May 2008

Sweet Home

I’ve been in Monroeville, Alabama for the past two weeks. Home to the late Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) and Harper Lee (To Kill A Mocking Bird) and backdrop for the movie To Kill A Mocking Bird circa 1962. While I’ve been here, I’ve done a little nosing around, visited the old courthouse (its now a musem) and tried to channel my muse (Ms Lee). I’ve discovered a few things about these two authors that I did NOT know. (heh, and you thought I knew it all  )

And the question arises, from time to time, whatever happened to its author, Harper Lee? After she wrote the book, she dropped out of sight. She granted a few interviews in 1961 when the film was made, but since then very few people have seen her, and those who have, if asked, will politely change the subject.

A few years ago, when a 35th anniversary edition of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was being prepared, a publisher asked her to write an introduction for the book.

She wrote, “Please spare ‘Mockingbird’ an Introduction. As a reader I loathe Introductions. To novels I associate Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are brought back into print after decades of interment…’Mockingbird’…has never been out of print and I am still alive…It still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble.”

We do know that she was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama, and that she lived next door to Truman Capote. They were childhood friends, and that friendship continued until his death in 1984. She traveled to Kansas with him to help him with his research when he was writing IN COLD BLOOD.

We also know that Lee lives in New York, while her sister still lives in Monroeville. She visits her sister frequently and is sometimes seen having lunch or shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly. But no one can (or is willing) to talk about her.

In this day of the 24 hour news cycle and novelists becoming instant celebrities, with book signings and talk show appearances, Ms Lee is certainly an enigma.

I suspect, and its only my opinion, that the book is somewhat autobiographical, where the main characters Atticus Finch (the lawyer) would be her father, Dill (the young boy) would be Capote and Scout (the young girl, daughter of Atticus) would be Ms Lee.

It’s still a “sin” to kill a mocking bird. Being here, breathing in the town, brings it all home sweet home.

Survivor Kindergarten

This just brings tears to my eyes.

Here’s the scoop. Alex, a 5 year old boy in a Florida kindergarten, was “voted” out of his class. Yep, his teacher,in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, not only allowed this to happen, but it seems she suggested it !

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex?—?who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism?—?out of the class.

Now, clearly a child with Autism syndrome, or Asperger’s like symptoms can be a handful. But come on. This teacher didn’t just handle the behavioral issues badly, she allowed the other students to publicly berate this child. There is just something amoral about this whole thing. For this teacher to allow this to occur in her classroom, never mind suggest that it be done, well that’s just about as screwed up as it can get. Imagine, your child has behavioral issues, or something as petty as BO, or the wrong hair cut. The teacher allows a vote of the class and poof! Your child is voted out of the classroom! I can hear a resounding, Uh NO!

While the state says there’s no grounds for a suit citing emotional abuse, I’m inclined to think otherwise. Especially since Alex’s mother said she heard him saying over and over “I’m not special”. Now, I just can’t comment any further on that.

Unconditional Love

NEW YORK — Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a “colorblind” approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.NEW YORK — Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a “colorblind” approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.

And their point is ???

Without going into great detail about the foster system and the adoption system in the US, let me just give you a quick fact.

The foster care system has a disproportionately high number of black children, and on average they languish there nine months longer than white children before moving to permanent homes. The latest federal figures showed 32 percent of the 510,000 children in foster care were black in 2006, compared to 15 percent of all U.S. children.

As a child of adoption, I am here to tell you. It doesn’t matter if a parent is as red as Clifford the big red dog, as long as that parent offers unconditional commitment, unconditional love and support. The ever politically correct need to buy a clue. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need the adoptive/foster family scenario. But we’re not living in Utopia, and there are children of all races, longing for someone to love them and care for them. Without the families who are willing to foster/adopt children who are not of their own race, these kids, at age 18, after being bounced from house to house, to group living and often worse, are given bus fare and directions to the nearest homeless shelter. Our children are our future?

My hat is off to all foster/adoptive Mom’s and Dad’s. They have hearts and souls as big as the ocean and truly are people who are remarkable. If you agree with me, contact your local senators, congressmen and women, who ever you have to, to get this issue resolved in a more amicable light. At issue is the 1994 Multi-Ethnic Placement Act _ and revisions made to it in 1996 _ governing the adoption of children from foster care. Some organizations that were on board with the proposals were The Dave Thomas Foundation (I’m sure the founder of Wendy’s is rolling over in his grave right now), the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Child Welfare League of America, and the National Association of Black Social Workers.

So, tell me…what’s your view?

Thongs, Frito’s and Kudzu Queens™

There’s nothing better in life than to ride around on the back of a convertible with a crown on your head.-Suzanne Sugarbaker (Designing Women)

All of my life, I’ve considered myself to be fairly non-conforming when it comes to fashion. I’ve always dressed for comfort. Even as a child, I preferred my overalls to “girl clothes”. So, I prefer my t-shirts to nightgowns (I don’t wake up in the middle of the night choking from silk wrapped around my neck), my sweats to workout clothes (thats easy enough, why spend $100 on workout clothes when you can spend $5 and still accomplish the same thing. It ain’t no fashion show, yanno. For goodness sake, all you’re going to do is sweat anyway!) and granny panties to bikini’s, thongs or any other variety of torture that some man has decided looks “good” on a woman. Now, you know what I’m talking about. Those corset thingys that take two people to operate, and the dental floss that the fashion industry refers to as “must” have undergarments. Well, it happens that I needed to purchase some long overdue undergarments and I made a plan to visit the local department store for the shopping adventure. Standing in the lingerie department, I perused the assortment of dainties. I’ve seen some of this stuff in the Victoria Secret catalogs, even purchased some for wedding gifts, for much younger women. But never for myself. What the heck, I’m not ancient, yet, this is as good as this body’s gonna get, and I might as well try a splurge on myself, right? Well, ladies, I’m here to tell ya, there’s not enough fabric to cover Barbie’s butt, let alone mine, and the thought of dental floss up my backside…well wedgies ain’t no fun. There are no panty lines, because there are NO panties. (Maybe I should have put down that bag of Frito’s last night.) Gravity has played some real havoc on my backside. (They used to call these things g-strings, what g stood for I don’t have a clue) True enough, wearing silky undies can make you feel secretly sexy, but what’s this joke about ?? I’m going back to my 100% cotton granny panties….Oh the comfort!

On Becoming A Queen

Drop out of your college sorority before you ever pledged? Love to dance (but a little spastic at it)? Could you perfect a queenly wave in a short amount of time (given proper motivation)? Are you a GRIT (Girl Raised In The South) relocated or not? Are you truly NOT self concious or could this state of being be induced by being plied with proper amounts of Bloody Mary’s or Mimosa’s? Have a truly delectable group of friends who would join you? Then YOU can be a Kudzu Queen™. Yes, YOU could become among the select few charter members of the Kudzu Queens™. A highly vocal, select few of truly southern women, dedicated to all things Southern and spreading Southern-nesse. For more information, please use our contact form, we’ll send you details right back. Here’s to Us!

This is NOT my Apple MacBook Air

At over $2k, I can’t justify the cost. Anybody got an idea how I might get one ?

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