Alternative Journalism Fall 2020: Consider the Golden Goose

Consider the Golden Goose

Sneakers are meant to be kept box-fresh, right? Wrong. For every sneakerhead nervously navigating their way through life, dodging puddles and wincing when someone treads on their toes, there are other people who are more than happy to wear the same pair of sneakers for every activity (whether that’s raving in a field or walking in the rain) and respond to someone stepping on their footwear with a smile. A sneakerhead is a person who collects and trades sneakers as a hobby, and who typically is knowledgeable about the history of sneakers. Sneakerheads make something that we wear every single day without thinking about it, their life. They learn what shoes are best, the rare versions of shoes, and how to use their shoes to depict their wealth. For some, sneakers are made to be worn and kept in a pile gathering in the hallway rather than their corresponding shoeboxes, as alien as that may sound. 

But there’s another group going a step further, by buying their sneakers pre-distressed – it’s a kind of ‘if they’re already beaten up, then they can’t get much worse’ mentality – and the brand that’s become the de facto leader of this movement is Golden Goose Deluxe Brand. In a refreshing change from the pristine sneakers that seem closer to ornaments than trusty old friends like your most beaten-up Converses, the Italian sneaker brand distresses its offerings to look worn in from the get-go. 

Designed in Venice yet globally inspired, each silhouette from Golden Goose

Photo Credit: Golden Goose Sneaker website

was made to capture stories and experiences from all over the world and communicate it aesthetically. For Tulane students, these shoes depict the wealth they grew up with. The median family income of a student from Tulane is $180,700, and 69% come from the top 20 percent. 

The majority of Tulane students stay inside the “Tulane bubble”. This bubble is often what feels safe and comfortable, and kids tend to not leave the bubble. Beyond the bubble, there is evidence of gentrification. The “Tulane bubble” enables students to separate themselves from poorer areas of New Orleans that forces students to confront their wealthy role and status in the temporal community. While most students come to college to “start over” and break away from their hometown, most don’t realize that they actually choose Tulane because it feels “safe” and “familiar”. As research has shown, meeting people who share our attitudes makes us feel more confident in our own attitudes about the world. When students see that others at Tulane are wearing similar articles of clothing, or have similar views on topics, it reassures them of what they think. Golden Goose Shoes are just one of the many things that keep the “Tulane bubble” so closed off. Golden Goose’s are used by students to establish their “in” within the bubble and that they do belong. For those that may not be fortunate enough to spend over $500 on a pair of shoes, they may try to save up every penny they have to purchase a pair or a look-alike, to show that they too fit in the Tulane world. 

An immediate impact of the “Tulane bubble” on the New Orleans community is that juniors and seniors have the option to live off-campus, leaving landlords with full control of the students. Houses in poor to good conditions close enough to campus are being taken at the start of every school year so that these juniors and seniors will have a place to live. As Tulane admits more and more students each year, the rental market becomes more saturated with students. Students will start to look farther out from campus to find a place to live, expanding the concentration of wealthy, white renters settling for poorer conditions. Landlords increase the prices annually on their houses, lowering the housing quality and ultimately pushing out New Orleanians in a city where rent-burden is already double the national average. 

Though most people know New Orleans for its culture, unique way of living, and of course, Mardi Gras, most people are not aware of the income discrepancy in New Orleans. New Orleans ranks second-worst in the country for income inequality, putting “putting inequality in New Orleans roughly on par with that in Zambia” (Nola.com). Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where tens of thousands of people were displaced from the city when homes were destroyed and jobs disappeared, New Orleans income inequality has continued to become a growing discrepancy between Blacks/African Americans and Whites.

Photo by: US Census Bureau

“African American households in New Orleans lag across multiple measures of financial security. Median income among African American households is only $25,806, compared to $64,377 for white households, and there are six times as many African American households living in income poverty than white households” (prosperitynow.org). This discrepancy between median household incomes of Black and white households shows how the extra money in one’s life allows the family to splurge on potentially unnecessary purchases, such as Golden Goose shoes. 

When students from all over the country come into the “Tulane bubble”, an onlooker would never guess that the rest of New Orleans does not look, dress, or wear the same articles of clothing. The “Tulane bubble” depicts wealth and is in fact, the polar opposite of many experiences that native New Orleanians have. Tulane is the number one employer in the city of New Orleans. Tulane gives jobs to so many that are in need, yet it seems as if they are taking advantage of people. Tulane employs so many but does not give back to the community. The culture and lifestyle in New Orleans are slowly dwindling away due to the Tulane bubble rapidly growing. The expansion of the “Tulane bubble” coincides with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A sense of safety and security is our most basic need, aside from food and sleep. The need to be needed is an individual’s sense of significance rooted in the sense of being part of a community or cause beyond themselves. While humans need to feel needed, it could potentially turn into a form of addiction, called codependency. Codependency occurs when a human’s desire to contribute and be part of society stems from a sense of not being enough. Tulane students need to recognize that in order to feel part of the Tulane community, they do not need to depend on wearing Golden Goose shoes to fit in, they should embrace who they are.