(Video) ARE GRITS BETTER THAN BREAD?

Em reveals that John Cullum loves grits.

For him they are soul food, something he can cook himself and eat at anytime of the day or night.

John, the actor, shoemaker, Agnes the maid, explains how grits has been part of his life, all of his life.

He describes various ways grits can be seasoned. He mentions that there can be problems.

Demonstrating his actual cooking procedures, John mentions a grits horror story.

Then, despite Emily’s covered ears, John tells his “horror” story.

VIRAL STUFF AND NONSENSE

Behold, and laugh – Dizzy dog , Motherly Cat, Two babies talking - millions saw the video clips and delighted in them.

I'm part of the millions. But seeing 'em alienates me. The visions stick in my mind like Gorilla Glue. I remember someone emailed me a video clip of a teeny-tiny piglet that was following its mistress around devotedly as if it were a grown up normal size pig.

Yes, It was cute. Yes, I enjoyed watching it, Yes, it distracted me from what I was busy doing. Yes, millions of others were distracted from their work and thought it was cute and loved watching it.

I don't want to be in sync with them. Or laugh, be fascinated, or get tears in my eyes by a video of a cat tenderly tending to baby chicks, or some tiny darling little or big creature whose behavior intrigues and entertains everyone.

Who is everyone? Everyone means any person who might, at some point, visit my blog – read my words -- read 'em every day, twice a week, once a week, or just read what I write every once-in-a-while.

I carefully pick subjects that concern me, and what concerns me (when I tune into the world and tune out of my own private sphere) is, more or less, on the minds of everyone whom I more or less know. The typical subjects -- politics, celebrities, health, welfare, education, crime -- all of them affect me, but I want to think my own thoughts, and NOT be conditioned by what others say is important.

Yep, the motherly cat was amazingly tender -- it hit me hard. The pig was adorable -- I fell in love with it for a minute or two, but viral videos are viral. They're fascinating, but they are viruses -- an infection, a bug, a disease -- and if I start loving the viral videos that everyone else loves, the bug/ infection/ disease is going to infect my attitude about other things. Ohmygawd – like award shows (can't stand them) -- like sitcoms -- ohmygawd, if I'm infected, I'll laugh with the canned laughter --. I'll laugh when actors do the pause, that cue that tells the audience "LAUGH."

Was it last month -- the Prince Harry viral video? It was actually very funny to see Harry jumping into a pool, Harry hiding his private parts. And every day there are other viral things -- politician with foot in his mouth, babies falling in love, old folks stumbling -- all sorts of ridiculousness that get us laughing, laughing, and laughing ...

Hey, laughter isn't a deadly disease. I guess maybe this sour-grapes blog is the only way I can bring myself to admit that I wish one of my blogs could go viral, like this video someone sent me yesterday.

LEGACY

Hmm. What will people remember about me after I'm gone?

Picasso, all those pictures he created -- Rodin. his  sculpture -- is "The Kiss" his legacy?

Shakespeare -- comedies, tragedies, all those plays about Kings.   Beethoven symphonies, concertos, umpteen works of music?



I danced.

Sometimes, in an entranced state of energy, where I was not aware of ME,  but within each moment, the feeling of the movement in relation to the music was out -- out and beyond the stage, in the air, in the theater, in the audience.

How do I know that?    I just know it.

I tried to do a lot of other things with my husband -- off and on Broadway plays, a school, and some  community projects that happened, but went nowhere, except that got me into writing more and more.

Sometimes, when I was writing WOMAN OF THE CENTURY, that thereness, that intense being on the moment at the moment was there.   I wasn't writing about an idea, the idea was writing itself.    How do I know that?  Because I remember those places in my book, where I was in the world I had been creating, and I knew.  I wasn't Emily the writer, I was there at the moment, in the place, in the space, in the mind, and heart of someone who'd gone back in time and was there in the scene.

Occasionally, in relationships with dancers I've worked with, I have had that sense of utter communication  -- that I was saying something to the soul of the person with whom I was sharing a moment in his life and my life.

I've even  had that powerful sense of touching, reaching, being deeply, intensely close to someone, a tech person  I've been working with,  on the phone.

What is this on the moment stuff -- this utter communication -- an idea writing itself, a movement I was doing burning itself into the minds of people who were watching me so they feel as if they're dancing?

These feelings, these remembered moments -- why are they so important?  Because, after I am no longer a living person on the earth, I think I will become part of another person who is still alive, and here in the now, and my moment that's part of them will affect what they see, hear, touch, feel, sense, think.

The legacy of Einstein is strong. The magic sound that Horowitz  created,  the doings of Ghandi, Martin Luther King... FDR,  JFK, RFK -- that's the legacy of famous people who have said or done  something that affected you in your life.

So,  what is my legacy?   I'm thinking  it's what I communicated to some people about themselves.  that I saw them; really saw who they were and gave them that -- "She saw me -- she knew me, she knows me!" --  a very strong sense that they were perceived.

I am not thrilled about that.   But I think that's what will be remembered after I am gone. I gave some people recognition   that makes them like themselves, respect themselves more for what they are, and gives them a legacy to pass onto their children.

Wait a minute. what about our  building ...
Isn't that a legacy?    The building that my mom bought for us is -- isn't that  something our son will inherit?

My rings -- they are real jewels --  they certainly cost enough.

My 80 carat Amethyst ring with it's cluster of Diamonds, my 40 carat Acquamarine covers two fingers,  the cluster of Opals and Diamonds.


Oh my goodness, my 6.5 carat Emerald.

 . 
My paintings --  my favorite orange city  -- people have wanted to buy it, and .. gee I have at least 16 other paintings ...

And.  my books ...








If all this stuff my legacy, it's an okay pile.  I just wish there was more --more deeds, more tangible  doings that could be remembered, replayed, and enjoyed, but ...  Well, I danced, and wrote, painted, and oh my, tried all sots of big deal fizzling  projects with my husband, and parented ... our son will enjoy the legacy of  building full of things he can pass on to others with stories about his mom and his dad.  

(Video) INTIMIDATED BY CHIC STUFF

John Cullum thinks that today’s cell phones are “chic,” very much in vogue but annoying, and bewildering. Chic clothes are not his cup of tea, and ads make many current “chic” things seem ridiculous.

Though Emily Frankel is bothered by many of the same things, as they chat, both of them realize that most of the very latest things that they don’t really understand are the super popular ideas -- the super popular stars, and the entertainment events that the young, younger generation are excitedly exploring.

No doubt about it, it’s demoralizing.