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Showing posts from February, 2012

“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads

Opening my mouth: Marriage rant

Normally, I keep my opinions to myself. Politics, religion, war: I know these are things that I would just rather not argue about. However, the topic of marriage in this country frustrates me so much that I’m going to open my big mouth. So there are a lot of arguments against allowing all people to commit themselves to each other in a legal fashion. Let’s take a look at those. First off—and to me, the dumbest argument ever—is the definition of marriage. Linguistics 101: Language is arbitrary. Words only have the meaning that we give them. A tree is a tree because we say it’s a tree. Definitions are not concrete, and if we need proof, here is an example. Gay. The definition of this little three-letter word used to mean happy, lively. Then it became a term used to describe someone who is attracted to other members of the same sex. Depending on the user, this was a negative thing. Now? It still means those things, is used in both a good and bad way, but the fluidity doesn’t stop there