Shelby's Social Diary

Lady Gaga move over, it's that stinky CorpzFlowrLois that I want to interview

The bract continues to peel away, revealing the deep purple interior. How social is that?

Woe is me. I've been working diligently for the past few months on my fledgling Twitter account, dragging my iPhone to every swank dinner party and low-down barbecue joint tweeting, tweeting, tweeting hoping to inspire a massive following. I've even begged on my Facebook account for followers.

To date, CMHshelbyhodge is just shy of 200.

And now comes this sassy and, need I say, stinky upstart CorpzFlowrLois who in 24 hours on Twitter has amassed a fan following of 450-plus and counting. Bitch.

I suppose that when she blooms, which is what everyone is so over the moon about, her Twitter followers will increase geometrically. Never mind that she is going to set off a stench guaranteed to draw buzzards from as far away as the Ship Channel.

Really, it's not fair. She lives in the wrong zip code. Her clothes are sorely lacking in designer labels. And those odd garments are green and purple, for God's sake. Is this Mardi Gras, or what?

To date, I haven't seen one piece of serious jewelry on Lois. Furthermore, I doubt that when she leaves her perch at the Houston Museum of Natural Science she has a Town Car and driver.

But now that I've slammed the media darling du jour, I might reconsider. After all, who is this celebutante that has emerged on our radar more quickly than a Saturn Rocket?Lady Gaga move over. Lindsay Lohan make way. There is a new star among us and if you follow her Twitter account, you'll find that she is quite brassy, audacious and occasionally insolent.

I'd like to know her better. Really. If I could score the first interview with the elusive CorpzFlowrLois, I would be famous. As we know, the corpse flower Lois at the museum resides in a pot and really isn't too talkative while her alter-ego CorpzFlowrLois is a cheeky chatty cathy. Everyone would want to follow me on Twitter. I could win a Pulitzer!

So I am officially putting the word out today: I must be the first to have an exclusive with CorpzFlowrLois. Diego, have your people contact my people. And, please, follow me on Twitter!

CorpzFlwrLois has more Twitter followers than CultureMaps' Shelby Hodge. And that really chafes our editor-at-large.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

Shelby's Social Diary

Lady Gaga move over, it's that stinky CorpzFlowrLois that I want to interview

CorpzFlwrLois has more Twitter followers than CultureMaps' Shelby Hodge. And that really chafes our editor-at-large.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

CultureMap Emails Are Awesome
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