11th
Being Southern
I think it’s kind of funny how as that New Yorkers in Atlanta article has expanded its circulation beyond the New York tumblrs to the Southern ones, the reception of it has overall gotten a lot uglier. From people going, “Oh, yes, I feel the same way,” to…well…a lot of stuff that’s less nice. (“Bless their hearts, their mothers just must have never taught them any manners…”)
The article was rude and condescending, and I couldn’t help feeling like the New Yorkers in the article were a bunch of asses who were too busy pouting about the lack of “culture” and good pizza to realize they could trade all that in for a new “culture” and all kinds of amazing Southern foods (like fried okra, greens, and anything smothered in cream gravy) which I’ve been longing for since I moved away a year ago. They were incredibly insulting.
I especially hate when people make fun of Southern accents. I love my accent, distinctive in that it belongs to Texas and Texas only. It’s soft, rolling and warm, and it reminds me of all the things I associate with home — hot summers and comfort food and my family and neighbors who bring tupperware bowls filled with soups and salads and chilis when you’re sick and the kind of arms-wide-open friendliness you will find nowhere else in the world. And when I think of people with Southern accents, I most commonly think of candid humor, sharp wit, and incredible abilities of story-telling — Mark Twain and Molly Ivins being two of the figures that come most readily to mind. Thus, the association between Southern accents and ignorance is a little bit strange to me, because we are on the whole no more stupid or ridiculous than any other group, and I’ll cite this article as a prime example.
Anyhow. I’m very proud of my Southern-ness. I’ve always felt it is a major part of who I am, and as I’ve gotten older and moved farther from where I began, I’ve come to respect Southern culture as being beautiful, colorful, and wholly singular in this world. I feel very lucky to have grown up in the South, and to all y’all who come down to my parts, you should be very lucky we’re as nice as we are, because if we weren’t, we wouldn’t let you stay.