Cracklings

I was going to call this entry "smidgets" and start a new category of entries, thinking I'd coined a useful word for thoughtful leftovers - brief insights that collect over time and just need a little editing and the right moment.

(I have dozens that sit in various states of repair. Sometimes I insert them as quotes from Clarence if they sound especially esoteric or homespun. Otherwise I just insert them as footnotes or afterthoughts.)

Unfortunately, I can't use "smidgets." if you use a coined word, it needs to be pretty unique or you end of attracting traffic that didn't really expect to find you. So I began considering something food-related that had connotations of small, tasty, homey, or unpretentious.

"Cracklings" is perfect.

I didn't coin it, it's a real word.

What are cracklings? They are the delicious little bits of blackened meat that are left over in the frying pan after you're done cooking the bacon or ham or other fatty meats. They're the little bits you don't serve but wind up in the biscuits, cornbread, gravy, etc.

Here are a couple cracklings to start things off...

[2013-02-26]

c0

The Rest of Us
The silent majority is so thin and sheer, if they turn sideways they nearly disappear. They are never voted "most likely" to do or be anything, and generally they don't and aren't. They ride the bus to school. They don't have jackets with letters. And they have only enough looks and brains to wish they had more of both.

[2012-07-04]

c0

The more you think on something...
... the more clearly you understand it, and the more clearly you see the strengths and weaknesses of competing ideas.

When you decide not to believe something just because you can't imagine the alternative, you're no longer thinking critically.

[2013-02-26]

c0