This week, several of the people I asked for an interview were “not from around here” or “just visiting Athens.” But with a little determination, I found Demetrice Riden, who has lived in Athens for his entire life. Well, all but six months of it. He says he loves it here, but that he’s ready to move on.
By the time I was done talking to Demetrice, I really wanted to go get some BBQ or a piece of fried chicken. Which was a little unexpected, seeing as he works at an ice cream shop.
Flagpole: You work at Ben and Jerry’s. How do you like this job?
Demetrice Riden: Yes, I work at Ben and Jerry’s. I love this job; it’s awesome. I get to meet great people, make kids smile and have an all-around good day.
FP: How long have you lived in Athens?
DR: I’ve lived in Athens for 29 years now.
FP: And is that your whole life?
DR: That’s my whole life.
FP: What’s it like being from Athens and still being here?
DR: It sucks. I mean I love the atmosphere and, you know, the Dawgs, of course, but it’s time to move on, I think, for me. This town just isn’t big enough for me and everybody else. It’s sort of like a one-horse town, if you will. So, I’m [laughs]… I’m gonna be hitting the dusty trail here in a little while.
FP: Where are you thinking about living?
DR: Florida. Clearwater, Florida.
FP: Oh, so you’ve got it pinned down.
DR: Yeah, I used to live in Clearwater, actually, and I want to go back.
FP: How long did you live there?
DR: Six months. I got homesick and came back… I was, like, 19.
FP: Were you trying to move out of Athens at that point?
DR: Yep, I packed up and left. Me and my cousin, we packed up with, like, two dollars to our name. And got on a bus and went to Florida. And I found a job within, like, two weeks. And a girl within two weeks. You know, so, I was moving pretty fast. She was hot. She was Portuguese, yeah. She taught me a little broken Spanish.
FP: What did you do when you got back?
DR: What did I do when I got back? It was so long ago. [Long pause.] I actually got arrested, I think, when I got back. I got arrested for a probation violation. And I went to a detention center for, like, six months. I had to pick up trash on the side of the road. It was horrible. It was so horrible.
FP: Six months?
DR: Yeah, six months, man. Eight miles a day. Five o’clock in the morning.
FP: So, you did that every day?
DR: Except for Saturday and Sunday.
FP: When that was all over, what did you do?
DR: I got a job. I started working at Zaxby’s. I actually worked at, like, three different Zaxby’s. And just living. Living life, making money. Went out to Athens Tech for school.
FP: What did you go to Athens Tech for?
DR: To get my diploma. Yeah, I was going to school for a small business degree. And, uh, it didn’t work out. I had to choose between school and work. And school wasn’t paying me at the time; like, they weren’t paying people like they do now, like with big grants and all. So, I had to continue working if I wanted to survive and eat and pay bills. But I’m planning on going back.
FP: You’re thinking about going back?
DR: Yeah, I am going back. Next year. Spring.
FP: And you’re going to continue with the small business degree?
DR: Yeah. That’s all I want. Like, I want to get me a little rental property or something and go from there… Like, I don’t know exactly what I want to do. I’m not sure. Whatever brings in the most revenue. I was thinking about, like, a barbeque place or something.
FP: Do you know how to cook good barbeque?
DR: Yeah, I’m like a chef, basically. I’ve been cooking since I was, like, 10. My grandma taught me how to cook. And I learned from a chef when I worked in Florida at the Hotel Hilton. I worked under a chef named Jean Paul. [Laughs.] Yeah, he was the real deal.
FP: What kind of things did you learn from him?
DR: I learned how to prep food, like for fancy restaurants… You know, you have to, like, julienne all this stuff. He taught me how to decorate your plates and stuff. He taught me how to have the best presentation of food that you could possibly imagine. But, it’s so easy, though. It’s like, you get a salmon, you filet it, and you cook it for, like, 20 minutes and you take it out, you put it on a plate, you get, like, a clove of cilantro or something and you just place it right beside it and make it look pretty.
FP: So what kind of food preparation do you prefer? Do you like the fancy stuff or doing what your grandma taught you?
DR: Uh, I like what my grandma taught me. I like to get in the kitchen and cut them potatoes up. Get them ready to mash up and make some mashed potatoes. Collard greens—get the greens going. Get your cabbage going. Get you some fatbacks; gotta get you some fatbacks. Some hog maws… Fried chicken. Let me tell you about the fried chicken. You gotta have perfect grease. Don’t cook no chicken in no old grease. Get some good new grease; put you a teaspoon of butter in your grease. And you get you a bowl and you crack two eggs in it. Get some flour. Dip the chicken in the egg, then dip it in the flour, then lay it in there—you gotta lay it in there like this [he pretends to lower a piece of chicken very slowly into a pan]. Can you taste it? [Laughs.]
FP: Well, that’s all I have, unless you have anything you want to add.
DR: [He thinks for a moment.] Bike cops downtown are racist. Bike cops racially profile young black men.
FP: Do you feel like that happens a lot?
DR: It happens more than not happening. It happens a lot, like all the time.
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