1.31.2010

southern soul

  1. had another day of homework and chilling. i'd like a little less homework and a little more chilling though...
  2. fell on my butt in the snow (ice) right outside my dorm. i knew it was going to happen, but just kept walking. now i have a nice bruise and wet pants! oh, and i'm really glad classes before 10 am were canceled...since i don't have any classes tomorrow and everything. 
  3. two long days of classes this week, then a brief trip back to the hometown for family time and all that good stuff. 
i was chatting with a friend and we were talking about the south and politics. it made me want to post about the crazy culture of the south. so here goes! first off, i am not even from the deep south. there are differences in the south--there is florida, it's barely even southern it's so touristy now; there is the deep south (the magnolia curtain and beyond); there is the bible belt; and the northern south (just what it sounds like). i'm from the northern south, but my parents are from the deep south (louisiana) and the bible belt (tennessee). but the culture of the south, from what little i have grown up with in 20 years, is irreplaceable, unforgettable--what my family likes to call southern-fried crazy. the raising i had is like a mix between southern and european. i was raised to say "yes ma'am" and "no sir" like you wouldn't believe, but i also started to drink with my family when i was old enough to hold a tiny wine glass. i feel like i was raised to be polite, but speak my mind. the consequence for bringing home a yankee? only as bad as bringing home a republican. note: not all southerners are republicans! another note: but most republicans are southerners. like i said, i was raised in a hicktown, backwoods, rebel yell kinda place. but i vote democratic and have traveled extensively. so this is turning into more of a discussion of the paradoxes present in my life growing up, but i think that's also an essence of southern culture. the web of societal norms, rules, and expectations required the utmost grace and precision to walk through. i have a deep respect for the southern culture and the southern way. i love where i am from and would have it no other way. trust me, i have issues some of the ways of thinking and living apparent down south, but i rectify those issues in my own way. and when it comes down to it, i will defend the southern culture 'til my dying day. there is a beauty and a love inherent in the ideal of southern hospitality that isn't present anywhere else in this country. this has been a subject that had proved difficult--how do i express the love i have for this place in a blog space? maybe tomorrow night will just be stories from my family, my life, my friends, my experiences that will color the issue mo' betta. for now,

oh, and my bucket list thing is to learn to speak Italian, from an Italian. 

2 comments:

  1. It is important to note that there is a major distinction between southern democrats and democrats in the south (you would fall into the later). Southern-fried crazy is a great term to describe the atmosphere of this area. I feel like you have to be born into it in order to embrace the crazy. That being said, more power to the people who can embrace this lifestyle. It does take some getting used to though. While I have a tendancy to hate on the south and what it stands for (and even the fakeness behind southern hospitality sometimes) there are some great people down here who get wrongly stereotyped. So to each his own, but more importantly don't let those differences tear us apart as they so often do.

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  2. Word to Zach about southern democrats because most southerners are actually registered democrat and vote that way on the local level but tend to vote republican on the national level due to many social and moral issues that overide there logic.

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