The Lady Gaga of a Century Ago

I was reading through the newspapers of 100 years ago that are available through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America website. I saw a headline and article that caught my attention in the El Paso Herald:

So I had to Google Mlle. Polaire to see the self-described "ugliest woman in the world." She really wasn't ugly...

 But she was outrageous. She was a record holder for a while in the category of tiny waists. Mlle. Polaire claimed her waist was 14 inches around. Her's a picture showing her teeny, tiny waist:

Mlle Polaire's fame stemmed not only from being an actress & singer, but also from being provocative...

See even claimed that she was traveling with a slave who wore a silver medallion with the inscription "I belong to Polaire." Her memoires said that he was a 14 year old boy named Jimmy who she paid to travel with her.

Here is a song that was recorded by her:

Mlle. Polaire's real name was Émilie Marie Bouchaud. She was born in Algeria on May 14, 1874. She died in France on October 14, 1939.

Interview With The Unaired Catfish Victim

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I got to see the Catfish episode featuring Stephanie & David/Dawuan before MTV had it pulled from Amazon Video. I still have it in my video library, but it is no longer available for anyone who had not purchased it prior to being pulled. If you went to the list of available episodes, it's no longer displayed as Stephanie & David. Now it's listed as Episode 10.

About 5 months after I posted my Catfish synopsis on the blog, Stephanie and a friend of hers posted comments on the post asking if they could have a copy of the episode. (Note: I hid their comments because I wanted to protect their privacy. Stephanie, however, said later she didn't mind if I hadn't done that.) Stephanie had never seen the episode until I was able to help her out. I want to stress this point: MTV did not allow Stephanie to see the episode she was in. But they did allow Dawuan to see it.

I got to know Stephanie through emails, Facebook, texts, & telephone calls. She agreed to let me interview her for this blog. (I feel like I need to point out that I'm not a reporter and I don't consider myself to be a journalist. No one is going to mistake this for feature in a newspaper or magazine.)

After talking to Stephanie on the phone the first time, I asked her to look over and (if she wanted to) send me the documents the production company had her sign because I wanted to make sure that she wasn't breaking any non-disclosure agreement she may have signed. I couldn't find anything regarding non-disclosure in the documents.

After Stephanie contacted me, I was looking over the traffic that my blog post had generated. I found that I had several referrals from Reddit. I showed Stephanie this screen capture:

Stephanie was irritated at Nev's description of why her episode had never aired and so we went forward with her side of things. As with, apparently, most of the Catfish episodes, it was the "catfish" David/Dawuan who had contacted MTV to tell the story and not the "catfishee" Stephanie as was stated in the episode.

The episode was filmed in June 2012 and was supposed to air on January 29, 2013.

Hi Ho…No Worries: Did Dawaun tell you ahead of time that he contacted MTV?

Stephanie: No he never once told me, I had to find out from a team member from MTV.


HHNW: How surprised were you when MTV contacted you?

S: I was really surprised that MTV had contacted me and wanted to hear my story.


HHNW: You said that you and David had talked with each other for about seven months. Is that seven months prior to when the episode was filmed?

S: Yes


HHNW: How much did MTV communicate with you after the episode was finished taping? 

S: Not at all! And that’s the most disappointing part about it!


HHNW: How officially did MTV tell you that they would not be showing you the episode? What I mean by that was whether it was an email or on the phone or in person? 

S: MTV never contacted me (via email, phone or in person). From the very beginning I was expecting my episode to air according to the contract David and I signed before we started shooting. 


HHNW: How did you find out that Dawuan had seen the episode? 

S: Dawuan sent me a text message stating that he seen the episode and he would do anything in his power to not let the show air. 


HHNW: Did the flow of events happen in real life as they were shown on the episode? 

S: Everything was real EXCEPT the email and text conversations seen on the episode. No email or text messages were saved nor shown. 

HHNW: Did you talk to Nev or Max before they went to your house? Or did you just talk to staff?

S: No, I didn't talk to Nev and Max. I only talked to their staff. Before they would start filming, they had a staff member come to my house every morning just so I wouldn't be camera shy. 


HHNW: What was not shown on the episode about how you had confronted Dawuan at his house? 

S: I continuously told him he was disgusting and a liar, but in a bitchier way. Last day I went to see him, Dawuan had a big hickie in the middle of his neck. I questioned him about it and he just blew it off. Besides that, a lot of things were cut from the episode that I wish would have been seen. 


HHNW: Where the pictures of David shown on the episode the same pictures that you saw when you were talking to Dawuan? 

S: I received only 3 pictures from Dawuan prior to filming the episode. The rest of the pictures, I’ve never seen before. 


HHNW: How long has it been since anyone from MTV contacted you? 

S: Since we stopped filming, which was June 16, 2013. 


HHNW: Why do you think the episode never aired? 

S: Til this day I have no idea why it hasn’t aired. So that’s what I want to know. 


HHNW: In the episode Nev told Dawuan on the phone that you had said that you were going to stop talking to him unless you guys met up that week. Is that a bit of fiction? Had you two already slowed down your talking by then?  

S: No, all that is true. I did tell Nev if Dawuan didn’t agree to meet up with me, I would stop talking to him. Dawuan and I were not talking to each other as much as we did before. 

HHNW: Would you do it again? 

S: I’m not sure if I would do it again but I’m sure the second time around I would be a bit smarter and handle things differently to not be in the situation I was in. 

HHNW: Have you continued online dating?  

S: Yes, actually my last relationship I met him online and he was who he said he was. 

HHNW: What are you up to these days?   

S: I’m working at a nursing part time as a receptionist and I also just Started Community College last week. 

HHNW: Plans for the future? Goals?  

S: Hmmmm…well it’s still being written, and for goals I’m just trying to finish up my schooling and hopefully be done with my major in the next 3 years. 

HHNW: What do you think made you fall for him?  

S: What made me fall for “David” (as the guy I thought he was) was that he was there for me through my toughest times, also how he carried himself to me as this perfect ideal guy that any girl would think they would be happy to have. 

HHNW: Did you ever think he was lying?  

S: At first I didn’t think he was lying to me but as time passed I started adding things up that weren’t making sense to me and I started catching on that there was a big possibility he was lying. 

HHNW: What upsets you the most?  

S: I really would love for my episode to air because I feel many people would be able to relate to my story. I believe I would inspire people around the world because it would teach people to fight and overcome insecurities. They took that possibility away from me and I still don't think it's fair that my episode wasn’t given an opportunity to air. I feel that this show is to expose “The Catfish” and for them not to air my episode shows me how fake MTV really is!

I wanted to give a special acknowledgment to Cybies Chitters for help and support with this project. If you're looking for a videochat & social community, stop by and pull up a virtual chair.

Intimidation

I saw a picture today of Putin & Obama that reminded me of a picture I took a couple years ago of my dogs...

February 21, 1917

These are headlines from February 21, 1917. The United States Senate and House of Republicans voted to declare war against Germany on April 4, 1917. President Woodrow Wilson had made a campaign promise in 1916 that the U.S. would remain neutral and not enter the war.

Things Don't Change

I've been reading a lot of newspapers from the 1910s for some research I'm doing. A couple weeks ago when Rolling Stone magazine released their August 2013 issue with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover people expectedly were angry. Many felt that the cover and article glorified him. But this isn't anything new. With the research I've been doing on American anarchy of the 1910s, I've read many articles about a young anarchist named Becky Edelson. One article from the New York Tribune on May 10, 1914 was a rather flattering profile asking similar questions to those that the Rolling Stone asked about Tsarnaev. I'm sure 1914 Americans were angered by the article, too.

I transcribed the NY Tribune article on my research blog.

But I imagined what the NY Trib's cover would be like if it were done in the manner of Rolling Stone's cover. I used actual news stories from the Trib's May 10, 1914 edition for the other headlines. The questions under the words "THE ANARCHIST" were from the actual article, as well.

Fish Is Avenged By Brave Turtle

This article was in a Louisiana newspaper 100 years ago today, July 25, 1913. I wish I knew who wrote it.

FISH IS AVENGED BY BRAVE TURTLE

Puppy Devours Three Companions of Amphibian.

IS OF HEROIC STUFF

Glass Tank Bursts In Bird Store and Survivor of Aquarium Disaster Clamps Jaws on Foot of Ghoulish Assailant of the Dying.

Indianapolis, Ind.-Three tiny goldfish met a tragic end: one frolicsome puppy indulged In a swim and a fresh fish dinner and one turtle about the size of a dollar-and-a-half, with a mean, snapping disposition, made things interesting for the pup when a glass aquarium, holding about four barrels of water, burst in a bird and animal store, in West Ohio street.

As it appeared to spectators, the goldfish were wiggling about contentedly in the big tank of water, thinking how much nicer and safer it is to be fed scientifically prepared fish food from a box than to get out in a stream or pond and forage for worms and maybe get hooked in the gills. Mr. Turtle had nosed his way under a wad of moss at the bottom of the tank and was ruminating on what a heroic sacrifice had been made of his fellow creatures for the Friedmann cure.

The pup was peeping around corner of a box of stock food on the floor and wishing with all his might
that an obstreperous kitten that had been tantalizing him all morning would saunter around in his direction.

Then the crash came. One side of the glass case gave way with a roar. Water struck the pup like a tidal wave and bowled him over. Little fish scooted over the flood at a wonderful speed. The turtle clung to his tuft of moss and landed on top of a can of bird seed. A green parrot said something apropos and the other bird and beasts set up a hubbub that drew a score of persons to view the catastrophe. The door was locked. A policeman was called and notified the proprietor of the store, who appeared half an hour later.

In the meantime the inquisitive pup shook the water from his fur and set about on an investigation, forgetting all about the kitten, which sprang to the top of a bird cage for safety when the deluge came. 

The pup found it awfully funny to play with the gold fish. He had devoured three when he spied the turtle that was just beginning to come to life and get his bearings.

The turtle telescoped his appendages when the pup signified his intention of being sociable. That was a new procedure to the pup. The fish hadn't done it. So the pup got out his paw. The turtle opened his domicile hospitably and took hold of the paw of friendship in anything but an amicable way.

Then there was one merry uproar and the turtle made circles in the air, clinging to the pup's fuzzy foot. By the time the strangle hold was broken the pup had lost some of his inquisitiveness. the proprietor arrived soon thereafter and found the pp sitting in a corner as far away from the turtle as he could get. His curiosity had all been satisfied and he was again contemplating the kitten.

The aquarium has been in the store for about seven years. As there was nothing on the floor that water would affect, little damage was done.

Grape Blade

For years I've thought that the movie Sling Blade should be remade with Hanna Barbera characters. I finally made the poster.