Occasionally, I watch the news...to my dismay

Normally I would not comment on things in the world that do not concern me, but I do feel a bit moved to express my opinions on a recent topic of interest:

Oh, I have such mixed feelings about Ms. Paula Dean.  I loved her whole story when she first started: she had the whole agoraphobia, abusive husband, made her success on her own (which I still admire, btw) thing going for her, and sincerely, her recipes are the shit.  As in, her food is fucking delicious, and I own many of her cookbooks...because I am Southern...and engaged to a very Southern boy...and I like my fried foods.  And a lot of Paula's recipes satisfy that very comforting "food I grew up on" hole that occasionally needs to be filled.  Sometimes you just crave peach cobbler with a gallon of butter, or a dinner of deep fried everything, you just do.

So I was torn when Mr. Tony Bourdain, who I have also LONG loved...(as in "have a huge crush on, and had Kitchen Confidential long before he became a Food Network/Travel Channel/CNN "star" yes, I am one of those "I knew them before" people) attacked her...via Twitter, no less (even though he was SO right, damn you Tony!)

But I understood.  I mean, Paula was kinda shifty/shady when it came to the whole diabetes revelation thing.  And Tony also reminds me of one of those angst-ridden "takes his craft so seriously everyone else is just a sell-out and I'm still edgy and holding on to my youth, man" people that I now, as a middle-aged ex-goth, want to punch in the face.  Grow up.  You are a sell-out. But at least I can admit that I admire you with no shame or embarassment.

Since moving back from the big city of Atlanta, back home, to my own Southern roots, and living with a VERY southern man, I've come to reevaluate a lot of things in my life.  I'm not nearly as cosmopolitan as I used to be.  I embrace biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, peach cobbler, all of that ultimately Southern "soul" food that would as soon stop your heart as look at you.

So Paula's recipes have come in quite handy.  That, I appreciate.

This whole new thing that's happening with her.  It is a mess.  If it is true that she said the things that she said, it is wrong, and it is offensive, but the woman did not lie.  The only difference between Paula Dean and a lot of southern women her age who live down here is that they are not in the public eye when they used that word.  My own grandmother, who spent the last years of her life in a nursing home being tended to by the kindest, most generous attendants on the planet, referred to them with such the same word.  Of course, she was in her 80s, and Paula is in her 60s, so is that an excuse?  No.  But it is a reality.

I agree that Paula should be called out for the things that she has said; she should know better.  And it pains me to know that things like this still happen; actually, I am quite appalled.  But not surprised.

Delving deeper into the whole affair, and reading Paula's transcripts, it is no better or worse than anything else you'd ever hear down here on a normal every day.  Take that as you will.

All I can say is that she is of the old school.  Not that that's any excuse, because there are also other people her age who were born and raised in the South who have realized the error of their ways, but then again, there are those that don't.  But I also feel that prejudice exists everywhere.  And it is not more predominant in the South; just a bit more reported.

But moving on:

I have mixed thoughts about Edward Snowden, and I my one wish in life is that I go out like James Gandolfini: good food, good wine, quick heart attack, boom, peace out.  And it kind of freaks me out just a little that he was only 10 years older than me when he did check out.

 My Mood Ring(tone) Of The Day: