I sure do wish I could have gotten to a computer sometime yesterday so I could have told you about this. Do you have cable or satellite tv or ?, whatever you need in order to watch the National Geographic channel? I ask because last night there was an excellent documentary, PrisonNation. It replays on Sunday, December 2nd so you still have anopportunity to watch it. Here's the website so you can check it out andfind the air time for your area:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ET/popup/200711252300.html
Because I am as familiar with all things prison as one can be without ever having actually done any time (email me and I'll explain how I came to know so much about prison), I can say to you that this show is worth the watching.
In addition to the show. this is a good book to read:
Prison Nation ISBN 9780415935388
publisher: Routledge
7-17-2003 release date
$25.95 paperback
No, despite the title, it's not affiliated with the National Geographic show or channel. While I haven't had an opportunity to read the book, the contributors to it are all good sources and authorities on prisons.
I tried to order it through Amazon but it told me that the book cost $125 ??? so if you're interested in purchasing it I suggest you gothrough this place:
www.akpress.org
Either enter in the title of the book, or scroll down the website and click on Prisons/Prisoners and you'll easily find the book along with a review.
I ran across a book on that site, an old favorite of mine, Hauling UpThe Morning. A prisoner In New York sent me a copy some years ago and I loved that book, still do as a matter of fact.
Maybe you figure because you don't have a loved one or a friend locked up the show and the books aren't relevant to your life, or maybe you figure the hell with criminals, they did the crime, they can do the time. No matter what you figure you still ought to take the time to watch that documentary. For real.
Take care, be good, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Black Friday was yesterday, right? Did you go shopping?
I bought both papers on Thanksgiving, the Detroit Free Press and the Oakland Press (Oakland County, MI not California), and ended up with about 30 pounds of newspaper! It was nice reading the news, but I'd purposely picked them up so I could peruse the sale papers for BlackFriday. I wasn't planning on doing any shopping, I was just curious tosee what was being used as bait to lure folks to the malls at midnight.
Now maybe it's just me, I know I don't tend to think like everyone else, but I didn't see anything for sale that even remotely enticed me to get up out of my warm bed in the middle of the night, go stand in a long line out in the cold waiting for the store(s) to open, and then gladiate with ten thousand others to purchase said items.
I've done the Black Friday disaster once in my life and once was enough. It was 2000 and Walmart had some doggone tv on sale for $100. It was adeal, a good deal and I wanted to get it for three of my then very young cousins who didn't have too much of anything.
It was scarey. Mob mentality ruled and, scariest of all, I had the mob mentality devil running hot through my veins. I scared myself so bad that after I scored the tv I had to go home and go to sleep. I vowed never again.
Now a couple of my good friends love doing battle with the crowds. Joan, who has since passed away, couldn't hardly sleep the night before BF because she was so keyed up and excited. My other friend, the one who just recently moved to the upper peninsula of MI, to Marquette, is a dedicated shopper who scours ads, makes lists and knows how to get the best deal out there. Any time I'm looking to buy something and I want the best price, all I have to do is email her and she knows where to get it. A gift, truly a gift! she has.
I left the house yesterday, just once, in mid-morning, to go and dropoff the cable bill payment because I waited too long to mail it in time. And I stopped at the library so I could 'talk' at you. I wasn't even tempted to hit any of the stores.
So tell me, if you went shopping on BF, what did you buy? Enquiring minds want to know (smile).
Be good, be careful, take care, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
I bought both papers on Thanksgiving, the Detroit Free Press and the Oakland Press (Oakland County, MI not California), and ended up with about 30 pounds of newspaper! It was nice reading the news, but I'd purposely picked them up so I could peruse the sale papers for BlackFriday. I wasn't planning on doing any shopping, I was just curious tosee what was being used as bait to lure folks to the malls at midnight.
Now maybe it's just me, I know I don't tend to think like everyone else, but I didn't see anything for sale that even remotely enticed me to get up out of my warm bed in the middle of the night, go stand in a long line out in the cold waiting for the store(s) to open, and then gladiate with ten thousand others to purchase said items.
I've done the Black Friday disaster once in my life and once was enough. It was 2000 and Walmart had some doggone tv on sale for $100. It was adeal, a good deal and I wanted to get it for three of my then very young cousins who didn't have too much of anything.
It was scarey. Mob mentality ruled and, scariest of all, I had the mob mentality devil running hot through my veins. I scared myself so bad that after I scored the tv I had to go home and go to sleep. I vowed never again.
Now a couple of my good friends love doing battle with the crowds. Joan, who has since passed away, couldn't hardly sleep the night before BF because she was so keyed up and excited. My other friend, the one who just recently moved to the upper peninsula of MI, to Marquette, is a dedicated shopper who scours ads, makes lists and knows how to get the best deal out there. Any time I'm looking to buy something and I want the best price, all I have to do is email her and she knows where to get it. A gift, truly a gift! she has.
I left the house yesterday, just once, in mid-morning, to go and dropoff the cable bill payment because I waited too long to mail it in time. And I stopped at the library so I could 'talk' at you. I wasn't even tempted to hit any of the stores.
So tell me, if you went shopping on BF, what did you buy? Enquiring minds want to know (smile).
Be good, be careful, take care, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Friday, November 23, 2007
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day yesterday! Did you eat too much? Watch the Lions + Packers game? Enjoy being with your friends, family and loved ones? Me too!
I should just slap myself for dreading yesterday's TDay dinner with my family, I really should. But I always get like that, every single time there's something family-like I have to make an appearance at I get the dreads and the regrets and my stomach gets to talking back to me....and then lo and behold! it all turns out okay-dokey. Part of it, I think, is because deep down I'm shy. Not the kind of painful shy where you can't even hardly look at people, much less talk to them, that was the old shy me when I was a child and a teenager. I'm the new and improved shy now, the kind that can function with others, make conversation, look them in the eye even, but deep down inside I'm screaming AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH (smile)!
The to-do started, officially, at 5pm. Most of my relatives got there around 3, I rolled in at 5 on the dot. The dinner was held at the clubhouse of my aunt who lives in an apartment in the next city/suburb over, maybe 4 miles from here. The clubhouse was nice, but cramped, since there were so many of us.
Relatives came from across the country. Uncle Robert and his wife drove in from California. They left on a Friday, got here on a Tuesday, they don't ever drive at night so it took them a bit longer. Uncle Ricky drove in from Indiana alone, his wife works at the new casino on the Michigan-Indiana border and she couldn't get time off; Uncle Johnny from Kentucky alone because Aunt Betty wanted to spend the day with her kids and grandkids and Aunt Sister took the train from Indiana two weeks ago (she always takes the train, hates riding in a car and doesn't fly) and she's always alone since Uncle Gunk died in '04. Uncle Walter was supposed to come from Mississippi but his wife didn't want to and she wouldn't let Uncle Walter come on his own. Uncle George, I don't know why he didn't make it, he lives in Minnesota these days, maybe his money was funny.
Cousins, oh my goodness! There were hundreds of cousins, ranging from 3 monthes old on up to 50-something (it's a big family). And Aunt Shug, the oldest of our aunts, stopped in after she had dinner with her children and grandchildren at Gloria and Bob's home.
There was tons of food and yes, those disgusting chitlins and hog maws were right there on the buffet but down at the end where you could avoid thyem if you had a weak stomach or you were offended by them. There was collard greens cooked with smoked turkey parts, dressing, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, barbecued chicken, roast turkey, corn, shrimp alfredo and lots of other stuff that I can't remember. Desserts too, sweet potato pie, banana pudding, pound cake, apple walnut cranberry pie, etc. And rolls and muffins and cranberry sauce.
My Uncle David brought a home video of his father, our grand daddy, and qued it to the spot where granddaddy was saying blessing the food at a TDay dinner ten years ago. When he clicked it on you almost couldn't hear granddaddy because everybody was crying (he died in 2000, two monthes after grandmama).
The other weepy part was when the music was on. I think someone must have had a Sirius radio because it was continuous music. Anyway, a song by the Temptations came on, Just My Imagination, and Uncle David told everyone to tip their drink (whether it was booze, water, pop) in memory of Uncle Mack (he was murdered in 2004) who would have loved to be at this big family party. Uncle Mack was also a major Temptations fan so everybody sang along with them just like he would have done if he'd been here. Uncle Junior (I forgot to say he was there, sorry for leaving him out) grabbed the microphone and sort of led us and it waas fun,
All of my uncles can sing. Back in the day (Detroit in the Motown heydays) they had a little group they put together and they wanted to audition for Berry Gordy. My granddad said no, he didn't want his boys singing devil music (rock 'n roll) and that was the end of that. It's kind of too bad because Uncle Junior and Uncle Mack, they are/were amazing singers. Maybe all of their lives would have been different for the better if granddad hadn't been so adamant. Oh well.
One of Uncle Junior's sons is a rapper, a Christian rapper, and famous. I'm not going to mention his name because he just may not want it known that he has a cousin who owns a phone sex business (smile). If he was a gangsta rapper it would be a feather in his cap (smile).
I had an opportunity to reconnect with cousins I haven't seen in years, not all of them make the family events for a myriad of reasons. One of them, Angie, I hadn't seen in so long I didn't recognize her. She's cleaned up and on her feet and that's a good thing. For years she was a prostitute supporting her crack habit. She's had a really hard life. Crack is nasty and evil. I've seen up close and personal in my family just how wicked the crap is. So many of them have been addicted to crack it would take more than two hands to list them all. Such a shame.
Well, the clock on the library computer says it's almost time to give up the machine. It's been really good talking with you. I always enjoy it. Give a call when you get a minute, I like that too, then it's not so one-sided (smile).
Be good, be careful, take care, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
I should just slap myself for dreading yesterday's TDay dinner with my family, I really should. But I always get like that, every single time there's something family-like I have to make an appearance at I get the dreads and the regrets and my stomach gets to talking back to me....and then lo and behold! it all turns out okay-dokey. Part of it, I think, is because deep down I'm shy. Not the kind of painful shy where you can't even hardly look at people, much less talk to them, that was the old shy me when I was a child and a teenager. I'm the new and improved shy now, the kind that can function with others, make conversation, look them in the eye even, but deep down inside I'm screaming AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH (smile)!
The to-do started, officially, at 5pm. Most of my relatives got there around 3, I rolled in at 5 on the dot. The dinner was held at the clubhouse of my aunt who lives in an apartment in the next city/suburb over, maybe 4 miles from here. The clubhouse was nice, but cramped, since there were so many of us.
Relatives came from across the country. Uncle Robert and his wife drove in from California. They left on a Friday, got here on a Tuesday, they don't ever drive at night so it took them a bit longer. Uncle Ricky drove in from Indiana alone, his wife works at the new casino on the Michigan-Indiana border and she couldn't get time off; Uncle Johnny from Kentucky alone because Aunt Betty wanted to spend the day with her kids and grandkids and Aunt Sister took the train from Indiana two weeks ago (she always takes the train, hates riding in a car and doesn't fly) and she's always alone since Uncle Gunk died in '04. Uncle Walter was supposed to come from Mississippi but his wife didn't want to and she wouldn't let Uncle Walter come on his own. Uncle George, I don't know why he didn't make it, he lives in Minnesota these days, maybe his money was funny.
Cousins, oh my goodness! There were hundreds of cousins, ranging from 3 monthes old on up to 50-something (it's a big family). And Aunt Shug, the oldest of our aunts, stopped in after she had dinner with her children and grandchildren at Gloria and Bob's home.
There was tons of food and yes, those disgusting chitlins and hog maws were right there on the buffet but down at the end where you could avoid thyem if you had a weak stomach or you were offended by them. There was collard greens cooked with smoked turkey parts, dressing, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, barbecued chicken, roast turkey, corn, shrimp alfredo and lots of other stuff that I can't remember. Desserts too, sweet potato pie, banana pudding, pound cake, apple walnut cranberry pie, etc. And rolls and muffins and cranberry sauce.
My Uncle David brought a home video of his father, our grand daddy, and qued it to the spot where granddaddy was saying blessing the food at a TDay dinner ten years ago. When he clicked it on you almost couldn't hear granddaddy because everybody was crying (he died in 2000, two monthes after grandmama).
The other weepy part was when the music was on. I think someone must have had a Sirius radio because it was continuous music. Anyway, a song by the Temptations came on, Just My Imagination, and Uncle David told everyone to tip their drink (whether it was booze, water, pop) in memory of Uncle Mack (he was murdered in 2004) who would have loved to be at this big family party. Uncle Mack was also a major Temptations fan so everybody sang along with them just like he would have done if he'd been here. Uncle Junior (I forgot to say he was there, sorry for leaving him out) grabbed the microphone and sort of led us and it waas fun,
All of my uncles can sing. Back in the day (Detroit in the Motown heydays) they had a little group they put together and they wanted to audition for Berry Gordy. My granddad said no, he didn't want his boys singing devil music (rock 'n roll) and that was the end of that. It's kind of too bad because Uncle Junior and Uncle Mack, they are/were amazing singers. Maybe all of their lives would have been different for the better if granddad hadn't been so adamant. Oh well.
One of Uncle Junior's sons is a rapper, a Christian rapper, and famous. I'm not going to mention his name because he just may not want it known that he has a cousin who owns a phone sex business (smile). If he was a gangsta rapper it would be a feather in his cap (smile).
I had an opportunity to reconnect with cousins I haven't seen in years, not all of them make the family events for a myriad of reasons. One of them, Angie, I hadn't seen in so long I didn't recognize her. She's cleaned up and on her feet and that's a good thing. For years she was a prostitute supporting her crack habit. She's had a really hard life. Crack is nasty and evil. I've seen up close and personal in my family just how wicked the crap is. So many of them have been addicted to crack it would take more than two hands to list them all. Such a shame.
Well, the clock on the library computer says it's almost time to give up the machine. It's been really good talking with you. I always enjoy it. Give a call when you get a minute, I like that too, then it's not so one-sided (smile).
Be good, be careful, take care, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
I'm having a serious bout of regret. Don't you hate when that happens to you?
Remember me saying how my friends and I had an early TDay dinner a couple of weeks ago because my favorite uncle laid a guilt trip me on me about family and Thanksgiving?
Well, I stopped by my aunt's place this afternoon, the one who is doing the bulk of the TDay cooking, and found her in the midst of cleaning chitlins. Yuck. Talk about something nasty, that's chitlins. You know what they are, right? Pig intestines. No, I'm not joking, wish I were but I'm not. She was also cleaning hog maws. That's pig stomach.Disgusting to even talk about.
I hadn't realized she was cooking up that nasty pig crap as part of the dinner. If I had, I never would have agreed to do dinner with the family. Never.
Okay, no one's going to make me eat any of that, that's not the issue. It's the fact that it's going to be served that's got me upset. That stuff is disgusting to look at and it stinks to high heaven. And it's going to be on the buffet table along side everything else.
I don't eat pig, not as ham or bacon or anything else. Religous reasons. While I knew there would be ham (the family is big on pig), it never occurred to me about the chitlins and hog maws.
Silly as this may sound to you. I honestly don't think I'll be able to eat anything after seeing them on the table and watching people devour them. I have a strong stomach but that's too much even for me.That stuff is so disgusting.
I wish I hadn't said I'd go
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Remember me saying how my friends and I had an early TDay dinner a couple of weeks ago because my favorite uncle laid a guilt trip me on me about family and Thanksgiving?
Well, I stopped by my aunt's place this afternoon, the one who is doing the bulk of the TDay cooking, and found her in the midst of cleaning chitlins. Yuck. Talk about something nasty, that's chitlins. You know what they are, right? Pig intestines. No, I'm not joking, wish I were but I'm not. She was also cleaning hog maws. That's pig stomach.Disgusting to even talk about.
I hadn't realized she was cooking up that nasty pig crap as part of the dinner. If I had, I never would have agreed to do dinner with the family. Never.
Okay, no one's going to make me eat any of that, that's not the issue. It's the fact that it's going to be served that's got me upset. That stuff is disgusting to look at and it stinks to high heaven. And it's going to be on the buffet table along side everything else.
I don't eat pig, not as ham or bacon or anything else. Religous reasons. While I knew there would be ham (the family is big on pig), it never occurred to me about the chitlins and hog maws.
Silly as this may sound to you. I honestly don't think I'll be able to eat anything after seeing them on the table and watching people devour them. I have a strong stomach but that's too much even for me.That stuff is so disgusting.
I wish I hadn't said I'd go
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Sunday, November 18, 2007
So tell me, how do you feel about pomegranates? Do you like them? Have you ever had one?
When I was at Costco on Friday I bought a box of them, six to a box, for just shy of $13. These are the big ones, like softballs. You cut into one and that red juice squirts and runs all over the place. So so good.
And you know, if you're going to bother with a pomegranate, you have to buy a softball sized one. Don't waste your time with those small ones. Nine times out of ten those little ones are dried up and sour and a total waste of your money.
But the big pomegranates, oh my! They are so good. I sat at the kitchen table and ate a whole one all by myself. Red sticky juice running all down my arms, my fingers picking out the seeds and eating them one by one, enjoying the luscious taste of them.
Truth be told, weather permitting, the best way to eat one is out in the back yard naked as the day you were born. That's right, I mean it too.That way when the seeds get away from you, and there's always a few that do, they won't stain your table or your carpet. And when the juice runs down your arms it won't stain your clothes.
An even better way to eat a pomegranate is with someone else (smile).
Wish you were here.........
Be good, be careful, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
When I was at Costco on Friday I bought a box of them, six to a box, for just shy of $13. These are the big ones, like softballs. You cut into one and that red juice squirts and runs all over the place. So so good.
And you know, if you're going to bother with a pomegranate, you have to buy a softball sized one. Don't waste your time with those small ones. Nine times out of ten those little ones are dried up and sour and a total waste of your money.
But the big pomegranates, oh my! They are so good. I sat at the kitchen table and ate a whole one all by myself. Red sticky juice running all down my arms, my fingers picking out the seeds and eating them one by one, enjoying the luscious taste of them.
Truth be told, weather permitting, the best way to eat one is out in the back yard naked as the day you were born. That's right, I mean it too.That way when the seeds get away from you, and there's always a few that do, they won't stain your table or your carpet. And when the juice runs down your arms it won't stain your clothes.
An even better way to eat a pomegranate is with someone else (smile).
Wish you were here.........
Be good, be careful, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
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