Talk of the South
Honky Tonk Hostage Chili
Taking questions in a recent interview for a local paper, I was asked what the most stressful experience I’d ever had cooking. A colorful memory sprang to mind and I quickly forced it back and thought of a rosier story to tell. But I do believe y’all might know me a little by now and will be ready for this …
This was back when I was in college working in my beloved little juke joint. It was a Wednesday which meant I was there early in the afternoon to start cooking the free meal that was served every week on that day. It must have been winter because I was cooking chili. Anywho, I was in the bar alone assembling the chili in a fourth generation season encrusted stainless steel five-gallon pot when I felt something cool and hard shoved into the back of my neck. Then I heard a man’s voice tell me to open the register.
Talk of the South
Blackie and the Champ
Daddy was a traveling salesman. He was one of the old school salesmen who travelled by train. Some of my earliest memories were going to train tracks with him. He carried a roll of newspaper and as the train approached, Daddy lit the paper and waved it in the air. The train would stop and Daddy would board for his sales trip …
When I was eight, Daddy came home from a particularly long trip. It was cold and Daddy had on a long overcoat … After a few minutes, he called me over to his chair. He still had his overcoat on. I stood there for a moment with tears in my eyes, then Daddy, with a big smile very carefully and tenderly reached in his pocket and withdrew a black and tan puppy …
Southern Politics
Racism: Time For A Change
Ben Stein’s BFF
President Obama: An Open Letter To Rush Limbaugh, Part 2
Recommended Reading
- Andy Griffith's new role: pitching health care law
- Southern cities vie to be center of oil-spill legal cases
- July deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghan war
- In the short term, immigration ruling is a gift for the GOP
- Attention Bigots: There Is Already a Mosque Near the WTC Site
- Afghan war spending faces new scrutiny
- Dumb Power
- Florida, the Canary in the Coal Mine
- Op-Ed Columnist: Curbing Your Enthusiasm
- Doug Kendall: After Kagan, Lower Court Vacancy Crisis Looms
- Special Report: A Mississippi Yankee in BP's battered court
Loading...Southern News
A Haiku a Day
In Libris Veritas Est II
Remembering the heyday of the Miami Herald
Southern Views
A Writer’s Musical Notes
I’ve been Repoodiated – The redefining of America
The ‘Art of Loss’ …and Cell Phones
Southern Life
Body Language
Noel Polk: Faulkner ‘continues to amaze’
The Collision
Southern Food & Drink
Fire Good
Hummus Flower
Rhythm & Dews
Allman Brothers Band: ‘Southbound’
A review of How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
People & Places
A Story of Sacrifice
My Sister, My Self
More Recent Posts
The ‘Art of Loss’ …and Cell Phones
Egypt
Obsessed with Segregation
Athens
Run to Olympia
Keep your friends close & family closer
Social Security and the “Lock Box, A Delayed Solution”
R.I.P.
When home isn’t home anymore
Earning Impunity
In Libris Veritas Est
Your Southern Thoughts
: Sarah Palin’s latest political catchphrase would go down well in Australia. Everyone – except perhaps Ms P – knows that “seeing pink elephants” is a metaphor for delirium tremens and I’m not the first to point it out, but it’s the Australian take I like. Down Under – where people love metaphors and similes – delirium tremens is often simply “the DTs” but is more commonly known as “the horrors”. Where, I find myself wondering, does she get them. Would Ms Palin hesitate to shoot a mama grizzly if one reared up on its hind legs to defend its cubs when she crossed [...]
: News from a St. Simons Island, GA fishing guide. He reports that he and his "party" caught two "sport fish" (not being a fisherman, I'm not sure what those are) and eight shark. One was five feet long. What seems additionally significant, other than the number, was that they weren't fishing out in the ocean in the Bight of Georgia, but in the brackish backwaters of the intracoastal region. Of course, we've seen dolphin hunting there, so the shark chasing bait is not surprising. What's unusual is that they're there at all. The fishing [...]
: I don't presume to fully understand the ways of Mother Nature, but she's amazing. Wonderful share. Thank you.
: Sharks are entering the brackish waters of the St. Marys river now. It would seem that Mother Nature is, understandably, a bit irked. Go get 'em sharks!
Recent Comments
- Honky Tonk Hostage Chili (13)
- Will Cantrell: Mandy, I don’t know if you are a better writer/storyteller than a...
- Guy Tucker: Oh, I have an idea how a town drunk may have gotten the name Pee Toe, but...
- Meg Gerrish: Well. I think we all know why he was called Pee-Toe. Great story. Now I just...
- Guy Tucker: I enter a chili contest at my kids school every year and every year lose....
- Darby: Now that is the way all cook books should be written.
- Stop, Look and Listen (5)
- Dave Gaylor: Hello Ms Britto, I read in one of the articles about you that you wanted to...
- The ‘Art of Loss’ …and Cell Phones (14)
- Jack deJarnette: I started my cell phone relationship with a brick, actually it was more...
- Body Language (11)
- Billy Howard: My plan is to wait till I’m 60 to get my first one.
- Jack deJarnette: Billy, Thanks for the insiteful article. I have a good friend who is a...
- Alex Kearns: Wonderful, though-provoking article. I have a small unicorn on my left upper...
- Robin: I remember that long hair! Never had a desire for body art myself. With my...
- Noel Holston: I try not to let old, negative associations color my response to tattoos,...
- Your Southern Thoughts (101)
- Alex Kearns: Sharks are entering the brackish waters of the St. Marys river now. It would...
- A Writer’s Musical Notes (1)
- Billy Howard: “Wolly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharohs. Really. Although...
- Blackie and the Champ (6)
- Sherrie Whaley: Thanks for a such a wonderful story to start my day, Jack! Animals do...
- J. Morgan Willis: I kmow animals love one another. When my 15 year old dog, Sweetie, died...
- Lee Hatling: What a beautiful story! Animals are so crucial to a good life ! Thank you...
- George Dahlberg: Great story, thanks
- Frank Povah: Ah, animals – if only we humans were more like them.
- A Haiku a Day (7)
- Billy Howard: If I can Haiku I believe you can Haiku count your syllables!
- Alex Kearns: Writer pauses, unbearable burden. Too many words can silence the soul.
- Billy Howard: Your words: small wonders evoking small miracles leaving smile on face
- President Obama: An Open Letter To Rush Limbaugh, Part One (20)
- Ken Simons: Ahh, there is the rub – likethedew vs. likethedough – like the...
- FAQ (1)
- Jack deJarnette: Excellent guidelines. Thanks for the help.
- Why I Left Edison (13)
- Jeff Bean: I grew up in the area. I attended E.Rivers. Bold students would sneak across...
- Dear Ol’ Dad (8)
- Ellen: I discovered your writing while searching “Horse Creek Valley”. I grew...
- Remembering the heyday of the Miami Herald (5)
- Andy Bob: I worked at the Orlando Sentinel for five years in the early to mid-70s, and...
- Noel Polk: Faulkner ‘continues to amaze’ (1)
- Monica Smith: Nice. Thanks for sharing that.





















