Owning It

[Originally published 30 October 2014]

This is going to be kind of a rambler, so stick with me.

In my 20th Century US History class this semester, my professor has been repeatedly bringing up the concept of “owning it.” Owning your strengths, your flaws, your weaknesses, and instead of squirreling them away and hiding them from the rest of the world, embracing them, and how owning it is an essential part of being an American. Inspired by that and a fabulous little earworm that’s taken over the radio waves, I decided to make this post.

Last week, I was house-sitting for a colleague of mine and, due to equal parts “not wanting to make a mess of the kitchen” and “‘treat yo self’ mentality setting in, I decided to get some boneless wing takeout for dinner on Thursday. I paired my macrochain wings appropriately, with one of the nation’s most popular macro pilsners.It was a glorious feast, but I felt a little guilty about it because a quaint little chicken shack just opened up in my neighborhood. After thinking about it, though, I asked myself, "why feel guilty?”

Last night, I went to the chicken shack in question, Old Standard, the latest from Ben Poremba. Located inside a repurposed garage/horse stable, the restaurant exudes southern charm. Our waitress walked us through the menu options- I was intrigued by the whole chicken dinner option. I went with a leg and a side of sweet potatoes, pictured below, while my companion opted for a half-breast with mashed potatoes. We also split an order of assorted biscuits.

Old Standard would make an excellent date or brunch spot, especially as we move into late autumn. But there’s nothing wrong with hitting up your local chain wing stop for a mind-boggling level of variety (and gratuitously large tvs showing the Blues games!). It’s totally normal.

I recently also found this adorable song, and while I typically shy away from pop music, I’ve been listening to it quite a bit and I believe it perfectly exemplifies the concept of owning your flaws, contradictions, strengths, etc!That’s it for this post! Stay tuned next week- I’ll have a post up about a Japanese brew as well as a road-trip post!