Summertime is always a busy time at ABG.
Our podcast is off to a successful start and we have you to thank for that. You can subscribe to our podcast at Anchor, Apple, Google, Stitcher, PocketCast, Overcast, Radio Public, wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll have a review of James Calamine’s newest book Insured Beyond the Grave: Volume Two. We’ll also be finding out more about where you can buy a copy and maybe even bump into James out there on the road. Speaking of road, you know we aren’t going to be sitting at home all summer. If we go on the road, you’re coming with us. Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And, of course, look for information, reviews, pictures, and more here at the blog.
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Sam Burnham, Curator @C_SamBurnham I’d never watched even a single episode of Anthony Bourdain’s show Parts Unknown. I was familiar with the show and with Bourdain. His appearance on Fresh Air was one of the few Terry Gross interviews that didn’t make me want to smash my toes with a hammer. In fact, I enjoyed it. Then Alan Cornett suggested I go watch the Charleston and Mississippi episodes of the show. So I did, and I threw in Nashville one for good measure. I think all three episodes are important and communicate facts about Southern cuisine and culture that are not well known outside the region. But Charleston and Nashville have a facade. They are cities and have the notoriety and metropolitan twinkle of a city to look better to outsiders - Yankees and whatnot. Then there is Mississippi. Mississippi is the butt of many jokes. It's easy to look down a haughty nose and see the negatives - many of which are portrayed in the episode. But there are also great moments in the show. And in those moments we see a Mississippi with a rich culture anchored by music, food, literature. Some moments stick with me: Bourdain and John T. Edge eating pig ear sandwiches and tamales with Geno Lee in his Big Apple Inn in Jackson. Lee said he had no idea what a great place he was operating until Edge pointed it out to him. "I'm not trying to build the tourism industry, I'm just making a living." That's called real. Cruising through The Delta in Edge's impressive land yacht, he and Bourdain hit Doe's Eat Place in Greenville (The "segregation variation" story of blacks using the front door while whites snuck in the back was a bit humorous), The Senator's Place in Cleveland, and Lusco's in Greenwood. The Delta is a beautiful place and it's been far to long since I've visited. And Edge's car is much better than the one in the Nashville episode. The Buck Island segment. If you've never had anything cooked in a dutch oven over a campfire, you won't fully appreciate this one. You need to fix that immediately, if not sooner. Great food and an even business model we discussed and demonstrated. The trip to Oxford included Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner. It also showed some great food and nightlife in the college town. They got a bit uppity in their literary talk in assuming that Oxford is an island of thought. It's like that for an outsider who doesn't understand Southern thought. We'll forgive them. In all, I think Mississippi looked better than it usually does in mainstream media. It was still beaten on just a bit though and that was frustrating at times. But one thing still shines through, the culture is rich. That idea floats in a New York Magazine headline that Mississippi is somehow "lacking much of an entertainment industry" is a load of manure. Mississippi is lacking a modern New York city type entertainment industry. They've just decided to stick with one more to their liking...after they created yours for you. As the show reminds viewers early on, "the blues, rock and roll, R & B, and soul all came from one place, one state, Mississippi." So basically, this episode from 2014 made me pretty happy. Like I said, it was important. Mississippi is a great place. And a lot of people need to see the great parts rather than just the rotten. Over on our Instagram and Facebook pages, I posted a story with a James Oglethorpe Quote. Oglethorpe was, of course, the founder of the colony of Georgia having secured a charter from the king, sailing with a group of settler to present day Savannah, establishing friendly ties with the native Yamacraw, and fighting the Spanish for the security of the colony. Since the stories on social media only consist of a picture, a quote, and a hashtag, I thought I should expand on the quote just a bit. "If we allow slaves, we act against the very principles by which we associated together, which was to relieve the distressed." - James Oglethorpe Oglethorpe had a plan for Georgia before he ever sought out the charter. He wanted a land based on hope and Christian charity. The idea that Georgia was a prison colony is erroneous. The original settlers were not criminals by our modern interpretation. The original settlers were indebted in Britain and came to Georgia for a chance at a new life. This meant the first Georgians were seeking an escape from bondage. Therefore it was essential to Oglethorpe that the new colony did not use an even more brutal form of bondage in order to free people from their debts. The new colony was to be based in the idea of personal enterprise. No large plantations would be allowed. Businesses would be small family operations. Lawyers were also prohibited. Georgia stood in juxtaposition to its neighbor, South Carolina, which was a haven of big plantations and big money. That difference would eventually be the downfall of Georgia's original plan as greed and competition overrode the founding principles and led to slavery in the colony. When we talk about the small things - small towns, small businesses, small family farms, we aren't just enjoying an abstract daydream. We are discussing the very principles that our state was founded on. While Columbia, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, and New Orleans may run the Deep South, it is still dependent on places like Due West, Talking Rock, Smut Eye, Iuka, and Lafitte. Our celebration of the small things is an attempt to draw attention back to the basic, the intended, the original. |
Sam B.Historian, self-proclaimed gentleman, agrarian-at-heart, & curator extraordinaire Social MediaCategories
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