The First Echo

[*Also published on Medium]

Back in 2011, I made the wise decision to quit my comfy full-time job at a reputable production company to pursue more freelance opportunities as a writer. I have italicized the word "wise" to clearly emphasize my sarcasm because, in hindsight, it was a poorly informed decision that led to inevitable worry and depression brought on by unemployment. 2012 was not a very good year for me, emotionally and financially, but ironically, it was a great year for brushing shoulders with a crap-ton of celebrities.

My idea to live off gigs writing TV commercial pitches and treatments for directors while paying rent that would require me to book at least two assignments a week was, to the dismay of my 31-year-old ass, naive at best. To occupy my time in between lulls, I managed and wrote the now-defunct blog Hotter in Hollywood (see: its VERY dated trailer) while turning to other small, independent entertainment websites and publications to write movie review…

Now that Hulu has dropped "Mixed Blessings," the 1988 episode of The Golden Girls featuring an interracial marriage between Dorothy's son and an older black woman that some people argue contains a blackface joke (or not), it's time to bring a little more positive attention to a 1992 episode of The Golden Palace, the short-lived spinoff that featured three-fourths of the girls buying a fledgling Miami Beach hotel and employing a small crew of co-stars. (It's also considered the unofficial eighth season of the iconic, original sitcom.)

This particular episode, titled "Camp Town Races Aren't Nearly as Much Fun as They Used To Be," originally aired in 1992, and I can't help but think this was written as a result of the social unrest brought on by the aftermath of the Rodney King police brutality case earlier that year. However, it is eerily, devastatingly relevant in 2020.

Here, when the Daughters of the Traditional South are set to arrive at the h…