Newspaper Page Text
December 10, 2008
On the outside looking in
Two weeks
to redeem
ourselves
W ow! Has this been a more
hectic and crazy holiday
season leading up to
Christmas or not? I’ve
never experienced a holiday
season like this one we are in.
There have been ter
rorist attacks, mobs
going crazy over the
price of something they
probably didn’t need,
irate customers shooting
people in—of all places-
-a toy store. And finally,
the conversations on
Thanksgiving Day being
more about going
shopping instead of
appreciating what
was set on the
Thanksgiving table,
being with family
and friends and
looking forward to the real meaning of
Christmas.
Add all those “events” and conversations
to what is going on with our economy and
this could be a “black”—not money wise—
holiday season and Christmas. But, we’ve
got two weeks to do some redeeming, soul
searching, forgiving, thanking and being
appreciative.
For the first time in 68 years I was not
with my family on Thanksgiving Day. But,
I was thankful my parents were with their
grandchildren and their great-grandkids,
all seven. My Thanksgiving was spent
being with a lot of people whose homes and
everything being destroyed by wildfires. All
were thankful and humble for being alive
with many having the only possessions
being the clothes on their backs.
The ritzy atmosphere, people and charita
ble organizations of Santa Barbara,
California, were giving of themselves to
those a lot less fortunate. They shared and
the appreciation was often expressed in
tears. Not once did I hear a complaint, just
pure and honest “thanks.” Yep, it was a
beautiful Thanksgiving and I was thankful
to have been a part of a their
Thanksgiving.
I ASSUME there is a story in this issue
about Monroe County’s Family Connection
(MCFC) survey that was conducted, accord
ing to MCFC Executive Director Lisa
McLendon, “to develop a plan that will
assist families and children to lead a more
productive life.” Results of the survey
were/are very interesting to say the least.
Two hundred sixty two adults and two
hundred three high school students were
surveyed.
The students were asked, “What is the
worst problem facing youth in Monroe
County. Almost 14 percent rated drugs as
the worst problem with violence coming in
second at just over 12 percent.
One of the comments made by a youth
was this one: “Apathetic adults. They lay
the emotion of “I don’t care” onto us when
and if we try to express our problems. So
we grow used to it and show the emotions
in school, at home and at work.”
And the survey revealed that 73 percent
of those surveyed would like to have a
movie theater in Forsyth. Some of us
remember when Forsyth did have a movie
theater, The Nancy.
Although the movie theater was number
one, “a place to hang around with your
friends” came in number two. A skating
rink, bowling alley and arcade came in at
numbers three, four and five.
Now for the adults. They were asked to
rate a series of community issues for
adults. Coming in at number one was
poverty, low-income families. Number two
was jobs/job training for adults with num
ber three being dysfunctional families
(with problem relationships).
The adults ranked a series of community
issues for youth. Number one again was
substance abuse—drugs, alcohol or tobacco.
Number two was no positive place for teens
to “hang out” after school or on weekends.
Then there was the concern the adults
expressed about teens having a baby before
finishing high school and high school
dropouts.
All in all, the survey revealed a lot. If you
are computer literate, read the complete
survey at
http://www.gafcp.org/fcnetwork/monroe/.
Not to put the Executive Director on the
spot, but I am confident she would share a
copy with you. Sure would like to hear
what you think of the results.
Donald Jackson Daniel is the founder and
former publisher of The Reporter. He can be
contacted at tullaybear@bellsouth.net.
^Reporter
PAGE 5A
Around the Bend
Is this homemade artichoke dip?
mother and I went to
/I Hawkinsville Saturday to see
I % / I the little town’s annual Christ-
I I mas tour of homes
V ^^4>ut on by the local
chamber and the garden club.
We were invited by my
uncle, who bought an old
house there a couple of years
ago and has been driving
down from his home in
Roswell every weekend, slowly
restoring it. He plans to
open it up for weddings
and special events one CyKldsH&s
day.
His house was not on it this year, but
he's hoping for 2009. It's over 100 years
old and beautiful. He lovingly refers to it
as "the money pit" but I can't wait to see
it when they finish.
As we planned our outing to
Hawkinsville, Momma kept calling it the
“parade of homes.” I imagined the
announcers seated along Main Street
touting each home as it paraded by.
"Here comes a lovely turn-of-the-centu-
ry farmhouse" or "The next home coming
down the street was built in 1824 and
withstood the Civil War, a fire and six
generations of the same family."
“Ooooh,” says the crowd lining the
street. The homeowners would sit in
rocking chairs on the front porch and
wave and throw candy.
So I was a little disappointed when I
got there and discovered the homes
weren't actually on parade. We had to go
to them. But, it was still pretty cool.
All the homes were old and had recent
ly been restored. Many were decorated
with period furniture and antiques. Of
course I wouldn’t know a Flow Blue
plate from a piece of Correlle dinner-
ware, but it was all very lovely anyway.
As I wandered from room to room in
these old homes, I tried to imagine what
life was like when they were first built,
some even before the Civil War.
No running water. No indoor toi
lets. No TV. No Velveeta or
microwave ovens.
I loved the beautiful Christmas
decorations. I enjoyed meeting the
people and hearing stories about
the places. I can certainly appreci
ate the hard work it took to
restore those wonderful old
houses. But I must admit. .
. . my favorite part was . . .
the food. It was fantastic.
Every house we visited had
food. . . . cookies and hors d'oeuvres and
little miniature pies and cheesecakes
and meatballs and sausage balls and
peanut butter balls and cheese dip and
artichoke dip and some kind of dip with
green stuff in it that was fabulous and
apple cider and coffee with all kinds of
flavored creams and veggie pizzas and . .
yum yum. It was good.
Forget the Christmas trees and lights
and carolers - Christmas time means
food to me.
Yes, I do know the real meaning of
Christmas. . . but when I think of
Christmas celebrations and events. . . I
have to admit. . . I think of food. Even
Jesus enjoyed a last supper. Wait, that
was Easter.
Well, anyway, Christmas is a good time
to indulge in my favorites goodies. There
are some foods you only have during the
holidays. I don’t know why. That’s just
the way it is.
It only takes five minutes and a buck-
thirty-two to make a green bean casse
role, but I never cook it any time other
than Thanksgiving or Christmas. Even
though they are certainly delicious year-
round, you can only find white chocolate
covered Oreos in stores during
November and December.
Have you ever had ambrosia in April?
No way. What about Watergate salad or
that pink stuff you make with Jell-0 and
Cool-Whip? Only at Christmas.
And sweet potato casserole with the
pecan and brown sugar crust? That’s
strictly a holiday dish.
My favorite has always been sausage
balls. Yum. I can hear all you skinny bid
dies out there saying “That’s why she’s
fat.” Well, duh! You think I don’t know
that?
I do think it’s unfair that some ladies
never gain an ounce, but oh, well. As for
me. . . it’s a good thing we don’t cook like
this all year is all I can say.
But, it’s now officially Christmas time
and I intend to try a little of each of the
holiday offerings. For the past two years
I had tried (and failed) to eat right and
not over do it over the Christmas holi
day. It never works. I only get one month
of eat-whatever-you-want passes so I
plan to enjoy it. I will eat salad and
grapes come the new year.
So, while my Uncle Len was admiring
the 18th century sidetable and the brass
bed in the Wall mansion and my mother
was drooling over the homemade lace
tablecloth in the Smith house, I was
making my way to the kitchen and
checking out the goodies.
“Would you like to try some of this
wonderful dill and spinach dip with
some homemade bread?” asked the host
ess.
“Why yes, I would,” I’d say. “It looks
almost as good as the orange marmalade
cookies and the little pigs-in-a-blanket
we had next door.”
Email Gina at news@mymcr.net.
Guest Column
The end of affirmative action?
What the election of Obama signals
“...We must continue to
resist the system of segrega
tion...We must work construc
tively to improve the stan
dards themselves...This is a
great hour for the Negro. The
challenge is here...”.
- Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
T he election of the
first African
American as the
44th President of
the United
States brings a lot to
consider. After over
two hundred years of
persecution and dis
crimination, it’s obvi
ously time to start
reassessing the
African American
role in American
society. The term
African American,
once used to instill a
sense of belonging to
an orphaned ethnic group
that belonged neither to
America nor the continent of
Africa but who longed to iden
tify with each, now seems
antiquated and obsolete, at
least to this American of slave
descendants. This too will
have to be debated amongst
those formerly known as
African Americans and by the
larger community of
Americans.
I hold as my opinion that a
paradigm shift has occurred
in the American story as can
be evidenced by the election
of President Barack Obama, a
change that did not occur
overnight but one that has
existed for sometimes, but
only now has America had an
opportunity to speak in one
loud exclamation point about
race.
Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis ,
Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali,
Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther
King and others who made
accomplishments that
advanced the cause of equali
ty while gigantic and ground
breaking, still pale in compar
ison to that of President
Obama. In each case
before President
Obama’s election,
other African
Americans followed
behind the ground
breakers before them.
In fact, two Black
coaches met in
opposition In the
National Football
League’s biggest
game when Tony
Dungee’s
Indianapolis Colts defeated
Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears
in Super Bowl XLI.
To demonstrate the steady
march to equality in our soci
ety one need only point to
Colin Powell, Condoleezza
Rice, and even to the conster
nation of most Black
Americans-Clarence Thomas,
appointed by Republican
Administrations who are not
known for being minority
friendly. In today’s America,
you find minorities at almost
every level of entertainment
and sports from news anchors
and talk show hosts to golf’s
biggest star. This is obvious
progress but I sense that we
as Americans of slave decent
are a bit cautious about pro
claiming “MISSION ACCOM
PLISHED” just yet. The elec
tion of the first black presi
dent does not erase racism,
bigotry and discrimination
throughout the country nor
should we, as (Black)
Americans should change the
words from “We Shall
Overcome” to “We Have
Overcome”. The institutions
of racism are difficult to tear
down, but there are very seri
ous signs of decay to its foun
dation. That decay indicates
that the remedies set in the
sixties to combat discrimina
tion are indeed working and
that the attitudes of most
White Americans have
changed. Those who hold onto
the racist ideology of the past
are themselves a minority.
Now, I offer that it’s time for
the Americans of slave decent
to shift our attitudes in light
of recent evidence that
“Change Has Come to
America.” The social pro
grams such as Affirmative
Action were not, in my esti
mation, ever meant to be per
manent. They were installed
as a way to right past wrongs
and to promote equality until
a time came when we as a
country could demonstrate
that the majority would not
crush the minority using race,
gender, religion and ethnicity
and more recently, sexual ori
entation as weapons to main
tain unfair entitlement,
advantage and as a means of
oppression. I believe that
time is close at hand.
“Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere”-
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The tactics against discrim
ination should change to meet
the present situation; that is
why I advocate a slow, well
executed draw down of
Affirmative Action in a time
when the playing field has
begun to level. In order to
leave no doubts to those who
would continue to use wedges
like race to divide the masses,
the assumption of equality
must exist before real equali
ty can take root and become
the norm. We should make
this call in advance of any
other ethnic group in order to
have control of the issue, so
that we can orchestrate the
when, how and how much.
Ending Affirmative Action
should not be seen as a tool
for bigoted ideologues. The
time is coming when
Affirmative Action will be
obsolete and its death should
be slow, silent, peaceful and
unforced, in complete contrast
to its birth. I can think of no
better litmus test of where
Americans stand on matters
of race than the election of an
African American male with
an Arabic name and I cannot
point to a more decisive time
to start meeting the larger
society on a standard scale of
equality. Affirmative Action
has been transformed into the
last vestige of segregation.
The fact that it keeps the
black community as a recipi
ent of preferential treatment
based on race while a black
man sits in The White House
attests both to its effective
ness and to its irony.
Timm Chambliss is an
independent creative consult
ant to Columns Magazine in
Forsyth.
By Timm
Chambliss
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
New council offers meal for Forsyth unit
To the editor:
I am writing on behalf of the newly
formed organization, Patriots Council.
Our group is made up of representatives
from several local organizations who are
interested in supporting our local Na
tional Guard soldiers and their families before,
during, and after their upcoming deployment
to Afghanistan.
Our long term goal is to support these
soldiers and their families during their
deployment to Afghanistan in the spring
by offering discounted and/or free servic
es and products in times of desperate
need. If you wish to participate in a pro
gram of this sort we would love to have
you join our team.
We do have a more immediate goal
and that is to sponsor a holiday family
party for them on Sunday, Dec. 14 at
their armory here in Forsyth.
In order to make that day as special
and as memorable for them as possible
we need your help with donations of
your time, talents, and resources.
Items Needed: Door Prizes, gift bags,
face paint/ puzzles/ candy/ table cloths.
If you can be of any assistance to us
and our organization, it would be greatly
appreciated.
Please feel free to contact me via phone
or email with any questions or concerns
at 478-994-9350 or via email at
pastor@philadelphiabc.com
Eric Byrd
Forsyth