“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...
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Ramblings of Gamer: Kingdom Hearts III Part Two: Plug Much, Disney?


****SPOILERS AHEAD****






Kingdom Hearts started as a Final Fantasy/Disney mashup, and I loved it. I loved the incarnations of my FF favorites and how they were integrated into this strange new world that had me visiting Ariel in Atlantica and the Beast in Hollow Bastion. Somehow, they were balanced so that one didn’t overpower the other. That joy continued in KH2.

And then we got to KH3. And there was something conspicuously missing.

Where the heck did the Final Fantasy aspect go? Where were Cloud and Aerith and Sephiroth? What had happened to Leon and Cid? And why was everything so unapologetically pushing everything Disney?

Everything was Disney; the worlds (per the norm, fine), the summons (okay), but then the special attacks? Theme park rides in full neon lights? Really?

There was so much going on in this game when it came to battles, and some of it was completely unnecessary. With special skills, group skills, Rage form, weapon changes, and summons, the theme park could’ve safely been left in this world. I didn’t need a carousel or Splash Mountain to fight the Heartless. The skills of my Keyblades and comrades were quite enough. If I was in a pinch, or just wanted to annihilate someone quickly, I had Rage form and summons for that. The rides pulled me out of the battle more often than not, and though I usually skipped them, everything being initiated by the triangle button meant that I inadvertently triggered them when I really wanted to join Donald in a fireworks spree.

I think they could’ve cut the rides altogether, and that the summons would have been a good place to introduce some of the FF aspects we were missing. Characters who’d helped us in the earlier games could have come to our rescue—or even FF monsters like the Cactuar and its 1,000 Needles would have been great. Instead, we got the Moogle store and the Build-A-Cactuar in the Toy Story realm.

Disney was already there; more advertising missed its mark with me.

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