Towanda!

The Actresses of
Fried Green Tomatoes
L to R: Mary Louise Parker,
Mary Stewart Masterson,
Kathy Bates and the late Jessica Tandy.

If you’ve spent any time at all in the South, you support GLBT affairs, live in or around Juliette, Georgia, read Fannie Flagg or for that matter watch movies, then you are probably quite familiar with the term – Towanda! Who knew one screwball word like that could become the battle cry for the fearless.

Well friends, I say to you, “Towanda!”

"I hear they've got an assertive training class for southern women. Of course that's a contradiction in terms." - Missy in Fried Green Tomatoes

The amazing and talented Pam Asberry and I launched WritersLi.P.P. this week (This is meant to be your introduction to my half of the partnership. Oh boy!). To that I say, “Towanda!”

I’m 39 years old and more aware of who I am and what I want out of life than I EVER have been. “Towanda!”

I’m in the middle of a divorce, raising a three year old, and made the decision to risk a lot in order to ensure she gets through this transition with her mom close by. “Towanda!”

There are many passions in my life not the least of which is writing. I am a writer and reader, chef and gardener, painter and singer, and have proven to be a really big flirt who embraces her sexuality. “Towanda!”

"I can't even look at my own vagina!" - Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates)

To me it doesn’t matter what you believe or how strongly you believe it. If your opinion differs from mine, I will welcome yours with open arms and respect you for offering it. The best part is that I will still love and admire you and happily coexist despite our differences. “Towanda!”

The South is my home. I was born in Macon, Georgia and have lived from Macon to Decatur and many places in between and beyond. I have the right to take my place as a Daughter of the Confederacy because my “greats” fought in a war a long time ago that I had nothing to do with. I might not approve but I embrace my history. “Towanda!”

I have friends who range in age from twenty-six to ninety-six and in nationality from American mutt to Canadian to Persian – I love each of them equally. “Towanda!”

This laundry list might be off-putting to some. I’m okay with that. I’m not looking for anyone’s approval. My dream is to get to know you and be part of how you embrace who you’ve become and stand with you with sledge-hammer in hand as you yell at the top of your breathless lungs, “Towanda!”

Enough about me; join the conversation. What inspires you to yell “Towanda”? What would hold you back? What draws you into a blog about love and life written by two writers?

Thanks to Fanny Flagg and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café for such an amazing story and the fearlessness that should inspire us all.

"It's all right, honey. Let her go. Let her go. You know, Miss Ruth was a lady. And a lady always knows when to leave." - Sipsey (Cicely Tyson)