Searching for meaning behind popular cliche

FLO MARTIN

This Sunday, Kenton Beshore, lead pastor at Mariners Church,

described the typical Orange County mentality as “large and in

charge.” This expression was new to my 62-year-old ears. Hmmm, I

thought, “large and in charge,” let’s Google that on the Web.

The first search result visited piqued my interest:

“Today fat women are taking back their power and discovering they

can be as sexy as the next thin woman can,” wrote Sarah T. Sherman, a

Tablet Newspaper reporter. “Venus Clothing [in Seattle, Washington]

is helping to bring awareness to fat women that they can be large and

in charge.”

As a rather voluptuous woman, I could definitely relate.

The next site, Excalibur Films, described pornographic activity.

No thanks.

In a weblog -- also known simply as a “blog,” Adam writes about,

“the Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 computer with a 400 gigabyte hard drive

that’s large and in charge.” His mind-boggling comment: “You’d have

to burn about 585 CDs just to back up all that data.”

The Village Voice, a New York newsletter features a music

columnist, Eric Weisbard. The column’s title: “Large and in Charge.”

David Anderson, webmaster of the Towson University, Lutheran

Campus Ministry web site describes himself as “large and in charge.”

An outdoor hiking- backpacking online newsletter offers: “Large

and in charge -- because of its immense bulk, the giant sequoia is

the world’s largest tree.”

An Amazon.com online review of Jim Davis’ first Garfield cartoon

book titled, “Garfield: large and in charge from the very beginning.”

Tennessee Bankers’ Association online newsletter said, “TBA

conducted training workshops for bankers last year based on the theme

‘Living Large and In Charge.’”

The Big Daddy boxer shorts brand name: large and in charge.

Ski Press World described a group of skiers as “large and in

charge.”

Tech TV, a technical website wrote: “Calling HP’s new Pavilion

zd7000 a notebook is a stretch. [With] more desktop replacement, it’s

less than portable. It does, however, pack in features to please the

most demanding performance fanatics. Tonight on Tech Live, see why

you might consider replacing your desktop PC with this

large-and-in-charge laptop.”

A San Diego restaurant guide said: “This is a place where you

don’t have to deal with trendy Italian prices. Bountiful dinners come

with big salads, and the pizzas are large and in charge.”

At the Ever Train a Dog? Web site I found, “... Au contraire, he

wants the leader to put him back in his place and thus reassure him

that his pack has a good leader who is large and in charge.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. I was beginning to relate. A good

leader, eh? A presidential leader, maybe?

Seth Sandronsky writes in CommonDreams.org, “the outsourcing of

federal jobs to the private sector would encourage employers to take

advantage of this trend [outsourcing]. Expect lower wages for the

outsourced federal jobs. And less job protection than currently

exists for federal employees, a great deal for employers. No doubt

they think that they’re now large and in charge after the Nov. 5

elections.”

This last excerpt really hit a nerve. Our lawmakers in Washington,

D.C., believe that their actions are solely for the good of the

nation. Outsourcing, no way. The new Medicare Bill, not. The Patriot

Act, scary.

I have been fingerprinted three, yes, three times this past month.

First, during the process of refinancing my home; second, for

renewing my driver’s license; and third, for screening as a chaperone

on a school field trip. This is ridiculous.

Apparently, the powers that be will do whatever it takes to stay

in power. They want to stay large and in charge.

* FLO MARTIN is a retired high school teacher, lectures part-time

at Cal State Fullerton in the Foreign Language Education program and

supervises student teachers in their classrooms.