I love the South

[jswordy]

I grew up in the North, was schooled there in Illinois, then moved South. I love it. Yes, many people here voted for George W. Bush, and based on the conversations I have had, many held their noses and did so simply because they felt they were offered no good alternative. That is their right as Americans.

I love the South. I love mornings in spring and fall, where smokey fog blankets the area and is burned off by the rising sun. I love the blooming trees and flowers right now, as the North struggles with snow and cold. The mild winters. We have less than an inch of snow average annually. Got none but flurries this year.

I love the undulation of the land, sensual in its hills and valleys, its folds seeming at times to wrap you and protect you like a pair of motherly arms. In my county is every kind of landscape you wish to see, from flat to near mountains, with the exception of a really large body of water.

I love the taste of the first peach off my trees, the ripe apples in fall, the pecans from my yard trees in October, and the bleat of goats and moo of cows in the morning when they carry farthest. the splash of a largemouth bass or bream (bluegill up North) on my line as I fish one of my ponds.

I love the basis of the redneck ways, which is I'll look out for you bubba, if you look out for me. (BTW, "bubba" is roughly similar to "brother" here...there is no negative to it). I like the giggin' kind of humor, just pulling you on and pulling you along, and the subtlety that can be found in it. I like being accepted....as a Yankee (with a shake of the head), and then teased about it and handed another beer as we wait for the barbecue to finish up so we can eat it. In those moments, I feel truly accepted, not looked at as somehow inferior or foreign. In a way, the difference is actually celebrated rather than disparaged.

I love the South, because I love being in a place where children are still taught respect for their elders, where a boy or girl responds to an adult with "yes sir" or "yes maam." I love being in a place where menfolk still believe that there is no place for cussing and such in front of women, out of respect for them.

I particularly love the rural South, where good fences and good neighbors are common, where you can ask someone for help by just saying you live on the same road or in the same area, and they will help you.

I love listening to Southerners place themselves by lineage, relatives, and location, with each other in introductions: "I am Jimmy Smith, son of Joe Smith,and I live over at Flintville. Do you know my daddy? My aunt Geneva -- that's my mama's sister -- lives over to Flat Rock. Maybe you know my uncle George? They go to Unity Baptist Church over there. You do?" It is a beautiful affirmation of their heritage and heredity. I love genteel Southern language, where even insults are delivered with in a mannered way, and one familiar with the ropes knows. Where mother is mama, father is daddy, grandma is mee-ma and grandpa is paw-paw.

I love the South. Maybe it's because I moved South with an open mind about what I would find. I know many Northeners here who are happy to have the jobs and the mild winters, but otherwise can find nothing else good about the place they are living, and I wonder sometimes why they stay.

By saying I love the South, I am not disparaging the North or saying I hate it, though after many years here it can be jarring to take trips up North. It takes me a couple of days to adjust to the difference in mannerisms.

With half my life spent up North and half in the South, I can appreciate both regions, and have become a man who called is a Yankee in the South and called rebel up North.

But I do love the South.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Donning the flame retardent suit and getting out the popcorn

:tinfoilhat:

[jswordy]

2. Oh that's OK, Kathy, I kind of know it will happen. I'm happy anyway.

[RPM]

22. for Virginia!!!!

huzzah!!!

[jswordy]

31. Virginia was where I first lived before moving to Tennessee

I have many fond memories of that state.

[TNDemo]

34. Where are you in Tennessee?

Glad you're here!

[JVS]

80. For Pennsylvania!

[Daphne08]

27. I grew up in the South, raised my children there and

cannot wait until we can return.

I miss it very much and would just like to say that the rest of the country should not judge the South just because of, well... you know who.

The South was once the heart and soul of the Democratic Party and I sincerely believe that we'll see those days again.

[ikojo]

50. When The South was the heart and soul of the Democratic

party it was the party of the klan. That Democratic party did not support the rights of blacks following the civil war. I prefer that party where it is, the ash heap of history.

[Daphne08]

67. There were many, many Southern Democrats

who did not (and do not) espouse the vitriol of the klan, but I'm certain that you are aware of that fact.

Frankly, I take offense at the Southern bashing I've encountered at this otherwise enlightened forum, but I realize that this phenomenon is merely symptomatic of the frustrations we all are experiencing today.

However, I find it to be the very antithesis of the ideals of the Democratic Party and I also think it is quite counterproductive.

[Sandpiper]

3. I loved putting the South in my rearview mirror

After 11 eternal years there.

The geography is pretty though, I'll give you that.

[trof]

4. I've got your back:

But seriously folks...I love it down here too.
You tell 'em, js.

[Maddy McCall]

5. I love the South, too, and I adore your post.

:thumbsup:

[trof]

9. Just found out you were jchild.

Hi.
:hi:
Thought there was something familiar about your voice.
;-)

[Maddy McCall]

11. LOL! Yep, it's me.

How ya doing? :hi:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. That's fine. I love the North.

So you be happy there and I'll be happy here. Just tell your neighbors not to be such assholes/bigots/xenophobes when it comes to politics and we'll all be fine.

[Maddy McCall]

8. If you'll tell your neighbors to do the same.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Most of my neighbors don't seem to need telling.

But I absolutely do every time it's necessary. Judging by my experiences in the South and by just about every election in the last 200 years, it seems to be a bit more necessary down there.

[Maddy McCall]

15. Nor do mine. Funny, isn't it>

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

19. It sure can be!

:hi:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

25. I can withstand any crappy weather New England dumps on me

You couldn't pay me to move away from the best schools, world class restaurants, gorgeous beaches, awesome skiing, fall foliage, excellent museums, beautiful architecture, top notch public transportation, and history around every corner.

And if you want physical beauty, New England has plenty of it!

[Burma Jones]

48. Hear Hear...............................

Although I do prefer the southern beaches.............

There's no better place to cruise around in the car (well, east of the rockies anyway)

[On the Road]

7. I Was Born in Newark, NJ

but went to middle school in eastern NC, college at Davidson, and spend several years working there.

The South is kicked around a lot on DU, and it sometimes bothers me. Despite the charges of racism, the last two generations of Southerners have made more progress in race relations than all of their predecessors put together. Southerners are often depicted as stupid, a stereotype which is rooted in snobbery.

One of the reasons Democrats have had difficulty winning the South back is that the leaders have beltway types. I am hoping that Howard Dean brings state-level leadership into the forefront so that the party can better speak to its own natural constituency.

[Rowdyboy]

10. Beautifully put

As a native who wouldn't move out of the south for any amount of money, I know where you're coming from. Hell of a lot wrong with the south, but even with all its imperfections, it beats the hell out of the alternatives.

[Maddy McCall]

14. You said it, bubba.

;-)

[InvisibleTouch]

13. One day...

...I will flee the Great Frozen Northland and move south. I love it too.

[RagingInMiami]

16. The south has a lot to be proud of

Despite what you read on DU

[SheepyMcSheepster]

17. nice post, i was born and raised in the south

there are loads of good people here, who are very courteous, considerate, compassionate and helpful.

i consider my self a southerner.
many people on DU want the south to be what they percieve it to be. it is not all good, but it is not all bad either, and damned if there aren't somethings i just love about it.

[Melodybe]

18. As I liberal girl that was raised that way in MS I wholeheartedly agree

Right on, it is still beautiful here, to bad so many have the wrong idea about living here.

Oh well, it can be our little secret.

[trof]

21. Shoot yeah. This ol' boy came straight out of Bad Ol' Burminham

Child of the 40s and 50s and just a librul as a Roosevelt!

[jswordy]

23. Hey ol' boy, I'm sitting in Huntsville right now.

[trof]

32. The Rocket City!

Just ain't the same since Woerner died.
;-)

[jswordy]

41. Heheheh...lot more money now, though. Why...

...you can't hardly walk the streets without bumping into a $400,000 a year engineer. As a man told me, the story of Huntsville is "You've got your John Deeres and your engineers, and the great identity crisis in the middle."

Heh. Great symphony the Germans left us, though. Outstanding.

[BamaBecky]

33. I'm sitting down here in Clarke County! It is nice here, cept for the

ignorance.....I spent 2 years in Manhattan...long enough to get really bad "homesick"....

[trof]

40. Aw hell. I'm kin to half the folks in Clarke County.

Know any Lambards?

[BamaBecky]

52. My husband does.....he said he knows

Dick Lambard

[steve2470]

20. I love it too !

I have to say, though, that when I have been to Boston, NYC and Chicago, I have been delighted at the level of education and the sophistication about "the world" that I have encountered. Yes, I know "the north" has less-educated and unsophisticates also, but the average guy at the corner gas station seems to have a better command of the English language. I get so tired here in the south of hearing "groundation" or "flustrated". Oh well. Acceptance, acceptance.

[Burma Jones]

24. Here's what I HATE about the South

Hot and Humid Weather.

Otherwise, I find the south, more specifically, the southeast, to have about the same number of annoying and/or hypocritical folks as the northeast or midwest. I do prefer California to everywhere else I've been.........

Anyway, the USA is getting blander and blander all the time with regional differences fading fast.

[Sandpiper]

28. Fall is the best season the south has going for it

You can find mild winters in lots of places.

Spring is pretty, but murder on people with allergies.

The summers are like being trapped in a steam room.


Autumn is the best though. The foliage is beautiful and the weather is perfect, crisp but not cold.

[jswordy]

30. I look at Southern summer like the North looks at winter...

In the North, winter is the time to go inside and do stuff, and to rest in many cases. In the South, we can work outdoors right through winter, and usually do, but the summer is our off-time. Though I must say, after 25 years here, I can move around in 100 degrees and humidity just fine. The secret for me is to delay turning on the a/c at home for as long as possible. Once you have that cold vs. hot thing going on, it makes the outside seem unbearable due to the contrast. Then, I like to get out in the early morning and stay out, so I gradually acclimate to the heat as it rises. I can stay out all day that way, but when I come in I am chilled to the bone!

But still, in the dog days of September and October, it is best to slow up, drink some sweet tea and relax a bit. The blush of semitropical growth that you have had to beat back from your home and lawn will have slowed by then, your lawn may even look a bit dryish, and you can kick back more.

Those days are when the big barbecue season comes in here. Every weekend is a party somewhere, complete with NASCAR on TV. I can't wait.

[BamaBecky]

37. After standing on those Connecticut train platforms in sub zero temps,

(with frozen tears in my eyes) a hot day in the south in air conditioning is "nice"

[Burma Jones]

47. The AC is key

Without it, I'd take the Northeast any day. I suppose we should all just move to San Diego.......

[Mugweed]

26. It's great

Of course, I no longer consider Florida to be "the south" because it's mostly made up of us northern carpetbaggers. Anyway, there's nothing like seeing a mud-covered, lift-kitted, big-tired pickup truck with a giant confederate flag zip-stripped to a broom stick jammed in the Toughbox in the bed of the truck (with a big #3 decal in the back window, of course). At least the natives aren't afraid to declare what they stand for. If you've ever needed a swamp buggy to get to someone's trailer to pick up a few jars of the 'shine, then you've been in "the south".

[jswordy]

29. Florida...heh, around here they say....

"The South is the area of the country the Yankees drive through to get to Florida." Heh...

But if you have been out on the mud roads to someone's trailer to pick up the shine, then I know you are fitting in and coming from the same place I am. Proud to meet ya.

[Mugweed]

36. Thank you kindly

I came here for an education, I stayed because I love it. And I'm not talking about roads. Where the muddy road ends and the actual living quarters are located are miles apart. We're talking swamp.

[Arugula Latte]

35. I've lived in many different parts of the country

and my loyalty is not to north or south but to far west.

The far western part of the West Coast, baby.

That narrow strip of beach - to - coastal - range land from the bottom of Canada to the top of Mexico.

My people. My land.

Pacifica.

Beautiful. Home.

(Glad you like the South -- have at it! ;-) )

[Sandpiper]

39. I'm with you

To me, the South is just another place in that wide swath of America known as "Not the West Coast."

[Xithras]

56. Any Pacifica that doesn't include the Sierra's isn't worth living in

Yeah, sure, that means you get all the Freepers in the California Central Valley, but we've got them outnumbered ;)

[wildflower]

38. A beautiful post. Your words made me think of these lyrics

by the Indigo Girls:

...And there's something 'bout the Southland in the springtime
Where the waters flow with confidence and reason
Though I miss her when I'm gone it won't ever be too long
Till I'm home again to spend my favorite season
When God made me born a yankee he was teasin'
There's no place like home and none more pleasin'
Than the Southland in the springtime...

"Southland in the Springtime"
http://www.indigogirls.com/lyrics/byalbum/nomads.html

-wildflower

[BurtWorm]

42. I like the South too.

I'm a Yankee born and bred and will probably die somewhere up here too. But I have extremely fond memories of every roadtrip I've taken through the South, especially Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas. It's a beautiful part of the world. (Do Southerners think of Arkansas as the South?)

[Magleetis]

43. I can relate

to many of the things you mention in your post. I was born and raised in Indy but I have spent the last 10 years in Louisiana. I now live on Lake D'arbonne in Farmerville, LA. I am slowly becoming southernized. The weather is great, (I hate the cold) the food is great (we eat the bait) and the people are warm. I have yet to find the perfect place to live, but the South suits me just fine. There is good and bad everywhere so I embrace the good things about the south and there are plenty.

[MediumBrownDog]

44. Born and raised in Virginia

And still live here. My father is from Connecticut, and I must admit that it is an adjustment to go up there and visit those folks that my mother refers to as 'his people.' ;)

[ImpeachBush]

45. Well ... I don't particularly care for it ...

I grew up in Ohio and spent all of my adult years (until 9/2003) in Utah, when I moved to Georgia.

Me? I hate that early morning humid fog stuff. I miss the arid, crisp fall mornings and cool spring and summer mornings in Utah. I also miss the cobalt blue skies of Utah ... here it's kind of a pale gray/blue when it isn't raining. I like the spring blossoms, alright, but the pollen is way overpowering. It turns my driveway and patio YELLOW in the spring!!! And I do miss the snow and skiing and "dry" brisk winter weather of the west. That's just me, because I like the change of seasons and I love the desert. I admire the rolling hills, but I desperately miss my rocky mountains of N. Utah and the canyonlands and desert of S. Utah. Sigh ... nothing even close to that here. I have a hard time keeping my bearings ... no real landmarks when I'm trying to find my way around. In Utah I could always spot one mountain range and know that was East, and another range and know that was west.

I hate the fact that the produce in the grocery stores here are all mushy - cukes, peaches, apples, lettuce, onions ... everything. You can't buy a Georgia peach in a grocery store anywhere around Atlanta. THEY ALL COME FROM CALIFORNIA OR CAROLINAS!!!!! What's up with that? Everything, meat and produce especially, is very expensive here compared to what I see in Utah and around my parents, in Ohio. Very high cost of living. High rent, high taxes, high grocery prices ... the only thing that's cheaper? Gasoline prices ... just a tad.

I'm not real fond of rednecks, either, especially those sporting the confederate flag on one side of their bumper and a "Pride in America" on the other. Ugh. And the complete societal control pushed by the fundamentalists (not unlike Utah and the mormons, however).

I don't know about being taught respect. There are a lot of really wealthy people in the Atlanta 'burb that I live in, and I can tell you that the folks I know with families have very spoiled, get anything they want, want everything handed to them on a silver platter, kind of kids. I have yet to hear a young person say "sir" or "maam". Can't say I've seen any "menfolk" like you describe, either. Maybe its living so near to the city that's the problem.

I don't know much about the rural areas, here ... it is quickly dying out as the open spaces and forests and woods are quickly being hewn down in the name of subdivisions and strip malls, as the Atlanta urban sprawl continues to spread out like a cancer. I know just two families in my neighborhood ... and one of them rents my place to me. They are the real deal, though. Wonderful people (they're from Pittsburgh). Noone else in this quaint neighborhood has extended a hand to my partner and me. Not quite what I expected here in the south.

You know what I hate the MOST about Georgia? THE FREAKING BUGS!!!!!! ugh ... UGH... ugh.

For me, it's hard to look around and not compare it to the familiar. Like I said, I miss Utah mostly because I miss the open spaces, the forests, the deserts, the mountains. I miss seeing elk and moose and caribou and mountain goats and all that. There are way too many people around here ... I'm just not used to that, and I've never really been a city-kind of gal. So, there's a lot to get used to, and I just prefer someplace else ....

[Sandpiper]

53. Utah is a beautiful state, however

Provo-Orem is like a creepy little real-life Stepford.

I've lived in the south and in "Happy Valley," and the south has nothing on Provo-Orem when it comes to complete societal control pushed by fundamentalists.


Or the fact that the Mormons on the SLC City Council voted to sell a piece of Main Street for the expansion of the LDS Church's Temple Square.

Utah is probably the closest thing America has to theocratic rule.

[ImpeachBush]

76. I agree absolutely...

And I mention that in my post. Provo (and most of Utah county) can be very suffocating. It is interesting that the people in the rural areas (for the most part, there are notable exceptions) of the southern part of Utah, are much more accepting and less pushy of religious "values". I think it is the cowboy mentality that creates a less-rigid individual - I'm quite outside the norm of what most LDS folks consider to be appropriate in looks, dress, and behavior for a woman, yet the people in Garfield County, Utah was very accepting and friendly towards me... they didn't mind my lifestyle one bit. I loved it there, and want to settle in that area, eventually.

[BamaGirl]

83. I grew up in Atlanta

Stone Mountain specifically and it has changed so much. Get well outside the suburbs and it's a whole other world.

[stray cat]

46. Beautiful post

I'm another yankee/rebel/liberal elite. However, my southern relatives never called me a damn yankee - as a Minnesotan I was simply a yankee.

[jswordy]

77. The old saw: A Yankee comes to visit...

...a DAMN YANKEE stays!

[mistertrickster]

49. I love the South too . . . in my rear view mirror nt.

[RedstDem]

51. I'm In Virginia

As Soon As We Get This State Turned Blue, We'll Be Yankees Too.
Hey I Rhyme...

Anyway The Weather's Kinda Annoying, Short Spring...Winter..<Blink> Summer !!

[Placebo]

54. I love the cold dirty rude fucked up cussing BIG NOISY METAL...

north! And specifically the city.

:)

[Sandpiper]

55. Give me noisy, fast paced, gritty, real, city life

To the quiet, idyllic, and mind-numbingly boring country life any day of the week!

[Placebo]

57. Amen!

:party: :D

[sandnsea]

58. I love Montana

And could write the same sort of piece about why I love it so much.

But if they continued to vote in idiots that drove their state into poverty, I wouldn't have a problem saying so. I don't get why southerners are so offended because the rest of the country is frustrated with rigid southern hatred of Yankees that ends up keeping the south in poverty.

[misanthrope]

61. Because of two Southern cultural traits...

...that contribute to a lot of the South's problems.

One, people here believe that problems are best hidden. Be they familial, interpersonal, social, cultural, criminal, civic, what have you.

Two, people here can be very thin-skinned and easily spurred to defensiveness.

Both of these are deeply ingrained and intertwined.

[Martin Eden]

59. I resent the South

That was a nice post, but I resent the South because it deserted the Deomacratic Party over civil rights. Now the "solid South" is instrumental in empowering the neofascists who are destroying the country I love -- North and South.

[MADem]

60. Most regions have something to recommend them

...and that which is familiar is always comforting. I have moved around -- A LOT -- in my lifetime, but I do enjoy returning to New England whenever I can. I like the sea, I like the seasons, though I could do with a little less winter right about now.

Time to take a trip, I don't think I can wait for the daffodils....

[NoSheep]

62. I love the South, but that's caws I'm is smart and I know how to keep

away from them pukie people who be tryin to take away my check.
No Shit, I live here. Was born here. Tawlk like I'm from here. You have to know where to go. It's a game of "keep-a-way", and unfortunately, alienation from your oft uneducated family :(:cry:
But hey! In North Carolina,We've got ACC Basketball, mountains, beaches (the best in my opinion) and more PHD's per capita in my area than anywhere else in the country! (according to some statistics I heard ..well, it's been a while)

[Zomby Woof]

63. It's love/hate for me

One half my lineage is southern, and in similar fashion, I divide my emotions equally.

The physical beauty is there to be sure, and the cooking... and the literature. Perhaps, best of all, the music. There are friendly people, but some are just phonily sweet. Much too syrupy.

And per capita, I have never been around a density of more narrow-minded, WILLFULLY ignorant people, and I am not fond of there being a church every where you turn around. I have lived over 15 years of my life (almost half) in both Tennessee and Virginia, and have lots of family in North Carolina right now. So I know of what I speak.

I think I love the south more when I admire it from a romanticized distance, and hate it - or feel like an alien there - when I am in it. I have lived in the western US a lot longer, and it's a better fit than the east coast or south.

It does edge out the dreary and dull midwest, just for the landscape alone. And don't get me started on the overcrowded, filthy northeast.

[autorank]

65. Hey, watch what you say about the Northeast (friendly taunt, not serious)

I was born and raised in California. When I left Santa Barbara for NYC way back when, I was never happier. It was like going from a sterile movie set to the real world of teeming, intelligent, talkative humanity. NYC, part of the "filthy northeast" as you call it, was by FAR the friendliest place in America. People are in a hurry but when you are outside the rush hours, they are open, welcoming and interested in whatever you have to say, if you have something to say. The rich and poor live right next to each other and there is a smattering of all classes. Oh, gee, it's not spotless. Well, it is beautiful in so many ways. I also love California but for a robust, fast paced, fun environment, NYC is the best (I moved out some time ago but visit from time to time and it's just great). But, hey, that's just my opinion.

[autorank]

64. I love Northern Virginia

I love getting up in the morning and having six Starbucks within a 3 mile radius. I love the sound of traffic as caffeinated commuters rush off to various high-tech or other service industry jobs to earn their six figure incomes. I love driving through my neighborhood seeing people who have lived her 10-12 years simply wave at me and knowing it will come to nothing more than that. I love being called "shit head" by my male friends, and "excuse me, you're in my way" by the female contingent. I love the camaraderie of massive multi player role playing gamers who spend good weather and bad ensconced indoors donning fake identities and making friends all over the internet. I love seeing this area grow notably more liberal by the year and knowing some day in my life it will be the equivalent of Marin County without the flair. I love the fact that just about everyone here under 25 is a reflexive liberal Democrat. I love living 20 miles from my nation's capital and I yearn for DC to incorporate us into their boundaries and make us a state called "Techtopia, Capitol of the United States." And, I love the fact that internet was developed, built, operated, and improved here.

Now, about those nice smells and friendly neighbors...they're around but just in different form.

I grew up in the West, lived in NYC, and had a hard time moving to Northern Virginia suburbia. However, with rapid economic growth and suburban sprawl, it's becoming more and more like LA...and I love LA!

I appreciated you post a great deal. I just offered this to show that sometimes the South isn't exactly what you expect. I also think the nasty Red State attacks are spurious. I railed against that for a while because the South is both your version and mine and both are commendable in their own right.

[jswordy]

78. I lived in 10 years Williamsburg and worked in Hampton Roads.

It is true...there's lots of "nonstereotypical" Southland...you come to "backwards" Huntsville in "backwards" Alabama, and you can't walk throught he mall without bumping a six-figure engineer. In fact, Huntsville vies with Atlanta every year for highest per-capita income in the Southeast.

I get the best of both worlds...live on a small farm in a rural and low-cost of living county, work in the city where I can make the bucks.

[autorank]

81. Huntsville is cool.

I visited Alabama and Huntsville was the last stop. Very interesting place, isolated but cosmopolitan at the same time. I have an idea...Alabama should have all state legislation and management done by the Huntsville City Council and City Manager. Even when the Republican Governor down there tried to do the right thing, people shot him down.

I'm thinking rural myself...like Shendoah Valley, amazing place, just amazing and only an hour from No. Virginia.

Cya

[eridani]

66. Weird thing happened on my only visit there

Grew up in the Midwest, lived in CA, MA and now WA. Husband's estranged father retired to Mississippi, and he wanted to patch things up before it was too late. October is a really pleasant time of the year there, and when Dad was asleep (a great deal of the time) we went for walks on the country roads. TWICE, people stopped and asked us if we needed a lift to the homeless shelter! WTF??? I was certainly impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness, but utterly astonished that walking for recreation seemed not to be in anyone's model of how the world works. If it had been August, that would have been perfectly understandable, but the weather was really lovely. Back here in the Pacific NW, people walking along the coastal highway 101 are assumed to be engaging in recreation unless they have a gas can or their thumb out.

[fujiyama]

68. They held their noses

to elect a fascist. I suppose they did have the right to elect someone that will dismantle any possibility of them recieving SS benefits, sending their children to war (that's OK though because they're goin over there to protect us from the furr'ner terists), make sure they won't recieve healthcare, ship their job off elsewhere, but according to the reason of all too many, ultimately that's OK because it will keep them gays from marrying each other.

That IMO is their right as idiots.

Now, I'm not ripping on all southerners (hell slightly less than half of the people in this state are brain dead), but I am ripping on politics in much of the south (and much of this nation in general).

Now, I understand you have a connection with your home region and that's very human. You're right that the environment and climate in much of the south is nice, but the iddylic image you paint doesn't exist. The idea that children are tought to respect their elders is a southern concept or that men respect women more is absurd. They may do so in a more superficial way, but that is meaningless.

Statistically speaking, the bible belt has the highest divorce rates, the lowest indicators in education, health care for children, etc.

[Skittles]

72. definitely a higher rate of sheer hypocrisy

indeed

[jswordy]

79. Uh, the South is not my home region...born and lived half my life up North

[Jamastiene]

69. Well, I guess

I can agree with you about the scenery being beautiful. It is that. And the food is great. Unfortunately, your assessment of the people is YOUR experience, but not mine. The majority of men do in fact cuss in front of women and AT women in the south as well. There are polite men in the north and the south as well. It's that special brand of gender based elitism that the southern men seem to think is their birthright that irks me. Also, if you want to know the truth, the redneck culture here is the culture that longs for the days of segregation to come back. Don't doubt that for one minute. Just ask some of the older people if you don't believe me. They will quickly tell you about how wonderful education was back then and how horrible it is now because of integration. You really need to talk to more of the people in depth about those types of issues to get the full effect. BTW, I was born and raised in the south and have spent enough time up north to see the difference. I'm working on saving up to replace a carpetbagger's place in the north. Maybe, I'll get to do so in my lifetime, but it's that cost of living difference and outright lack of opportunity that's getting me.

[Pooka Fey]

70. This is a lovely post. Thank you so much for your essay.

[Skittles]

71. yeah, whatever

I've lived in Texas for 30 years and have seen very little of the paradise you describe

[GreenPartyVoter]

73. Just so you know, rural life in the north is very similar, esp in terms of

looking out for your neighbors.

Of course, the south does have a delicious set of dialects and accents. ;)

[southlandshari]

74. Great post!

n/t

[movie_girl99]

75. as a native Texan, i love the south too

I have fond memories of spending time on my grandparents farm in east Texas. Sunday dinners after a little hell, fire and brimstone sermon. Swimmin' in the "tank", fishin for crawdads with a string ,washer and a piece of bacon. Goin to the spring to fill up old clorox bottles for drinking water. Taking cover in the storm cellar during many tornado warnings. I have been to many other states and while folks are friendly, i do love the hospitality of the south.

[dean_dem]

82. Too much humidity for my tastes...

Though I could not deal with three feet of snow on the ground all winter in the North, so I'll deal.

Plus our seafood is better.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

84. Small town New England is a lot like small town Southern life

as far as helpfulness and a sense of community. Hell, my neighborhood in the city was like that growing up.

[BamaGirl]

85. Great post js nt