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March is National Women's History Month

This month we celebrate National Women’s History Month. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter – a truly Rogue Southern Gentleman – declared the week of  March 8 to be Women’s History Week.  Then in 1987, Congress very wisely expanded Women’s History Week to include the entire month of March.

The fuel behind this fire has been the National Women’s History Project, whose mission is to recognize the achievements of women in all areas of life – science, community, government, literature, art, sports, business and medicine.  Founded in 1980, they are celebrating their 30th anniversary with the theme “Writing Women Back into History”.

Here at the Rogue Southern Belle, we will celebrate National Women’s History Month by honoring some of the women of the South who have made incredible contributions to our lives. I’m thrilled to announce that we will be featuring some of these women as Honorary Rogue Belles and telling their story to the world so that they can be recognized.

So here’s our question to you: Famous, infamous or obscure – who is the one woman who has made the most difference in your life? Tell us your answer in the Comments section below or email me@roguesouthernbelle.com We may feature your female hero as an Honorary Rogue Belle!

Those quirky Southern Belles of Sugarbaker’s are back, this time live onstage for two performances only.

The Process Theatre is presenting Designing Women Live on Wednesday, Feb 24 and Thursday, Feb 25 at 8pm at Onstage Atlanta located at 2597 North Decatur Road in Decatur. Julia, Mary Jo, Charlene and Suzanne return with their big hair, gobs of makeup and mile-high shoulder pads but this time with a Shakesperean twist:  They are played by MEN!

Dewayne Morgan, Joey Ellington, Greg Morris, and Topher Payne, who brought us the hilarious 2009 resurrection of the Golden Girls, are bringing our charming Southern femme quartet back to life with the promise of lots of snickering giggles and side-splitting guffaws.

The performances will raise funds to benefit The Process Theatre. Tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for students, seniors and military personnel. Get your tickets by calling 404-245-4205 visiting Onstage Atlanta’s Tickets.

Southern-raised musician Zac Brown and the Zac Brown Band’s GRAMMY nominated song Chicken Fried is featured on this year’s GRAMMY Nominees album, proceeds of which benefit charity.

Chicken Fried, from ZBB’s album The Foundation, speaks to a simpler, country life of family, friends, cold beer and a great-fitting pair of jeans. On first glance the song and video, directed by Clifton Collins, Jr, might appear to be promoting that dreaded Southern stereotype of poor, backwoods, ignorant hicks with guns, a “boot in your ass” attitude and secessionist tendencies. But listen closely and you’ll hear, along with the amazing instrumentation, a celebration of the simpler things in life – a sunrise, the taste of a favorite meal, a woman’s love and the “touch of a precious child.”  All of these things resonate especially true now that we’re mired waist-deep in the consequences of years and years of a consumer-centered economy that placed more value on keeping up with the Joneses than keeping our families together, our children safe and our country intact. Zac invites you to join him for a drink if you agree with him about what is important in life. His melodic invitation gives you the sense that, regardless of whether you’re country, hip-hop, progressive, punk, straight, gay, northern, eastern, international or any other classification you give yourself, you would be warmly welcomed at this party.

Chicken Fried also pays tribute to our American soldiers, present and past, who have fought to save these small but vital things for the rest of us to enjoy. Yes, that’s Gunny Sergeant R. Lee Ermey screaming “Lock ‘n load, ladies!” at the end. See photos of Ermey, Zac and the crew during the video shoot for Chicken Fried on director Clifton Collins Jr’s MySpace page.

The Zac Brown Band are Zac Brown, himself of Dahlonega, Georgia, bassist John Hopkins, fiddler Jimmy De Martini, guitarist/organist Coy Bowles and drummer Chris Fryar along with newly joined Clay Cook of John Mayer and Sugarland fame. Cook brings guitar, vocals, organ, mandolin and pedal steel as well as his acclaimed song-writing talents.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the 2010 GRAMMY Nominees Album will benefit MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation. Get your copy today and be sure to tune into the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards January 31st at 8pm ET/PT.

Solange Magnano, 38-year old mother of twins, dies after elective cosmetic surgery

Argentinian beauty queen and supermodel Solange Magnano died Sunday, November 29, of a pulmonary embolism resulting from complications during gluteoplasty, or cosmetic buttocks enhancement surgery. She was so loved in her country that her memorial service was broadcast on Argentine television. Solange leaves behind a husband without a wife and 8-year-old twin daughters without a mother, all in the name of beauty.

So what’s so bad about beauty? Southern Belles know all too well the importance placed on physical beauty – we’re painted and squeezed and tweezed into it from an early age. After all, the South is the birthplace of the American debutante stereotype.  Feeling beautiful feels good, and that is something to celebrate. But the modern definition of physical beauty has become one of starved Barbie doll girls obsessed with youth and fake plastic perfection. And now that we have the technology to cut our bodies into this unrealistic expectation, we are at risk of losing more than just our self respect. Sol, as she was known to her friends and family, was a savvy, successful business woman (she owned her own modeling agency) in the prime of her life who would appear flawless to most of us. But her desire to firm up her already great looking derrière to meet these extreme pop standards cost her life.

Should we blame the plastic surgery industry? No. Cosmetic surgery itself is not the bad guy.  A woman who survives the ravages of breast cancer can feel normal again with breast reconstruction. Women who have been disfigured by the brutal practice of female circumcision can be helped with vaginal reconstruction. And even us non-supermodel belles can get a nip or tuck here or there. But we all must understand the risks and weigh the benefits.  It’s not as simple as buying a new shade of lipstick to go with the new tailored jacket you bought on an impulse because you’d had a bad day. Ask yourself the question “Why do I want to look like this and for whom?” If the answer is “I want to look like the women in magazines/on television/in Hollywood because I’ll get more attention from more men/I’ll keep the man I’ve got/I’ll be happier for no reason that I can put into words…I just will.” than perhaps you should reconsider. Living by someone else’s definition of beauty instead of your own is an unfulfilling, unhappy and possibly fatal way to live.

And if it’s tough for grown women to separate the external voices in our heads from our own definition of self-worth, it’s impossible for young girls. Add to that the fact that marketers are selling sex to younger and younger kids each year and you have a well-trained, plastic beauty-obsessed consumer generation up and coming. Gamer boys would rather spend more time with Tomb Raiders’ Lara Croft and Final Fantasy’s Tifa than with real, live girls. Have you ever really looked at a Bratz doll without expecting her to say “Do you wanna party with me tonight?” What are we teaching little girls when we put them through their paces in the Little Miss Whatever beauty pageants? As a former beauty queen herself, Tinamarie Bernard flatly states that she won’t allow her daughter to participate in that plastic-obsessed beauty contest world because of the risk. And I won’t allow my daughter to own a Bratz doll for the same reason.

We are women – not plastic dolls with a pulse – and our daughters and sons are not for sale. If only Solange had been able to hear this one, beautiful truth over the din of outside voices screaming “You’re not pretty enough!”

Johnny Mercer was born Nov. 18, 1909, in Savannah, Georgia. This Southern boy turned American music icon wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs, including American Songbook classics like That Old Black Magic, Hooray for Hollywood and his most famous tune, Moon River, sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

Johnny was born into wealth and privilege in high Savannah society, and went on to make millions with his songs and by founding his now-famous record company, Capitol Records. With the characteristic Mercer family gap-toothed smile, Johnny was known to be fair, likable and an all-around regular guy despite his money. When Johnny arrived in Hollywood, he brought with him his Southern charm and infused it into all his work. He was influential in elevating Jazz further up in pop culture, including writing the lyrics to Riffin’ The Scotch for Billie Holiday, the first song she recorded. Even Johnny Mercer’s Savannah home carried on his legend of fame in the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which introduced the beautiful, history-rich and sometimes quirky Southern culture of Savannah to the world.

There are several events planned to celebrate Johnny’s life and legacy. Glenn T. Eskew has written a new biography, Johnny Mercer: Southern Songwriter for the World, published last month. Clint Eastwood’s new documentary film, Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s on Me premieres this month. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon has mounted a Mercer exhibit, Georgia State University – which houses the Johnny Mercer Archives – will host an academic conference and concerts of his work, and a statue of Mercer will be unveiled in Savannah. Learn more about Johnny Mercer Centennial events.
Mercer died at age 66 in 1976 from complications after surgery for a brain tumor.

R. Lee Ermey Motivational Figure

Today the US Marine Corps turns 234 years old. Founded in 1775 by the Continental Congress, the Marines serve this country not only in military operations, as they were originally intended, but also in disaster relief efforts, counter-narcotics operations and peacekeeping missions. Over the years, the Marines have earned some interesting nicknames, including:

• Leatherneck - This term originated from the stiff leather stock that early Marines wore around their necks to protect their jugular vein against saber blows.
• Devil Dogs – After the battle at Belleau Wood in World War I called the Marines “Teufelhunden”, which translates to “Devil Dog”, because of their fierce fighting.
• Jarhead – This was a slang term used by sailors in World War II because Marines in their Dress Blues with the stiff collar resembled Mason Jars.

The Marines have been immortalized in American pop culture by several entertainers, the most notable being John Wayne. Although “The Duke” was never a Marine in real-life, he played a Marine in several of his 167 movies, including The Sands of Iwo Jima and Flying Leathernecks. If you’d like to learn more about the real Flying Leathernecks, visit the Flying Leathernecks Historical Foundation and Aviation Museum.

One of today’s most famous real-life-to-Hollywood Marines is Gunnery SGT R. Lee Ermey. He portrayed the doomed Gny. Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket and now educates us on firearms and ordnance in Lock ‘N Load with R. Lee Ermey.
Learn more Marine history. Happy Birthday, Marines. Semper Fi!