Living in the land of Dixie and proud of it!

[christie]

Just some additional food for thought since we have stumbled onto symbols and how some may find them offensive...

Under the flag of the United States of America do we continue to oppress homosexuals. Any slaughter and removal of Native Americans from their homes after the Flag Resolution of 1777 would have been under the flag of the United States of America.

It has been pointed out that not all history and symbols of our country should be celebrated, yet I am certain that we all have participated in the Pledge of Allegiance, Southerners, Northerners, Midwesterners, West Coasters alike...

Now, please don't assume that I embrace the Confederate Flag and how it has become a symbol of all things ignorant alive and well in the South. I am, however, a proud Southerner. Proud of my family heritage and proud to pass that history, both good and bad, onto future generations.

Being a Southerner encompasses a good deal more than the stigmas of slavery, oppression, conservative Bible-Belt wearing, uneducated, backwardsassness... as someone else mentioned, its usually the two tooth wonder who makes the news and embodies the whole, "Hey Bubba, watch this!"

After all, we have BB King (born on a plantation in Mississippi), Elvis, The Grand Ole Opry, the Parthenon (located in Nashville), Ellen Degeneres, Oprah and Paula Deen... I mean really, what more could you want but some amazing music while you eat something saturated with butter and garnished with bacon waiting for either Ellen or Oprah to come on??

[Darth Denkay]

Thank you Christie for so eloquently elaborating on what I sorta brushed across - you did it justice. And you rock!

Originally Posted by christie0918

Just some additional food for thought since we have stumbled onto symbols and how some may find them offensive...

Under the flag of the United States of America do we continue to oppress homosexuals. Any slaughter and removal of Native Americans from their homes after the Flag Resolution of 1777 would have been under the flag of the United States of America.

It has been pointed out that not all history and symbols of our country should be celebrated, yet I am certain that we all have participated in the Pledge of Allegiance, Southerners, Northerners, Midwesterners, West Coasters alike...

Now, please don't assume that I embrace the Confederate Flag and how it has become a symbol of all things ignorant alive and well in the South. I am, however, a proud Southerner. Proud of my family heritage and proud to pass that history, both good and bad, onto future generations.

Being a Southerner encompasses a good deal more than the stigmas of slavery, oppression, conservative Bible-Belt wearing, uneducated, backwardsassness... as someone else mentioned, its usually the two tooth wonder who makes the news and embodies the whole, "Hey Bubba, watch this!"

After all, we have BB King (born on a plantation in Mississippi), Elvis, The Grand Ole Opry, the Parthenon (located in Nashville), Ellen Degeneres, Oprah and Paula Deen... I mean really, what more could you want but some amazing music while you eat something saturated with butter and garnished with bacon waiting for either Ellen or Oprah to come on??

[christie]

Just 'cause I needed to see if I could actually post a youtube:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZLUohDCGo"]YouTube- Jason Aldean - She's Country[/ame]

[Write14u]

As with much in life, hate can be passed down generationally and this happens a lot in the South. I already expressed my thoughts on displaying the Confederate flag, but I'll say one thing: I've seen just as much racism and hatred in other areas of the country. Southerners, however, don't pull punches. If they're a racist sonofabitch, they'll put it right out there, unlike some of the people I've met from other regions who are just as racist but perhaps smarter in that they don't voice it. Racism and hatred -- and the symbols that advocate it -- need to be erased.

Now, moving on to honor the spirit of Wicket's inital post ...

I've lived my entire life in the South, although I've traveled the U.S. extensively. I love the South. I love driving down a street and having some grandpa at his mailbox wave to me. I love my mom's pecan pie and recognize that tea just isn't right unless it's sweet (even though I'm not fond of it. LOL)

The U.S. is just amazing in its beauty and the South is no different. There are beautiful mountains and rolling plains. There's stark beauty to be found in some places and oddities in others. There's something that's oddly crazy beautiful about kudzu overtaking an abandoned house.

I freely acknowledge that there are weird things that happen anywhere in this country, but I'm here to tell you, you haven't seen true weird til you've seen Southern weird. There's things that happen here that couldn't ever happen anywhere else.

There's so much diversity in the music the South has accounted for, from the best of blues and jazz to country and even rap.

The bad stuff stands out like a wart on the end of a nose, but as Wicket says, there's much to love and enjoy here.

So that said, I'll leave you with some of my favorite lyrics from my favorite band, Alabama:
"I'll speak my Southern English, as natural as I please. I'm in the heart of Dixie, Dixie's in the heart of me."