finally I got the story straight.
the strange culinary habits of americans were shaken by someone who shew on
television that people eat locust in many elsewhere locations.
then the restaurant owner killed himself in a bathroom near Strasbourg.
HUA
palma, apgs
On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 10:38 AM, Lionpainter <lionpainter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thank you for the compliment of my poem...but...
Giving Anthony Bourdain too much credit? Well perhaps. Why? The cowboy
chef, the biker cook, the enlightened rambler and writer, then television
foodie was, maybe, just another guy in another white/plaid shirt to some. A
foodie James Dean? A Cheffy Kerouac? He was just a guy that was bored with
the establishment world and had no fear to eat organ foods or street foods
and walk among the Natives of any land. To most women he was too much
testosterone and rebel, but secretly they loved seeing his cryptic and
acerbic Nature trucking around the globe. I know I did.
For those that don’t know, Anthony Bourdain came into people’s homes via
the television in America, (CNN) and did shows that were the first of a
kind for CNN. He traveled the world to odd and wondrous places few
American’s had gone and he opened the door to cultures people in the
bucolic world or the bourgeois class would never see. Sass. He was spice
and vinegar, and chili peppers all in one being.
But am I detecting some snobbery here? Because he was just a “cook” or
chef? He captured something both intelligent and manly; a kind of explorer
in the modern world. He was quite bright, well educated, and though very
modern in his literary tastes and style, he continued studying and learning
his entire life. He started in NJ at the bottom and climbed to quite
amazing heights and was a hero to a lot of people. Wild man would be my
description of him. He was cool and hip and quite the rebel. And in the
end left us all feeling a bit unhinged. Maybe he wanted that.
Perhaps he made too many enemies with his criticisms and judgments.
Fearless to call things like he saw them, he created a lot of stir in
settled society. I liked that. Settled and “cultured” society can be bland
to some. I am no wild one, but cowardly enjoy watching the brave explorers
live edgy lives...and write about them. I often cringed at his daring, at
his willingness to taste so many strange things, but loved seeing the world
from his eyes. He helped make my world larger.
I’m sorry he chose the end he did. Suicides are up in our society. He had
a very sensitive inside with an armor thick and strong covering him
externally. Few got to see the softer side of Tony. Too soft to maintain
the stress of being an aging wild man, perhaps.
Too much credit? Did you know him personally? Did he use his criticisms
against you or one of your own? I’m curious why you would say that. Please
share.
Well, perhaps too much credit when you think he “wormed out” and left his
11 year old to deal with a world without her Father. Yes. But we will never
know why. We never really do know why some bail out at their own hand. The
rest of us, the still living ones suffer greatly.
Enough of my defense and his.
As for the poem, I have had a few folks like the poem, and one guy, a
teacher of literature, just wrote: “Really great first draft”. Perhaps
the critic expects me to dwell on the poem...too painful. But sometimes,
just sometimes, I feel the need to write my feelings,
unpolished...sometimes in song, sometimes in words. The “first draft” guy
complimented me, I guess, because he thought I was working on the craft and
art of poetry. I wasn’t. I was just sharing my grief. I was just sad.
Here’s an informative article explaining just who he was:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthony-bourdain-celebrity-
chef-dead-at-61-suicide/
He tried.
Just saying...
Regards,
Sherrie...in WF, NC, USA.
“Clouds come floating in to my life, no longer to carry rain or usher
storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” —Rabindranath Tagore
*"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to
everything else in the Universe**."* --John Muir
“Do What You Can, Where You Are, With What You Have.”- Teddy Roosevelt
"*The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."*-Joseph Campbell
