Last Friday I had the pleasure of taking my mother and sister and my young neice and nephew to a leisurely lunch at the Back Porch BBQ in Jacksonville.  The decore is totally western--from it's Levi's curtains tied with red bandanas to the numerous old movie posters (including a lifesized John Wayne) and an antique curio cabinet filled with old fashioned salt and pepper shakers.  The worn hardwood floor was the perfect spot for the kids to play with the bucket of blocks the waitress brought us as soon as we arrived.
The menu is huge--it was hard to resist the appetizers of coconut shrimp or the santa fe egg rolls.  But we had to save room to have a samping of their lunch fare.  I passed up Lime Grilled Chicken and Tequila Shrimp for the "Annie Oakley" a whole breast of grilled chicken with cheese and avacado on sourdough bread with baked beans for a side.  My sister enjoyed her "Butch Cassidy" Burger with chipotle mayo and cajun seasoning while my mother really liked her "Roy Rogers" Burger with Jalepenos, Anaheim Chiles and chipotle mayo.  My mom had a delicious side of thin, crispy fries.  It was hard to decide between fries, jo jos, salad, coleslaw, Texas chile, soup or baked beans.  In the name of a thorough review I decided to go with the baked beans.  They were good--a little smokey, with huge chunks of bacon, and a little heat.  But nothing compared to the ONION RINGS my sister ordered--homemade, with the lightest batter, not greasy, CRISPY: the pinnacle of onion rings! 
The kids enjoyed their kid fare: corn dog with fries, half a burger with fries--just right portions.
Just to be thorough for the readers of Locals Guide, I HAD to try the dessert.  What caught my eye was a peach cobbler but then a ton of other offerings jumbled my choice--I went with a MUD PIE (with extra forks of course!)  It looked perfect--two sky high layers of icecream, on a cookie crust with a layer of something gooey inbetween, placed on a plate drizzled with caramel and chocolate!  I was expecting the familiar coffee flavor --but was
pleasantly suprised to find PEANUT BUTTER---the layer between the icecream layers was a peanut butter something!  Delicious!
When I was ready to pay the bill and mentioned the Locals Guide, the waitress was amazed that we didn't bother to try the "barbeque"---well I had to admit that I'm not at all a fan of SMOKED meat... She couldn't let us out the door without at least TRYING it--so she came back to the table with a sample of beef brisket in smokey barbeque sauce--and I have to admit it was really good!  To check out the prices and full menu go to their website:  www.backporchbbqinc.com
Oh, I forgot to mention the bar---complete with a huge bulletin board filled with snapshots of the regulars.  Looks like a great place to hang out. I can't wait to get back there some night for ONION RINGS AND BEER! 

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This rainy Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to catch the academy award nominated movie Persepolis.  I felt a little irony as I strolled through the back alley to the tiny Varsity Theater.  I could feel the ire of the audience rise in the darkness as the poignant preview for "Stop Loss" played across the screen.  (A movie about the current war in Iraq...don't need to say any thing else about that...) My republican self hunched farther down in my (next to the front row) seat. 

Finally the movie I came for gloriously appeared!  The art of the animation is amazing.  For the simplicity of the black and white "cartooning", the characters and scenes showed gorgeous movement and expression.  Maybe it was just the endearingness (is that a word?) of the characters that made you understand them.
  
Persepolis showed how much "recent" world history we don't remember.
Marjane, was raised in 1970's Tehran, in a modern, free thinking, supportive family,and was old enough to be aware of the politics of her country.  Marjane was vocally "loyal" to the Shah until she discovered that under the free and modern childhood she was living, were secret police who were murdering and imprisoning anyone who was against the Shah's regime (including a beloved uncle.)  The Shah had a lot to be paranoid about because revolution came and ousted him.  Unfortunately the regime that replaced the Shah had it's own agenda that was extremely religious and intolerant to anything modern (i.e. western...).
  
Marjane, being a child, came through the revolution relatively "unscathed".
  
But when it became evident that the new regime could cause harm to outspoken Marjane, her parents sent her to Vienna.  As independent as she was surrounded by her supportive family, it was difficult for her living alone, still a child really, in a foreign country.  

As messed up and unjust Iran's government was, it was still Marjane's country.  So after a few brave years of living on her own in Vienna,  she returned to Iran and her family, trying to make the most of the oppresive situation.  When Marjane was in University in Tehran she said "We were so wanting to be happy that we forgot we weren't free."  
  
The end is a shot of Marjane as a twentysomething divorce' leaving Iran with her family's blessing: they just wanted her to be free. 

Even if you weren't old enough to remember where you were in 1980 you can love this movie--for it's art, for it's characters and for it's history.
 

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