"You about to get fired up?" "Just a little."

Like a lot of folks this past week, I was saddened to hear about Dixie Carter's, or rather, Designing Women's Julia Sugarbaker, passing.

I remember watching it, growing up, probably in reruns, and it was a part of so many girls' childhoods like my own. I assumed it was a Southern Thing like I once thought "Walking in Memphis" was only a popular song in Memphis; I had no idea really that it's popularity extended reached beyond the Mason-Dixon line.

But then I got to college and was asked by some Northern friends if I wear blue suede shoes on the plane home, and I understood that other people, even those raised outside of Tennessee, like the song. And just this past week, while looking up scads of YouTube videos of the Sugarbaker sisters and their design firm and reading internet tributes, I understand that Ms. Julia Sugarbaker's feminist and outspoken tendencies but of course, Classiness-capital-C, endeared her to loads of tv viewers, regardless of geography.

I remember this particular clip from the original in the 80s: (It's lengthy but don't let that deter you)



It's one that has been making the rounds on blogs, etc. and with good reason. Who would have thought Julia Sugarbaker and Lady Gaga would have something in common? When Southern women have the reputation for passive sweet-as-pie-ness, Dixie Carter's character has done wonders in dispelling the mythology. Forget Auntie Mame- I aspire to be Julia Sugarbaker. Hear hear.