There seems to be some dust up over Zingerman's Roadhouse (which we love and the people there really love food) is advertising a Harriette Arnow Tribute Dinner, or Appalachian heritage dinner. The American Table Culinary Tours is calling it an 'Ypsitucky Supper'.
Big Deal. A meal is a celebration. American Table Culinary Tours also refers to 'Hillbilly Highways' southerners took to find employment up north. Again, if that was their nickname, it was. They're not called that today, it's historical reference. It's not being used in a mocking way, they're not trying to offend anyone, that'd be counterproductive.
Truth be told, Ypsitucky should mean hard working salt of the earth people who weren't afraid of a hard days work for a days pay. People who helped win World War II by turning Willow Run into a weapon more powerful than anything but the atom bomb. People who helped drive the Motor City's heyday.
So go eat up, it's a tribute as long as we don't let it become a slur. The REAL controversy is why an Ann Arbor business would be celebrating the Appalachian state........of being.
What: The Harriette Arnow Tribute Dinner
Where: Zingerman's Roadhouse, 2501 Jackson Ave
When: June 27, 8 pm
Cost: $75 for a four-course meal with wine/liquor pairings
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2 comments:
Johnny is SO right on this one. Ypsi should be proud of it's manufacturing history. SE Michigan needed the employees and provided opportunities for those who did not have other options in their home states. And what did they achieve? Steady jobs with good pay. They bought homes, invested in the community, put their children through school and kept Americans armed during the war and on the road after. Ypsi Rocks!
Thanks Trixie. If you reclaim the word, much like African Americans have done with the word "nigger", you take away it's power. Now Ypsitucky and Nigger are two vastly different words hurt wise, but it's the idea of YOU taking a word and MAKING it mean something else. African Americans have rendered that word meaningless in THEIR community, so much so that only hurtful uses stand out. When we celebrate the music of the Ypsitucky Colonels, we're saying, it's cool, it doesn't bother us, only if you spit venom and say "Ypsitucky" is it something else and that shows the small minded haters pretty quickly. Then you can isolate THOSE fools.
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