"Christmas In America: Happy Birthday, Jesus" by Jesse Rieser

Missouri native Jesse Rieser captures the most wonderful time of year, Christmas in America.

The photographer, Rieser, frequented suburban neighborhoods in the west coast for a time period that spanned 2011 to 2013, so says his Instagram, to portray people's festive spirit. His pictures depict an overload of Christmas cheer manifested in Santa Claus costumes, tacky household decorations and dubious moments where merrymaking does not seem to mix.

Rieser says "Christmas In America" was inspired "by the absurdity of a five-story inflatable Santa who appeared to be guarding a tree lot." While the images depict Christmas tradition, they also speak to the superfluity of the holiday unconcerned with pizzazz.

Browse through Rieser's "Christmas In America" above and explore more of the photographer's work here.

Source: It's Nice That

Playground Football

"Whatever you think about your little back-door tournaments where you just tag 'em, no.  This is damn near tackle without equipment."  ~ O.G. Pamz, Carver Mobb

Rice Cakes Turkey Bowl 6 Champions, photo by Alex Young

Being from Western Pennsylvania, football runs through my veins.  From my earliest memories of making game-winning interceptions against an older third-grade class on the playdeck of my elementary school to experiencing two Super Bowl victories by my six-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, football has always gotten my adrenaline pumping.

Naturally, a lot of people feel this way.  The NFL virtually owns a day of the week and on every fourth Thursday in November, friends and families gather to compete in their annual Turkey Bowls.  Things are different though, for the participants of the Street Bowl Championship.

Football is not always an outlet for people who live in the inner-city, especially in New York. There are basketball courts in practically every park in practically every neighborhood within the boroughs, but the Concrete Jungle doesn't offer many locations for the gridiron.  The lack of grass to play pick-up football was just a slight inconvenience for the teams of the street football leagues that emerged from the Bronx in the 1970s.  In the infancy of this pick-up phenomenon, teams from bordering projects would gather to play on concrete with elbow-pads while having no regard for their opponent's safety let alone their own.  

It was NFL Street in real-life.

Competition and intense rivalry brewing throughout the New York City squads coupled with the crack era led these football leagues to take on a whole new life of their own.  Much like any other game played in the streets--basketball, dice, chess in the park--games where teams played for pride and street-cred turned into games of money and betting.  Now, earnings between $70k and $100k for a full year's worth of playground football is enough to have every inner-city neighborhood forming a team.

After fifty plus years of wins, losses, and squabbling, organizers have decided to settle the debate of New York's best football team on the field.  In Vice Sports' six part video series, Kings of the Underground, the drama of these storied pick-up games unfold as the best eight teams in New York gather to play in the Street Bowl Championship.  The series will follow these teams on their two-day journey to immortality and $16k cash prize. Check out episode one below, and be sure to return as more of the videos are released. 

P.S. If you're interested in seeing how the games panned out, YouTube user, Don Holman, recorded several hours of game footage here. 

Poison by Sean Beauford (Opening Reception Recap)

Sean Beauford captured by Keep Pittsburgh Dope

Inside The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's 707 Gallery on Friday, Dec. 11, I halted my note taking, sparked by the installed TIME Magazine covers titled "Are We Giving Kids Too Many Drugs?" and "Kids Who Sell Crack," to say to Makayla Wray, after previously meeting her at the corner of Penn Ave and 7th St walking to the show, "I know you're a fashion designer." She smiled and replied emphatically, "That's what I like to be known for! You should write that down. I'm quick with it," finishing her statement with a "dab."

Wray's use of the hit dance craze alerted me to the national and local contemporary flavors on display at the exhibit curated by Sean Beauford.

While I gazed at a lucid black, purple and white painting called "Codeine Crazy" by Amani Davis, Travis Scott's platinum record "Antidote" played. Around me, Chancelor Humphrey of Keep Pittsburgh Dope was dancing and taking pictures of people, like rapper Mars Jackson. A friend of KPD, visual artist, and food photographer Cody Baker heard the tune from outside and instinctively joined the party.

Space began to crowd and I looked down, as to not step on any feet and to find room to walk. I saw multiple pairs of Vans, an olive green pair of Eras, Sk8-His in blacked out and classic black-white colorways, and Old Skools. Along with Timberland 6" Boots, colorfully painted Timberland 6" Boots and "Wheat" Air Force 1 High, Yeezy Boost 350 "Moonrock," two pairs of Chelsea boots tan and black respectively, green Dr. Martens and Jordan silhouettes filling the room.

I stood next to a podium that read, "The Kids Aren't Alright," and observed owner of JENESIS Magazine and co-founder of Pittsburgh event space Boom Concepts Thomas Agnew, along with cultural practitioner D.S. Kinsel, artist Baron Batch with an eye painted on his red sweatpants and many more among the active, youthful, creative and intuitive attendees who celebrated Beauford's Poison art show.

Photo by LinShuttr

Photo by LinShuttr

Via Poison

Beauford, a young man from Mansfield, Ohio, works in Pittsburgh to deliver atmospheres attractive to popular culture. His latest project taps artists for an introspective exhibition that comments on America's drug use.

The show alludes to the amplified life experience drug users become addicted to. Drugs heighten reality, take away pain and stimulate euphoria; they make people feel alive all the while destroying their lives in the process.

Outside 707 Gallery, where Poison is located, plastered on its front window in bright pink is the phrase, "WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE."

Artist and Poison contributor Hannibal Hopson said, "You have life and you have death. There is a time to be alive and people choose to cut that short in a number of ways, like drinking 40 oz."

Positive and negative values fill every piece featured in Poison. Hopson's "Teuton Fury |40 oz|" is cement casts of Steel Reserve and Colt 45 with sunflowers pushing out of the top. Another contributor, LinShuttr, has canvas covered in crayon drawn clouds, sun rays, trucks, and fish accented with attached crack vials and boxes of Arm & Hammer baking soda.

"Teuton Fury |40 oz|" by Hannibal Hopson

Along a wall, I viewed photographs by Good Mike. The images chronicled heroin and cocaine users cooking on a white stove top and shooting up while sitting in a bathtub. Once viewers reach the end of the consecutive images they are greeted by a hooded figure passed out face-down on top of a mattress on the floor, a scary symbol that death's reality is lurking.

Performer Grits Capone, standing on an orange milk crate, said in his spoken word piece exclusive to the opening reception, "Death is inevitable, but baby patience is a virtue."

"What A Time To Be Alive" emerges as a theme and underlining message to Beauford's Poison because the exhibit reflects upon the parallels and choice of evocative experimentation and destruction resulting from drug use.

Subjects like hip-hop and streetwear intersect with drug culture because artists glorify the lean sipping, pill popping and blunt passing used in their creative processes. The excitement lies in the masterpieces being created; drugs are used as a celebratory aid. Hopson and Davis spoke to gallery patrons with Olde English 40 oz stuck to their hands.

Beyond the relevance of "What A Time To Be Alive" as Drake and Future's mixtape title, the phrase and the opening reception for Beauford's Poison actively describes a progressive environment.

A group of guests congregated outside the show. A girl named Morgan said, "It's nice to see them [referring to Poison artists] doing something. Growing up here, I did not see this progression in Pittsburgh."

By utilizing fashion and lifestyle outlet Keep Pittsburgh Dope to promote the show on Instagram to other actors in Pittsburgh popular culture, combined with the art itself showcased in Poison, Beauford illustrates there is no better time than now for people to create and offer positive output to their environment.

See artists Amani Davis, LinShuttr, Mathias Heavy, Good Mike and Hannibal Hopson's work at Sean Beauford's curated Poison at 707 Gallery on Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. through January 10.

707 Penn AVE

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

A Conversation with Police on Race via The New York Times

Race and policing are at the forefront of issues needed to be discussed by the entire American public. The topics trim at America's systematic racism that affects people's rights.

In the wake of all incidents where police have operated with bias or wrongfully profiled, harmed and killed people, this short documentary via The New York Times, titled 'A Conversation With Police on Race,'  honestly examines the actions and characteristics of police.

Five retired police officers speak in the video: Ray Lewis, a white male and former police captain of Philadelphia Police Department; Susan Pickman, a white female and former officer of Orlando Police Department; Stacey Sheffey, a black female and former detective of New York Police Department; Graham Weatherspoon, a black male and former detective of New York Police Department; Glenn Cunningham, a white male and former detective of New York Police Department.

The documentary by Geeta Gandbhir and Perri Peltz sheds light on how race affects the way police interact with citizens.  "Would I stop four or five black guys that are in a white neighborhood, yeah, if they're not supposed to be there. I would say, 'What's up guys?' Even if I was in a patrol car I would roll up on them and say, 'What's up guys what are you doing?' And if they gave me an attitude, that would raise my suspicion," said Cunningham.

Why are black people the token symbol for misconduct? Weatherspoon says, "I never hear white-on-white crime, I never hear that term. But, the focus of media and of the departments is upon the negative behavior of black people."

Captain Lewis openly reflects on America's neglect of racism, saying, "It's the responsibility of the white community, it's a responsibility of our leaders to realize black people are not shouting racism and discrimination and exploitation for no reason. They're not marching, they're not protesting because they have nothing else to do. Their problems are real."

The video highlights a range of opinions and assessments. Pickman mentions how police target teenagers in general.

'A Conversation with Police on Race' is genuine in its offering. Good for The New York Times for taking the initiative to foster the conversation. Watch it for yourself above.

Stussy x Nike Air Max 95 Collaboration Preview

Lauded as streetwear legend, Stussy celebrates 35 years of existence with a Nike Air Max 95 collaboration. The California brand and the Swoosh deliver a pack of three monochromatic Air Max 95 silhouettes. Black, olive and blue options adorn the Air Max upper constructed of nylon. A white midsole and outsole contrast the colorway while Stussy branding hits the sneaker's tongue.

Stussy x Nike Air Max 95 releases Dec. 11, 2015.