11 Nov Dreaming of Julia Child

Last night I had a very bizarre dream involving, of all people, Julia Child? Here is the part I find both hilarious and also allegorical. In my dream Julia was still alive and much the same as I remember her from my childhood – yes, as a pre-teen, I watched Julia Child every Saturday afternoon – Shut up.

Anyway, in my dream Julia was having a press conference where she admitted to the world that she was actually from the backwoods of Tennessee, and then, instead of speaking in that unusual Julia Child accent we all know, she began to talk like a real, honest-to-goodness hillbilly. The press went wild and everyone was in shock. In my dream I was even calling Vincent over to see Julia making her big “coming out” speech. Julia went on to say that she had adopted her phony accent because she did not feel like people would accept her as a world class French chef if they knew where she was from and how she really talked.

When I woke up, I tried to analyze why I would have such a dream. Of course there were many parallels to my own life – being sort of a hick myself. I felt Julia’s pain.

I have known people who have tried to claim that their ancestors were royalty, gay men who have married women, poor couples who live beyond their means, men who wear toupees, women who wear fake breasts, womanizing preachers, career-oriented women who become housewives, child hating parents… there are even smart, tolerant, open-minded people who can sometimes allow themselves to become part of hateful, bigoted agendas and organizations. I think it is sad that we have all of these folks trying to be something that they are not, just in order to “fit in”… to feel good about themselves. I suppose we all do it on some level, but really, I say – Fuck That!

This is a problem that I truly hope future generations have less and less. Because even though there is nothing wrong with trying to learn to speak correctly, and sometimes in life you do have to put on a bit of a song and dance to get ahead, faking your way through life never seems to fool anybody.

I hope that in my dream Julia did what she did because of the times in which she lived. And that she was finally able to be herself because she believed that the world had become a better place. I hope so too. And yes, I really did have that dream – Shut up.