I Will Unfollow You

I will unfollow you
Unfollow you wherever you may post
There isn't an internet too deep
A Facebook post so good it can get me to keep

I must unfollow you

Ever since you did 100 cat videos in an hour I know
That away from your posts you I always must be
And nothing can keep you near me
You are my unwanted destiny

I love you, I like you, I loathe you
And where you post I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow
You'll always be my true love, my true like, my true loathe
From now until forever, forever, forever

I will unfollow you
Unfollow you wherever you may post
There isn't an internet too deep
A Facebook post so good it can get me to keep
Keep you on, keep you on my newsfeed

I love you, I like you, I loathe you
And where you go I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow
You'll always be my true love, my true like, my true loathe
From now until forever, forever, forever

Your political rants make me cringe
Knowing what you had for lunch makes me twinge
"I dare you to repost this" gets me cranky
Your medical stories I find ranky
You're a posting TMI machine

It's true that I'm your friend
I just can't stand everything you post
So the rules I have to bend
It's your posts I hate the most

Soooo...

I will unfollow you
Unfollow you wherever you may post
There isn't an internet too deep
A Facebook post so good it can get me to keep
Keep you on, keep you on my newsfeed

I love you, I like you, I loathe you

And where you go I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow, I'll unfollow
You'll always be my true love, my true like, my true loathe
From now until forever, forever, forever

But where you post I'll unfollow


(based on the song I Will follow You by Rickey Nelson)

Flying the Flag the Right Way

To help clear up any confusion, this is the flag you should fly on the Fourth of July.

It should be displayed properly and respectfully.  It should be handled properly, raised up properly,  It should not be left out in the rain,  It should not be out at night if not properly lit.  It should be lowered and folded properly when taken down.

This is not a respectful display of the flag.  It is not meant to be a piece of clothing, or a belt buckle, or a cigarette lighter, or any thing other than the proper, respectful display of the flag.  We are so worried about flag desecration through burning, but there are so many other ways to desecrate the flag.

The flag of the United States has no business being combined with religion, especially in this way (on the other hand,having the flag in the church properly displayed on a stand or flagpole, alone or in conjunction with other flags, seems understandable).  We are a secular nation, with separation of church and state bred in our DNA.  And speaking as a Christian, having the flag draped across the cross?  Sacrilegious! And Jesus is not an AMERICAN savior - he is EVERYONE'S!  Worldly borders mean NOTHING to him!

And I should never, ever, ever see the Confederate flag displayed, particularly on the Fourth!  It is the flag of the treasonous people who tried to destroy the union, and to both preserve and EXTEND slavery.  Ir represents the very polar opposite of what the United States flag represents.

The flag of the United States is a symbol of liberty and freedom - FOR ALL!!!  It represents not an end point, but a journey.  From the Bill of rights, to voting rights for African Americans and women, to civil rights for LGBT citizens, for the rights of workers to unionize and improve their working conditions, for women to have control of their healthcare, and on and on!  That is what the flag is about!  A journey that began 239 years ago and continues to get bolder, better, more tolerant and inclusive EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Here's to the Original Pledge of Allegiance - 

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the republic for which

it stands: one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for 

all."

What a Night for an Auto da Whee!

Some photographs fit, even when they're low res and hazy, because that's just like my memories.

There was a time in  this country when drive in movie theatres dotted the landscape.  They were a great way to escape, in a world without DVRs and IMAX and the internet and instant videos.  Once darkness fell, you could be entertained for hours.

When we were little, and not really fit to sit in a regular movie theatre, my parents would pile us in a station wagon and we would go to the drive in theatre.  The one pictured above was one just one of those that could be found in our area.

We would arrive before it got dark, because we knew this about the movie start time - it would be when it got dark.  Whatever time that was, that was when it would start.  so you would arrive early and wait.

But waiting was not done by just sitting in your car.  The Auto Theatre had a playground up front, and you would go up and swing and play, all the way up to the time of the movie start.

They would have raffles and giveaways.  My parents won one once.  I remember it well because my parents were so excited because they had not ever won anything before.  Their prize?  Two lawn chairs.  Don't laugh!  They were great lawn chairs, and I remember us using them for years afterward.

The movies were always a mixed bag.  The first feature was usually directed more at the family, and the second would be more directed at the adults.  This may be a mashup, but I swear I remember one combination being Snow White and the Three Stooges, followed by The Young Doctors.

There would be a significant intermission between the two features.  They might show a cartoon, or previews, but mostly they would promote the snack bar, with jolly music and pictures of delicious treats. The snack bar was like a mini-restaurant, serving hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, sodas, popcorn, cotton candy, all kinds of sweets.  Nobody starved at the Drive In.

Sometimes the second feature might be a little risque for the children.  Nothing that would hardly bump into PG or PG-13 territory nowadays, but back then it was quite exciting.  I remember a Matt Helms Dean Martin spy movie, that was having a scene involving a partial strip tease, that my Mom told me to put my head down and close my eyes.  Now, often in those second features, my sister and I were just playing in the back, not focused at all on the movie, so I was very grateful when my mother let me know when not to watch, so that I knew WHEN I should watch.  Thanks, Mom!

The drive ins would occasionally have marathons, involving three to five movies, that would run almost until daylight.  Often they were themed. like all horror movies, or all beach movies.  I can't recall ever going to one, but it sure sounded fun.

Later, as a  teenager who could drive, and on into my early college years, drive ins became something that I would go to with a date rather than the family.  You would park in the back, and bring blankets and....well, sometimes I didn't catch all of the movies.  There was a double header featuring Race With the Devil (starring Peter Fonda) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.  What I saw seemed pretty good, so someday I may have to rent or stream them, and see what I've missed.


There still exists a Drive In at the outskirts of our area, called the Jesup Drive In.  At least I think they still exist - we don't ever hear what they have or when they're open.  I miss newspapers and their big movie ads.  For me, the internet information is just not the same.

Other than never hearing about it, I'm not sure why we don't go.  Yes, it's a little bit far for us.  Yes, lifestyles seem a bit busier now, and hard to think of a whole evening in your car.  There are no more playgrounds, and most regular movie theaters now have a snack bar just as grand.  We get IMAX and 3D and multiple screens and on and on, not to mention all the home choices we have now.

But sometimes I miss it.  I miss the way things used to be.

Maybe I should struggle with the google and see what they have playing.

Or not.  Life does move on, doesn't it?

Oh, well.

At least I have my memories.

Pseudo Redneck Tuesday Tidbits

Hey, y'all!

Dub Dubberly here with a quick tidbitty roundup of some of the stuff rattling around in my brain.

Thought #1

       How bout that Greece?  I don't mean that stuff from the pig we got cookin' in our meat pit, I mean that country over there near that Middlerainian Sea.  I think they're being drove to the broke house, and somehow that's causing my 401k retirement plan at work to slide towards the ditch.    

          So is them Greeks spending too much while owing too much?  Probably.  But I do know that what they call austerity, starving people out, don't always work too good.  Seems to me you gots to grow your way to success.  If you cut off your leg, than you can't walk so good.

        Take a look at World War One.  We won that good, and we made them Germans pay big time money to make up for the damage they did.  They got poor and cornered, angry and vicious, and it allowed the ground for the Nazis to build their evil on.

        Take a look at World War Two.  Yeah, we beat them Nazis big time, but then we done one of the smartest things we ever done.  Instead of spanking 'em financially, we gave them the Marshall plan, and helped them build back their economies, with democracy and capitalism and Coca-Cola and blue jeans and stuff.  And now both Germany and Japan are strong democracies, contributing to the stability of the world.  And we keep getting some pretty good beer, too.

      So I want Greece to be responsible, but I don't want to inspire no more Nazis and the like.  It's a tough balancing act.  I may not have the palavering skills necessary to do it, but I hope we don't get someone like Trump in there, insulting Greeks like the way he did Mexicans.

Thought #2

Yeah, I love the South.  I love my heritage.  It's true.  My great great Grandfather fought for the Confederacy.  He had some wrongheaded ideas about who was a proper person and who wasn't, but even with that, he had some good traits.  He was good to his family.  He loved his home state of Alabama (our family didn't move to Texas until the 1890s).  He whittled wooden toys and gave them to all the children, slave and free alike.

So am I proud of my ancestors?  You betcha bottom dollar!  But I'm smart enough to know they weren't perfect.  They were fighting for something that kept people enslaved, that didn't think everybody was equal in God's eye.  I don't care what year it is - that's just plain wrong.

So I think the Confederate flag, the one adopted and promoted in the fifties and sixties as a way to tell the world that we would not integrate, that we still believed in racial hatred and segregation - that flag has to go.  I see the pain it causes Franny, and my best friend, John, and I say no, I don't want to fly it, display it or see it.

Yeah, we should not forget the Civil War, or that it was fought by people who were good and bad, some our family and friends.  And we should not whitewash what happened, but that includes the plain truth that it was fought by the South not to keep men free, but to keep some men enslaved.

Thought #3

All this stuff on Facebook is causing some people to be pissy with each other.  I just found out there's something on it that allows you to be friends with someone, but to "unfollow" them.  I'm not sure what that means, but it don't sound good.  Yeah, there are some people posting stuff I don't like, but unless they are mean and/or racist, I got a high threshold for tolerance.  It makes me wonder, though, if there ain't some people posing as my friends who have actually "unfollowed" me.  Well, what the heck can I do?  I gots to speak my mind, y'all.  What's the point of talkin' if you can't say what's on your heart?

Thought #4

Stop using the Bible as a club!  It ain't meant to hurt, divide and condemn!  It's meant to love, redeem and care!  Jesus didn't make the ultimate sacrifice for us just so we can refuse to make each other cakes. Sometimes, people are so big at using the Bible to justify their own prejudices and hatreds, they just use quotes out of context and warp them to their own purposes, and they is just getting so lost in the trees that they can't see the forest.  Love God, love your neighbor.  How that fits in with condemning people who just love each other is beyond me.

Thought #5

My friend, Billy Ray Bob, works at our shop, and our employer is so small he felt like he didn't need to offer health insurance, and up until recently, Billy Ray Bob couldn't get his own health insurance because he had a pre-existing condition (diabetic).  Well, thanks to Obamacare, he was able to get a policy, and a pretty good subsidy.  He had a heart attack last month, and he said he would have ignored the symptoms if he hadn't had insurance.  But because he had it, he got the treatment he needed, and he didn't have to go to the ER as a free case and make everybody else pay for it.  My buddy is alive today because he had Obamacare.  I remember that when some of my other buddies start foaming at the mouth about it.  I can't see anything wrong with giving more people access to decent health care.  Honestly, I just wish it covered everybody. Nobody deserves to be left out.

Well, the shop beckons.  I'm putting in some overtime to pay for Franny and me's vow renewals honeymoon.  Who knew Branson could be so expensive?

Bye, y'all!

In the City of Country

Our Nashville experience started at the Opryland Hotel, which was huge and had the glorious advantage of being completely indoors.  

Yeah.  The Opryland hotel even had waterfalls in it.  It also had a riverboat ride that you could take on a fake indoor river. We passed on that one. 

Benjamin hears there is an opening in the Jackass band.  He failed to make their qualifications.  I don't know whether to be disappointed or happy.

We ate breakfast at The Pancake Pantry, which one source listed as THE restaurant to try when in Tennessee.  It was pretty good, with pancakes fixed in all sorts of ways.  Benjamin had his with about three bags of chocolate chips on his pancakes, I had pigs in a blanket (sausage stuffed pancakes), and Alison had sweet potato pancakes.  There were over a dozen other ways you could have had pancakes, but we filled up.

Proof that segregation still exists in the South, although this example is of the sexist kind.  They even had separate but equal entrances.

This was a show we hoped would be at the Frist Center (the family of Doctor/Senator Bill Frist whose family made their fortune off hospitals and exploitation of Medicare).  Unfortunately, it was not there yet, and we paid 12 bucks each to see a lot of Italian dresses. I had so hoped to get a postcard we could send to our wiener dogs back home. 

SQUIRREL!  Parthenon J. Squirrel, to be exact.

I'm including this photo to show that we really were in a city.

The highlight of the whole vacation for me was our trip to the Johnny Cash Museum.  The exhibits and music was so touching that I almost cried five times.  All right, some of the times were more than just almost.

A extra special surprise for me at the Johnny Cash Museum was the Roy Orbison exhibit.  Roy IS the Voice.  Two of my favorite singers in one museum!  Awesome!

Civil War's End: Saturday Political Soapbox 109

A casual reading of American history would seem to indicate that the South lost the Civil War with the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

But it did not.

The resistance began almost immediately with the terroristic assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, and his defiant shout of "Sic Semper Tyranus! The South is avenged!"

Different elements of the Confederacy did not surrender right away, staggering over the next year or so, and President Andrew Johnson did not officially declare the war over until August 20, 1866.

But the South still had not truly lost.

Reconstruction continued for about a decade after the Civil War, and was met with fierce and angry resistance.  This was the period of the KKK and massive cruelties done to the black population, and Yankee sympathizers.  Reconstruction ended in 1877, with the withdrawal of the last federal troops.

The progress that had been made by African Americans was immediately reversed.  It would be another one hundred years before black politicians would be elected from the South. Jim Crow laws re-instituted slavery in all but name only.  Voting rights were effectively stripped.  Separate facilities were  constructed and enforced.

By 1877, the South had won the Civil War.

The South effectively controlled American national politics.  Even as FDR moved the nation towards greater economic justice and greater safety net support, he did so only because he had Southern Democrats as part of his coalition.  This meant that little progress could be made in obtaining civil rights for African-Americans.

There was some evidence of the unease of this relationship, even as early as 1948.  When President Truman integrated the armed forces, Strom Thurmond and other Southern Democrats formed the Dixiecrats. Gradually, a version of the Confederate flag (one used by the Virginia army and some naval units) was used to symbolize segregation and white supremacy, a defiance of the federal government based on wanting to maintain Jim Crow laws.

When President Lyndon Johnson passed civil rights laws in the mid 60s, he thought that it might lose the South for the Democrats for a generation.  He was wrong.  It's been at least two generations that the South has been lost, and maybe more.

Republicans decided that they needed to deploy a Southern Strategy, to appeal to the Southern white voter, and began to use more and more coded racist language.  The South's conversion took place slowly, first at a Presidential level, then Senate (symbolized by Strom Thurmond's conversion to the Republican Party) and House, and finally at the local level, so that the South became solid red, with only a few gerrymandered pockets of blue.

And so, for generations, the south's political will, with rare exceptions, continued to dominate the country's politics and direction.

But that dominance has now ended.

The South officially lost the Civil War on Friday, June 19, 2015.

It lost it when, at a bond hearing for the murderous, terrorist thug Dylann Roof, these words were spoken by family members of the victims -

I forgive you

That powerful message of love and forgiveness shocked a nation into realizing where true strength and grace lay.

People who you thought would never surrender the Confederate flag began to call for it to be finally removed, including Strom Thurmond's son, State Senator Paul Thurmond.  People from all walks of life, from all ethnic and economic groups came together to honor the fallen.

The race war that Dylann Roof thought he would ignite completely backfired, and it actually achieved the opposite.  The power of love is stronger than hate, grace is more moving than cruelty, forgiveness more powerful than revenge, light is greater than darkness.

The South has lost.  But it is the old antebellum South that has lost.  With changing demographics, the old South no longer has the strength to dictate American politics.  Right now, the Democrats can with without the Dixiecrats.  The Republicans cannot win as long as they embrace Dixiecrat values.

But that does mot mean the the South is over, vanquished forever.  Oh, no.

I have faith that the South will rise again, but as a new South, one based on mutual respect and tolerance. One free of voter suppression, a multi-cultural South that respects the past but progresses in to the future. One that will move forward with love, tolerance and forgiveness.

No, it will not be a perfect path.  There will be hiccups, and resisters, and those who fuss and fume and preach hate.  A wounded bear may not be a winning bear, but it is a very dangerous bear.  Vigilance against this must be constant.

But I believe the path is there now.  I am sorry and sad and tearful at the horrible sacrifice that was made at the Emanuel AME church, but I am hopeful we have turned the corner.  Thank you, Emanuel AME, for these powerful words -

I forgive you

Thank you for showing us the way to grace, freely offered to all who will accept it, whether we deserve it or not. 

God bless you, Emanuel AME.  

God bless the UNITED States of America.

Mall in the Swamps Part 2

2

A-Number One

Once upon a time, there was a fairly vibrant food court inside the Mall of the Swamps.  There was a McDonald's and a Chick-Fil-A, but they both moved out to freestanding restaurants nearby.  All that was left was A-Number One Chinese, and a hand full of tables outside of it.  This was just outside the JC Penney's.  It was surrounded by closed locations, including its last competitor, Swamp Burger, a great idea (including a specialty Gator burger) that failed to take hold.  Maybe the concept of eating something that raised the palette to anticipate 'swamp' was not the best decision.

The specialty at A-Number One was a very spicy General Tso's chicken.  You could smell the spicy kick in the steam that rose from it.  Splitting this treat that could singe your nose hairs were Franny Goodkind and Tabitha Steel. Tabitha was not as thrilled with the super heat emanating from it, but she knew Franny loved it, and she was trying to be a good friend. Neither one wanted to go to the expense of separate meals, and the portions given for each meal were huge.  Tabitha nibbled at the egg roll while Franny twirled strands of noodles.

"They want to go out in the swamps," Tabitha said, between nibbles.

Franny noted that Tabby looked tired, her blues eyes not as bright as usual, with heavy bags underneath, her long, dark hair was not as lustrous as normal.  "Who does?"

"You know!" Tabitha admonished.  "Cokie and the Ghost Squad!  I mean, don't you know what your own brother is up to?" 

Cokie was Franny's older brother, and a recent ex-boyfriend of Tabby's.  Although Tabby had not made that fact clear to Cokie that he was an ex, partly because she was in denial herself.  Franny had not cleared this fact up with Cokie, as she felt that was Tabby's responsibility.  "Sorry, Tabby!  I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't keep up with everything my brother is up to."  Franny took a bite of the chicken, and realized it was a bit hot even for her.  She took a big swallow of sweet tea.  It was not as good as the sweet tea at the Honey Dew, but it would do for cooling your burning tongue off.

"Well, any rate, I don't know what to do.  They're going out to look for clues for what happened to Mr. Mavis.  You know, around where the body was found.  I think they hope to find some ghostly vibes out there, get the story straight from his ectoplasma or something like that," Tabitha said.

"I don't know what they'll find, but it sure sounds like something my brother would do.  Don't you want to go?  Wasn't he one of her favorite teachers?"

"No!  He was THE favorite teacher!  He really inspired me about science and biology.  Between him and my sister, Angela, they really lit a fire in me.  One I hope to stoke into a career in science when I start this fall at Georgia Southern."  Angela was Tabby's older sister, who was a chemistry teacher at Dixon County High School.

Franny thought that might explain Tabby's mixed feelings about Cokie, knowing that she was going to  Statesboro, and how many connections she wanted to have back in Crowley.  "Well, maybe you should go out there, then.  It would help me feel better, knowing that you could stop my brother from doing something too crazy out there."

Tabitha thought for a second.  She pushed at her egg roll.  "I kinda do want to go out there.  I just..." She paused, and Franny thought she saw a tear.  "...it's been awhile since I've done anything with Cokie."

"Ummm, could that be because you and Cokie broke up?" Franny pointedly questioned.

"No!" loudly asserted Tabitha, loud enough for the couple at the table next to them to look over and see what was going on. "We have not broken up!  I've just been too busy to see him, and now, well, I just don't want things to be too awkward."

"Don't over think it, Tabby.  Just go if you want too.  You need to stop stressing about things so much.  You look kinda frazzled."

"Do I?  Well, Miss Goody Goodkind, just because you're high on a cloud with Mr. Dreamboat, doesn't mean the rest of us are!" Tabby teased.  Yes, things were going amazingly well now that Adam and her had finally kissed and started going out, Franny thought.  The shadow of Tabby's sister, Racine, had finally receded.  As hard as it was for Franny to fully absorb, Adam was now her boyfriend. 

"Well, I guess I am," answered Franny.  "Hard to believe that he's interested in this short, chubby girl, but I can't say that I'm not happy."

"Oh, my gosh, Franny, you are so critical.  You are hardly chubby!  And who could resist that sweet face and beautiful smile?  Adam is one lucky ducky, if you ask me."

And who should be coming up the mall, just past the entrance to Hubbell Sporting Goods, clutching a bouquet of flowers? 

And this time, Franny realized, those flowers were not for Racine.  They were for her.

Bath 'n' Body Works

Well, okay.  Not actually in Bath 'n' Body Works.  The tables and chairs set out in the mall near that oderiffic store.  That is where the Waycross Gamers League was meeting.  They were today twelve strong, the apostles of board games, attempting to bring that hobby back to life.

And as far as Mickey Barnes was concerned, was there a more a noble endeavor in human life?  Yes, it was just gaming, or was it?  In this age of sitting by yourself, isolated to your cell phone, TV, computer or video game console, what was better than breaking free of that and reconnecting with people, playing games that actually required human interaction, with people you could see and touch, who smiled at you, and you could smile back?

Mickey was President and organizer of the league.  As a teenager in the eighties, he had cut his teeth on Avalon Hill games like Anzio, Battle of the Bulge and Storm Over Arnhem.  In college he continued, adding in role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.  Then as an adult, working as a cost accountant for the Crowley Paper Mill, he had despaired about the demise of his favorite hobby.  Just in the last year, however, he noticed the hobby was picking up some steam in mentions on the internet, and he found some tabletop gaming conventions that rekindled his interest.  He was surprised in the last year when he put out notices that they would hold some gaming activities in the mall (after getting permission, of course), and that he had a growing base of fellow gamers.

In fact, he saw somebody new approaching.  It was a young teenage boy, a bit overweight, coming towards him carrying a large cardboard UPS box.

Mickey gave him a warm smile and reached out his hand.  The boy set the box down on a table and shyly shook his hand.  "Hi!  Have you come to try some board games?"

The boy nodded.  "I'm Mickey Barnes, and this is our group of gamers!  What's your name?"

"Uh, D-David Roper," the boy sputtered.

David was somewhat younger than the rest of the group.  David appeared to be in early high school, whereas most of the others there ranged from mid-twenties to mid-forties.  It was nice, Mickey thought, to see someone David's age set aside video games and turn his attention to table top games.  It was a great sign for the revivification of his hobby.  "Well, David we have three games going right now.  We have four over there playing Star Wars: Imperial Assault, and another four over here playing Suburbia, and I'm in a group playing Settlers of Cataan.  We've all kind of started, but I'm sure we could welcome you in any of the games."

He saw David hesitate, like he was unsure whether he should continue.  He didn't want the boy to buck and run, so he said, "I see you've brought something.  What did you bring?"

"It's...it's...I don't know.  It's not important."  He turned to pick up his box and leave.

Mickey grabbed him gently by the arm.  He didn't want to lose this chance to expand his group.  "Look, it's okay.  You made a special effort to come out this way.  Show me what you got.  I would love to see it.  Which game company is it from?  Days of Wonder?  Fantasy Flight?  Something else?"

"It's,,,it's...well, it's from me. I made it."  David opened it up and brought out a game board that almost looked like a race track.  "It's...To Crown A King."  The boy had dice, scorecards, homemade miniatures and other game paraphernalia, detailed but very amateurish.  What was he supposed to do here?  The boy had come up with his own game!

Mickey wasn't sure how to respond.  They really weren't a league of game creators.  The boy took his hesitancy as rejection and started to pack his game back up.  "No.  Don't leave.  Give me a chance to finish up my play in Settlers of Cataan, and then I'll take a closer look at your game with you.  We might not be able to play it today, but if you help me understand the basics, I think we can give it a whirl next meeting, okay?"

David's eyes lit up, as he smiled and nodded yes.    "Have you played Settlers of Cataan before?" Mickey asked.

David shook his head no.  "Come watch me play for a bit.  Maybe it will help give you some ideas."

David stayed.  This was going to be good, he hoped.  Maybe this would be even better than the Ghost Squad.