Marche Taylor We Will Pay For You to Go Away: PTFTC

UPDATE: I wrote this post BEFORE I found out that Marche’s grandmother, the only adult who will feed, clothe and shelter her after Marche’s mother threw the 17 year old out of the house, recently had a stroke and is still recovering so she did not see Marche as she exited the house on prom night. Granny thinks Marche is wrong, but Marche remains “defiant”:

Her grandmother says the dress Taylor wore is not the dress she approved. Her grandmother who wants no publicity on this issue says there was one design that she wanted and by the time Marche took it to the dressmaker or seamstress it was another design. The grandmother said she would never allow her out the house that way. She went on to tell The Insite she had recently suffered a stroke and was ill the day of the prom and didn’t really notice how Marche was dressed when she left the house. That grandmother says her family has not been able to get 5 minutes rest because the phone has been ringing off the hook since the story broke on KHOU TV last week. The woman says she wants The Insite to tell her side of what she calls the truth about the situation. She went on to say Marche should let her anger go about being kicked out the prom. The grandmother said, “when you’re wrong, you’re wrong.” Meanwhile, Taylor remains defiant. She says she feels like her dress was appropriate and she shouldn’t have been kicked out of the prom. Isiah Carey’s ‘Insite.

So I would like to add the following nugget of wisdom in light of the formation I just learned about her grandmother’s stroke. I took a wild guess earlier that the grandmother had health issues before Mr. Carey confirmed that she indeed had a stroke, so I want to add the following

Marche, I know you are only 17 years old. So the concept of life and death are relatively meaningless and your are predisposed to be self absorbed and selfish, that is actually relatively normal. So the most important thing in the world right now is that prom that in two years no one will give a riff about. I would argue however, that the most important thing in your life should be making sure that your grandmother does not have another STROKE!

Right now, you have been abandoned by your parents and there appears to be only one human being prepared to take care of you, that is your grandmother and she is sick. You know she is sick and you took advantage of that. Now you have caused this poor woman who is recovering from a stroke additional unwanted stress by having her home be inundated by a media circus. For what?

How much was the prom ticket? How much is your grandmother’s health worth as you continue this crusade to salve your pride after you made a series of errors in judgment that resulted in your ouster from the prom site? How much was the dag gum prom ticket that you say all of this is about? Tell us how much and we will pass a collection, not because you are right. You aren’t. You are wrong. But for the sake of your grandmother’s health and pushing you off of the public stage as swiftly as possible, we will pass the hat to reimburse you for your prom ticket. A prom ticket your poor grandmother probably purchased in the first place. Give us an amount. Because I know it can’t have been over $200 dollars for a prom at the Marriot in Sugarland! Tell us what amount of money if worth your grandmother’s health and possibly her life!

To Marche’s grandmother, I don’t believe in spanking, but I have two words for you “green switch!”

Now back to my original post.

KHOU has an update on the Marche Taylor story. Wendell Edwards was the creepy reporter that had Marche do a stroll in her dress around a playground. Now Marche FOOLISHLY is turning to the same man that made her a national laughingstock to say how her life has been changed after her story became the number one story on CNN, Huffington Post, and KHOU for over a week.

Marche’ lives with grandma because she wouldn’t follow the rules at Mom’s house. How do we know Marche is not with Mom. Well because Marche’s Mom took it upon herself to call in to the local radio station and tell the world that her daughter was a recalcitrant rule breaker and she kicked her out of the house. So apparently this public sharing of what would make most people embarrassed is a genetic thing.

Now, Marche has been contacted by everyone from Dr. Phil to Essence. Turns out, this was all about getting her money back. That’s why Marche picked up the phone and called a local reporter, the CREEPY Wendell Edwards, the perv who had her do a stroll at a playground. Grandmama told Marche to leave it ALONE, but Marche apparently isn’t big on taking advice/ following instructions. Soo she pursued this story anyway, innocently volunteering that there was a photograph of her in handcuffs. The reporter, recognizing the newsworthiness of portraying a young Black woman in handcuffs, suddenly got very interest.

If Marche Had Been Kidnapped or Missing She Would not Be on the News

The sad truth is that if Marche had come up missing following her prom, this came reporter wouldn’t have written so much as two sentences about her on his blog. You see when Black women are missing or murdered, it ain’t news, but a Black girl in handcuffs THAT’S newsworthy!

Marche, I know you are all up on the internet following the nasty things people are saying about you.I too found myself unwittingly at the center of a minor media storm that snowballed out of my control. I wanted to do one thing and it got all wild and crazy and the next thing you know, you hit the AP wire and the phone starts ringing. And so, Miss Gina, the queen of “Parenting Tips From the Childless” offers the following nuggets of wisdom.

1. Marche, reporters are NOT your friend. They are reporters. I know your Dad might be gone and your Mom sounds like a piece of work so its nice to have an adult that listens especially one from TV who is nice to you. Appears supportive of you. It’s awesome. And I bet he dressed nice and sounded all important and whatnot and Mr. Edwards was listening to you and you aren’t used to people hearing your side. And he didn’t yell or anything like that. Marche, listen to Miss Gina.. RUN! Run like the wind. Run like the hounds of hell are nipping at your four inch heels. Run away from Wendell Edwards. If you want the media attention to go away, just stop talking. I promise you any day now there will be some other teenage YouTube sensation that will bump you right off the radar. The only reason CNN knows about your story is because Mr. Edwards and his station told them about you.

2. You say you want to be a pharmacist, I wish you well. All the best. We need more pharmacists, that wait at Wal-greens is a killer. You will need a lot of math and science for that, but I hope you leave behind all this “not following instructions from people who know better”. You have selected a highly regulated field of study. When you graduate you can’t just be whipping up whatever kinda drug combinations you want at Wal-greens. You can’t just hand out Celebrex all wheelly neely. Rules and standards and guidelines are important when dispensing medications. You might as well start learning about following rules and guidelines now.

3. Your dress was inappropriate for a formal event. I realize that people no longer differentiate between formal and informal. Maybe your grandmother didn’t have the courage to tell you this before you left the house that evening, but you should not have worn that dress to a formal event. I know you watch celebrities wearing Lord Knows What to Who Knows where, but you are not a celebrity. You can’t do what they do. For the rest of us, the ordinary people, there is a time and a place for everything and your Senior Prom was not the time to express your creativity and fashion sense. While you may have felt you looked amazing and were extremely proud of the design you had created. Your dress selection was more appropriate for a “less formal” event. Perhaps the senior pool party or um.*hold on give me a minute to think* You dress would have been more appropriate…. Oh yes! Your dress may have been more appropriate on stage at a Beyonce’ concert…if you were a back up dancer… or Beyonce… but you aren’t… none of us are.

4. You are not entitled to any of your money back. Your prom ticket is what we like to call “nonrefundable”. You see when you paid your money to the prom committee, you made what is called an “agreement”. The school agreed to provide facilities, music, and vittles. You agreed to pay them money and act appropriately. That included the “manner of dress”. For example, when I purchase a plane ticket, Southwest Airlines agrees to provide peanuts and a seat on a plane and I agree not to show up at the gate with three large carry on items that will not fit into the overhead bin. If I do show up with excess baggage and I refuse to gate check the items, Southwest doesn’t have to give me my money back if they leave me standing at the gate.

   You see, you made an agreement with the school when you unilaterally ( that means without consulting the school) decided that you were not going to honor the contract that they made with you. Your admission tot he prom was contingent on you not bringing in contraband or dressing inappropriately. When you elected to drape yourself in a garment that exposed your upper torso that violated the agreement with the school. So you see. They didn’t take your money, you gave it to them.

5. Life isn’t fair! That whole life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a bunch of nonsense. You don’t always get what you want. So you have to learn when to cut your losses. When to give up the fight. To decide that peace of mind is more important than being right. You messed up and for that you have suffered what we like to call a financial consequence..

6. You can’t get your prom back!.I konw that the prom is the biggest thing in the world to you right now. Senior year is a big deal. Walking across stage. But honestly in about 24 months, you are going to think that prom was no big deal. You’ll be going off to college. The guys are taller, better dressed, and they have cars . The DJ’s are better (work with me people). You’ll look back at the local high school kids and will be so OVER prom. All those classmates you are THIIIS tight with? You’ll lose track of them in about a year in most cases. Not all, but most. Prom, no big deal! Trust me. Just wait until you’ve been in your 14th wedding and have to add yet another wretched pastel colored bridesmaid dress into the back of your closet… that reminds me, if you thought that chaperon was tripping, wait until you encounter your first bridezilla. I double dog dare you to where that dress to a wedding. YOU will be the one calling the police.!

7. I am proud of you. You have indicated that you were having some academic troubles, but you were able to get it together by working hard and you apparently did that without the assistance of your mother. I also know you have to be feelign betrayed and alone because your mama called in to the local radio station to A) disavow you and B) let the world know that you made some mistakes in the past. That has to hurt like the dickens.

   No matter what you do in life, whatever mistakes you make, you will always have someone in your cornere, not to agree with whatever you do, or condone your decisions, but to simply catch you when you fall. In an ideal world that would be your mother, but unfortunately, you don’t have that option. However, there is someone in your life who loves you. That would be grandma. But Granny has raised her kids. She’s old now. In the sunset of her life. You don’t know how many years you have with granny. Remember that the next time you decide not to take her advice… that has to hurt grannies heart… and that can’t be good for a woman her age.

8. Wendell Edwards is a pimp. If you need any doubt young Marche, read what he said on his blog:

And then she said the magic words.

“And there’s a picture of me in handcuffs,” she said.
“Did you say, ‘you have a picture?” I responded.
“Yes, sir, I do. And I want my money back because I didn’t get into my prom.”

That is all Marche Taylor apparently ever wanted.
Instead, she and her dress are getting way more attention than she ever would have gotten had she actually gone to the prom Source

9. When somebody says they are calling the police if you don’t leave… LEAVE. Unless you are trying to desegregate lunch counters or protesting China’s involvement in Darfur, leave and live to fight another day. That chaperon had what the real world calls “authority.” and when you don’t recognize “authority” there are consequences. Even Martin Luther King didn’t escape the consequences of his civil disobedience. He even wrote a letter about that… from a Birmingham Jail. The time to challenge authority is not on the side of the road or outside a hotel ballroom, but later when you aren’t under threat of being taken to central booking

I don’t have much hope that you will be able to resist the temptation of the opportunity for additional media attention. It is intoxicating. The people are so nice. SO friendly! You feel so important! But I want to offer you an alternative. If for no other reason than you appear to be a 17 year old girl without access to a single adult figure who has a lick of common sense.

Marche’ if you promise NOT to go on the Dr. Phil show, tell us how much you paid to go to prom and we here at What About Our Daughters? Will raise that amount and match it so you can buy a used textbook next fall with you start attending classes at Texas Southern University. If your money is all you want back, I am sure that we can find some souls out there who see the wisdom in seeing a 17-year-old girl with absolutely no adult supervision or guidance exit the public stage as soon as possible. IE, we will pay for you to GO AWAY!

Although I know you are grown and know better, a 17-year-old is going to have a very difficult time navigating their way through a media storm. You won’t listen to Mama, Grandmama, Daddy is MIA, maybe you have an older cousin that maybe has a job downtown or in the Galleria area or Greenspoint who you might listen to. We hope you take us up on our offer. Pronto!

To Marche’s Mama. I know you apparently gave up on your daughter. So much to the point that you called in to a local Houston radio station to throw your own teenage daughter under the bus, but she needs you or some other grownup to offer some advice. She’s 17. She’s stupid and despite that outward braggadocio, she’s scared and in over her head with the likes of Mr. Edwards as her only refuge and if you think Mr. Edwards is a pervy creep, wait until some television producer from Los Angeles gets a hold of her. What About Your Daughter? Marche’s MAMA??? PS, what about your mother who is raising your child???

Does anyone else have guidance or advice for young Marche? Do share in the comments. If you want to say something unkind, please direct that to the original thread or better yet, leave it unsaid. This is an advice thread. I advise that if you have something else to say about it you don’t say it here. Since this post is about boundaries and standards, I am fully prepared to enforce some of my own up in here!