Southern Belle at Heart

I love the South. As much as I can complain about the weather and the overuse of "honey" and "sugar" when talking to people, I really enjoy it. The South is where you can sit back and relax without all the hustle and bustle of a big city. We like sweet tea with every meal and you can bet lots and lots of people will know all your information. It's not uncommon for us to show off our "Southern Hospitality" and make friendly conversation with you like you're our best friend. I plan on staying in the South because I couldn't imagine going anywhere else. I'm thankful for the Christianity all around us and the love we all have for one another. Forever a southerner at heart.

Reluctantly Southern

I don't really consider myself a southern but the more I looked into southern girl stereotypes, the more I realize that I am extremely southern. Whether I like to admit it or not I'm a fiddle playing, boot wearing, sweet tea loving, bible believing, curly haired southern girl. When I went to a vocal intensive in Nashville my roommates were from LA and New York. It was fascinating to learn about how different life is for teenage girls from other places. In forsyth county Chacos are HUGE everyone loves them but my roommate from LA said if she ever saw anyone wearing chacos in LA she would be completely disgusted and think that person was super unfashionable or "Ghetto". The first couple days of camp my roommates made several comments about how sweet I was and that they thought it was so strange. I never had anything mean to say about the other girls at camp and I made it extremely easy for the other girls to get along with me because I was constantly laughing and complimenting people. If I ever hurt anyone's feelings I would feel so terrible and that's definitely a southern thing. I'm not sure if I will always live in the south. I definitely want to travel the world and I would love to spend some time in other places like New York or LA. But once I settle down and start a family I would like to raise my kids in the south.

Southern or bust

I've lived in the south all my life. I can't imagine living outside of it and I do plan on staying in the south for the foreseeable future. I like how people are generally a lot more friendly here in the south than other parts of the country. I also like the lower amounts of traffic. Living this close to Atlanta already drives me crazy with all the traffic so I don't plan on moving to a big city where the traffic is worse. Another thing i like about the lower traffic is that people are more friendly and notice you more, especially when you have an american flag flying from the bed of your truck. Almost every time I've driven someone honks at me or waves or gives me a thumbs up because of my flag. Grace even called me once purely to tell me that she liked my flag when I drove by her. I doubt that people would be this friendly about something like this in the bigger cities. Odds are someone would key my truck or rip my flag if i were to drive through a big city with it flying. So the south is for sure a lot nicer but also southerners don't talk nearly as much as northerners do. I can't stand how much northern people talk. I used to work with a man from the north and it was impossible to get him to shut up. I could barely handle that guy once a week so no way i'm moving to city full of northerners.
So for me, the South is better and I don't plan on leaving.

Southern or not?

Despite the fact I've lived in the south for six years, I do not consider myself a southerner. I was born in the west coast and lived there for twice as long as I've lived here, in fact, I moved here through circumstance, not choice. But that don't mean I don't like it here. Although I do miss the cooler weather of the west coast, I enjoy the increased sunshine and thunderstorms of the south. The people are friendlier too and, although stereotypical, they really do make good ice tea here. Even though I'm not a southerner, I think I’ll stay in the south. Someday, I might even consider myself a southerner. 

Hold the Lemon in Your Iced Tea

I am a Southerner. I will always be a Southerner. Just as Mrs. Carnes lives in the South and still retains her New England identity, you can never take the South out of me. I have too many Southern quirks, too much Georgia clay stains my hands. I could move to all states in the union and still be a Southerner traversing a foreign land. 

It's entertaining to hear stories of fellow Southerners leaving the flock and exploring the North, or the commentary on my Southern accent from my Northern cousins. I have one friend from church who spent spend her first couple years of college at Hope in Michigan. She, of course, brought her bubbly Southern personality up with her, but despite her friendly attempts, she continued to feel shut down and rejected by her new surroundings. Turns out Northerners don't have our same taste for interaction with strangers. 

My cousins from Michigan and I get into debates about whether it's 'pop' or 'soda' or whether 'y'all' is a word or not. It's isn't Christmas without the constant jabs and jokes about whose right and wrong. My other cousin moved from Boston about a decade ago, and we had to go through rigorous training to teach her how to use the letter 'r'. Now, she speaks with any other Southern drawl (but the Boston accent comes back for a week or so whenever she comes home from a visit up north), but still refers to Boston as home. 

I look forward to traveling and experiencing the different cultures that we have even in our own United States. Maybe my opinions will change. Who knows- maybe in a year from now, I'll be a regular Ohio native and never look back. 

*** Fun fact: It is evidently a Northern thing to put lemon in your iced tea. I got in trouble for that one time. I was like, "Hey, lemon sounds good in iced tea." and my mom was like, "How dare you sacrifice your Southern heritage! You are a disgrace to your ancestors!" So FYI, if the waiter asks if you want lemon in your iced tea, JUST SAY NO!  

your grandma's chocolate chip cookies are all gone

Oh my…the stereotypical love of sweet tea and chicken defines me. And when you have the baking of a grandma born and raised in the south, everything becomes a bit more sweet. Being born in Virginia put me pretty me kinda close to being a Yankee. Obviously my intended southern roots won out as I was dragged down to the sweet ol’ Georgia humidity, peaches, and rednecks. But the South is known for its hospitality, something we are obviously good at (unlike *cough* New Jersey). Although the frizz my hair takes on in the summer is quite frustrating, I think I will probably stay in the South. My family is here and let’s faces it, where else can I own a mini farm in the middle of a city?

     Although we Southerners have quite distinct characteristics, we judge other parts of the country pretty harshly too. First, there are the grumpy New Jersians, then the road rage New Yorkers with liberal Oregonians and don’t forget the egotistical Californians. But I’m sure there are a couple nice people somewhere in those states, right?

     From sunburn necks and noses to revival meetings and Sunday potluck, I think I’ll keep the South close by. And maybe while we’re at it, do you think you could loan me a cup of sugar? Thank ya sweetie, and God bless ya!

Singing Songs About the Southland

Do you call yourself a Southerner? I don't. Even though I've lived outside New England for more years than I lived there, I still feel like a Yankee. The small towns and snowy winters of the North formed my personality: I'm reserved, skeptical, slightly intellectually snobby--and that's not even mentioning my faults!

But I love living in the South. People are friendly; the weather is so much better; the pace of life is slower; status-seeking isn't as prevalent; churches are everywhere. Even some of the rough edges that surprised me when I first moved here (Confederate flags flying from the backs of pickup trucks? Hello, Forsyth County!) have worn down in the last decade. Years ago, people I met would try to engage me in debating the Civil War. That never happens anymore.

Read this article to learn why, in spite of our regional treasures, Honey Boo Boo and the Duck Dynasty folk, people are still flocking to the South and will continue for the foreseeable future. People love to mock the South, but they love to move here even more.

Write about your identity as a Southerner (or not!). What do you like and dislike about the South? Do you envision living here your whole life? We know what Southern stereotypes are; what stereotypes do you have about people who live in other parts of the country?

Finally, consider these quotes from some of our greatest Southern authors.

Flannery O'Connor:
I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.

I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.

The great advantage of being a Southern writer is that we don't have to go anywhere to look for manners; bad or good, we've got them in abundance. We in the South live in a society that is rich in contradiction, rich in irony, rich in contrast, and particularly rich in its speech.

William Faulkner: 
The past is never dead. It's not even past.

Walker Percy: 
Like many young men in the South, he had trouble ruling out the possible. They are not like an immigrant's son in Passaic who desires to become a dentist and that is that. Southerners have trouble ruling out the possible. What happens to a... man to whom all things seem possible and every course of action open? Nothing of course.

Hank Williams, Jr.: 
“We say grace, and we say ‘ma’am,’
 If you ain’t into that, we don’t give a da[rn].”