Alright y'all... there have been a few things in the news lately that have sparked some controversial fires amongst certain "groups". First, there was the Paula Deen "scandal" and then today, the rulings on Proposition 8 in California and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Let's start with the first hooplah.
The first thing I heard about Paula Deen was that she was dropped by the Food Network. I hadn't heard anything about her court situation, the trial, her admissions, etc before the Food Network dropped her. Wait... take that back. The actual first thing I heard was that she missed her interview on the Today Show. Then, I did a little more searching and slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together regarding this story. Pieces are still falling into place about this story today. My OPINION (we all have them), frankly, is that it's all a bunch of bullshit (pardon the language). Here are a couple pieces of the story (in black) and what I think (in blue):
So, she and her brother are being sued by a former employee for sexual harassment and racial discrimination. She was asked in the deposition if the had "ever used the n-word". She honestly replied "yes, of course. It's been a very long time". I'm sure about 95 percent of southern people from her same age group would answer that question the same way. The woman suing also stated that Paula Deen never exhibited any signs of being a racists (so I'm not sure where the claims of racial discrimination come from). The media is bringing up all kinds of other crap that just puts people against one another to create more and more drama. For instance, why bring up that Paula Deen once discussed having a plantation-style wedding where black people would be dressed in period outfits and be serving food a drinks. She discussed but didn't do it. And, frankly, I'm sure plenty of people would have gladly accepted the job and not bitched about it being racist. I'm sick of our media doing this. They do it enough during election season and they are the number one cause of racism, political hate and any other modern segregation these days. It's disgusting. Then, this morning, Matt Lauer (a freakin' shark) referenced another quote from Paula during the deposition which says, basically, that she couldn't determine what offends other people. Initially, when I heard that, I kind of cringed. I thought "oh crap, Paula. Why would you go and say something stupid like that? We all know what is offensive". But, she quickly explained what she meant by that. She went on to say that some of her employees and young people in general throw that word around describing each other all the time. When you hear it that much, obviously it makes you wonder why it's fine for blacks to say it all the time (and let's not even get into the difference in "nigger" and "nigga"... ridiculous) but if a white person is honest about saying it decades ago, her world can come crumbling down.)
These are a few of the things that just erk me about this story. Obviously, I don't know Paula Deen on a personal level. But, I know a HELL OF A LOT of women who are SO MUCH like her and those women don't have a racist bone in their body. People in the South have a history. And, really, we aren't too far removed from that history. People alive and well today remember the past vividly and were immersed in the civil rights movement. It wasn't even a lifetime ago, y'all.
And, here's a little food for thought if you are reeling on the last point I made about the Paula Deen thing (blacks calling each other nigger). Do you EVER, ever in your life, hear a Mexican calling another Mexican a "wetback", a Jewish person calling another Jewish person a "kike", an Arabic person calling another Arabic person a "towel head"? My point is, if we all know these words are offensive, take them out of your mouth, no matter who you are. Just. Stop. It. Don't tell me that it's OK for you to use the most offensive word that you know of to describe your buddy. That's just bullshit. Racism is racism. Stop even making anyone question what is or isn't offensive.
OK, off my soapbox about that one.
Now, moving on. HOOOORAY for equality today! I am a full supporter of equal marriage rights to all. I see absolutely zero reason to not support it... ze-ro. I understand it's a big religious thing and frankly, I'm not very religious so maybe that's why I don't understand a traditional Christian view on this. I was raised in a pretty conservative family and I'm going to venture to say that the majority of my family does not agree with me on this. But, to each her own. What I really love about today's rulings is the true separation of Church and State.
My favorite blogger-turned-author, Glennon Melton (author of Carry On Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed and the blog Momastery www.momastery.com), has a beautiful piece in her book about being an open-minded Christian and getting to the point where she felt OK with only supporting certain parts of the Bible and taking others with a small grain of salt. This has helped me understand religion a little more and be a little more open to the idea of Christianity because growing up around a Southern Baptist community, my views didn't align and, therefore, I've always felt I didn't align. But, as I approach my fourth decade of life, I'm slowly getting that it's OK. Nothing is black and white when it comes to love. And that's what religion really is all about, right? To love one another as God loves you? Done and done.
Here's a link to an amazing post by Glennon today. Read it, folks:
http://momastery.com/blog/2013/06/24/i-love-gay-people-and-i-love-christians-i-choose-all/
Enjoy your day, y'all.
xoxo,
Chrissi
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Hey y'all! (from Florida)
Hey everybody!
We're well into our little vacation in Pensacola and we are loving it! The trip down was pretty easy and Max did great! It took him a little while to get settled on a decent sleep schedule but now I think we're back to normal. So, that's great! We've been having so much fun and I know I'm going to HATE to leave. But, hopefully we'll be given a house soon so we have something fun to go back to. Otherwise, it's really going to suck knowing that we're leaving Florida to go back to temporary housing on base in NJ. Ugh! So, say a little prayer that we get a house before we go home.
Anyway, like I said, it's been a great trip so far. Christian was only here for about four days but we tried to make the most of his time here. We visited family and ate at some good restaurants. He left on the 19th. Max and I moved into our little vacation rental on the 25th and it's been nice to have a place of our own. It's super convenient and we're able to run errands without having a 30 minute drive like we would if we were staying with my parents. So, this has been great. We're here until June 26th and hopefully Christian will be back down here by then!
We've been taking advantage of all the fun stuff to do around here like the splash pad downtown, the beach a couple times, swimming at Roger Scott pool and of course spending tons of time with family. Family makes like so much easier. Yesterday, I drove over to my brother's place (he lives over on 30a in Santa Rosa Beach) and we went for an awesome bike ride through some of the beach towns down there. That is seriously one of the most beautiful places on earth down there. If you've never been, GO, like now... just go. It's 19 miles of gorgeous-ness. :) We biked about 20 miles and it was a gorgeous day. Then, by the time I got back home yesterday afternoon, I was exhausted so as soon as Max went to bed, my butt was in bed! haha
Oh, something else that is super great is a decision that Christian and I have made (well, technically, that christian finally agreed to) is that we're moving back to Pensacola when he retires in four years! Y'all have absolutely NO IDEA how friggin' happy this makes me. There's a light at the end of the tunnel! I'm so excited. We're looking at land now to hold onto and then hopefully build on when we move back. He'll retire and then most likely fly for an airline (or one of the zillion other options he has) out of here. Super! So, like i said, light at the end of the tunnel! Four years will fly by and it will be perfect timing for Max to start kindergarten right when we move down here. Happy, happy, happy!
Well, that's about it for now! Y'all have a wonderful Sunday!
xoxo,
Chrissi
We're well into our little vacation in Pensacola and we are loving it! The trip down was pretty easy and Max did great! It took him a little while to get settled on a decent sleep schedule but now I think we're back to normal. So, that's great! We've been having so much fun and I know I'm going to HATE to leave. But, hopefully we'll be given a house soon so we have something fun to go back to. Otherwise, it's really going to suck knowing that we're leaving Florida to go back to temporary housing on base in NJ. Ugh! So, say a little prayer that we get a house before we go home.
Anyway, like I said, it's been a great trip so far. Christian was only here for about four days but we tried to make the most of his time here. We visited family and ate at some good restaurants. He left on the 19th. Max and I moved into our little vacation rental on the 25th and it's been nice to have a place of our own. It's super convenient and we're able to run errands without having a 30 minute drive like we would if we were staying with my parents. So, this has been great. We're here until June 26th and hopefully Christian will be back down here by then!
We've been taking advantage of all the fun stuff to do around here like the splash pad downtown, the beach a couple times, swimming at Roger Scott pool and of course spending tons of time with family. Family makes like so much easier. Yesterday, I drove over to my brother's place (he lives over on 30a in Santa Rosa Beach) and we went for an awesome bike ride through some of the beach towns down there. That is seriously one of the most beautiful places on earth down there. If you've never been, GO, like now... just go. It's 19 miles of gorgeous-ness. :) We biked about 20 miles and it was a gorgeous day. Then, by the time I got back home yesterday afternoon, I was exhausted so as soon as Max went to bed, my butt was in bed! haha
Oh, something else that is super great is a decision that Christian and I have made (well, technically, that christian finally agreed to) is that we're moving back to Pensacola when he retires in four years! Y'all have absolutely NO IDEA how friggin' happy this makes me. There's a light at the end of the tunnel! I'm so excited. We're looking at land now to hold onto and then hopefully build on when we move back. He'll retire and then most likely fly for an airline (or one of the zillion other options he has) out of here. Super! So, like i said, light at the end of the tunnel! Four years will fly by and it will be perfect timing for Max to start kindergarten right when we move down here. Happy, happy, happy!
Well, that's about it for now! Y'all have a wonderful Sunday!
xoxo,
Chrissi
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