The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    AN ODE TO PAULA DEEN!

    By Richard Day on Fri, 06/21/2013 - 6:58pm |

     

    I think that I shall never see

    A poem as lovely as Paula Deen

    A Southern Lady with real taste

    Who cooks the entire pig eschewing waste

     

    A Southern Belle with the temerity

    To respond to critics with alacrity

    All the while keeping her faculties

    In order to deal with inacuracies

    Concerning her plantation in Dixie!

     

    Oh the wonders of the Old South

    Oh the majesty of that Old South

    Well sometimes the 'N' word slips out of the mouth

    Referring to servants of this grand ole house

    Whilst thinking of those Northern louse

    Who only wish to continually espouse

    Their contemptuous hatred for Dixie

     

    Paula recalls the Grand Ole Balls

    Recalling speeches had in those Grand Ole Halls

    Speeches from real heroes with real big balls

    Heroes like John C & Strom & Helms & all

    The South will rise again from ashes after the fall

    I shall never forget the fall of Dixie

     

    I shall smile & laugh with relish

    As I prepare my plates with relish

    And it is my wont to sometimes embellish

    My recipes with butter & salt & sugar for deepdish

    With lard & corn meal & white flour, nutritionless

    Cause these ingredients are pure Dixie!

     

    Behind the scenes I am my real self

    I refuse to hide my Southern Pride on some shelf

    And you Northern Folks don't know the half

    As you refuse to grasp the importance of half-n-half

    We in the South know how to sacrifice the calf

    We stay deep deep deep in the Heart of Dixie!

     

    Julia Childs went all the way to France

    Northern Communists play a European Dance

    Us Southern Belles will never countenance

    Some anti-American Muslim influence

    Tea Partiers and Southern Patriots keep romance

    We stay deep deep down in the Heart of Dixie!

     

    People like Matt Lauer would have me cower

    Like some entre that somehow became sour

    Like we should apologize for Senator Tower

    Well we Southerners still hold some power

    Just look at the US House and glower

    My plantation still stands deep in the Heart of Dixie!

     

    I refuse to ever apologize

    For what I am, Just try to realize

    I know y'all attack with Northern guise

    But the secret of all you Mason guys

    Is that you do not love those Negroes—surprise!

    We are just more honest in the Heart of Dixie!

     

    I will try to keep my show on cable tv

    I will ignore my own diabetes

    If you Northerners keep my recipes

    Whilst your failing hearts atrophy

    The South shall rise again

    Deep, deep, deep down in the Heart of Dixie!

    Comments

    Gawd! You are so frigging predictable.

    Nevermind waiting for the trial to decide whether or not she, or more accurately her brother, is guilty of sexual harassment and discrimination, yankee lawyer. This is a white woman who admits she has in her life used the n-word and she employs blacks to cook and serve in her restaurants.  Of course, she's guilty!  Hang her high! Lynch her in the court of public opinion.

    [Deep sigh.]*

    I am not a fan of Paula Deen. Her eyes freak me out every time I go through the check out line at the grocers. Nor am I impressed with her cooking. Not enough to buy any of her cookbooks anyway. It is too much like my mother's and just about all the mothers in my childhood community and I already have those recipes. However, after reading what has been written so far, the racist charge the usual suspects are so self-righteously and schadenfreudenly leaping on is bogus. For example:

    Savannah pastor: Paula Deen can't be a racist

    By Alex Bender
     
    Celebrity chef Paula Deen is used to media attention but not like this. She is
    fighting back against accusations of racism as much as her attorney's will let her with an ongoing lawsuit. A former employee is suing Deen over harassment and work condition at Uncle Bubba's restaurant.
     
    On Wednesday morning, details from Deen's deposition were reported worldwide, including accusations of a racist dream wedding and the use of the n-word.
     
    Deen says the statements she made in the deposition were taken out of context. Many of Deen's employees say they are angry and want to speak out but lawyers won't let them.
     
    On Thursday, WTOC spoke with Pastor Gregory A. Tyson, Sr. from First Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church about Hollis Johnson -- the black man who manages much of Deen's affairs, travels everywhere with her, owns a successful limo company with a fleet of cars that Deen helped finance and start -- and Johnson's relationship with Deen. [Emphasis added].
     
    "People are going to jump on it and believe what they want to believe and add what they want to add. But one thing I can sit here today and look you in the face and tell you is that woman can't be a racist. She can't have a heart against black people with all that she had done, and all she continues to do. That is why I'm
    here with you today to be a character witness for miss Paula Deen because she is a beautiful person, a beautiful spirit," said Tyson.
     
    Watch more of the interview with Tyson above [below].
     
    Copyright 2013 WTOC. All rights reserved
     
    WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather

     

    * I still have a lot residual anger from your prom hit piece and the despicable photo you included with it. I did not express it then because I did not want to say anything that might increase its reads.

     


    by EmmaZahn on Fri, 06/21/2013 - 8:16pm

    This is a fascinating response. At least to me.

    Now Paula is done, fried, over!

    On Friday afternoon, the Food Network announced that it was dropping Paula Deen from its network after 14 years on air, after the National Enquirer reported (and The Huffington Post confirmed) that the chef had aired a series of arguably racist comments while being deposed for a lawsuit. But the deposition wasn't the first time that Paula Deen has voiced questionable views on race.

     
    I do not have much readership anyway. I gave up a long time ago on that aim.
     
    But how in the hell you could defend what that repub gov did as I noted in the Prom blog is beyond me.
     
    I do not understand this at all.
     
    I am speechless.
     
    But it was the repub gov who was really speechless. I mean that was the point of that blog.
     
    Anyway, good luck to you.
     
    I really do not give one damn!

    by Richard Day on Sat, 06/22/2013 - 12:13am

    So because Georgia only voted 45.5% for Obama and some school asked for a segregated prom, that prompted a picture of a lynched black man? What a smug self-satisfied ass.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/24/2013 - 12:43pm

    I have to admit that I only have 3 of her recipes.  Butter, cream cheese and light cream only fits into my special occasions budget.  I have watched her only a few times at a friend's house and found her show interesting.  I see this more of a back lash because of the harsh unfair politics that some of us has had to suffer and cope with.  People are just plain fed up with all the racial dog whistles and the public disrespect for our first African American President and his family.  Paula Dean is the product of her deep southern roots.  She is in the national spot light and we see her picture all over the retail shops.  Along comes a sexual harassment and discrimination suit against her brother and her restaurants.  Then there is a growing segment of our population that is ready to grab torches and pitchforks out of frustration.  Paula and her southern roots becomes the whipping post.  Bubba probably don't have the money that Paula has so her deep pockets is added to the suit.  She suffers from panic attacks in the past that kept her home bound until she started making sandwiches to support herself and her boys.  She may not weather this as well as Martha did.  


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/22/2013 - 1:45am

    I know a lot of food bloggers who really like her and follow her.  Some have included having a meal in her family business when they are on vacation and blog about the food.  Her facebook fans page exploded tonight in support of her.  She has a large following and food network is going to lose too.  Why didn't she settle quickly with this suit before it got out of hand?  Settling these suits like this is the cost of being a high profile TV personality.  


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/22/2013 - 1:44am

    I hadn't paid much attention to the Paula Dean story, but was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. She used a racial slur after being held up during bank robbery.A gun was pointed to her head. The remark was forgivable in that context, then we heard about her great-grandfather who committed suicide rather than face a life without slaves. That was a factual review of family history. Next we had her introducing her Black personal aid, Hollis Johnson as so black that you could not see him if he stood next to a blackboard. That statement either meant that she was very good friends with Hollis Johnson, or a bigot tolerated because she was rich. We heard of her ideal wedding with older Black men all dressed in white tuxedos. Now, minority employees are telling stories of discrimination. The overall picture is not very pretty.

    Don Imus got booted off MSNBC after racializing the Rutgers women's basketball team. He made the mistake of thinking that everyone should share in his humor. To be honest, not enough Black people actually watched Imus to be very upset. It was Black employees within NBC and MSNBC who complained about Imus. The insider complaints were a large part of his demise.

    If the people employed by Paula Deen are complaining, she may be at the Imus tipping point. I know that the Food Network fired her, by tipping point I meant that her next cooking show may be on the Rural Television Network with Imus.


    by rmrd0000 on Mon, 06/24/2013 - 9:26am

    Another Black employee at Bubba's restaurant says that he had to work parties for no pay at the risk of losing his job. Drip, drip, drip.......


    by rmrd0000 on Mon, 06/24/2013 - 11:36am

    Ta-Nehisi Coates renders his view on Paula's accidental racism.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 7:49am

    TNC's remarks in the comments section are much more interesting.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 9:30am

    We have been through this argument before. There were race riots in NYC because Whites objected to fighting in a war to free Blacks. Don Imus is from California, but got booted because he offended Blacks who worked at MSNBC with the commentary on the Rutgers women's basketball team.

    Paula brought the South into the discussion about her because she talked about her great grandfather sense of loss after Slavery ended. She chose her wording and she imaged Black guys in White tuxedos plantation style.

    if it makes you feel good to say that there was/ is racism across the US, knock yourself out. Paula Deen still has to deal with what she said, just like the Californian, Don Imus. 

    So what should be done about Paula Deen?


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 4:42pm

    Yeah, I write bad poems from time to time.

    But I don't get it either! hahahah

    I really don't care what happens to Paula. Not at all.

    It is just I know she is a repub and always has been since '69, I know that she champions the wonders of the old South, I know she feels herself superior as a Southern Plantation Owner, I know that she longs for the good ole days, and I know that I could never agree with her on any issue relating to culinary delights or politics. hahahahahah

     

    I really don't care!


    by Richard Day on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 5:12pm