“Written in tight script on one of those green-and-white guest check pads, her words account a surrealist barnyard: ‘gecko elastic, cookie armpit, giraffe crotch, zebra elastic.’ I had noticed Rachael working on the far end of the bar, pulling costumes from cubbies and then carefully refolding and restacking each one. But I hadn’t realized that she was doing triage, making note of which of the thirty or so costumes they stock needed repair.”
—John T. Edge, “Social Engineering”
Read “Social Engineering” by John T. Edge in the Summer 2019 issue of the Oxford American.
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• For this video, filmmaker Ethan Payne interviewed Feizal Valli and Rachael Roberts, owners of the Atomic Lounge in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Special thanks to The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts for supporting the making of this film. Produced with funding from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts
• Co-produced by Ethan Payne