This definition doesn't really do it for me. I mean, how can a region be "conventionally designated South?" It either is, or it isn't. Graciously allow me to expound....
Many factors have me thinking about the South lately:
I recently finished reading The Help, one of the most extraordinary books I have read in years. Kathryn Stockett is my favorite new author. This is her first book, but undoubtably will not be her last. She captures the mood of the South in the 1960s down to the chicken salad and starched table cloth at bridge club.
Tim McGraw (not my favorite) has a new song out titled "Southern Voice." The lyrics are catchy. I even find myself humming along "C'mon in chile, i'm sure glad to know ya." He references all kinds of Southern icons: sweet iced tea, Faulkner, Daytona Beach, Scarlett, and many others. The band Alabama had a song many years ago called "Song of the South." It is, in my opinion, a much better song about the South than this new "Southern Voice" song. It speaks of "sweet potato pie and a shut my mouth." Oh, to have the perfect opportunity to use the phrase "shut my mouth" is indeed a glorious thing!
My parents recently had a neighborhood garage sale and my mother cleaned out attics, closets, and my old room. I found an envelope full of graduate school applications that were never mailed. One was to the University of Mississippi Center for Southern Studies. That is right, I wanted to get a Masters Degree in Southern Studies. Can you think of anything more fascinating than an entire course load full of classes such as: Anthropology of Blues culture, The South in Film, Civil Rights and Liberties, and Appalacian Folk Craft? I can't. But, then I met JohnWill. So instead of a Masters Degree in the South, I got John Will. Not a bad trade-off. (I tell him I am still going to go down to Oxford some day and get that degree. We both know that's never going to happen.)
Monograms. Southerners love monograms. We love monograms on our clothing, towels, bedding, bags, dishes, silver, stationary, hair bows, slippers, and even cars. I recently had a conversation with a friend from Illinois who is a convert to our monogramming ways. She said her friends up "there" don't understand why we want our name on everything. I don't understand it either, I just know we love them. Maybe if I had my Masters degree in Southern Studies I would have learned this in History of Monogramming 101.
I took Southern Literature in college. It was my favorite class of all the classes I took for my English degree and it was taught by a beloved teacher. As a part of the class, she took a group of students on a literary tour of Oxford, Mississippi. We toured Rowan Oak, home of Faulkner, and the cemetary where he is buried. My final paper for this class was titled "Is the South in Danger of Losing its Identity?" I don't remember the answer to this question. All I remember is some vague reference to deviled eggs and funeral food. Maybe this is the answer.
3 comments:
I love the South! I read that book a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it! I couldn't put it down :)
We were just having a conversation today at work about the difference in the south and the north (nothing against those from the north). We teacher was saying that her sister-in-law was from up north and they had to introduce her to southern staples....sweet tea, potato salad, friend chicken, grits, etc :)
You're such a good writer, Ginger...I enjoyed your post. While I enjoy many of the Southern staples to which I've grown accustomed in my 25+ years of living in the South, it still feels like it's not quite my own...I have no roots! EEEEKKK!! ;)
Interesting, Cindy. Would love to have a longer conversation with you about this. What part still feels "foreign?"
I had a lengthy conversation with my sister-in-law yesterday regarding the consistency of pimento cheese. We both agreed this was a quintessentially Southern discussion.
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