Kellie Pickler. Pick Pickler! We support Kellie. We <3 Kellie! Vote 4 Kellie.
Enough. I've tired of it. On every storefront in Albemarle, on the backs of cars, in the paper, on the street, on trash cans and signs, and hundreds of lips: "We support Kellie." You do? Are you supporting someone you know nothing about? I read this article and looked around this website and some others. I thought she was a phony.
Listen, people of Albemarle, you have to do your research and open your eyes. Stop waving down the bandwagon when it passes just because. That goes for the rest of this state, country, and world. I'm not right about many things, but this I know. You—we—need to start thinking more. More, more, more.
I wrote a short sarcastic opinion piece on Kellie Pickler, and a few have noticed. I read several blog entries today about Kellie Pickler that mentioned Albemarle, Stanly County, and North Carolina. Many view us in a less than positive light.
I love where I live. I love Stanly County, Albemarle, and my own little hometown of Norwood, NC (less than ten miles from Albemarle). So, I'm going to make these points:
- Most people in Albemarle are not like the character Kellie Pickler plays on American Idol. Some of us actually care about honesty, fairness, morality, and other virtues, including education.
- Our education system in Stanly County is not as hopeless as Kellie Pickler might lead you to believe. I might teach within it one day. I can assure you that I'll do my best to sway possible future Kellie Picklers from a dishonest route of self-interest.
- Although many in Albemarle and the surrounding area pronounce things differently, it doesn't mean we're idiots. There are dialects, localisms, and various lingustic fluctuations everywhere, not just in the little hick village of Albemarle. I sometimes pronounce salmon as sal·mon, too, simply because I'm a country boy. But this country boy knows the difference. If you say Piaget or Vygotsky incorrectly, it doesn't matter all that much as long as you know what you're talking about. The real issue, I guess, is whether she's purposefully pronouncing things incorrectly and pretending not to know what certain things are because that helps her image of an innocent country girl.
- I'm not attacking an innocent girl. She chose to represent her city, county, and state. She deserves to be studied and reviewed, especially by those who support her and claim her representation, because she now has power—ability to influence, inform, and to be a symbol. (Although it's a shame we have to waste time studying this at all. Maybe everyone should just drop the whole thing.)
- American Idol is not what you may think it is. It's about money, and nearly money alone. Notice the language used, the methods employed. Take notice of commercials. Please think. Please read books sometimes instead of watching television. Let's all better ourselves. Stop watching this show. I promise it'll go away if you do. Advertisers only exploit what's popular. (From time to time I have watched it to see what the fuss is about. Besides, I can't denounce something I know nothing about.)
Remember, the show is called American Idol. Do you really want people like these as your idols?
comments (15)Lindsey pulled into the service station and triggered the fuel door to pop out. Standing behind it, she pulled out her check card only to watch the fierce wind take it. As she fumbled for the piece of plastic with all the dexterity of an infant monkey, she continued the process of tipping out her marbles. Spinning up and around, her kneecap smashed the fuel door. "AAH!" Balancing time with embarrassment, she quickly grabbed the pump, forgetting to unscrew the gas cap, which she then had to pull off sideways and left-handed.
I love her, but her embarrassment brings me endless joy.
And yes, we still call them "service stations." No convenience stores down here. Heck, some still go to "filling stations."
Or! An entry wherein I reveal my gene composition more truthfully.
On June 19, I bought tickets to see The Dillards perform at Oakboro Music Hall. I had hoped then that Lindsey might be able to go; but, she needs to be home to practice for the beach dance. My dad went with me today.
It was to begin at 2:30, and so we left at 12:40. We needn't have done that as our seats were reserved—we had seats 3 and 4 on the front row. When first arriving we saw a replica of Mayberry's squad car parked in front, with a marquee on the building above anouncing The Dillards performance today. We first went into the diner because we didn't know what we were doing. We eventually made our way to the music hall. It was very warm in the building, and people slowly piled in. We were very close to the action. Speaking of which, a camera crew from the Action 64 television station that sponsored the event was there. As everyone was setting up, they were taping the two brothers and Maggie Peterson speaking about The Andy Griffith Show and recording promos.
After the 90 minute wait, it began. Maggie came on first, looking to have aged very well. She sang three songs, beginning with "Put on a Happy Face" (she pulled a friend on stage to comically personify the song), followed by a song about having the feel-too-good-blues. Lastly, she sang a song she dedicated to the Darling family's father, actor Denver Pyle, which may've been called "Buddy".
Jeff Branch, the man who owns the music hall (and who looks a bit like the The Andy Griffith Show character Howard Sprague) was the host of the event. He ran the videos that opened the show for Maggie, lead into the Dillards performance, and which helped to end the show with a tribute to Howard Morris.
After Maggie came The Dillards, who consisted of Doug and Rodney, as well as another younger man on mandolin and fiddle, and another older gentleman on a large bass in the back. Rodney was the speaker of the group, and they joked around a great deal between songs in addition to telling funny, interesting, and touching stories about their lives and their wonderful experience on The Andy Griffith Show. Songs they played included "The Old Home Place," "Dooley," "Doug's Tune," and "The Andy Griffith Show Song". (I need to learn about punctuation). Overall, the crowd gave the greatest cheer for "Dooley". The Dillards also did a cover of Bob Dylan's "Walkin' Down the Line". It was amazing to see Doug and Rodney play as well as they did considering their age. They sounded as good as they did forty years ago.
Terry Smith, whose wife works with my mom, got up on stage and played with them.
After many songs, it was time for questions and answers. One very small boy asked, "What happened to the Darling's mother?" The boys didn't know the answer, but Maggie reminisced about Charlene's wedding, before which Mr. Darling said that she looked like her Ma, who had been run over by a team of hogs. My dad asked how long their day usually lasted on the set.
At the end, "Charlene" came back out and sang with the boys. She sang the salty dog song and "There is a Time," which was excellent.
After everything was finished and they left the stage, most filed out behind them to buy things and get autographs. My dad and I got two pictures, which were signed. I met Maggie and Rodney. I talked with Maggie briefly, and noticing that Rodney was very tired, I simply shook his hand and said, "I just wanted to thank you." Doug, who was noticeably tired at the end of the show, had gone to lie down.
Every so often I let the southern hick in me burst through. That's all right though, because The Andy Griffith Show was a nice part of my youth, and I still watch today.
Here is a video of their performance of "Dooley". It was recorded with my wimpy digital camera, which was also balancing on my knee at the time, so give me a break.
Everyone needs to listen to the song on this site. I live in Stanly County. This song is a lie. It's quite hilarious, though.
The other day I was behind an old redneck going about 10mph below the speed limit. I know it was a redneck because of the two bumper stickers with which he had so wisely decided to adorn his Datsun. The right one was white with SKOAL in large green letters. The left one sealed the deal:
School is keeping me very, very busy. Thursday night I studied a long time for a test to be taken the following morning. I did well, much better than most of the other students. I was glad I studied. Studying is a new concept to me. I never had to in high school, and all my college classes up 'til now have been as cake. Oh well. I missed a couple questions about SCSI, to which I now know the answers. I mean, the SCSI bus can tolerate eight devices per channel, but you have to count the SCSI controller card, so the answer is, of course, seven. What an idiot I am. I also use too many commas.
It's been cooler the past couple of days. I'm glad Fall will be here soon. I love the last three months of the year; college basketball starts, there're several birthdays in the family, the weather is great, and there's no shortage of holidays. I can understand why people might consider me "old fashioned". I attribute it to my rural upbringing, which I’m thankful to’ve had. If you’re not from around here and you visit, you’ll soon learn we have about 100 extra contractions.
It's 12:37am and I just woke up. I gotta get my whole sleeping schedule fixed. I stayed up way too late, or early rather, the other day. So for the past couple days I've been going to bed in the afternoon and waking up really early in the morning. It still allows me to go to class and everything, but it just sucks. Jason called yesterday afternoon wanting to do stuff and I just now heard the messages. Oh well. I guess I'll call him later today.
When I was out jogging yesterday morning I saw a very large bald eagle. It's wingspan was well over three feet. I love nature. I'd rather live in a small mountain village than New York, anytime.
