It’s a Good Idea to Be Old

It’s Ann here today. You won’t believe this but Andy is in OurLittleCorner extolling the virtues of gossip.

Andy’s mom used to always tell us that “gettin’ old ain’t for sissies.” She may have gotten the phrase a bit wrong, but it still has made a lasting impact.

Maybe that’s why I was so encouraged when I found this video of the poet Nikki Giovanni speaking at Emory University in February of 2020. Giovanni was almost 78 then. And she maintains “it’s a good idea to be old.” How can I not love that more upbeat approach?

The NYTimes describes Giovanni as “the charismatic and iconoclastic poet, activist, children’s book author and professor who wrote, irresistibly and sensuously, about race, politics, gender, sex and love….”

Giovanni, who passed away this past December, had a challenging life, having been raised by an alcoholic father who abused her mother. Because of that, Giovanni moved from Ohio to live with her Knoxville, Tennessee, grandparents for high school; she started college early at Fisk University and then got expelled her first semester there. She had a son when she was 26 and raised him alone. She dealt with breast cancer and lung cancer. And she was openly gay, married to a white woman who, like Giovanni, was a professor at Virginia Tech.

The video clip below, though only 4 1/2 minutes long, is great, but it may be X-rated. She’s funny, acerbic, and clearly not afraid to say what she thinks. She’s definitely not apolitical. She’s also VERY loquacious!

Here’s a humorous quote from a December 2021 NYTimes interview with Giovanni:

You know, with Christmas, I said to my students, I hate the little drummer boy. This girl just had a baby, she’s in a manger, she’s got a bunch of animals, and he’s coming in saying, “Can I play on my drum?”

He probably could’ve read the room better. If that had been the little drummer girl, she would have come to Mary, started to help clean out the manger — done something useful. Instead he’s standing there bitching, I’m poor and all I have is this drum, and we’re supposed to say, “Oh, ain’t that sweet?” No, damn it. Do something worthwhile. [Laughs.] That’s my job: I try my best to get people to think. That’s what I do.

In addition to mentioning grits in her “It’s Just Love” poem which she reads in our video clip, Giovanni wrote a poem devoted just to grits, so, of course, that’s today’s recipe. When Andy and I got married – almost 58 years ago – this recipe for a grits casserole was given to me by a family friend, and it’s the best! You can use Velveeta cheese or update it with cheddar or Monterey Jack. But first read the Nikki Giovanni poem. Be sure to sing while you make the grits. And, if you’re on the older side, smile and remember Giovanni’s words about aging: “Now everything I do is because I want to.”

The Right Way
                                                      
My grandmother's grits
Are so much better than mine

Mine tend to be lumpy
And a bit disorientated
Though that is probably
My fault

I always want
To put 1 cup grits
Into 4 cups cold
Water with 1 teaspoon
Salt
And start them all together

Grandmother did it 
The Right Way

She started with cold water
That she brought 
To a boil

Shifted the grits slowly
Into the bubbles
Then added her salt

She also hummed
While she stirred
With her wooden spoon

I wonder if I 
Should learn
To sing