you can take the girl out of bakersfield. . .
- Thread starter LuluB
- Start date
but you can't take the bakersfield out of the girl.
i have a california sized love hate relationship with my home town.
i mean. . . it's home after all and, for the first 20 years of my life, it was the only home i knew. my parents met there. married there. i was born there. nearly my entire family still lives there. i've lived other places, (boston, san francisco, new york) but when home comes to mind, it's a miserable piece of dry heat smack in the middle of california.
but don't you let me hear you calling it that.
i wonder if sinatra felt this way about hoboken?
i have a california sized love hate relationship with my home town.
i mean. . . it's home after all and, for the first 20 years of my life, it was the only home i knew. my parents met there. married there. i was born there. nearly my entire family still lives there. i've lived other places, (boston, san francisco, new york) but when home comes to mind, it's a miserable piece of dry heat smack in the middle of california.
but don't you let me hear you calling it that.
i wonder if sinatra felt this way about hoboken?
bakersfield, p.d.
critically acclaimed.
quirky.
prematurely cancelled.
you’d think i’d love it. my kind of show. northern exposure? loved it! andy richter controls the universe? more please! freaks and geeks? twin peaks? own the dvds!
so, bakersfield, p.d., “brilliant but cancelled,” according to my friends at trio. i like trio. it’s one of the reasons i was giddy when i finally got digital cable (the others being turner classic movies and re-runs of the adventures of pete and pete on the n). i giggle with them at the folly of cop rock and the stupidity of pink lady and jeff, they show rowan and martins laugh-in for christ sake! and egg, the art show. i love egg, the art show! they know what i like and they like, nay love, bakersfield, p.d., so i watched, i wanted to give it the chance i never gave it when it aired.
when i lived in bakersfield, when it first aired, i just couldn’t bring myself to watch it. it’s hard to see the place you live, the place you know, treated as thought it’s the most podunk of podunk towns. a town full of ignorant, but sweet, people who’ve, seemingly, never set eyes on an outsider before. so dry and so brown, a town long past its prime. the bakersfield in bakersfield, p.d. out small-towns mayberry, out quirkys cicily, and out hicks hee-haw. the bakersfield in bakersfield, p.d. is not bakersfield, california. it’s a town built on johnny carson jokes and drives from l.a. to san francisco.
the main difference between bakersfield, p.d.’s bakersfield and mayberry, cicily, and, even, twin peeks is that those quirky, little, small towns are fictional. they don’t exist. there are no residents to offend when you portray them as adorably inept. no questions raised when the landscape of the town portrayed bears no resemblance to that of the actual setting of the show. basically, no feelings hurt.
a half hour long show about how dumb and small your town is is hard to watch.
now that i live in new york, though, now that i’m a new yorker, i should be able to appreciate this show for the great writing and nuanced acting for which it was lauded. i should be able to laugh at what so many others have called “one of the funniest, well-made comedies to ever hit the tube.”
i tried.
i can’t.
i just sit there, shaking my head, talking to my tv (“that’s not what it’s like.” “that’s not what we’re like.” “where’d you film this? taft!?!”). then i change the channel.
distance hasn’t changed anything.
i guess, maybe, i’m not much of a new yorker after all.
critically acclaimed.
quirky.
prematurely cancelled.
you’d think i’d love it. my kind of show. northern exposure? loved it! andy richter controls the universe? more please! freaks and geeks? twin peaks? own the dvds!
so, bakersfield, p.d., “brilliant but cancelled,” according to my friends at trio. i like trio. it’s one of the reasons i was giddy when i finally got digital cable (the others being turner classic movies and re-runs of the adventures of pete and pete on the n). i giggle with them at the folly of cop rock and the stupidity of pink lady and jeff, they show rowan and martins laugh-in for christ sake! and egg, the art show. i love egg, the art show! they know what i like and they like, nay love, bakersfield, p.d., so i watched, i wanted to give it the chance i never gave it when it aired.
when i lived in bakersfield, when it first aired, i just couldn’t bring myself to watch it. it’s hard to see the place you live, the place you know, treated as thought it’s the most podunk of podunk towns. a town full of ignorant, but sweet, people who’ve, seemingly, never set eyes on an outsider before. so dry and so brown, a town long past its prime. the bakersfield in bakersfield, p.d. out small-towns mayberry, out quirkys cicily, and out hicks hee-haw. the bakersfield in bakersfield, p.d. is not bakersfield, california. it’s a town built on johnny carson jokes and drives from l.a. to san francisco.
the main difference between bakersfield, p.d.’s bakersfield and mayberry, cicily, and, even, twin peeks is that those quirky, little, small towns are fictional. they don’t exist. there are no residents to offend when you portray them as adorably inept. no questions raised when the landscape of the town portrayed bears no resemblance to that of the actual setting of the show. basically, no feelings hurt.
a half hour long show about how dumb and small your town is is hard to watch.
now that i live in new york, though, now that i’m a new yorker, i should be able to appreciate this show for the great writing and nuanced acting for which it was lauded. i should be able to laugh at what so many others have called “one of the funniest, well-made comedies to ever hit the tube.”
i tried.
i can’t.
i just sit there, shaking my head, talking to my tv (“that’s not what it’s like.” “that’s not what we’re like.” “where’d you film this? taft!?!”). then i change the channel.
distance hasn’t changed anything.
i guess, maybe, i’m not much of a new yorker after all.
my mom is NOT white trash.
for the longest time i thought goulash was this noodle dish my mom and my grandma used to make. boy was i surprised when i finally had real goulash, it's nothing like the dish i grew up eating.
why am i writing about goulash?
well, a few weeks back my friend and i were chatting, killing time before an event, and food, namely casseroles, became the topic of discussion. i mentioned my family's version of goulash and said that i guess it was some sort of "white trash goulash" due to the fact that canned tomato soup and creamed corn are 2 of the main ingredients. she made faces when i told her the specifics of my favorite comfort food and then she said "well, your mom is white trash."
(needle being yanked off my "on the streets of bakersfield" record.)
what!?!?!?!?
firstly, no. no my mom is not white trash. she is pretty damn far from white trash.
secondly, this friend has never even met my mom.
thirdly, even if she was white trash and even if my friend had met her, why would anybody say that about another person's mom? she's my mom! you don't talk about people's moms like that!
maybe it was my fault. qualifying the goulash as white trash led my friend to believe that my mom was white trash. evidence of this assumption on my friend's part was found when i exclaimed "my mom is not white trash!" and my friend responded "well, where'd she get the recipe?"
i don't quite know what that means. do people go to school to learn the proper way to be white trash? are there courses on white trash cooking, putting your car on blocks, how to wear acid wash, and the finer points of miller high life? does one get a handbook?
"where'd she get the recipe?"
well, since my grandma (who is also not white trash) makes it too, i'm assuming that it was found in one of the popular woman's magazines published in the 40's and 50's. magazines published and sold all over the country, not just in the towns where "people where trucker hats without irony."*
my friend still doesn't see why i was offended by what was said. then again, this is also the friend who told me one day that my hair looked like a wig (the exact wording i forget, but it had to do with me looking like a hasidic woman). tact is not this person's best quality.
but calling my mom white trash. . .
man, that's lo-fi.
*from a new york times article about 36 hours in bakersfield
for the longest time i thought goulash was this noodle dish my mom and my grandma used to make. boy was i surprised when i finally had real goulash, it's nothing like the dish i grew up eating.
why am i writing about goulash?
well, a few weeks back my friend and i were chatting, killing time before an event, and food, namely casseroles, became the topic of discussion. i mentioned my family's version of goulash and said that i guess it was some sort of "white trash goulash" due to the fact that canned tomato soup and creamed corn are 2 of the main ingredients. she made faces when i told her the specifics of my favorite comfort food and then she said "well, your mom is white trash."
(needle being yanked off my "on the streets of bakersfield" record.)
what!?!?!?!?
firstly, no. no my mom is not white trash. she is pretty damn far from white trash.
secondly, this friend has never even met my mom.
thirdly, even if she was white trash and even if my friend had met her, why would anybody say that about another person's mom? she's my mom! you don't talk about people's moms like that!
maybe it was my fault. qualifying the goulash as white trash led my friend to believe that my mom was white trash. evidence of this assumption on my friend's part was found when i exclaimed "my mom is not white trash!" and my friend responded "well, where'd she get the recipe?"
i don't quite know what that means. do people go to school to learn the proper way to be white trash? are there courses on white trash cooking, putting your car on blocks, how to wear acid wash, and the finer points of miller high life? does one get a handbook?
"where'd she get the recipe?"
well, since my grandma (who is also not white trash) makes it too, i'm assuming that it was found in one of the popular woman's magazines published in the 40's and 50's. magazines published and sold all over the country, not just in the towns where "people where trucker hats without irony."*
my friend still doesn't see why i was offended by what was said. then again, this is also the friend who told me one day that my hair looked like a wig (the exact wording i forget, but it had to do with me looking like a hasidic woman). tact is not this person's best quality.
but calling my mom white trash. . .
man, that's lo-fi.
*from a new york times article about 36 hours in bakersfield
"my mom is not white trash" goulash
1 package of spaghetti
2 tbs. oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken. . . whatever's clever)
1 lb. cheddar cheese (i prefer extra sharp), cubed
1 can of creamed corn
2 cans of tomato soup
1 can of black olives (the size is up to you, i like medium)
salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 large bay leaves
cook spaghetti as you normally would. when it's finished cooking drain, rinse, and set aside.
warm oil in a pan, add onions and cook until they just start to become translucent, add meat. brown the meat making sure that it's all broken up. drain the meat and onion mixture.
in a oven safe container, mix the cooked spaghetti, meat mixture, cheese, corn, tomato soup, and olives together. season with salt and pepper. mix more. smooth out the top and stick the bay leaves into the mixture (leave a little of the leaf sticking out so that you can pull it out after the goulash has cooked. it's very unpleasant to bite down on a bay leaf in you meal).
cook in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. top should be brown and bubbly.
yummy! :up:
1 package of spaghetti
2 tbs. oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken. . . whatever's clever)
1 lb. cheddar cheese (i prefer extra sharp), cubed
1 can of creamed corn
2 cans of tomato soup
1 can of black olives (the size is up to you, i like medium)
salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 large bay leaves
cook spaghetti as you normally would. when it's finished cooking drain, rinse, and set aside.
warm oil in a pan, add onions and cook until they just start to become translucent, add meat. brown the meat making sure that it's all broken up. drain the meat and onion mixture.
in a oven safe container, mix the cooked spaghetti, meat mixture, cheese, corn, tomato soup, and olives together. season with salt and pepper. mix more. smooth out the top and stick the bay leaves into the mixture (leave a little of the leaf sticking out so that you can pull it out after the goulash has cooked. it's very unpleasant to bite down on a bay leaf in you meal).
cook in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. top should be brown and bubbly.
yummy! :up:
We'll kick your ass
i was sent this yesterday by a friend who frequents these boards.
kern county sheriffs kick ass!
mack wimbish, the sheriff of kern county, was one of the people in my neighborhood when i was growing up. before he was sheriff he was in the california state highway patrol (just like ponch and john!) and did the traffic reports on the radio in the morning.
i was sent this yesterday by a friend who frequents these boards.
kern county sheriffs kick ass!
mack wimbish, the sheriff of kern county, was one of the people in my neighborhood when i was growing up. before he was sheriff he was in the california state highway patrol (just like ponch and john!) and did the traffic reports on the radio in the morning.
the girl goes back to bakersfield in 2 days.
should be interesting. it's always fun to see just how far the urban sprawl has sprawled. and boy does it sprawl a lot. . . and often. bakersfield is one town that takes its manifest destiny seriously annexing the smaller towns in the county one by one. i wouldn't be surprised to find out one day that all of kern county was considered bakersfield. wouldn't surprise me at all.
oh, i also get to meet my soon to be step dad on this trip. yeah. . . i'll let you know.
i'll post pictures for you all. bet you can't wait to get a look at the beauty that is bakersfield.
but you'll have to. . .
at least for a few days.
should be interesting. it's always fun to see just how far the urban sprawl has sprawled. and boy does it sprawl a lot. . . and often. bakersfield is one town that takes its manifest destiny seriously annexing the smaller towns in the county one by one. i wouldn't be surprised to find out one day that all of kern county was considered bakersfield. wouldn't surprise me at all.
oh, i also get to meet my soon to be step dad on this trip. yeah. . . i'll let you know.
i'll post pictures for you all. bet you can't wait to get a look at the beauty that is bakersfield.
but you'll have to. . .
at least for a few days.
Last edited:
um, erika, what happened?
i know, i know. . . it's just that i promised pictures and insight from my trip home and i didn't provide. sorry. i ended up being too busy during my time there to take said pictures and seek out said insight.
then, as i tried to figure out what to do here and how to explain myself, life knocked me down and started to kick me in the gut.
my team was desolved and i was pretty much told that i was only an asset to the theater as a prop builder/set decorator and not as a performer. then my long-term temp job that was supposed to go through november ended abruptly on october 23rd. then i couldn't get work for nearly a month. also, during this time i found out tha my grandma had fallen twice, was in the hospital, and would not be able to take care of herself after her release.
this weekend i found out that she's not going to make it out of the hospital.
so i'm going back. . . again.
see you soon.
i know, i know. . . it's just that i promised pictures and insight from my trip home and i didn't provide. sorry. i ended up being too busy during my time there to take said pictures and seek out said insight.
then, as i tried to figure out what to do here and how to explain myself, life knocked me down and started to kick me in the gut.
my team was desolved and i was pretty much told that i was only an asset to the theater as a prop builder/set decorator and not as a performer. then my long-term temp job that was supposed to go through november ended abruptly on october 23rd. then i couldn't get work for nearly a month. also, during this time i found out tha my grandma had fallen twice, was in the hospital, and would not be able to take care of herself after her release.
this weekend i found out that she's not going to make it out of the hospital.
so i'm going back. . . again.
see you soon.
Jeanette Polley 1918-2004
my grandma died saturday. she wasn't sick for long and she was able to die in her home and not at the hospital so there's some comfort there.
now i sit in my mom's house surrounded by her things. it's weird seeing the things i associate with my grandma and her house here.
today was the first day since her death that we went back to her house. i couldn't help but want to cry as i saw everything just as it had been when she was alive and well the last time i visited, 2 months ago. everything was the same. but we had to begin going through her things. i fought back tears as my mom took down the family photos from where i've always remembered them. they'd hung there so long their impression was left on the wall once removed. it felt wrong to take them. it felt wrong to move anything, it felt like she's be back soon and would wonder what was going on.
in addition to my grandma's things and photos, the house is full of sympathy flowers and comfort food but the flowers just make me sick with their too sweet smell and the bland mac and cheese offers me no ease.
my grandma died saturday. she wasn't sick for long and she was able to die in her home and not at the hospital so there's some comfort there.
now i sit in my mom's house surrounded by her things. it's weird seeing the things i associate with my grandma and her house here.
today was the first day since her death that we went back to her house. i couldn't help but want to cry as i saw everything just as it had been when she was alive and well the last time i visited, 2 months ago. everything was the same. but we had to begin going through her things. i fought back tears as my mom took down the family photos from where i've always remembered them. they'd hung there so long their impression was left on the wall once removed. it felt wrong to take them. it felt wrong to move anything, it felt like she's be back soon and would wonder what was going on.
in addition to my grandma's things and photos, the house is full of sympathy flowers and comfort food but the flowers just make me sick with their too sweet smell and the bland mac and cheese offers me no ease.
