Once upon a time at an extremely stressful job that I don't work anymore I was drowning in a hostile work environment and was searching for some much needed joy. My mother had put in a good word for me to the supervisior over the supply and logistics section at laboratory she eventually retired from, and I was grateful for the opportunity. There was pressure to not make her look bad and I wanted to keep the job so I could keep my apartment and make my car payments on time, you know, adulting. I had a small amount of experience from the previous holiday season at the Amazon fulfillment center but I was very green from all of the years I avoided gainful employment because I thought it would enterfere with my music career. This was my first "Real Job" and I was making a decent wage plus benefits. The catch was the toxic and hostile work environment I was in. To be clear, yes, the workplace was toxic, hostile and my supervisors made abusive, cruel, and incendiary comments daily, but God was with me to guide me every step. I picked up some great work skills and experience, BUT there were some miserable days
Pressure bust pipes and creates diamonds as the saying goes, and in my case it fuled my comedy and my creativity. To my friends in real life and on social media; I know I make you laugh, A LOT. My ability to entertain and bring people joy has been fuled my much pain and frustration. When I'm at my darkest it reminds me that laughter and joy are at my fingertips. Making others laugh when I'm secretly crying gives me hope and reminds me that the joy is just around the corner, I just have to hang in there
So yes, in 2018 when I was stressed, depressed, and run down from my then job. When I get a creative spark I do not ask any questions. No matter how strange it may be I lean into it and see where it takes me. Something told me to start photoshopping hotdogs on to pictures. Then, after photoshopping my face and a hotdog onto a popular meme at the time, I started referring to hotdogs and especially gas station hotdogs as "Pigeons".
But why Marcum? Why would you call hotdogs "Pigeons"?
Well, its because they are both dirty and mysterious, and when you come across one you have no idea what happened to it before you got there. This is the meme that started a movement
Work was a lot more tolerable once this happened. The hurtful comments of my supervisors didn't bother me that much, because on my lunch break I was going to make more photoshops, share them on Facebook and laugh at the reactions I got from my followers. Then God really started showing out! My friend DJ Dyce reached out to let me know that he could put those pictures on Dog Tags.
(Deborah Adedokun holding the DogTags:
The War Mouth July 2018)
I was meeting people after work at Curiosity Coffee and selling my first crop of merch. Then Chef Rhett (Rest In Peace) called me and wanted to buy the entire supply. He wrote me a check for $210 and passed them out to the staff and regualr customers at The War Mouth. Porter and Rhett were some of my biggest supporters on this crazy idea and it turned into the 1st Pigeon Party at The War Mouth on August 11, 2018
I will never forget how my friends showed up for me! The place was packed! All from word of mouth and sharing on Facebook. The entire War Mouth and employees from Curiosity Coffee came to support. Shout out to Greg Slattery for the Pigeon cosplay on that hot and humid evening.
There were a few more Pigeon events beyond this but as we all know, the pandemic came and changed everything. The Pigeon Party will be back but for now, I wanted to celebrate National Hot Dog Day with a story, and uhh.....SURPRISE, some new merchandise.
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