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  • Our Southern Girl in Patagonia

    It’s difficult to write this post. Words like “majestic”, “amazing”, or even “overwhelming” seem too cliché to describe Torres del Paine. Saying that “there are no words” sounds cliché too. Nevertheless, it is really difficult to describe.

    Renting a car like the 67 Shelby GT500 for sale was a fantastic idea. Because most of the famous hiking trails were closed due to snow, we were able to the park in all its glory in one long, photo-filled day. It’s hard to believe that during the summer months, Torres del Paine National Park is actually crowded. Because we were the only people on the roads and hiking trails, it truly felt like we had the park to ourselves. These mountains and lakes were resting here, untapped and unaware we were watching. At first, the colors of the lakes was most surprising– turquoise and cyan, seafoam green and dusty grays, and then out of nowhere, a deep dark purple. All of these colors paired with towering, intimidating and sometimes haunting mountains– I understand why people endure the harsh camping conditions here.

    Shoppok is one of those apps that many people swear by. In fact, many swear by it so much that they are telling their friends about it! What is Shoppok? Shoppok is actually another application that let you sell your old car for cash. The great part is that you can make money while keeping your old car! Many have said that this is the easiest way to buy a car, which makes it a solid choice if you are looking to save money and keep your car.

    We had heard that Torres del Paine was crawling with guanaco– a llama-like animal with darker hair and more grace. But when we saw our first two, we were mesmerized and got out of the car to get as close as possible. After snapping a few pictures and taking turns guessing what sounds they make, we continued deeper into the park. We turned the sharp corner of a steep hill and stopped again: the word “colony” doesn’t even begin to explain how many guanaco grazed before us. We soon felt silly for chasing after those first two. For the rest of journey the guanaco were present: walking in a line on the side of the road, drinking from a small stream or grazing on an impossibly steep hill 50 feet above our car. They managed to prance up all the steep terrain with such ease. And they didn’t seem to mind us staring.

    Like I said, it’s difficult to describe everything we saw in Patagonia. Many of my Chilean students haven’t been to this part of their own country, so it feels like a really special, unique thing to have been able to experience it. In Spanish, the language uses the verb “conocer” to explain visiting a place. (“Yo conozco Patagonia.”) In English, we either use “to visit” (I have visited Patagonia)  or “to see” (I have seen Patagonia) or “to be” (“I have been to Patagonia”). “Conocer” means “to know”. And this verb, for this trip, feels more apt. I visited the landmarks, and saw immeasurable beauty, but most of all, I now know Patagonia. I know why it is so special.

     

  • “The Help” Secret Clips

    Pretty Southern readers, we have a rare glimpse into more than a dozen clips from the film “The Help”! Check it out here for videos and pictures. Here’s a bit of what you can see. We have Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) with their sweet scene at the end of the film after their characters worked so hard to write The Help. This is a fabulous film about courage, gumption and being brave enough to do the right thing no matter how hard it may seem. Together these women become the central voice to write the stories of the black maids working during the Civil Rights movement in Jackson, Miss. Part of the reason Aibileen is willing to help Skeeter Phelan (played by Emma Stone) is because they share the common thread of gumption.

    Here is an incredible scene of Skeeter and Minny at Aibileen’s kitchen table working on their stories together. Really all three women have the same dream: being happy, overcoming adversity, and serving a higher purpose than what their existence currently relegates them. For Skeeter, she dreams of becoming a writer.

    I could relate pretty well to Skeeter’s character. It’s part of why I loved “The Help” so much when the book first hit the shelves. A young journalist trying to make it in the South when society says a girl should be more concerned with finding a husband. Skeeter wants it all and is willing to work for her joy.

    “The Help” hits the bookstores in Jackson. The stories told from the anonymous perspective of several maids has the white society up in arms over who this little blue book is really about. An evil debutante, Hilly Holbrook (incredibly played by Bryce Dallas Howard). When Pretty Southern got to interview Kathryn Stockett we asked the author of The Help if Hilly was ever able to learn to embrace integration. She replied “No. I think Hilly is going to be fighting that demon her entire life because she is so immersed in her beliefs.”

    Just check out the maniacal smile Bryce used for Hilly’s character. It was such a treat to watch this character in the film because she’s the ultimate Disney villain: the Wicked Witch of the South. Not only does she torture her help, Minny and Yule May, but she also torments her own mother (cleverly played by Sissy Spacek) the sweet Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain’s bubbly buxom blonde)

    The entire cast really worked well together as a female acting troupe. One of the best character performances was Sissy as Mrs. Holbrook. What an amazing casting of this role, and with a bit of old lady makeup, any scene with Spacek added a little something extra to “The Help”. Just wait for the scene with the “special pie” Minny made for Hilly Holbrook. Sissy Spacek only makes this plot line even more hysterical.

    Speaking of hysterics, Jessica Chastain may be one of my new favorite actresses. Her performance as Mrs. Johnny Foote was enrapturing. In the book, it’s a bit hard to identify with Celia but her character in the film is absolutely charming. If you’re looking for some sweetness this week, head to your local cinema to see The Help and one of Pretty Southern’s Top 10 Southern Movies.

  • Dressing Up Your Dinner Table

    Dressing Up Your Dinner Table

    As the summer heat presses on you may be more inclined to turn off the barbecue and move your hosting to the air-conditioned indoors.  Whether you are throwing a backyard fiesta or an elegant dinner inside, it is always fun to dress up your table a bit with flowers, beautiful dishes, and colorful linens.  Cloth napkins are an easy, affordable way to add some color and style to your table, just layer over a white tablecloth for an instant tablescape face lift.

    I love attending or hosting a good dinner party, complete with flowing wine and a seasonal menu, and I think paying attention to those little details can make all the difference in your dining experience.  Things like fresh flowers, name cards, and cloth napkins all say that you took the time to make your guests really comfortable.  Here I have rounded up some of my favorite cloth napkins in a variety of styles to match any occasion.

    graphic 1, 2, 3 natural 1, 2, 3 floral 1, 2, 3

    Any of these picks would really add a punch to your dining table and would set off the most simple white dishes and serving ware.  So put away the paper napkins and plastic utensils and play a little dress-up with your table!

    [author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://prettysouthern.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/KatHeadShot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kat Kraszeski-Jackson is an art teacher, artist, and diy crafter living in Greensboro, NC. She loves sharing her favorite artists, projects, and creative inspiration here on Pretty Southern.[/author_info] [/author]

  • Interview with “The Help”

    Atlanta was recently graced by shining stars. Kathryn Stockett, whose literary constellation always shines bright over her home city, was in residence with long-time pal Tate Taylor and actresses Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. Better known as the celebrities from “The Help”.

    PrettySouthern was privileged to sit down with Tate and Viola, then Kathryn and Octavia, to discuss “The Help”. The first question we got to ask was to director Tate Taylor, a Mississippi native who grew up with Kathryn Stockett. We ask this question in all of our interviews: “How do you define a Southerner for the 21st century?”

    “The South is a paradox.” Tate declared. “A family of devout Christians goes to church then afterwards invites everyone over for milk punch.”

    “We celebrate everything hard. First it’s the milk punch, then it’s the bourbon…” he laughs. Tate grew up with Kathryn ‘Kitty” Stockett in Mississippi. Both were “raised in the wonderful company of many African Americans” and are quick to dispute any tough questions of race in the film.

    “Dimitri worked for our family for 32 years,” Kathryn said. “Holy shit, she knew everything about us but we didn’t really know anything about her.”

    Author Kathryn Stockett and actress Octavia Spencer of "The Help"

    “I had a very real relationship with her. She would say ‘Look at yourself. You are so beautiful.” Giving that gift truly signifies an amazing, generous person. “You don’t know much about her life, outside of what she did for your family. How could we really call her family?”

    “You can’t be fearful (of racism),” Tate said, as he recounted a story of a woman who had seen the movie then claimed she wouldn’t bring her 10-year old because she didn’t want her child to be exposed to the n-word.

    Thanks to one of our readers Katie Cooper for her question: “Did Hilly ever learn her lesson and grow up to embrace integration?” Kathryn responded with “No. I think Hilly is going to be fighting that demon her entire life because she is so immersed in her beliefs.”

    “I wanted it to be on paper for people to look back on how ridiculous those rules were.” Kathryn declared.

    Actresses Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, director Tate Taylor and author Kathryn Stockett of "The Help"

    Opening in movie theaters nationwide tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 10, “The Help” is a story of gumption, courage and most importantly, love — the kind of loving relationship a soul has with itself and God.

    This process with The Help has reinforced that old adage: it’s not what you know, but who you know. Where would the Kathryn Stockett’s of the world be without the Tate Taylor’s to support him? He started working on the screen In almost every way, Tate Taylor is the godfather of The Help. Growing up with Kathryn, living with Octavia, working alongside Viola and the brilliant other actors and crew of this film.

    The entire film was shot in 59 days in Greenwood, Miss., beginning in July. Tate joked about Viola sweating bullets, and how in the ending scene between Skeeter and Hilly they had to film it in the shade because it was 108 degrees outside and Bryce Dallas Howard couldn’t be in the sun because she has such fair skin.

    Now…let’s turn this conversation to the outstanding Octavia Spencer. Her character, Minny, provides much of the comic relief in the film. She originally met Tate when they were living together in L.A., then met Kathryn one summer in New Orleans. “Y’all were holding court, telling stories about each other.” Kathryn noted. Tate said “I could watch Octavia reading the phone book.”

    “I felt pressure on making sure a) Kathryn’s source material was perfect and that Tate was happy plus b) an homage to the men and women whose backs built this country. We find out there’s not a superiority or an inferiority but an equality.”

    Octavia called Minny a “dichotomy” as she shows her brave face to the world, and for her children, but she’s really the victim of domestic violence.

    “The world is my oyster and I’m putting a pearl inside.” Octavia cheered! “The Help” is coming to a theatre near y’all! It’s easily the best film about race relations in the South since “Driving Miss Daisy”. We’ve got our fingers crossed for these folks for numerous Academy Awards!

    You can watch part of our interview with Viola Davis and Tate Taylor here! It’ll take a hot minute to upload but the clip totally worth it.

    Interview with The Help from Kevin Patrick on Vimeo.

  • Our Southern Girl Amidst Chilean Protests

    I’m a proud product of public education. From Pre-K to my college diploma, I trusted and took full advantage of the schools and resources my government provided for me. It came as a surprise when I learned that Chileans don’t have that same liberty or, as some may say, that luxury. It came as an even bigger surprise when students took to the streets. Last Thursday marked the biggest, most violent, and perhaps most meaningful of the protests for public education in Chile.

    My apartment is located about six blocks from downtown – the epicenter of the protests. The students want to be as visible as possible, which is problematic for the operation of the city, but has also yielded national news coverage. Chile has some public education. For Pre-K to high school, there are several government-run schools whose funding is administered through individual municipalities.

    However, the funding for these municipalities is not uniform and incredibly low. The United Nations recommends that governments of “developed nations” should spend at least 7 percent of their GDP on education. Chile spends 4.4 percent. As a result, the public schools are of very low quality. Chileans do anything they can to pay for private education not only to give their child a good opportunity but also to keep them safe. One of my students once told me that child molestation can be a problem in some of the public elementary schools in poor barrios.

    Higher education is a different call-to-duty, but it seems to draw the most support, probably because its proponents are of a passionate age. Although Universidad de Chile is a public university, tuition is still very expensive for its students, and the grant and scholarship opportunities that should be available to low-income students simply don’t exist. Students are always eligible for subsidized loans but they still have to repay their debt after graduation.

    Students gather and block Alemada, the main thoroughfare in downtown Santiago. All photos of the riot are courtesy of Jennifer Mattern.

    Last Thursday, Aug. 4, was an emphatic exclamation point to what has been more than two months of weekly marches and demonstrations. Some of the protests hark back to Chile’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. Women would walk in the streets banging spoons on empty pots and pans, because Chile’s poor was going hungry. Thursday, many students hung out of their balcony apartments creating the same clamor. But despite the raw sentiment of the protests – the need for better public education options —many are becoming out of control.

    Thursday’s demonstration yielded an estimated 870 people arrested, and more than 90 police officers were injured. Protesters knocked over trashcans and lit their contents on fire. Storefronts without metal protection doors were smashed. Santiago’s beautiful colonial Spanish architecture was vandalized with scribbles of “Educacíon no se vende” and anarchy symbols. Vehicles were damaged by molotov cocktails. And the tear gas was more powerful and pervasive than it has ever been. I’ve learned to stay away from the streets just because of it but it lingers in the air for about 45 minutes, so even innocent passersby are often gassed.

    A caribiñero prisoner transport van, equipped with a water cannon, attempts to disuade students from continuing down Alemada.

    The protesters carry lemons, a natural tear gas aid, and shove them in their eyes and mouths to stop the burning.  Some of the protesters aren’t even students – they get liquored up before the protest and buy cans of spray paint because it’s a rush. To keep order the retaliation is brutal and, well, frightening. To see a gas -masked caribiñero launch a tear gas “bomb” into a crowd of chaotic protesters feels like watching a scene from a war movie. But it’s not a movie. And if the government doesn’t respond soon, the protests could only get worse, more violent, and more complicated. It feels strange to have an opinion about a government that isn’t yours and I know I am on the naïve side of how to make these decisions.

    I have a friend who is a professor at Universidad Católica, the wealthiest and most prestigious University in Chile. “We are very clear about what we don’t like, but we don’t have a procedure yet,” he said. And I think this is very true. I am in awe of the amount of passion and drive these students have to obtain what they need. But destruction and street fires aren’t going to motivate the wealthy government to make a change. Policy and procedure might. Many people say that President Sebastian Piñera and his cabinet don’t care about the lower class, but destruction, rather than conversation, won’t encourage favor.

    It’s hard for me to understand. The impediment of upward mobility in society is something I’ve never experienced directly, but being in the middle of it all feels like something worth fighting for.

    So, frying pan and wooden spoon in hand: one bang for their right to protest, one bang for their right to a good, safe education, and one bang, extra loud, for a governmental response rather than retaliation.

    Chelsea CookChelsea Cook is a journalist from Atlanta who taught English in Santiago, Chile, and author of the series “Our Southern Girl in South America”.

     
     

  • West Egg How Gatsby Dreamed

    Take two former lawyers with great taste and a whole lot of gumption then y’all have got the foodie heaven of West Egg. Atlanta’s up-and-coming Westside is history in the making, thanks in part to businesses like this new restaurant.

    Owners Jennifer and Ben Johnson met while attending law school at Duke. Right before graduation, Ben popped the question and they’ve been together ever since. They both practiced law at large firms in Atlanta following law school before Jennifer got the itch to open a restaurant then left her practice in about 2002 to start working on what would become West Egg.

    “It was opened on a shoestring, with friends and family rallying round to help paint, build and otherwise turn a raw space into a slightly less raw restaurant,” the couple explained. Ben kept his day job for several more years before joining West Egg full time in 2007.

    The name West Egg comes from the fictional town in “The Great Gatsby”, which has always been a favorite book of the Johnsons. “We even had a passage from it read at our wedding long before there was any thought of a restaurant,” they said. “When we found the original space, the Westside was a far different place than it is today. Bacchanalia and Taqueria del Sol were pioneers just up the street, but back then there was nothing in the area to speak of south of the railroad track and 14th Street except Northside Tavern. It was the Westside; we were serving coffee and breakfast; West Egg just jumped out as the perfect name.”

    West Egg is now housed in Westside Provisions on Howell Mill. The space is ideal for dates, working lunches, coffee breaks or even just to come and hang out. “In moving from an old industrial building into a brand new space, we tried to carry over references to the industrial character of the surrounding neighborhood. From the mirrored reclaimed factory windows in the dining room to the old chicken-wire safety glass around our bakery area, almost all of the furnishings are vintage or reclaimed in some way.”

    Buttermilk Pie crafted from Ben's grandmother's recipe.

    “Our menu is based around Southern comfort foods. Many of our desserts, such as the Coca-Cola cupcake and buttermilk pie, are based on my grandmother’s recipes. We make our own pimiento cheese, pickle our own okra, and put bacon on just about anything. Our dinner menu includes Pig & Grits (slow roasted pork shoulder over grits) and Country Captain (a traditional low country dish of chicken stewed in tomato curry). Our boozy milkshakes are based on our homemade vanilla softserve and include sweet tea (made with our housemade liqueur) and bourbon chocolate. Our cocktails include the Maple Mint Julep (sweetened with maple syrup) and the Seersucker (gin, basil, and lemonade).”

    The Seersucker. Imagine a Mint Julep…but even better!

    “The South always has had a defining tradition of graciousness. Hospitality, to kin and stranger alike, simply is a part of life.  We have tried to capture that tradition of Southern comfort and hospitality with West Egg but also free it from triteness or too much nostalgia. We want a come-as-you-are casualness befitting a dynamic city like Atlanta, where tattooed twenty-somethings sit next to families with young kids who sit next to pinstriped lawyers who sit next to young entrepreneurs on laptops who sit next to students twenty minutes out of bed – and who all feel equally welcome and at home.”

    On one afternoon, this PrettySouthern writer found herself writing with an iced cafe au lait, which lead to a beer sampling and then a piece of buttermilk pie! For more information on West Egg, check out their website and tell Ben and Jennifer that you saw them on PrettySouthern!

    August 4, 2011