Smells like 'chicken'

This is one of those hang-my-mouth-wide-open-only-in-the-South stories that defies explanation.

Sharon Kendall--"God love her," as my mother would say--has some, let's say, issues.

The Ellijay, Ga. resident worked as a janitor for a local elementary school. Maybe she was overcome by the constant ammonia fumes from her mop bucket, maybe she was tired of being called on to clean up some little cherubs' vomit from the floor of the cafeteria, or maybe she's just Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Whatever the reason, she told local Gilmer County authorities that she was sexually assaulted at the school on the morning of August 17th, by a Hispanic male. Okay, she actually trashed the school to make it look like a struggle took place, and gave herself injuries.

What's even more intriguing is that she reportedly told said authorities that the man, "smelled like chicken."

I did a double-take when I heard that tasty tidbit on one of my local news channels. It seems that there is a Gold Kist chicken processing plant across from the school, which is heavily employed by Hispanic men and women.

Smelled like chicken? Well, at least she didn't say, "teen spirit."

However, she appeared in court, yesterday, to answer to charges that she made up the whole story.

Yep, maybe it was the weather that morning that made her say, "You know? I really hate those Mexicans across the street. And that SMELL of chicken!"

What's up with these wacky white women, who have suddenly decided that it's the 'Hispanic Male' who is the Chupacabra of the southern United States?

First it was the "Runaway Bride," Jennifer Willbanks, who made up her whole abduction story, with Hispanic males as the perps, and now this sad sack.

With the ongoing hate concerning illegal immigrants--most crossing the border from Mexico--the above Mensa geniuses really make me embarrassed to live in the South.

I remember my first encounter with an 'illegal alien,' about ten years ago. I was working a temp job, with two women who were here on Work Visas from Ireland. They were a riot to be around, and they were always amused when I attempted an Irish brogue.

Well, I went to lunch with one of the women, Gemma, and she told me about her boyfriend. He was Hispanic and had illegally immigrated from Mexico. Well, at first, that just didn't set well with me. My knee-jerk reaction was, "why couldn't he come over legally?"

We got into a heated conversation about the whole issue, until I finally met him. Let me tell you, this guy was one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. He held three jobs, with one as a sous chef for a local restaurant, and he was one of the most polite men I had ever met.

I changed my whole view about illegal immigrants after meeting him. As well, I watched a whole construction team, made up mostly of Hispanic males, rebuild my former neighbor's home, after half of the house burned to the ground. These guys would get there at 7:30am and they didn't stop working until dusk. I kid you not.

That house was rebuilt in a matter of weeks and it was good work. I know that there are no easy answers for the problem of illegal immigration. With 3000 or more immigrants crossing the borders illegally every day, we cannot support the number of folks crossing over.

But why should hard working individuals like my friend Gemma's partner be punished for some of the scumbags who really do come here to siphon off our Welfare system? I truly believe there are more hard-working men and women, wanting a better life for themselves and their children, who cross over every day, than there are deadbeats.

Conversely, why don't we start ejecting those US citizens who make a career out of Welfare, along with the undesirables?

I don't know what the answer is, as far as setting up a guest program that weeds out the undesirables and keeps those who are willing to work the crap jobs that many of the privileged in this country don't/won't work. It's not an easy problem to solve.

What I do know is that building some 600 mile 'Berlin Wall' is not the answer, nor is exacerbating the situation by giving press to lying bigots such as Willbanks and Kendall, who instill a real fear among many who already believe and promote these bad stereotypes.

No doubt that some folks in Ellijay--in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains--took on a lynch mob mentality, as one of its citizens was interviewed on television. He said, "That woman should be put away for a long time, because we took it seriously. We mobilized and were going to protect the rest of the members who live in our town."

During the time that elapsed between her 'confession' of assault, until her court appearance yesterday, I can bet that life for the Hispanics (particularly male) living in Ellijay was not a happy existence.

Ms. Kendall tearfully addressed the court, as she was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, ordered to pay $8,500 in restitution. What did she say in her defense? "I'm sorry." I agree with her.

Oddly, her attorney was former DeKalb County District Attorney, J. Tom Morgan. He claimed she was 'mentally ill' and that realizes that what she did was wrong.

That really touches my heart.

The judge said she didn't like having to give her community service, instead of a jail sentence, but she had to abide by the plea bargain.

I have a suggestion for the Ellijay school: Why don't you hire a hard-working Hispanic to replace her in the janitor position?

I haven't even addressed the audacity of 'crying wolf' concerning sexual assault, but I'm still laughing over the TV anchor saying, "...and she said her assailant smelled like chicken."

(singing to myself) "That's what I love about the South!"

That whole 'rescuer' thing

It's really interesting to see human dynamics currently play out on a national stage. Hillary is defending Bill, Condi is defending Bush, etc.

We all have something in common. I admit it freely. If I don't watch it, I can really fall into the trap of playing 'rescuer,' not only with my own dysfunctional family, but with friends that I love dearly.

For those few people who view my blog on regular basis, no doubt you saw the epic that I wrote in defense of my friend.

She didn't ask me to do it, but after hearing and seeing first hand how her ex basically raped her of her personal belongings and the equity in the house that they owned together, as well as when I found out her side of the story, concerning the physical abuse that happened, that 'rescuer' impulse kicked into overdrive.

However, in acting on that impulse, I'm not truly letting my friend do the work she needs to do, in order to continue to move through her anger and pain. In trying to avenge the trespasses against her, I may be guilty of trying to do her work for her. As well, I'm only serving as a reminder of her ex, when I try to avenge.

It's evident that she is more than capable of standing up for herself and taking care of herself, period.

As well, I realize, now, that I'm only perpetuating another triangle, in addition to the one that her ex and her ex's new partner keep trying to create with her, through their own blogs. Those dreaded triangles! Each of us has our own truth; our own version of events in our present and past, filtered through our imperfectness.

In college, a very dear professor that I knew kept urging me to go to law school. She told me that my dissertations and orations in her class, concerning those considered underdogs in American History, could sway a jury to do whatever I asked.

I believe the context to which she was referring was the Rosenberg trials and executions. I had a visceral reaction to that dark time in American history, because I do not believe justice was served.

That's the way it's always been for me. I speak up and out for the underdog, and I will stand up for my friends, period, if I believe that they have been harmed. Harder for me, is speaking up for myself.

In those times when my self esteem is in the toilet, that's hard to do. I've had to force myself to do it for me, but I have no problem doing it for other people.

As I have learned the hard way, playing 'rescuer' only gets you into trouble. The person that you are 'rescuing' may--at some point--resent what you are doing and/or blame you for any repercussions from your 'rescuing'.

Before that happens to me, again, I need to recognize that element to my personality, and instead of 'rescuing' my friend, I need to urge her to continue to do the work needed to truly let go of the hurt, bitterness and anger (and she so has a right to feel all of it, given what happened), and trust that better times are ahead for her. Those good times are already beginning for her.

She's been dating again, which is a good sign. Even more encouraging is that she's seeing the warning signs, earlier, as she's dating different women. But, after posting my epic, I feel it's time to move on from even caring about what her ex is up to, her motives, and her own version of the truth that she needs to continue in order to create her personna with the new gf.

My friend feels the same way about the situation.

What's done is done, period. In moving on, one doesn't forget the pain but takes a long look at it and leaves it in the past where it belongs. Because as long as you hold hatred or anger against the person that wronged you, that transgressor still has complete control over you. Letting go seems like the easiest thing to do, but it's very hard to put into action.

It's very hard, I feel, for all of us to not want to do spur the Universe along, especially in the area of Karma. When we feel someone has wronged us, lied to us or hurt us on purpose, we wonder why--sometimes--it seems that the person that wronged us is reaping nothing but positive benefits from their destructive actions toward us.

In this case, the transgressor moved right on with a new girlfriend, which proved to my friend that the transgressor was already forming an emotional bond with the new girlfriend well before she left my friend.

It's very difficult to let that sort of pain go, when the person that has purposely set out to hurt you, destroy you, seems to get everything that they want, while you are forced to sit among the ruins of the relationship. Meanwhile, they are perpetuating lies about your relationship to people you may never even know.

Unfortunately, we cannot control the Universe. Karma is real and it's not discriminatory. It's just the way things work. I've certainly reaped what I have sown plenty of times. When I have purposely done or said something negative about another person, in anger, it may take a year, three months, three weeks, three days but at some point that negative energy I put out is going to come back to me in some form.

The person that I wronged may not be there to see it happen to me, but it's a humbling experience when you finally receive that collective comeuppance. As hard as it is, once you relinquish control of all of the resentment, anger and bitterness and truly let the Universe handle it, there is a real peace that envelopes you.

It's no longer about fear and anger. It's about moving forward and learning from the painful experience.

It's one of the hardest life lessons to learn, and I'm still trying to master it myself. As well, I'm learning to see my own warning signals, when I feel the need to start rescuing someone.

With that said, I'm going to leave "the epic" up for the next day, and then I will delete those posts. I've gotten wrapped up in wanting to 'get' my friend's ex, or make the ex see that what she did was so wrong. But that's not going to happen right now, nor is it my place to try and make it happen.

I just love my friend, and I think what happened was very unfair. Life goes on.

The Condo Leeza Rice Show

Actually, my new creative dream is to write a skit, based on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, about Condoleeza Rice and her relationship with the Bush staff.

In the Lou Grant role would be Dick Cheney. Murray Slaughter role: Donald Rumsfeld. Ted Baxter? President GW Bush, and our favorite Condi Rice as a spot on Mary Richards.

Can't you just hear her with that crackling Mary Richards voice, saying, "Oh, Misterrrr Chaneeeee?"

Take a look at Condi during an interview, and she has all of the Mary Richards manerisms. The cute head bob, etc.

See, you could do a take-off on the whole show, and do the opening montage scenes, while the theme plays, with Condi walking around the Mall in DC, past the Jefferson, Lincoln memorials, etc. Then, show her at a State Dinner, or during a press conference.

At the end, when Mary usually throws up her hat, you could show Condi throwing the 9/11 report in the air and five Secret Service men pounce on it and her.

Who can turn the world on with her smile.
Who can take a baseless war
And suddenly make it all seem worthwhile

Well it's you girl and you should know it,
With each State Dinner and every troop movement you show it

War is all around
Why don't you stop it?
Your boss is a real idiot
Why don't you just say it?

You might just make it after all!

Quantum Physics: The Musical

I used to joke that I was going to write "Rasputin: The Musical," and have his conspirators try and off him--like they did in real life--but he keeps returning in each act, having not been killed.

Anyway, I came across this, and I found it really cute. The producers are from Canada, I believe, but take a look. This is great.

http://quantumphysicsthemusical.blogspirit.com/