stix und stonz

in honor of black history month, a chef at nbc's commissary whipped up a menu of fried chicken, collard greens, and cornbread. wanda sykes was on jay leno saying how racist this menu was. she was all het up about it. what she apparently didn't know is that the chef is a black woman who had whipped up a traditional soul-food menu in honor of black history month. i mean, what the hell was she supposed to fix? spaghetti? enchiladas? trout almondine? it is black. history. month. not world-o'-tastes month. jeez.

these days people are overly sensitive to any sort of real or perceived insult. we are all something. black. white. smarty pants. retard. fatty. toothpick. four eyes. eagle eyes. city girl. redneck. surfer boi. skater boi. uptight. slacker. stuffed shirt. lackey. western. eastern. asian. african. american. bolivian. cowgirl. goth chick. spaz. jock. short bus. honor roll. hippy. caffeine freak. war monger. peacenik. elitist. commoner. alien. hoodie. socialite. poet.

we are all something. we are none of us everything. sometimes someone will say something that offends someone else. most of the time it's unintentional. we just say shit without thinking. the problem is that when we say it, we know it's on accident, but when someone else says it, we presume it's on purpose. we're just wired to be defensive. try this, though, the next time that happens to you - the next time you take offense and believe someone said something about you with the intent to be hurtful - try this: stop. that's all. just don't react. firstly, this will diffuse any potential escalation. secondly, you will look unbelievably cool.

what? well, yes - of course i practice what i preach. what the hell are you implying?!