Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Relatively-Interesting Updates

(This post is for you, Aunt Betty.)

During the past few weeks, my little world was filled with paper-writing and frantic researching, so I haven't really had motivation to write anything I didn't have to. But now that's temporarily over, so I'm in a much calmer place. Let's write!

The first notable thing happened on game day at the LSU v. Ole Miss football game. This was the second (?) home game in which the band did not play "From Dixie with Love." (To update yourself on that story, go here.) To protest the withdrawal of the song, the KKK donned their creepy hoods and appeared on campus. This story was all over ESPN, the local news, and the student newspaper, (see this article or this one) so I will spare the details, and just say that I was dreading the national notoriety that Mississippi would get for this. The appearance of the Klan was slightly unnerving, only because it would add to that southern stereotype, and to quote Thomas, "C'mon! It's 2009!" But more so than the Klan's appearance, it was this video taken at the rally that floored me.

To the loudmouth in the red polo:
Are you serious?! Why are you yelling?? Good job. I'm glad that you made Mississippians seem more hateful, obnoxious, and ignorant than members of the Ku Klux Klan who, despite their label of "white supremacists," seemed more docile and humanized than you. Way to go.

On a much lighter and completely unrelated thread, the second notable thing that happened over the past few weeks was Thanksgiving at the Richardsons'! I was a little nostalgic for the Hamblen/Nance family gathering, and I especially missed that pineapple turkey. But once we got to Charlotte, my future family greeted us and assuaged those feelings. Over the course of that weekend, had plenty mini-adventures, and I even got some work done for my finals. Our activities included:
  • Playing horseshoes
  • Seeing The Blind Side
  • Eating "Russel's Products" (Grandma Brown's code word for barbecue)
  • Playing hide-and-seek with Isaac
  • Meeting more family members
  • Eating tasty tasty foodstuffs
  • Interpreting Lia's sign language
Thomas also took me to his grandmother's house (on his dad's side) in Manly, North Carolina. It was a sweet little town, and of course I took some photos with my phone.

This is the sign in front of a very small, but a very Manly Presbyterian Church across from his grandmother's house:
And here is the nifty sign in front of their house:


It was indeed a happy thanksgiving.