Genre: Material Lore
Name of Consultant: Manuel Luna
Graffiti
Consultant Data: Manuel Nicolas Luna, called Manny by his friends and Nicholas by his family, is a half Mexican, half Native American 19 year old male who currently resides in Visalia, the Central Valley of California. He was born in Reedley, not far from there, where he was raised until elementary. It is in middle school where he cut his long, sleek, black very Native American locks to create a more hip, stylish, possibly be considered "emo" hairstyle. He wore lots of black in high school-- dark jeans, band t-shirts that painted a very clear picture of what he was into-- Black Veiled Brides, Avenge Sevenfold, Blood on the Dancefloor. He frequented the mall; had a group known as his "mall friends," who also wore about the same, or conflictingly yet fittingly, very vivid colors. They frequented Hot Topic, whose notoriously high prices meant to compensate for theft often had the opposite effect on trendy, low-income shoppers.
Manny is polite, determined, get's good grades and listens to his mother, but he has his deviant streak.
Item of Folklore: His most visual passion is presented in Graffiti. "I like to draw pictures of vintage things, the classics. I like the style of vintage.... I don't want it to die out," he says. I've been with him on his trips to do tagging, as he calls it, but it's more than that. I've been with him more often to check on his works of art. Faces, chandeliers, chains, all stencils cut out of cardboard before being held up and spray painted on a wall or sidewalk. He's a Leo, as he'll proudly tell anyone, and he loves the spotlight. "I like doing something that I know I'm not supposed to do and...