Guilty of Being Southern

National Review Online ^ | July 2 | Lee Habeeb

[Veto!]

Oh for heaven’s sake, this is utterly ridiculous. I LOVE my Southern roots, and they’re not even mine...my grandparents moved there from Ireland/Newfoundland/Boston many decades ago and I grew up visiting southern Mississippi and Louisiana every Easter vacation. My Boston grandmother ended up managing the Columns Hotel on St. Charles, NOLA.. Really, some of my very best memories are of my days in the South...I could and maybe will write a book.

Grits? Love ‘em. Southern charm? Wish I had more, but I can pull it off when I try. Married a Southerner, utterly in love, wish he’d lived longer. Pralines? Mmmmm. Chawmin’ black waiters? The very best. Doris who took care of my kids for years? What would I have done without her?

On and on...I do understand Paula Deen and do indeed wish her the best. May even go buy one of her cookbooks just to support her. Not that she needs the money, but she deserves a public hug.

The stupid media whores have zero charm, zero heart, zero clue what living a charming life means.

[Veto!]

Grits are like tofu

Funniest remark on this thread.

HOWEVER, you are sooooo dead wrong. Tofu smeared with butter? Tofu with a fried egg broken over it? Tofu with bacon?

Serious barfarooney territory.

[okie01]

Birmingham, AL, do you recall the three-day war in downtown?

Yes. I remember the stories and photos of Bull Connor, fire hoses and the dogs. I didn't live in the south at the time and spent most of my formative years in Oklahoma and Texas.

From my childhood, though, I do recall the segregated water fountains and the Jim Crow train cars.

You probably recall, as well, that most Southern cities in the fifties had two downtowns -- the white downtown and the black downtown. Each with their own hotels, department stores, banks and office buildings.

Driving thru the seedy remains of the black downtowns today still recalls what must have been a prosperous and thriving black middle class.

Segregation was bad, to be sure. But was it appreciably worse than the disintegrated families, dystopic culture and governmental dependence that blacks deal with today.

[onedoug]

Rebel Yell!

[okie01]

Birmingham, AL, do you recall the three-day war in downtown?

Yes. I remember the stories and photos of Bull Connor, fire hoses and the dogs. I didn't live in the south at the time and spent most of my formative years in Oklahoma and Texas.

Seems to me, I also recall an article about a Woolworth's in Meridian, MS.

From my childhood, though, I do recall the segregated water fountains and the Jim Crow train cars.

You probably recall, as well, that most Southern cities in the fifties had two downtowns -- the white downtown and the black downtown. Each with their own hotels, department stores, banks and office buildings.

Driving thru the seedy remains of the black downtowns today still recalls what must have been a prosperous and thriving black middle class.

Segregation was bad, to be sure. But was it appreciably worse than the disintegrated families, governmental dependence and dystopic culture that blacks deal with today?

[Black Agnes]

Cheese answers any culinary questions.

Bacon is just lagniappe.

There’s a reason I’m fat.

Neither of those fixes NASCAR.

[Vendome]

A friend of mine actually came up with that term when I lived in Oklahoma.

[Yosemitest]

"Segregation was bad, to be sure.
But was it appreciably worse than the disintegrated families, governmental dependence and dystopic culture that blacks deal with today?"

I would say that it was better than today.
Why is it, one of the first things Jesus will do when He returns again, is to separate the nations one from another ?

Separate, we can't blame the problems we bring upon ourselves, upon someone else, upon a race that is NOT responsible.
We will have to admit that WE CAUSED our own trouble.

[wku man]

Oh yeah...I'm familiar with Huddle House. One unfortunate consequence of moving out to God's Country (Idaho) is that we don't have too many Southern-style restaurants. Crackhead Barrel is about the closest thing I've had to decent grits for years.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[warsaw44]

I so hope you are visiting some of the news sites out there and posting your story. I worked in the restaurant industry years ago and the ones that provide insurance and dental - man, I can’t really recall one!

One did provide two weeks paid vacation but that too is a rarity. Sounds like you have a great job.

Its always better to have employees wake up and look forward to going to work.

[Yosemitest]

You just don't know.
You haven't experienced good Southern grits.
You don't know WHY grits are grits, the pioneering history behind grits.
One of the best impromptu speeches I ever gave in my military career was a 5 minute speech in Leadership School at Keesler AFB about grits, and I had one minute to gather my thoughts together, between bring told in front of the class what the subject of my speech would be and starting the speech.
When it was over in front of a class of about 45 students, I got a standing ovation.

First of all, instant grits are horrible.
No self-respecting Southerner will buy instant or quick grits.Z
We want stone ground original grits.
We want good tasting clean water, with no bleach taste, or city water taste.
We want a very good salt like whole sea salt.
Now your water needs are about 5 to 1, so put 5 times the amount of water to one part grits.
First, bring the water to a rolling boil BEFORE you put in your butter and then melt your butter into the water BEFORE you put in your grits.
Once you put in your grits, put in about a heaping teaspoon of salt, and stir while bringing back to a boil.
Stand over it and constantly stir it, and after it boils for a minute or two, turn it down to a simmer, and keep stirring.
It normally takes me about ten minutes to cook grits to the consistency I like, a little thick but still has some flow to them.
Don't stop stirring until you take them off the stove. Now, add more butter and taste them, and add salt to taste.
If they get too runny, just put them back on the stove and add low heat and stir until you get them the consistency you like.
Take them off the stove and add whatever you like, i.e. cheese, tomato gravy, eggs, etc ...

Now serve with fresh homemade biscuits and butter.
Enjoy!
And remember, EAT THEM GRITS !!!

[boop]

Cracker Barrel grits are the bomb!

For an added treat, order them with a side of red-eye gravy.

Heaven!

[tinamina]

Miss Paula had MRS Michelle Obama on her show and afterwards raved about how much MRS M ate, even during commercials and how much Mrs M LOVED her some fatty foods.

Mrs Michelle was spendin ALL her efforts tryin to reform America’s kid’s menus, promoting eating good organic vegetables for the masses... AND Paula ruined the story...(M really loves her some really really fatty foods and shoves them in during commercials) SO they just waited for the opportunity to SLAM Paula into oblivion.
Paula used to be a rich Dem who loved O...
BYE BYE Miss Paula!

[Gaffer]

IIRC, Boston was a bastion of parental decorum when courts mandated school bussing was ordered.

[tinamina]

Paula Deen = lib
Paula Deen = shocked & bewildered
Michelle Obama got it in for Paula = No more Paula...

Been to Paula’s restaurant in Savannah...great gooey buter cake and that sorta stuff..the BEST actually

Gooey Butter Cake = Paula Deen = my hero(ine)

[wardaddy]

I compared them to tofu because they taste most like whatever is added to them or what they are cooked with....same as tofu

I’m 7th generation Mississippian

I am like black Agnes...i like them with cheese etc....shrimp...bacon....sausage and gravy....over easy eggs

All southerners don’t like grits

My wife.....Hampton VA and Charleston raised gal.....loves them.....prefers yellow grits from
Dixie Lily
But in a pinch I take them with butter and whatever preserves are handy or ALAGA CANE SYRUP

[wardaddy]

I grew up at ground zero in all this right precisely as i came of age as it happened all around me in a fairly moderate family and knew many of the famous players in that drama

Your post is most reflective I’ve seen on this topic in a while

I have given up trying to explain even here

Most enjoy the accepted narrative.

It gives them moral superiority free of charge

I can spot a fake southerner talking like they were there from a mile away

The first giveaway is hyperbole about segregation .....” oh yeah they had no niggers allowed signs everywhere” or “ sure I saw nigger don’t let the sun set on your black ass in this town”

OK.....maybe somewhere somebody could find something like that but I sure never saw it.....colored drinking fountain and bathroom and black sections in cafes I did see...no question

And the notion blacks could not own stuff or business or go to schools or college or never vote

BS.....UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND

black precients turned out for new deal slate same as whites

Voting crap started when civil rights workers showed up pushing social lib candidates

White men never prosecuted for crimes against blacks...untrue

White men raping blacks girls pell mell....a blatant lie in league with hillbilly male rape absurd myth

The notion we were simply mean and ugly to noble blacks as a matter of practice is just Hollywood wishful thinking
Many many here are happy ignorant..... and hypocritical

I lived in NYC.....they don’t fool me

All the fears of the segregationists have come to bear

I do not like the outcome and only see worse coming

Blacks in the south under prejudice ironically were nicer and maintained a more productive culture

Not out of fear but rather emulation from association

You cannot explain this from a 40 percent black state to someone in New Hampshire with one percent

That’s the rub....blissful perch

I just drove from Nashville area to Pacific northwest and back to Glacier and Dakotas
Home.

St Louis.....Kansas city......north Platte...Laramie....salt lake....winnemuca.....Medford.....grants pass.....coos bay.....yreka.....Portland.....Klamath....walla walla....Lewiston.....Missoula.... whitefish....kalispel....browning......spearfish.....Pierre....Sioux falls.....back to KC

FROM KC TILL BACK TO KC....over 5500 miles my boys and I counted 11 blacks total in 2 weeks

In my hometown of Jackson MS I could see 11 black folks in the time it takes to rub my eyes

And 4 were Verizon commercial mixed race.....Lennys we call them after Kravitz
B
Its like war or jail or cancer or death of family member

You cant explain it to folks who can’t see it....cause it ain’t there

[mrsmel]

You tell 'em wardaddy. I just don't bother anymore, so many are ensconced, as you say, in their cheap moral superiority. There may come a day, and not too far away, when folks will wish that the South had been able to hold the line to some extent. At least re freedom of association, if nothing else.

In the meantime, I hope, I pray, that folks continue to think the worst of my home state. Keeps the riffraff out. Don't need any leftists, or "fiscal conservatives" coming down and destroying the culture of the state. We have our own homegrown ghetto lot for that already.

[FreedomPoster]

Concur on the stone ground. I recommend Nora Mills.
http://www.noramill.com/store/index.php?cPath=48
Instant grits should be banned by thinking folks as a culinary abomination.

A little known secret is that modern Japanese rice cookers run on the porridge cycle are *great* for making grits. It takes longer, but you don’t have to be on top of them stirring.
http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-LAC05XT-Cooker-Warmer-Stainless/dp/B005FVROW6/ref=pd_sbs_k_2

Finally, it just so happens I had a nice resort banquet meal last night. The filet, instead of being on a bed of mashed potatoes, was on a bed of perfect stone ground grits with a nice mushroom gravy. It worked nicely.

[Conserev1]

I’m sorry if you got the idea that was written by my self but that is Willie Smith’s story his name is in the header.
But I guess PD treats her employees well.