SQUIDFRY 09.01.16: Paying to Play…

PAYING TO PLAY… The other day, Squid oozed over to Fisherman’s Wharf for free clam chowder samples.

Squid, a grammar nerd, has long pondered: Who is the fisherman? Why not “Fishermen’s Wharf,” making it a collective? Squid’s question seems to have been answered by the debate over wharf leases. There is a big fisherman who owns the wharf – the city of Monterey.

Monterey has leased out sections of it to a handful of families for the more than half a century. When families first signed those leases, the old industrial wharf didn’t have much in the way of amenities. The entrepreneurs built what would become the city’s biggest tourist trap, with their own sweat and money. In exchange, the city gave the business owners low rent for long terms.

Over decades the family businesses, into second and third generations, seemed to forget that under the terms of their leases, the property reverts back to the city when leases expire. Now they say the city is confiscating their property.

Squid oozed over to a man collecting signatures for Save Our Wharf – representing wharf business – to see if he was a concerned resident fighting on behalf of wharf merchants. Turns out he was only a paid stooge. Squid’s not sure that embodies “fishermen’s” as a collective.

HEADDRESS CASE… After finding a rare parking spot for the Squidmobile, Squid had a ball at Sand City’s West End Celebration last weekend, climbing Jayson Fann’s spirit nest, eating bratwurst, grooving to Fire in the Hamptons and buying jewelry (tentacles requires lots of bracelets).

One sight gave Squid pause: a young woman wearing a Native American feather headdress. At the same time, Squid saw a friend who is Native American cover her eyes in shame at the sight. Maybe said young woman was also Native American?

Apparently, that doesn’t diminish the disrespect. Squid found a case in which music producer, performer and “Happy” dude Pharrell Williams caught criticism for donning a feather headdress on the cover of Elle UK. He was redressed in a 2014 piece on IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com titled “Oh, Pharrell is Part Native American? Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter.” The gist: Not all Native Americans wore them; the headdress was specific to just 12 out of 566 federally recognized tribes. For an authentic headdress, feathers are earned over a lifetime, not bought on Amazon.

Squid realizes there are those who will wear a feather headdress anyway, because they think it looks cool, or because it’s a free country. Freedom comes with the power to eat a brat when Squid is tired of shrimp or the power to vote even if Squid doesn’t like the choices. But Squid doesn’t think freedom comes with the license to appropriate symbols from other cultures.