Rebecca Rants
on Paula Deen
Rebecca Brodney, Staff Writer
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photo via thehonestmen.com
For decades, Paula Deen has been
an icon in the kitchen. Known for her
“Southern Cookin’,” Deen, a native of
Albany, Georgia, began her cooking
journey in a most humble fashion. At
first, she had it all. She had the love of
her parents, and she was even married
to her high school sweetheart. After the
sudden death of her parents and a chal
lenging divorce, Deen developed ago
raphobia, an anxiety disorder in which
sufferers feel the utmost terror when
in a situation where they cannot easily
escape. For some people, this anxiety
can be exacerbated on bridges or in large
crowds. To cope, deep fryer. Deen began
to spend all of her time in the safety of
her kitchen, and began a small business
called The Bag Lady, a meal delivery
service using the last $200 she had to
her name.
Since then, Deen has been providing
the masses with an assortment of artery
clogging recipes such as deep fried but-
terballs. Yes. Deep. Fried. Butterballs.
They are comprised of cream cheese
and butter, then, these fattening little
balls are popped into a deep fryer. This
is a recipe for a heart attack, no pun
intended. Still not disgusted? Perhaps
the bacon, doughnut, and egg burger
is right up your alley. Fried eggs and
bacon, all nestled in between two glazed
doughnuts, presumably Krispy Kreme.
Deen not only capitalizes on her recipes
that are exacerbating the burgeoning
obesity problem in our country but also
endorses and sells a multitude of prod
ucts. Her most recent retail venture?
Butter-flavored lip balm that is attached
to the slogan “Put a little South on your
mouth!” the balm is sold in other flavors
as well such as peach cobbler, pecan pie,
pumpkin pie, key lime pie, and banana
pudding. I think if I ever allowed that to
touch my lips, I would first find my
self in the shower, scrubbing at myself
mercilessly in an effort to exfoliate all
traces of butter flavors and scents from
my pores.
Okay, I am, admittedly, a health con
scious individual. However, I feel that
Paula Deen has a very important and in
fluential role in our society. She has the
power to sway the way we feel about our
food and its job in fueling our bodies.
When she is telling us how easy it is to
deep fry a cheesecake or to make a sour
cream laden casserole, we are naturally
going to think that making something
healthy is challenging or cannot simul
taneously taste good and provide ahy
nutritional value. Sure, it’s fun to watch
the sweet, silver-haired lady gracefully
maneuver her way through a kitchen
that, to some, can seem like a labyrinth
full of mysteiy and danger, but she
should be using her skills in the kitchen
for good, not artery-clogging evil. Some
day, Deen will be teaching us to cook
healthy foods that both raise our spirits
and our overall health, we hope.
Merwin Visits Raieigh:
A Poetic Refiection
Amy Hruby, Staff Writer
On Monday, October 17th, national poet laureate W. S. Merwin shared commen
tary on his work and life to a packed auditorium of local poetry enthusiasts at NC
State University. Having published his first book of poems in 1952, Merwin had
decades of work to choose from, and he read a range of poems, highlighting his
thoughtful, narrative style (as seen in “Yesterday”) and his poignant, concise im
agery (as seen in “Dusk in Winter” or “The Love for October”). Most moving was
the poetic manner in which he conveyed the commentary that filled the space be
tween his works. Merwin shared his thoughts on the importance of the auditory in
poetry, on the need for imagination in life and on the permanence of time—reflect
ing on his writing experience in a way that quietly advised hopeful poets. Merwin
also commented on his belief that writing is always culled from experience, which
includes the experience of other literature. He noted that he feared writers had
been paralyzed by the fear of imitation and the need to he original. Taking rather
literally his permission to be influenced. I’ve compiled my notes from the reading
into a poem of sorts. All of the lines are paraphrased from Merwin’s comments.
Titles of the poems he read are in quotation marks and lines from the poems fol
low the titles in parentheses.
Original does not mean something novel, it means something that comes
from the origin.
“Summer.” “The Wilderness,” (the hunger to look).
Attention is what it’s all about.
Focus on what’s right in front of you - the real world.
“Dusk in Winter.” “Yesterday.” “The Normal Flute,” (I have with me all I
do not know; Fve lost none of it).
If you’ve got a voice of your own, your voice will come through.
Think of influence versus the discovery of affinities. It’s about recognition.
Like how we recognize Waiting for Godot even when we’ve never seen
anything like it.
“The Dog.” “Fly,”(Ihave always believed too much in words).
Every life contains the whole thing. Every moment of life contains the
whole thing.
“Chord.” “Late Spring,” (you for whom more than once I opened the
door).
Time passes, but time stays too. Like telescopes looking back to the begin
ning of the universe.
Time’s still there.
“Departure’s Girlfriend.” “September Plowing.” “The Love for October.”
Whatever my image is, you have your own.
What distinguishes us from other species is not intelligence or language...
it’s imagination.
“The Blind Seer of Ambon, ” (I always knew that I came fro,m another
language).
For a poet the primary sense is the sense of hearing.
“Rain at night,” (This is what I have heard).
^'Dear Gigi,.,; ■. »
Last weekend, I hit the club and bar scene, I was totally tearing it up- me and my MCGs were bringing it on the dance floor and with the fellas- HOL
LA! Then I noticed out of the corner of my eye a man who looked familiar. I did a double take and noticed he was one of my professors. This totally ru
ined my mellow for the whole evening. I ended up leaving early, feeling so embarrassed that he might have seen me shaking my tail-feather. I skipped
class my' Monday class, hoping that maybe he would forget if he remembered me, but I went to the other classes and nothing happened. What do I do?
Signed, Help a girl out
Dear Help a girl out,
If I was on the club scene and saw my professor, 1 would be embarrassed j ust as much as you are. Remember, you have a life outside of classes and a
professor should respect that, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your school work. You should know that a professor also has a life outside of classes,
and if he did indeed see you there, he is probably worried that you saw him there and could be feeling embarrassed as well. Don’t skip class just be
cause you are feeling embarrassed; just brush off the encounter. You don’t have to mention to him that you saw him there. If you run into a professor
again at a bar or a club, use your club name instead of your real name when giving it out to people in case he asks around who you are.
HOLI.A,Gigi ''
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