The Day the Twinkie Died

Flash-forward to autumn of the year 2029.

My daughter has just started her freshman year at Clemson University. One evening her and some friends have decided to go to Oldies Night in the Hendrix Student Center's McKissick Movie Theater for showings of some classic 1980s movies.

Up first is "Ghostbusters", widely recognized as one of the best comedies of all time.

(You and I know this convesation by heart)
     Winston: "Tell him about the Twinkie..."
     Venkman: "What about the Twinkie...?" 
(In case you don't remember the details of the Twinkie, here's a refresher video...)

"Any of y'all know what a Twinkie is ?," asks one of Ashlyn's friends.

Ashlyn eating her first - and probably last ever - Twinkie

Ashlyn responds, "It was some sort of snack cake. My parents have a picture of me eating one when I was little...the day they stopped making them...the day the Twinkie died."

About That Day

Rewind to November 16, 2012. 

I learned about the Twinkie's demise .... the demise of Hostess, an 82-year old company and the manufacturer of some of our nation's most recognized bakery snacks...on Facebook. 

My wife knew about it earlier in the day and posted about it on Facebook. I hadn't scrolled down far enough to see her post when I saw a post from a friend of mine about Hostess' closure and instantly shared it out and commented. We (she and I) have always had a thing for one-upping each other as far as knowing things before the other, so she won out this time.

At first, I didn't really think everybody would go Twinkie crazy. Then it was like the Zombie Apocolypse hit and people started talking on Facebook about going to the store and stocking up on them. Then I started reading more and more posts about people running to the store to get some.

My wife began telling me when she got home from work to go buy some. Finally, after reading even more stuff online, I was like, "Okay. We need to go now. I may never be able to eat another Twinkie again if we don't."
 
Apparently today was the day that Ebay also went nuts. With people selling Twinkies. And any type of Hostess products or memorabilia they had or could get their hands on. 

Our final haul of Hostess stuff

We went to at least 10 convenience or grocery stores. Our only score was a bag of Hostess donuts at Publix and a handful of Hostess products at Dodge's General Store down the road from our house.

After getting home, a choice had to be made. Eat them or frame them? Eat them it was. That the best Twinkie I think I've ever had. It made reflect...

Emotions and Stuff

... I was sad that day. And mad. And nostalgic.

Twinkies have always been in my life. My dad is a fan of them. I'm a fan of them. Although in recent years, I've admittedly developed more of an affinity for Zingers. That's where the sad and nostalgic comes into the story.

The mad part, well that's my political side coming out.

Hostess has been around for 82 years, employing hundreds of thousands of people during that time. They are an icon of capitalism, the American dream, Americana, hard work and determination, and economic vitality - at least until recent years, and a lot of that had to do with unions.

When America's first unions began to establish themselves, there was a genuine reason for that. Working conditions in many industries were absolutely horrible. There hardly were any such things as safety protocols. Company owners and managers could get away with pretty much anything they wanted to at the expense of their workers. 

In their purest, truest sense, unions were a great solution to curb most of those behaviors and practices - while still allowing the business/organization to thrive. 

What we have seen in recent years though (for far too many reasons to name) are companies that have been forced to reorganize or relocate (in many of those cases causing mass layoffs) just in order to survive - or close, as is the case with Hostess. Their closure will result in the loss of an 18,500+ member workforce. 

Another major blow to our economy. When that many people go out of work, it has serious economic repercussions in more ways and in more lives than we can imagine. It affects our entire nation.

I know there's people who will go to the wall for their beliefs in the idea of unions. But I'm just not one of them. Fortunately, South Carolina is a right-to-work state which means you won't find many unions here. They are few and far between. 

Our economic developers will not in most cases even talk to companies who are interested in relocating or expanding to our state if that company has unionized workers. One of the first questions our EDs will ask a company when they express an interest in South Carolina is "Are your workers unionized / are you a union company?"  If the answer is yes, the we will ask "Do you have a transfer clause?"  If a transfer clause exists, that means the union charter allows it to transfer along with the company to another state or location. If the answer is yes, the state will immediately cease talks with them. If the answer is no, we'll invite them over to come check our great state out.

Unfortunately, with the leadership (or lack thereof) in our current administration in Washington DC, we're probably going to see more instances of companies like Hostess having to deal with this type of situation - especially with what's going on with Obamacare coming into full effect and our economy in the shape it is, but that's a discussion for another day and time.

Getting Back to the Story

So I'm sad that the memory of the Twinkie will more or less be lost on the generation of kids that will soon be going through our elementary schools - and for our future generations. They'll never know that original, great taste of a REAL Twinkie instead of that of BlueBird Twinkie knockoffs. (By the way, I'm not an economist by any means... but they are probably in for a huge increase in sales in 2013)

For all you health nuts out there, you can complain about the nutritional detriment of a Twinkie, or a Ho-Ho, or a Ding Dong, or a Snowball, or a Zinger all you want. Go ahead. It doesn't matter to me, and unfortunately it won't matter to Hostess anymore.

So long Twinkie the Kid. It's been great knowing you - we (at least I) wish you weren't riding off into the sunset.

Okra. The Other White Meat

I had to post this while it was on my mind....

Sixth grade. We had just moved to a new town and I had just started at a new school. It was middle school -- one of those periods in your life when being viewed a weirdo isn't exactly what you strive for.

One day, very early on the year, I'm standing in the lunch line and deciding what sides I want with my meal. There's a bowl of chicken nuggets. So, yeah, hey, I wanted some chicken nuggets to go with what I had on my tray.

Fast forward to a couple minutes later, I pick up one of the nuggets, take a bite out of it, and ..... WHAT IS THIS GROSS TASTE?

I take it out of my mouth, look at it, and see green. I'm not sure exactly what I said; I think it was something like, "This is no chicken nugget. It's green." Whatever I commented, it got laughs from the entire table.

In my own defense, how was I to know that what was completely breaded over and from the outside looked like a chicken nugget was actually not a chicken nugget and some kind of fried southern vegetable. I still shudder when I think of that taste. And I still can't eat okra.

Which leads me to....

My daughter absolutely loves okra. I don't get that. And I don't see how with my taste buds' disdain for it, she inherited a love of it. Of course, my wife likes okra. So that's where she gets it. 

Along with her love of cornbread. And for grits. Both of which I hate.

Oh well, I guess I'm raising a Southern girl who loves okra. Totally loves it. She eats it like it's candy. I just watched her devour an entire plate of it.

Yuck. Absolutely, yuck.

To her it's a treat. To me, it will always be the other white meat. That I don't eat.

Here and Back Again

.... I haven't blogged in over year. It's been a very transitional year for our family. A very rough year, but a very blessed year at the same time.

I've been out of work since May of last year. That's been really rough.

At the same time, we've watched our daughter grow into a beautiful, energetic, comical, independent, stubborn, and awesome little 19-month old. I look at her and I see so much in her future. I see someone that my wife and I can't imagine not having in out lives. She's the best part of us. She has made this past year a very blessed one for us.

I've been thinking lately about revisiting blogging. So here I am. Again. No more excuses this time. 

As in the past, you're going to find a variety of post topics, views and observations on here, going forward. But I let my domain name slip, on purpose actually. 

So I'm going to be changing the name of the blog sometime in the very near future. I just need to come up with something that adequately captures what I want to do, what I want to say, and who I am. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The layout is also going to change. I have some ideas but haven't decided on any. Again, suggestions would be appreciated.

As for now, my daughter has carried her folding chair into the kitchen, sat down beside me and is playing with one of her puzzles. Time to get back to playing identify this animal and where does it go.

See you at the next post.