Over the last month I have had the opportunity to learn a little more deeply about a friend of mine. She had been using the word "juggalo" occasionally and I finally asked her "Don't you mean 'jiggalo'?"
"No, I don't know what a jiggalo is. I meant juggalo."
Juggalos are the name given to fans of the music band Insane Clown Posse (ICP). "Juggalo" is the term the singers of the band gave to their fans as a way of saying you're part of the family, part of the fan base. ICP is a horror-rap underground band with violent and sexual lyrics. The fans love singing these extreme lyrics as a way release pent up anger. The fans consider themselves a family - and family is what they practice together in the places where they live.
I'm still learning a lot about the juggalo systems of family. So perhaps some of what I write here is not truly accurate. Some areas in the country have identified juggalos and juggalettes (male and female fan counterparts) as a gang. They have been declared a gang by the FBI in Modesto, California; Detroit, Michigan; and in the states of Arizona, Utah and Pennsylvania. But most fans dispute their being a gang.
They are typically an easily identified group. They don themselves with "hatchetwear" - depicting a running man with a hatchet, or else wearing clown facepaint as the members of the band do during their performances. The memorabilia can be purchased at the retail outlet "Hot Topic."
What is most interesting about the juggalos is the sense of family and belonging they have developed. As far as I understand it, these people rally under the identity of being extremely poor, homeless, or outcasts in high school or society. A sense of family is forged and members will watch out and care for one another. There are many juggalos and juggalettes in Salem especially the downtown area.
Juggalos have a yearly national "Gathering." It is four day festival not dissimiliar to Woodstock back in the 1960s. They come to hear the band and revel in the unity of family coming together into one place.
I asked to publish my friend's story a few nights ago. She said yes. Her story will be the material of the next post. Some of my questions made her feel the need to check answers with other juggalos. She told me she would talk to "Animal" who is the leader of the juggalos in the Salem area. She asked me, "Would you like to interview Animal yourself?"
"Um, I don't want to interview him," I replied. "But I wouldn't mind talking to him. I just would like to get to know him and his story. That would be cool."
Two days later she and I talked and she said, "I asked Animal if he would like to be interviewed, and he said yes he would."
I replied again saying, "Well I don't want to interview him only for a blog post. Maybe we could talk, over a meal. I would do that."
The Significance of Juggalo Families
I am beginning to understand that all of my friend's friends are connected the juggalo system of families, which is perhaps a soft gang. This explains why she spends most of her time with them. They are always together. They are hardly ever apart. They live life together and share their financial resources. They are always there for each other when something goes wrong, deeply intimate with the lives of one another. They sleep together, eat together, solve problems together.
There is an important reason I'm treating this to a blog post, and bothering to dryly interview my friend: I find their example to be a high challenge to the Church. Yes we believers have something to learn from those outside the faith. Certainly we can invite outcasts and the poor into daily family of comparable intimacy as this - where they could learn the hope of redemption in the blood of Jesus?
Let's dream for a moment on what Christian community could look like outside the church walls.... Imagine if we had small families of believers dedicated to being disciples - we would be living out our lives with each other with gospel intentionality - and also be engaged in the rhythms of life of the people we want to reach....
Life in The Crowded House from TCH Sheffield on Vimeo.
More information on ICP and Juggalos:
Wiki
"Beneath the Greasepaint, The Roar of 'Fam-i-ly!'" (an article by the New York Times)
"No, I don't know what a jiggalo is. I meant juggalo."
Juggalos are the name given to fans of the music band Insane Clown Posse (ICP). "Juggalo" is the term the singers of the band gave to their fans as a way of saying you're part of the family, part of the fan base. ICP is a horror-rap underground band with violent and sexual lyrics. The fans love singing these extreme lyrics as a way release pent up anger. The fans consider themselves a family - and family is what they practice together in the places where they live.
I'm still learning a lot about the juggalo systems of family. So perhaps some of what I write here is not truly accurate. Some areas in the country have identified juggalos and juggalettes (male and female fan counterparts) as a gang. They have been declared a gang by the FBI in Modesto, California; Detroit, Michigan; and in the states of Arizona, Utah and Pennsylvania. But most fans dispute their being a gang.
They are typically an easily identified group. They don themselves with "hatchetwear" - depicting a running man with a hatchet, or else wearing clown facepaint as the members of the band do during their performances. The memorabilia can be purchased at the retail outlet "Hot Topic."
What is most interesting about the juggalos is the sense of family and belonging they have developed. As far as I understand it, these people rally under the identity of being extremely poor, homeless, or outcasts in high school or society. A sense of family is forged and members will watch out and care for one another. There are many juggalos and juggalettes in Salem especially the downtown area.
Juggalos have a yearly national "Gathering." It is four day festival not dissimiliar to Woodstock back in the 1960s. They come to hear the band and revel in the unity of family coming together into one place.
I asked to publish my friend's story a few nights ago. She said yes. Her story will be the material of the next post. Some of my questions made her feel the need to check answers with other juggalos. She told me she would talk to "Animal" who is the leader of the juggalos in the Salem area. She asked me, "Would you like to interview Animal yourself?"
"Um, I don't want to interview him," I replied. "But I wouldn't mind talking to him. I just would like to get to know him and his story. That would be cool."
Two days later she and I talked and she said, "I asked Animal if he would like to be interviewed, and he said yes he would."
I replied again saying, "Well I don't want to interview him only for a blog post. Maybe we could talk, over a meal. I would do that."
The Significance of Juggalo Families
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| Juggalos on the street |
There is an important reason I'm treating this to a blog post, and bothering to dryly interview my friend: I find their example to be a high challenge to the Church. Yes we believers have something to learn from those outside the faith. Certainly we can invite outcasts and the poor into daily family of comparable intimacy as this - where they could learn the hope of redemption in the blood of Jesus?
Let's dream for a moment on what Christian community could look like outside the church walls.... Imagine if we had small families of believers dedicated to being disciples - we would be living out our lives with each other with gospel intentionality - and also be engaged in the rhythms of life of the people we want to reach....
Life in The Crowded House from TCH Sheffield on Vimeo.
More information on ICP and Juggalos:
Wiki
"Beneath the Greasepaint, The Roar of 'Fam-i-ly!'" (an article by the New York Times)
3 comments:
I enjoyed the video very much, and looking forwardto your next post on juggalos :) ~AW
Whoa I need to read my blog more often! My best friend did a drive by comment, thanks!!
:-P
Checking in on you... Trying to keep up.
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