Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Hungering For Understanding

There is a very ugly stripe that runs through human beings, one especially prevalent these days.  If something isn't MY reality, then it isn't reality at all.  So why care?

It is born of privilege.  And we all have some varietal of it.  Some of us enjoy a meritage of all different kinds of privilege.

Privilege that you are not black so you don't worry about a simple traffic stop.

Privilege that you are not gay so discrimination is not a worry.

Privilege that you are not brown so you don't worry about being apprehended in an ICE raid.

Privilege that you are not trans so you don't think a thing of going to the bathroom in public.

Privilege that you did not bring your children to this country so why care at all about the ones in cages.

Privilege because you are not on food stamps, so why care about 3 million people on the verge of being thrown off.

I could go on and on.  As the saying goes, Not my circus, not my monkeys.

It's wrong headed, it's hardhearted.  And at some point, your circus is going to be targeted and your monkeys are going to be involved and you will be looking around for someone to care, to sympathize, to empathize.

The latest example of this mindset came across my desk this morning.  A set of dishes being sold by Macy's.

At first glance what do you see?  Nice, clean, simple plates with rings and words.  I won't even fault you for thinking, "Oh, cute. HA HA HA."

That would have been me not so many years ago.  But then, I had a small ass, a thin waist, believed all it took was Chew less, Move more!  So, HA HA HA - cute plates!

Gradually, however, my eyes were opened, my brain was enlightened.  I watched a dear friend starve herself yet still gain weight.  A lot of weight.  Her self control was not the problem, as so many who saw her would openly castigate.  Her body was out of control all on its own and needed surgical intervention for the tumors on her pituitary.  I listened to her, I learned from her.  I watched as my daughter, pursuing her Bachelor's in Psychology began focusing on eating disorders.   I listened to her, I absorbed the facts, the data, the research she shared.  And my cavalier, privileged attitude began adjusting.

Just because it wasn't my reality, didn't make it NOT reality.

The plates are problematic.  We live in a society where we literally put a higher premium on physicality than we do on humanity.  It drives all of our advertising.  It saturates the big screen.  We raise children who believe their worth is translated by their jeans size.  That being softer makes them less deserving of consideration, respect, opportunity.  Approximately 30 million people, OF ALL AGES, in the USA suffer from an eating disorder.  (Children, men, women, 13% of women over 50, 16% of transgender college students, 6% of minority men and women, 10% of military members, and on and on.)  That means roughly 10% of our population at any given time is battling disordered eating on some level.  And every 62 minutes, someone in this country dies because of it.

That is why the plates are ill conceived.

I asked my daughter, Kendall Sharp, now a grad student at Harvard, working towards her Master's in Public Health and ultimately her doctorate specializing in eating disorders, to weigh in (no pun intended). 

"These plates perpetuate the diet culture that is rampant in our society. Some mom is going to buy these plates because they think that it's funny, but it could have a real negative impact on anyone who comes into their kitchen. This is not just a "funny" set of plates, it is an example of the constant messaging surrounding thinness and dieting that heavily contribute to disordered eating and exercise behaviors."

She's not wrong.  I, myself, battled an eating disorder as a teenager.  Refusing to eat, demanding my body get smaller.  This went on right in front of my parents, yet they saw nothing, until the day I passed out.  I battled again after my third child was born, eating little, exercising compulsively, getting as low as 93 pounds.  I look at those plates and think of how bringing them into my home as a teen or seeing them as an adult would have done nothing but reinforce what was already tumbling through my brain.  That I would have literally used the rings on the plate to gauge how much I was eating, rate my success.

The plates were called out on Twitter by Alie Ward, a correspondent for CBS’s Innovation Nation and who has written for LA Weekly and The LA Times.  In her tweet she tagged Macy's and asked How can I get these plates from @Macys banned in all 50 states.

What poured forth was predictable.  40,000 likes, 5,000 comments.  So many people who immediately saw how the dishware was insensitive, problematic, and contributing to our culture where thin is in.  But for every person who got it, there were the equally predictable ones who chimed in with "Lighten up!" "How about this. Just don’t buy it?"  "That's funny. Does nobody have a sense of humor anymore?" and "Imagine being offended by this".

Basically, this is not my problem, so it's not a problem.

It was when star of The Good Place, Jameela Jamil, a champion of body positivity and someone who had an eating disorder as a teen, chimed in, retweeting and amplifying Alie's original and tagging Macy's with "F**k these plates, f**k these plates to hell" did something happen.

Now, Alie never dreamed this would be the response from Macy's but is thrilled to see that someone at the company got it, someone at Macy's immediately understood they had been tone deaf, and decided to do something about it.

And that's important. Because it does take a village.  A village in which we actually care about issues that may not affect us personally, but are real and affect others.  A village in which we seek to help, not harm.  A village in which being a dick is off the table and understanding fills the plate.

We all know someone who struggles.  We may be the one who struggles.  It may be our child, our spouse, our sibling, a co-worker.  With 10% of the population suffering, it would be naive to think we don't interact with someone every single day who is mired in an eating disorder - genetics, environmental factors, and personality traits all are factors that contribute.  And just because you have never had one does not mean you won't at some point.

Care.  Care about the world around you, about the people in it.  Care about those who don't look like you, don't come from where you come from.  Care because that is what decent people do.  Care because you don't have to hurt to know what it means to hurt.

Because if that point comes, if you find yourself targeted and afraid, if you begin to spiral and feel helpless, hopeless, when your circus and your monkeys are in peril, it sure would be nice to know that a buffet of empathy, understanding, support, and kindness are waiting from which to fill your plate.

Rancid Food For Thought

The school lunchroom.  We all have memories of mystery meat, grey hamburgers, and feeling a reason to live when the calendar showed PIZZA - that rectangular wonder of the plastic tray.

We all also have memories of watching classmates worry about having enough money to buy even the most basic items offered, or hoping their account still had funds left in it because they were hungry.  Perhaps you were one of those children.

Even as a young child, I understood what I was seeing.  The fear, the embarrassment, the desperate looks as classmates would indulge in lunchboxes laden with sandwiches, Twinkies, a thermos full of Kool Aid.  The pained expressions as they just took a seat and drank milk slowly because a tiny carton was all they could afford.  I routinely shared what I had in my Holly Hobby padded lunchbox, even taking to sneaking extra food in at home for them.

I was 8 years old and those memories stay with me to this day.

It was not their fault.  They had zero control over their parents' finances.  Yet they paid the price in hunger pangs, mocking, and an inability to focus throughout the day. 

Fast forward 45 years and nothing has changed.  My own kids saw this dynamic play out during their school years.  In college they knew kids who showed up for any campus event simply because there might be free food.  Studies have shown that a full 20% of students at a four year college are food insecure.  Community college students?  A full 25%.

Younger children stats are equally heartbreaking - 1 in 6 children in this country live with hunger daily.  A full 12 million children - 17.9% - are in food insecure homes.  In the summer that number shoots up to 6 out of 7 children endure hunger because the free or reduced price school lunch they may receive vaporizes.  And before anyone starts with the oh-so-compassionate "Well, their parents shouldn't have had them." or "Well, their parents should get an extra job." - STOP.  Children cannot eat bootstraps.  And they sure as hell did not ask to be born (yet you demanded they were, you proud pro-lifer, you.)

While there are some children who are caught in homes where their parent or parents are irresponsible and neglectful, that is the exception, not the rule of poverty.  Most of these children DO have parents who kill themselves in two or three jobs to try to provide even the most basic of needs - a roof over their head, a couple pieces of clothing, and some food.  Those parents often going without themselves in order that their child receive a little bit more to eat.

As for the whole "They shouldn't have had the kids" mindset?  One, that fetus you screamed about being born is here and needs cared for, and two, who the hell are you to judge?  This notion so firmly rooted in the black souls and vile maws of people who think nothing bad can ever befall them.  How about you, with your three kids, two cars, and McMansion in the burbs?  What happens to you when you lose your job, cannot find another, and suddenly are selling a car, moving to an apartment, and having to wear sunglasses into your community food bank so no one sees you.  It happens.  Should we scoff at you, say you shouldn't have had those three kids?

NO.

More and more we see stories make national headlines when schools threaten their students and parents because of struggling to pay a lunch bill.  We see strangers step up and anonymously pay off an entire school district's roster of delinquent payments because there are decent souls who understand all of this - especially the part where IT IS NOT THE CHILD'S FAULT.

The most recent story to come up this past week, however, is about the ugliest tactic yet employed by a school district.

In Pennsylvania, the Wyoming West School District has sent letters to parents threatening their children will be removed from their homes.

"Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without breakfast and/or lunch. This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child's right to food," the July 9 letter reads.  "Please remit payment as soon as possible to avoid being reported to the proper authorities."

What in the actual hell?

Yes, the school district currently has roughly $20,000 in delinquent payments.  Which to be honest, spread out over the number of schools it oversees, breaks down to far smaller numbers.  But threatening a parent with having their child removed to foster care because they have $75.25 outstanding?

The letters were signed by Joseph Muth, director of federal programs for the Wyoming Valley West School District, an obviously stellar human being.

The callousness, the recklessness, the abject cruelty involved here is unforgivable.  This is the equivalent of feeding the already hungry parents a bowl of emotional ebola.

These are their children.  As if the parents don't already suffer enough struggling to take care of them, to have school authorities threaten to tear apart their families?  Look, many families may not have the resources of a lot of us, but they they do not exist in some emotionless vacuum.  They love their children as passionately as do I.  They lose sleep worrying about their children.  They are proud of their children, want the best for them, and are willing to do anything to protect them.  Flat out stating that they are bad parents, worthy of being reported to CPS to have them taken from them because of a small lunch balance?  Inexcusable.

They live with enough fear without insensitive pricks piling on.

Those who actually understand this and work within the system have been very vocal in their condemnations.

"Foster care is to be utilized only when absolutely needed — when a child has been abused, is in need or has suffered a tragedy," said Luzerne County Manager David Petri. "Our foster care system is NOT to be utilized to scare parents into paying school lunch bills."

And Joanne Van Saun, Luzerne County Children and Youth Services Executive Director, stated, "It’s a total misrepresentation, a gross misrepresentation of what our agency does.  It’s just not true. We do not remove children from families for unpaid bills."

After being publicly outed for this heinous act, the school district has planned to send a "softer" letter out to those parents.  Softer, huh?  What?  Just going to threaten them with their children being tarred and feathered out on the playground?  Put in stocks out by the school flagpole? 

This kind of crap is why hunger remains such an embarrassing thing for so many.  Because those with full bellies who never lay head to pillow with a growling stomach or worrying about how they will feed their children in the morning, have zero idea or interest in understanding the plight of those who do.

It reeks of privilege.  Anytime you carelessly write off the concerns or treatment of someone, it is because it does not touch you, so it must not be a real thing.  Not trans?  Why should you care about bathroom safety for THEM?  Not black?  Why let you heart beat faster when you get pulled over for speeding?  Not hungry?  Why concern yourself with the fact that so many are?  They are obviously doing something wrong to deserve to be hungry.

Quite frankly, school lunches should be free.  If we can constantly build new football cathedrals for high school students, we can certainly provide a hot meal for the kids.  To hell with Friday Night Lights.  How about Fare Over Football?  It all comes down to what people with privilege view as important for the tax dollars they have to spend.

I have no doubt that someone will again step forward to pay the $20,000.  And that will be wonderful.  But it will not fix the problem that 1 in 6 children go to school hungry every single day. 

Just some rancid food for thought as you sit down to your Sunday brunch and bottomless mimosa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It truly does take a village.  You may not be able to afford $20,000 to wipe a slate clean, but consider donating what you can to No Kid Hungry

In a country as prosperous as ours, 1 in 6 is shameful.

Ma'am, I Said Sprinkles, Not Tinkles

We all know and laugh at the near constant stream of insanity that wafts into the news from the state of Florida.  "Florida Man" is its own punchline given the news items that inevitably lead to the sentence containing the words "from Florida".  Whether he is attacking a McDonald's employee for not getting a straw, denying the syringes found in his own rectum are his, punting a rabid coyote, doing donuts on an airport runway, licking doorbells, pressure washing his neighbor, walking into a convenience store with a live alligator, or attacking his mom who refused to dress his mannequin - ALL REAL 2019 HEADLINES - Florida man is a force to be reckoned with.  Or avoided completely.

But wait.  Florida woman is not to be trifled with either, and she is saying, "Hold my beer."

Meet Jung Soon Wypcha of St. Petersburg.  She owns a food mart that shares a bathroom with Lulu's Ice Cream next door.  According to the people who own Lulu's, they believe her behavior took a turn after a dispute over parking spaces.

On June 17th she began using the toilet with the door wide open (5 times), security cameras catching her not washing her hands.  This escalated to her entering Lulu's freezer area where she began putting her hands in the ice cream containers.  She did not waffle, instead she then deliberately picked her nose and began placing her personal Dippin' Dots on the products, followed by spitting into the tubs.

I know, I know, two scoops of gross topped with hot gag.

On June 22nd, when she tried to use the bathroom facilities, they were locked.  So what's a girl to do?  She peed in a bucket used to churn ice cream.  Then she emptied it into the sink where utensils and mixing bowls were washed.  The cherry on top?  On her way out, she visited the freezer, again putting her disgusting mitts all over everything again.

Let's pause a moment while I scream, you scream, we all scream...

Lulu's owners contacted authorities and she was arrested and charged with two felonies: criminal mischief and tampering.  She now faces a rocky road and possible jail time.

As for Lulu's, owners Paul & Beth Chiulli closed to sanitize everything and to get rid of $2,000 worth of products and mixing pieces, but they are committed to staying open despite their nutty business neighbor.

"We make great ice cream," Paul said. "You know, we have five star reviews all across the board and we love what we do and we take ice cream very seriously."

I guess we should all just be grateful Jung didn't offer up her own homemade soft serve...  Don't get any ideas Florida Man, don't get any ideas.

Mississlipping

Children kidnapped and in cages.  Mothers and fathers drinking from toilets while their captors post vile "tonk" references about them on Facebook. (Tonk being a slur used by CBP shitheads for the noise their metal flashlights make when they hit an immigrant on the head.). Iran ramping up uranium production. Climate crisis.  Jeffrey Epstein arrested on child sex trafficking charges.  Poverty, starvation, disease.  So much suffering and criminality in this world.  But these all pale in comparison to the struggles being faced right here at home in Mississippi.

Thank baby Jesus, mighty Zeus, and black Ariel that their lawmakers are on the case taking on the true villianny in our society.

Vegan patties masquerading as burgers.

This past Monday, a law went into effect making it illegal for anyone to use "meat terminology" (read: burger, hot dog, etc) in relation to nonmeat products - vegan, vegetarian.  Two hooves up for the cattle lobbyists who brought this paranoia to life and the 117-0 vote in their House that proves their sanity is slipping.  Those in violation could face up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. 

That's right, market with the words "vegan burgers," "meatless hot dogs," "vegan bacon," "meatless meatballs," "vegan chorizo" and "meatless steaks" and you could find yourself in prison.

What a bunch of soyshit.

If you are so dim that you pick up a package that reads meatless hot dogs and cannot understand that THERE IS NO MEAT IN THEM, then no law is going to help you.  And heaven forbid some healthier options be on your store shelves for you to try.

I find it hilarious that the nation's fattest state - SEVEN YEARS RUNNING - is literally taking legal steps to essentially protect their obesity ranking.  But then it is also #50 in healthcare, so you do the math, which may be hard if you are in MS as your state also ranks #46 in education.

I have yet to mistake my vegan burger, which is clearly labeled as such, for ground beef. 

But hey, if the rule is now all about the literal, then these brain trusts in their legislature had better get off their corpulent asses and take on the other deceitful foods out there tricking the poor, innocent, ignorant public.

Chicken fingers.  My grandmother raised chickens, they are notoriously bad with their hands, not having any to speak of.

Hamburger.  I hope the populace of Mississippi are sitting down when they are told there is no ham in those burgers.

Buffalo wings.  I saw Dances With Wolves a bunch of times.  They can stampede, but not once did I see them take flight to escape the Indians.

Sweetbreads.  Sorry folks, but King's Hawaiian has nothing to do with this dish.

Spotted dick.  No, not even close.

Rocky Mountain Oysters.  I personally know a few who have been deceived by the name only to find out they have joined the ranks of barnyard teabaggers.

Grasshopper pie.  A good old southern favorite, without a single damned grasshopper to be found.

How about eggplants?  NO eggs.  Pineapple?  No apple.

I could go on and on, but lord knows they won't entertain the logic here, even though it's theirs to begin with.

The new law is already being challenged in court by companies who produce vegan and vegetarian options for consumers, but Mississippians can rest easy for now.  Their lawmakers are on the case and have boldly proclaimed (all apologies to my Queen, Bianca Del Rio), "Not today, seitan, not today."

Speechless

Wow.  Just wow.

I know I say that a lot when something so stupid, so heinous, so vile, so outlandish just leaves me staring openmouthed at the source.

This is one of those times.

But I'll try to put a few more words together.

This is Kenneth Kyle, 47, of California.  Excuse me, Professor Kenneth Kyle.

A professor of public affairs and administration at Cal State East Bay, he found his private affairs being administered in a courtroom on March 15.  Authorities had found hundreds of images of child porn on his home computer and laptop.

That's bad enough.  Really.  You could stop there.  Anyone who thinks there is something sexual about children is wasting the precious oxygen supply on this planet and should do us all a favor and stuff a giant zucchini up their ass. (See yesterday's article on suicide.)

But no.  Vile Kyle was not content with imagery. 

Kyle traveled to St. Louis where he met up with a 20 year old college student he had met online - Tessa Vanvlerah.  Police say he had traveled to see "her" four times in the past five months.

I say "her" because apparently she was more of a means to an end.

 No, he was interested in her 13 month old daughter.

Who she let him abuse repeatedly.

He is locked up in a California jail charged with statutory rape, statutory sodomy and promoting child pornography  Vanvlerah is jailed in St. Louis County - same charges +1 of incest.

13 months old.

THIRTEEN MONTHS OLD.

The trauma, the horror, the pain, the complete anniliation of trust.  That poor child - it absolutely breaks my heart.

The tiny girl was treated at the hospital for her injuries and is in state custody.

This story comes one day after the story of this twosome made news:

She is Angela Blackwell, 45.  He is Johnnie Griffin, 67 - both of Michigan.

Their crime?

Angela allowed Johnnie to have sex with the ten 10 year old girl she was caring for in exchange for cocaine.  Repeatedly.  From September to February.

A ten year old girl.  A sixty-seven year old man.

Actually strike that.  He is no man.  He is a pathetic sack of flesh and bone.  Calling him, or Kyle, a "man" does a disservice to real men everywhere.

Real men being the ones who understand that the children of this world are to be cared for, cherished, protected.

Angela is in jail awaiting a hearing.  Johnnie is on the run - police are looking for him.

The most horrible part of these two stories is that I know, just as you do, that these are just the ones that have been ferreted out.  How many poor, defenseless babies, toddlers, children are treated this way every single day?  As I sit here typing I know that somewhere a child is crying out in pain, not understanding what is happening to them, just knowing with every fiber of their tiny being that it is so very wrong.

And my hearts breaks.

Throw these people into the general population of the prison system.  And then walk away.  I imagine much more than their hearts will be broken in very short order.

Again ... Wow.  Just wow.

When Something REAL Rocks Our World

Last night, as so many of us sat in the comfort of our homes, on the cushiness of our couches, feeding our bellies with popcorn, Oreos, and soft drinks, filling our minds with the saccharine pap that is, let's be honest, American Idol - real life, not reality TV life, was playing out on a massive scale.

Haiti, a land which on a good day is heartbreaking, was literally breaking.  A 7.0 magnitude earthquake, and over 28 4.0 and higher aftershocks, sent the nation crumbling to its knees.  Scratch that.  Haiti is a land on its knees.  This sent it face down in the dirt.

It is the type of scenario that reinforces my personal belief that God does not dole out the suffering, but rather is there to take in the suffering when the worst befalls them.  These people suffer daily.  They are poor, they are hungry, they are in the shadows of humanity, barely a blip on our personal, self absorbed radars.  The last thing they need is the literal piling on to their agonies with buildings, walls, bridges.

As music star Wyclef Jean writes about his homeland, "The majority of its 8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close to 80 percent, and more than half the population is under 21 years old. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere."

Basically, their Gross National Product is misery.

This morning there is still no official death toll, though the numbers will no doubt begin to climb as the sun rises.

 

(This is heartbreaking.  A withering glance from Simon is not.)

American Idol will again take our attention away this evening.  Away to frivolous pursuits, laughs at the expense of others, and glimmers of hope here and there as some people draw nearer to their dreams with a Golden Ticket.  As you watch, please take a moment to think of all those in Haiti whose only dream was to live another day, love another day. 

The Golden Ticket they received yesterday has a whole other meaning.

May they rest in peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your ability to help is literally a text message away.  Learn how HERE.

The Agony Of Desweet

Just something sweet and funny to end your workweek.

Based on a psychological test created by Walter Mischel in the 60s, the Marshmallow Test is all about self control and delayed gratification.

It's also about some seriously cute kids.

Question For You

Here's a question to ponder over your morning coffee...

How many of you have taken the time to do any actual research into the proposed health care legislation?

That doesn't mean regurgitating what the Becks, Limbaughs, etc spew as talking points.

I mean YOU, investing time into what is, admittedly (I HAVE read the various proposals), a boring blob of words.

I ask this because at town hall meetings, mob mentality is beginning to break out - the latest location is Tampa, where angry, ill informed mobs had to be dealt with by police.  They carry their Obama is a Nazi swastika signs, they embrace the latest one where he is depicted in Heath Ledger's Joker make-up, they all tote their birth certificates in Zip-lok bags, and they all shout the garbage they have been spoonfed by conservative talking heads.  And so very many of them are senior citizens who don't realize how they have been turned into walking, screaming hypocrites by their "leaders". 

The ones in Tampa even admitted to police they had been spurred on by Beck.

The ones that get inside these town hall meetings show their ignorance at every turn.

They believe that the government is going to euthanize old people so they don't have to spend money on them.  WRONG.

And the most beautiful example of this willful, intentional ignorance of theirs is found in the older folks who show up shouting things like, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."

President Obama received a letter from an older woman last week that read, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare."

Um, OK old person who has no idea how stupid that statement is.  Let's get government to stop touching your Medicare.  Oops!  Poof!  Where did that Medicare go?!?!?

An analyst,  Arthur Laffer, actually went on CNN and spouted this: 

"If you like the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."

Pssst, old people and analysts who listen to talk radio and watch Faux News - MEDICARE IS GOVERNMENT RUN.

God, I hate stupidity.

It's like the email crap that gets forwarded from inbox to inbox by mindless lemmings who don't care to do an ounce of actual research because what they just read reinforces their current hatred or fear.

Next time you're wasting time on Facebook taking quizzes that don't matter, or Tweeting about what you're cooking for dinner, think about investing that time in educating yourself about the issues at hand.  The information is all out there, readily accessible.

Find out what the legislation actually means to YOU.  How will YOUR life be impacted.  Because I guarantee you, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh don't give a rat's ass about YOU or your health care.

As Larry The Cable Guy Would Say, "I Don't Care Who You Are, That's Funny Right There...

Much ado was made about President Obama and VP Biden hitting a burger joint a couple days ago for some lunch.

Mucho ado was made of it by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.  (That Dan Rather is caliente...)

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You'll Gobble, Gobble This Up

With Thanksgiving just a week away, I know my thoughts are turning to all the different ingredients I need to be adding to my shopping list to make the day a suitable Trytophanapalooza for my family.

Now, we all do our turkeys differently...which is fine.  Some deep fry (please be careful if this is you.  I hate the predictable Fifteen-people- burn-down-their-homes-in-wild-fried-turkey-infernos news pieces that spring up by day's end.  Just thinking about the devastation makes it hard to digest my yams and crescent rolls.

Some cram oyster dressing up their bird's yutz.  Personally, I don't want to bite into a piece of rubbery, snotlike seafood while enjoying my repast.

Some mount their turkeys over cans of Bud.  More power to you.  I'm a purist.  I like to look in the oven and see my Tom peacefully crisping, not doing moves out of Cirque du Soleil.

For the Sharp clan, the turkey which has become required cooking on Thanksgiving transcends any others I have enjoyed in the past.

It dosn't matter what type of stuffing you like - cram it in there (the actual recipe calls for shoving in an apple and an onion, but we use cornbread stuffing).  What makes the difference in this recipe is what goes on the outside.

Bacon and real Maple Syrup.

Seriously people, screw the turkey.  We just cook it these days because it's the base on which the bacon rests and gets basted by the maple syrup for hours.

If it sounds good to you, you can find the recipe here.

I promise you, your family will gobble it up.

(What are your best T-day recipes?  Send them to me at [email protected] and I will post them in the center space!)