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6B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 27,2022
The library and
the comeuppance
In my hometown, our
old, red brick library was
imploded a couple of
years ago and a glisten
ing, modern marvel of
gray block and glass was
raised.
Architecturally, I am
not attracted by the cover
of the book but it is not
the brick and mortar to
which I owe allegiance.
It’s the institution and
what it meant to the little
girl from Rural Route
One.
By the time I was four,
I could read. When I ran
out of books at our house
and from the Little
Golden Books rack at the
A&P, Mama took me to
the library. In those days,
it was in the dank base
ment of the old court
house but it was majestic
and regal to me. It
opened an endless world
and, in a short time, I was
soon winning reading
awards and getting my
name in the newspaper.
The bookmobile
stopped at our house and
I was first on board even
though Mama had to lift
me up to the first step so
I could climb into the
space that smelled heav
enly of ink and paper.
That library — that won
derful library — trans
ported me to Civil War-
era Massachusetts with
the March sisters, to
Brooklyn, New York,
with Francie Nolan, to
Alabama with Scout
Finch, and gave me hun
dreds of hours of reading
with juvenile biographies
and one entire summer
filled with Scarlett
O’Hara.
From the country, I
took myself into town
awhile back for appoint
ments that were spaced
far enough apart that it
wasn’t worth a 45-minute
round trip back to the
Rondarosa, so I decided
to spend the time in the
new library, my old
friend.
It is laid out much like
the old one, with a simi
lar, winding staircase and
the books I enjoy — pri
marily history and biog
raphies — are still situat
ed in the same rows.
Here’s something I
never do: look for myself.
I don’t look online, in
book stores, or at librar
ies. That’s looking for
trouble. As I was perus
ing Southern nonfiction,
though, it became obvi
ous: my books weren’t
positioned in the group
ings of similar books.
My Life In The Pits
was not with the
NASCAR books. My tril
ogy of What Southern
Women Know — two of
which were bestsellers
and one which, astound-
ingly, has remained a
RONDARICH
Columnist
steady seller for Penguin
Putnam for 21 years (and
was celebrated with a
20th anniversary edition)
— were not with other
Southern women books. I
didn’t even bother to look
for my novel that had
been made into a movie.
“Do you have a section
of regional or cultural
authors?” I asked the nice
librarian.
She stood up from her
desk, walked to where I
had been browsing and
replied, “Not really. Is
there a particular author
you’re looking for?”
“Ronda Rich.”
“Who?”
I repeated the name
slower and, bewildered,
she shook her head. “Let
me do some checking.”
Y’all, it gets worse
from here.
“Thank you.” I walked
over to a cushioned booth
in a sunny area, sat down,
and started to work. The
librarian did not forget
me — though she had no
idea who I was —
because she returned in a
few minutes with a list
she had downloaded and
printed out. At the bot
tom of the page, she had
written, Georgia Center
For The Book and its
website.
“Perhaps this will
help,” she said as she
handed me several pages
of Georgia authors listed
alphabetically. Unless, I
missed it, I wasn’t listed
there, either. This is a
perfect example of why
you should never go
looking for yourself.
Later, I was telling a
good friend about my
comeuppance. She’s an
author, too. In fact, it’s
fair to say that she’s a
household name. She
threw back her head and
laughed uproariously —
not to shame me but
because she thought it
was absurd.
“I wouldn’t laugh if I
were you,” I cautioned
with a smile.
Trying to catch her
breath, she asked,
“Why?”
“Because you’re not on
the list, either.”
Ronda Rich is a multi-best
selling author of several
months. Visit www.rondar-
ich.com to sign up for her
free weekly newsletter.
FROM 1B
Elliott
top-two finishes, Elliott
began Sunday’s race in
third position, fared
well and finished the
30-lap first stage in
second position.
He would battle
through a caution-filled
second stage that lasted
65 laps, with his posi
tion ranging from 12th
to 24th before gradual
ly moving up again.
After a quick yellow-
flag pit stop pushed
him back within the top
15, Elliott traversed
through the field in the
final eight laps of
Stage Two and man
aged to finish the stage
in 9th position.
During the final 60
laps of the race, Elliott
found himself stuck
between eighth and
12th position until
another exchange of
pleasantries between
Hamlin and Ross
Chastain caused a
major incident with
fewer than 20 laps left.
At the restart, Elliott
established his third
position spot and kept
it until the checkered
flag.
Little did he know
his battle to fend off
Tyler Reddick and
Daniel Suarez for that
track position would
pay off so crucially.
While Elliott has not
yet made a statement
since being declared
winner, he had
expressed satisfaction
with having worked his
way up to third place
after the mid-race
struggles.
“Definitely a bit of a
battle for our NAPA
team today. I’m pretty
happy with third after
that,” Elliott said. “I
didn’t think we were
all that good through
the mid-portion of the
race and I was strug
gling in traffic trying to
get back up through
there. We’ll go on to
next week, try to build
and be a little better.”
Save money on your chicken
By now, everybody has noticed
how much more we are all paying
for groceries. If
your family eats
lots of chicken like
we do, I have a
trick for you to
save some serious
money: Buy and
cook whole chick
ens instead of
pieces. How much
money are we talking about here? A
bunch. The other day I bought a
cage-free, pastured whole chicken
for $1.99 a pound. Compare that to
cage-free, pastured skinless boneless
chicken, which you will pay $6.49 a
pound! That is quite a difference,
wouldn’t you say?
You might think cooking a whole
chicken is difficult, but it is anything
but that. Just dust off your slow
cooker, add the chicken and a few
ingredients to the pot, and you are
off to the races. Once the chicken is
done, you will be rewarded with ten
der, juicy chicken that can be dinner
one night, and then made into lots of
other dishes later. In addition, you
can use the chicken carcass to make
the best homemade chicken broth
you have ever had. No store-bought
version can rival homemade broth—
it is super nutritious, tasty, and vastly
improves any dish you use it in.
Here is my favorite way to effort
lessly cook a whole chicken and
then how to make the best chicken
broth ever. Enjoy!
Best Slow Cooker Whole
Chicken
• 4-5 pound whole chicken
• 3 teaspoons paprika
• 1 !/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 !/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• !/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon salt
• !/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 onion, cut into chunks
Add the onion chunks to the slow
cooker. In a small bowl, combine the
paprika, onion powder, dried thyme,
garlic powder, salt and cayenne. Rub
the chicken all over with the spice
rub, sprinkling some inside the cavi
ty of the chicken. Place the chicken
on top of the onion and cover. Cook
on high for 4-5 hours or on low for
7-8 hours.
Overnight or All-Day
Chicken Stock
• Leftover chicken carcass
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• Handful of parsley sprigs
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vine
gar
• 1 teaspoon salt
Place the carcass and remaining
ingredients in the slow cooker.
Cover with cold water. Turn the slow
cooker on low and cook for 10
hours. Strain the stock and discard
solid ingredients. Refrigerate for 1
week, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Store in two or four cup containers.
Gravy for Chicken
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 14 cup flour
• 1 !/2 cups chicken broth, pref
erably homemade
• !/2 cup heavy cream
• !/2 teaspoon salt
• 'A teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Melt butter in a saucepan over
medium-high heat. Sprinkle on the
flour, whisking for a minute. Pour on
the chicken broth and the heavy
cream, whisking constantly. Bring to
a boil, add salt, pepper and thyme
leaves. Taste for seasoning.
Ideas to use chicken meat from a
cooked, whole chicken:
• Make white chicken chili
with cannellini beans.
• Use the chicken meat in
chicken pot pie.
• Add chicken meat to vegeta
ble soup or make chicken
noodle soup.
• Top your salads with chicken
meat for extra protein.
• Make chicken and cheese
quesadillas.
• Make a quick version of
chicken and dumplings.
• Make a quick version of
chicken tetrazzini.
• Use for chicken salad.
• Add to a tortilla with some
beans, cheese, and salsa and
make bunitos.
• Make fettuccini alfredo with
cooked chicken.
• Stir fry some vegetables and
toss in some cooked chicken
meat at the end.
• Mix chopped chicken meat
with some sauteed mush
rooms, carrots and cabbage
and add some soy sauce and
make egg rolls.
• Make buffalo chicken dip.
• Add chicken to broccoli cas
serole.
• Make a Mexican salad with
lettuce, black beans, chicken,
com kernels, cilantro, tortilla
chips, tomatoes, and shredded
cheese. Top with some salsa
mixed with sour cream.
ADLEN
ROBINSON
Columnist
Strike up the band
Photos by Rio White Dawson County News
The Dawson County Tiger Pride marching
band started band camp last week on Monday,
July 18, with the first week of camp lasting each
day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the second week
lasting from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
FROM 1B
Tangel
well,” Tangel said. “It
hasn’t been too hard so
far; it’s just been about
mileage and making
sure we’re getting our
endurance up before the
season starts.”
One way that the team
and second-year head
coach Jonathan Tinsley
have been keeping the
team’s standards has
been through the help of
graduated seniors that
include Ethan Smith,
who has given his time
and efforts to help train
the next group of lead
ers.
Smith, who was part
of the 2020 Region
7-3A champion cross
country squad, has been
helping Tangel and
many others through his
breadth of experience.
“A lot of the graduat
ed seniors [are] always
good about motivating
us and keeping us
going,” Tangel said.
“Really glad Ethan has
been here to stick with
us during our runs.”
Part of Tangel’s devel
opment as a runner has
been his desire to stay
focused during runs,
with the knowledge that
there is always an end
goal and room to
improve.
While he continues to
make progress on both
his intrinsic motivation
and run times, it helps to
have a coach with the
intensity and positivity
of Tinsley.
“It’s all about that end
goal. Once you do run
that 17-minute 5K, it
really makes it all worth
it,” Tangel said. “[Coach
Tinsley] does a good job
of balancing the [ideas]
of disciplining but also
encouraging at the same
time.”
Tangel has steadily
grown to enjoy running
since beginning in sixth
grade, having kept track
of the progress he has
made in those five years.
For him, it is the sim
ple joy of setting per
sonal records that gives
him both satisfaction in
the moment and some
thing to build upon for
the future.
Tinsley has noticed
the focus with which
Tangel runs and believes
him to be an important
leader who shows, rath
er than tells.
“He’s not a very vocal
leader, but he leads by
example,” Tinsley said.
“He’s always here, he
does extra, pushes him
self and encourages oth
ers around him. He’s
just a good leader for
us.”
With the upcoming
season in mind, Tangel
shared what he and the
other runners have been
working on to get the
best results.
“During the preseason
it’s about working on
endurance and building
up the lungs and heart,”
Tangel said. “When we
get closer to our first
race we’ll be working on
speed.”
Tangel is also part of
the track and field team,
participating in distance
races and relays. Outside
of school, Tangel can be
found either working out
or taking care of his pet
goats Brock and Chaco,
whose pens he built him
self.
