Death Of An Icon

Hostess, one of America's great old Icons is expected to announce today that it will be closing it's doors due to an insurmountable strike.

What does this mean for the American People? Well, it means that 18,500 workers will now be flooding our Unemployment system and for people like me who are struggling to find appropriate employment this means 18,500 more people competing for what meager job offerings can be scraped up.

Now, the very word Twinkie invokes many responses. One is the image of sweet creamy filling inside a soft golden sponge cake. Another might be; Good Grief!! that stuff is gonna kill ya! And then others might be shaking their heads and thinking; Gee I can't figure out why America has the largest obesity crisis in the world.

Now Hostess is NOT responsible for our nations obesity rate, Americans are at fault for that and if you know anyone who has died by Twinkie it's because they ate a dozen a day!

We Americans are also at fault for putting faces and human references to our food such as 'Twinkie The Kid' ,'Captain Crunch' and 'Chester Cheetah' , they walk, they talk, they sing, they dance and they lure us in with their human faces and heroic acts. We can relate to them,we feel somehow connected to them and in our unique American way of viewing the world; we feel ok hypnotically pulling the package off the store shelf and laying our money down, then giving the package to our kid for lunch.

Hostess like so many others isn't simply a baked goods manufacturer, it is a social icon because it is a symbol of American ingenuity, American stamina, American longevity and an economic staple. 

And now here at the end of it's reign I am expecting the internet to be flooded with unopened boxes of our favorites being sold as collector items and everything with the Twinkie logo flying off the shelves of antique shops.

Yes, this is a bittersweet day indeed. So long Hostess, Happy Trails Twinkie the Kid.