Category Archives: Social Commentary

Chapter 75: The Lessons of Scarlett O’Hara and Maggie the Cat | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog:

 

No one ever understood Southern sexual politics better than Tennessee Williams.  But given the time in which he produced his work, some points had to be made subtlety and  obliquely…and much can be read into his work and that’s a liberty I’m going to take….

Sexual politics are an art form in the South.  Tennessee Williams understood this as does every Southerner who has a mind….

MORE:  Chapter 75: The Lessons of Scarlett O’Hara and Maggie the Cat | My Southern Gothic Life.

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The Cult of Chick-fil-A

This explains one of the reasons I will not eat at this place…

I firmly believe in the separation of Church and Chicken.

The other reason I won’t eat at this place is their nasty, greasy food….

 

Interesting article from Forbes.com:

 

“We tell applicants, ‘If you don’t intend to be here for life, you needn’t apply,'” says Cathy, who opened his first restaurant in 1946.

That’s not the only company mandate. Chick-fil-A’s corporate mission, as stated on a plaque at company headquarters (and by Cathy), is to “glorify God.” It is the only national fast-food chain that closes on Sunday so operators can go to church and spend time with their families; franchisees who don’t go along with the rule risk having their contracts terminated. Company meetings and retreats include prayers, and the company encourages franchisees to market their restaurants through church groups. Howe Rice, a franchisee in Glen Allen, Va., hosts a Bible study group in one of his two Chick-fil-A restaurants every Tuesday. He offers a free breakfast to all who attend. “You don’t have to be a Christian to work at Chick-fil-A, but we ask you to base your business on biblical principles because they work,” says Cathy.

via The Cult of Chick-fil-A – Forbes.com.

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Ashes To Ammo: How To Reload Your Dead Loved One

From the “Only in the South” files via NPR….

 

When a loved one dies and is cremated, family members face a tough decision on what do with the ashes. Some want the final resting place to be spectacular — spread in the Grand Canyon, launched into space, sprinkled in Times Square; others just keep Aunt Jane’s remains in an urn at home.

“The ashes get put on the mantel, stay there for a couple of years, and then a couple of years later, they get put in the attic,” says Thad Holmes. “A few years later, the house gets sold and, ‘Oh gosh, we forgot the ashes!'”

Holmes, a conservation enforcement officer in Alabama, and his buddy Clem Parnell, came up with an unusual way to honor the dead. Their company, Holy Smoke, takes your loved one’s ashes and turns them into ammunition.

The idea was born one night when Holmes and Parnell were working the late shift, talking about how they wanted to be buried. Holmes said he wanted to be cremated, sprinkled on a nearby lake. His partner had another idea.

“I want my ashes placed into some good turkey-load shotgun shells,” Parnell said. That way, someone could go kill a turkey with him, Holmes tells Robert Smith, host of weekends on All Things Considered.

“He could rest in peace, knowing that one more turkey, the last thing he saw, was Clem screaming at him at 900 feet per second.”

Holmes’ first reaction when he heard his friend? “He just expressed what I’d like to do with my ashes.”

Holmes says his company’s services begin after the funeral. They take the ashes that are sent to them, put them into the requested shells, then ship the ammunition back to the sender. Their biggest concern, he says, is handling the ashes sensitively.

“We want people to understand that each shipment of ash is handled with utmost care,” he says. “So it’s not a simple process, you just going out, finding somebody that can go, ‘Here, I’ll throw ’em in there.’ It just doesn’t work like that.”

Holy Smoke, which has been in business for a couple months, charges $850 for a case of shells. The company has shipped out two orders. The feedback, Holmes says, is positive.

MORE:   Ashes To Ammo: How To Reload Your Dead Loved One : NPR.

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Happy Birthday, Anna Kendrick!

She is only 26 years old today….

But she already has had an amazing career- with, hopefully, much more to come!

Surprisingly, this is one of my top rated and most viewed posts….so I’m going to re-post it again on this talented young lady’s birthday….

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I love it when I find new performers and then learn they are already seasoned veterans…

Anna Kendrick was nominated for an Oscar this year for “Up in the Air.” She’s also been in the “Twilight” movies. I knew she looked familiar and discovered a couple of clips of earlier musical performances I had seen. I thought I would share.

Her she is as a very small child,  singing a song from “Show Boat” at the “Leading Ladies” Broadway Benefit– with the “Cabaret” Kit Kat Club girls.  She had just been nominated for a Tony Award for “High Society” when she appeared in the show on Broadway:

And here is the scene I loved and remembered well from “Camp”.  I just didn’t realize it was her.  She comes in after about 25 seconds:

This young lady has a long and exciting career ahead of her.

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Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, New York, Social Commentary, Theatre

Woman Tattoo’s All FaceBook Friends Profile Pictures on Her Arm

Okay, I admit I just don’t get tattoo’s at all.  Maybe it was growing up around too many World War II vets who got them while they were drunk overseas and kept saying the wish they had never done it.

Maybe it’s because I’m so aware fashions change and these things are permanent.  I would hate to be stuck with the 1970’s fashions for the rest of my life…

Maybe it’s because I keep thinking that what looks cute on a tight 20-year-old body is really going to start looking like crap on a heavier, sagging 60-year-old body….

But what is this woman going to do if someone defriends her or changes their profile picture?

Another example that supports my concerns for the critical thinking skills of people today….

I just wish I knew of a company that will be able to remove these things in the future so I could invest in them now.  It would make for a most comfortable retirement…

UPDATE:  It has been reveled this was all a publicity stunt and the video is faked.  These are temporary tattoos that wash off in a couple of days….I trust no one decided to follow suit and do this in reality!!

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Danville Downtowner Motor Inn to be Demolished

Ah, another part of my  misspent youth is going to be gone shortly…

We had some damn good parties at that place and I used to eat lunch in their Restaurant when I worked in Downtown Danville at a Bank right after college.

Had some fun times at their “disco”, the Black Horse Cellar…

We also spent most of our Senior Prom in a Suite there having cocktails before and after making our token appearance at the Dance…

See my previous blog post on my other blog for details:  http://mysoutherngothiclife.com/2011/02/12/chapter-50-party-at-the-hot-sheet-hotel/

From GoDanRiver.Com:

The Danville Industrial Development Authority has bought the former Downtowner Motel at the corner of Main and Union streets with the help of a Danville Regional Foundation grant.

“Without the financial support of the Danville Regional Foundation, we would not have been able to make this very significant purchase at this time to advance the Master Plan being developed for the River District,” said Richard Turner, chairman of the Industrial Development Authority. “Because of its high visibility, the removal of this structure will begin what we all think will be a major transformation of the district.”

The Downtowner building has been empty for more than a decade but has “become the focal point of blight eradication and redevelopment in the newly designated River District,” the release said.

via Danville IDA buys the former Downtowner Motel | GoDanRiver.com.

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A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much

I found this article fascinating…

I’m one of those people quick to call the younger generation slackers.  They are entirely too coddled.  Hence, my loving reference to them among friends and on my blogs as SJI’s (Slack Jawed Idiots).

But I’m ready to admit that there are other factors that aren’t so obvious.  Technology has changed the world and removed walls and barriers.  It has made it easier to blur the lines between work life and home life.

This Generation also sees things differently due to, not only being coddled, but due to the vast amount of information this technology has made so easily available.

They also don’t have the expectations many of us from my generation had- past tense-of having a job for life as long as they worked hard.

They know that social contract is null and void.

They therefore, appropriately, focus more on their real life.

In short, it’s a different world than the one we expected to see…

They may be more realistic than my generation was…

I’ll have to think about this some more.  This article in today’s New York Times is a good place to start…

But it still doesn’t excuse their poor style, fashion and cultural choices…

And three in four Americans believe that today’s youth are less virtuous and industrious than their elders, a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found.

In a sign of humility or docility, young people agree. In that 2009 Pew survey, two-thirds of millennials said older adults were superior to the younger generation when it came to moral values and work ethic.

After all, if there’s a young person today who’s walked 10 miles barefoot through the snow to school, it was probably on an iPhone app.

So is this the Laziest Generation? There are signs that its members benefit from lower standards. Technology has certainly made life easier. But there may also be a generation gap; the way young adults work is simply different.

MORE:   A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much – NYTimes.com.

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Nation Down To Last Hundred Grown-Ups | The Onion

Great satirical article from “The Onion”, of course….

Please click the link at the bottom to read the entire article.

It’s worth it….

SUITLAND, MD—According to alarming new figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation’s population of mature adults has been pushed to the brink of extinction, with only 104 grown-ups remaining in the country today.

The endangered demographic, which is projected to die out completely by 2060, is reportedly distinguished from other groups by numerous unique traits, including foresight, rationality, understanding of how to obtain and pay for a mortgage, personal responsibility, and the ability to enter a store without immediately purchasing whatever items they see and desire.

“Our grown-ups are disappearing at a much faster rate than we previously believed,” said Census Bureau chief Robert M. Groves, who believes the decline in responsible adults may now be irreversible. “Unfortunately, we’ve only recently noticed this terrible trend, perhaps because of this group’s unusual capacity to endure hardships with quiet dignity instead of whining loudly to draw attention to themselves.”

“If nothing is done, these wondrous individuals, with their special ability to consider the long-term consequences of their own behavior and act accordingly, will be wiped-out completely,” Groves added.

According to recent data, the grown-up population has plummeted dramatically since 1950, when a Census count found that more than 24 million Americans could both admit when they were wrong and respect a viewpoint other than their own. Today, only one in three million citizens can provide thoughtful advice to a fellow human being instead of immediately shifting the topic to their own personal issues or what they had for lunch.

Experts confirmed the mass extinction of grown-ups has coincided with the rapid expansion of other demographic groups, including people who seek medication for every problem they encounter, 33-year-olds who participate in organized kickball leagues, personal injury litigants, and parents who try to become friends with their own children.

MORE:   Nation Down To Last Hundred Grown-Ups | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

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Mom Defends Decision To Give 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox

Instead of calling “Good Morning America” someone should call Child Protective Services…

If this isn’t technically both physical and mental child abuse, it sure sounds like it to me…

I thought we left this mentality behind in the 1960’s….

We first told you about Britney Campbell of San Francisco in March — she’s the eight-year-old aspiring pageant queen already dabbling in Botox and virgin waxes, courtesy of her mom, Kerry. The pair appeared on Thursday’s “Good Morning America” to talk about the extreme beauty regimen with Lara Spencer.

Spencer asked Britney questions worthy of a horrifying “Law & Order: SVU” episode: can you show me where you do it? Can you point on your face? Of the Botox, Britney remarked, “It hurt sometimes, but I get used to it,” and of the waxing, “It was super, super hard to deal with that…I just don’t think it’s ladylike to have hair on your legs,” however adding that she won’t do it again. At least not for a while.

Kerry confessed that Britney didn’t actually request either treatment, noting, “We talked about it. She didn’t exactly ask me about it but I know that she was complaining about her face having wrinkles and things like that,” to which Spencer said, “My son will come home and tell me he wants every Xbox game that existed…that doesn’t mean you get it for them.” Snap!

But, seriously — then came a slew of photos depicting Britney with bruises, puffy cheeks and ice packs. In the end, the child says she “looks way better, like, beautiful, pretty, like, all those kinds of nice words.” And that might be the most heartbreaking part.

via Mom Defends Decision To Give 8-Year-Old Daughter, Britney Campbell, Botox (VIDEO).

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What Happens When You’re Buried at Sea?

I found this fascinating….

But then it may be just me….

I find cemeteries both fascinating for their history and a waste of space…

I’ve already told my partner I want to be cremated and my ashes spread somewhere nice- like the Virginia mountains.

Or he can just flush me….

Doesn’t matter to me….

As long as I’m not stuffed in a box wasting space…

Last Monday, at around 11 in the morning local time, Osama Bin Laden’s body dropped from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson into the Arabian Sea. According to the Pentagon, the hours-old corpse had been washed and placed in a simple white sheet in accordance with Islamic practice. It was then sealed inside a weighted bag and laid on top of a board, which was tilted until “the body slid off into the sea.”

Back on land, the controversy surrounding Bin Laden’s last splash was just beginning. But beneath the waves, nature was taking its course, quietly and methodically turning the world’s most-wanted terrorist into fish food. You could say Osama bin Laden had received the ultimate green burial, courtesy of the United States Navy.

Obviously, the decision to consign Bin Laden to the deep was motivated by expedience rather than eco-friendliness. Seafarers from Odysseus to Ahab have long known that there’s no better way to quickly be rid of a corpse than to toss it overboard. But only recently has this salty custom been rediscovered as a relatively efficient way to be laid to rest with minimal environmental impact.

via What Happens When You’re Buried at Sea? | Mother Jones.

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