewood hotspot CHURCH (it's a bar!), will provide us with one daily rant/affirmation. Check out the previous installments here, here, and here.
All of this will lead up to Church's annual fellowship of the queers and weirdos - Easter Sunday Celebration - featuring DJ Vicki Powell with special guests, Mark Louque (NOLA/Ptown), Rich King (Snaxx/Easy NYC), and Bendito (Mary's ATL).
DON'T SHOULD ON ME
If you’ve ever been down
on Edgewood Avenue
in Atlanta, Georgia
heading to CHURCH,
you for sure have been asked
for a quarter for a bus ride,
18 cents for a tank of gas,
or your prized nasty-ass cigarette butt.
The Catholic Church
across the street from CHURCH
on Wednesdays when
Carloads of Catholics Convene,
is a virtual outdoor job fair
for all the people on the street
who need assistance.
Catholics with Guilt
(who love to give)
combined with
Street smart
impoverished people
(who need what is given)
makes for a recipe of success
for all on Hump Day Edgewood, USA.
Praise the Lord!
As a business owner
on a very visible street,
with a very ignorant business,
who has been called
a WHORE
more than once,
I am asked for money
on a literal daily basis.
This doesn’t even include
“precious friends”
who start the most adorable
Kickstarter pages,
UFUNDME pages,
RUN FOR JESUS pages,
or are in plain dire straits.
In our Business Association,
we all bring our special gifts & talents
to the table to make positive changes
to the Edgewood Corridor
in The Old Fourth Ward.
Some have time to give,
some have connections,
some love passing out fliers,
most are more organized than I am,
others just have more patience than I.
Being the WHORE that I am,
my gift to the association
is the propensity
for writers in this city
and around the country
to write about CHURCH
which brings in a$$load$
of people into our community.
We each give what we can give
and if you are lucky like me,
your gifts can be a
natural and authentic extension
of who you are.
I ain’t mad at nobody
that y’all ain’t WHORES
like me!
It is very difficult for me
to say no to anyone who asks
for something from me if I have it.
MISTER SHINE who plays music on the street,
said that he lost his harmonica
so what do I do?
I get in my car and buy him another.
Don’t be mad at me
for not giving you a quarter
for a bus ride,
or for not pitching in to your
FUN RUN FOR CHRIST.
I love the shit out of giving!
Just know that I can only give
what I can give
and still stay whole
which is everyone’s
main responsibility to ourselves,
to our families,
to our communities,
to our employees,
and especially for me,
Little Emilio.
BABY NEEDS SHOES.
Grateful Giving doesn’t mean saying yes
to everyone who A$K$,
it means picking your passion
and doing the right thing
and supporting those
people and programs
if and when one can.
Grant Henry is proprietor and resident artist of Sister Louisa's CHURCH & Ping Pong Emporium...Come On In, Precious! in Atlanta, Georgia and of Sister Louisa's CHURCH (It's a Glory Hole!) in Athens, Georgia.
His greatest pride in life is having helped rear his amazing daughter Mary Grace who has "blessed him" with his current source of joy, Little Emilio.