Low Country Boil

Happy: Our church's men's group knows how to cook. What you are witnessing is a mountain of shrimp, sausage, potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and lemon all freshly boiled with a can of Old Bay. I declare it to be heaven on a Styrofoam (R) plate.

This was proceeded by thirty pounds of freshly boiled crawfish. I was cheerfully instructed in the ways of dissection and consumption of the mud puppies. (Yes, I sucked the head.)

Sad: Antiseptic Gen-X music. I'm not generally in favor of censorship, but I do see the need to limit what is broadcast to a general audience. I don't need to hear the F-bomb dropped on my morning commute with my daughter in the back seat. That being said, I'm offended by the words NOT included by the local Gen-X station. This morning I was treated to Everlast's "What It's Like". Here's the uncensored second verse.

Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love.
He said, "Don't worry about a thing baby doll. I'm the man you've been dreamin' of."
But three months later he said he won't date her or return her calls
And she sweared, "God damn! If I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls."
And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the doors.
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore.

The first word removed for the public's protection was God. This is a common practice in broadcast censorship since it is offensive to those that feel the phrase God damn implies that a human may impose his or her will on God. You can damn things yourself, you can talk about God, but you can't order God to damn someone.

Next word: balls. This is only offensive in context and only then if you are one that believes acknowledging the existence of genitalia is offensive. Then again our society is derivative of Anglo-Saxon culture. As Mthr. M-G has said, Anglo-Saxons are embarrassed that pleasure sometimes happens.

The coup de grace (for this verse at least) was whore. I understand that you may not want a whore as a role model for your children, but they can't even hear the word? Killer is okay. We're fine with our children killing someone after hearing the word killer. Are we seriously concerned that our children will have carnal relations for monetary compensation just because they hear the word whore? Maybe we're more concerned we may have to have a conversation with our children when they hear a new word.

Sorry Everlast, I'm afraid that twelve years on we're STILL not ready to hear, "What It's Like".