Living in the land of Dixie and proud of it!

[shadows papa]

Happy Christmas Eve,y'all! I was born and bred in southern Middle TN,close to the Alabama line,and although I have lived all over the US and in a couple of foreign countries fate keeps bringing me home.Not sure for how long this time but I love every minute of living in the South.I come from at least 6 generations of Indians,moonshiners,sharecroppers and horse thieves . Everyone is all about the food,and don't get me wrong I love me some Southern cooking as anyone who talks to me for more than 5 minutes will find out! But one of my favorite things about my part of the world is the literature.I can't quantify it but I would venture to guess that at least 50% of what we would call classics in fiction and some in non-fiction come from writers born in the South.The greatest playwright to ever put pen to paper,Tennessee Williams,is the grandson of a graduateof the University of the South,which my granddaddy and great-granddaddy helped build and maintain.Robert Penn Warren and Harper Lee are two of my faves.I won't go into the whole list or I will be here all day.So,any thoughts on the literature of the South?? Merry Christmas y'all! Shad

[Jet]

Big fan of Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams

[Kosmo]

Originally Posted by shadows papa

Happy Christmas Eve,y'all! I was born and bred in southern Middle TN,close to the Alabama line,and although I have lived all over the US and in a couple of foreign countries fate keeps bringing me home.Not sure for how long this time but I love every minute of living in the South.I come from at least 6 generations of Indians,moonshiners,sharecroppers and horse thieves . Everyone is all about the food,and don't get me wrong I love me some Southern cooking as anyone who talks to me for more than 5 minutes will find out! But one of my favorite things about my part of the world is the literature.I can't quantify it but I would venture to guess that at least 50% of what we would call classics in fiction and some in non-fiction come from writers born in the South.The greatest playwright to ever put pen to paper,Tennessee Williams,is the grandson of a graduateof the University of the South,which my granddaddy and great-granddaddy helped build and maintain.Robert Penn Warren and Harper Lee are two of my faves.I won't go into the whole list or I will be here all day.So,any thoughts on the literature of the South?? Merry Christmas y'all! Shad

Really enjoyed reading 'Mississippi Sissy' by Kevin Sessums. Worth checking out.

[Duchess]

I'm from St. Augustine, FL. and I absolutely love it. When I was growing up the percentage of Black/multicultural families was 11% of the population. Nevertheless, I felt right at home.

St. Augustine is not your typical southern city. It's a huge melting pot of people from all over. I didn't experience the uncomfortable rascism feeling until I moved to Atlanta. It was a Black store owner that made reference to my Asian eyes and the fact the the guy I called dad just happened to be a white man.

Anyways, I'm very proud of home. I know that the south and white people are not the gatekeepers of racism. Living in the south has always been really comfortable for me and home is definitely where my heart is.

St. Augustine still represents friendly people, fantastic seafood, great beaches, intensely fascinating history and yummy drive thru cocktails..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Ih4hlq92Q"]YouTube- St. Augustine, Florida - RV Today Archive[/ame]

[daisygrrl]

Originally Posted by shadows papa

But one of my favorite things about my part of the world is the literature.I can't quantify it but I would venture to guess that at least 50% of what we would call classics in fiction and some in non-fiction come from writers born in the South.The greatest playwright to ever put pen to paper,Tennessee Williams,is the grandson of a graduateof the University of the South,which my granddaddy and great-granddaddy helped build and maintain.Robert Penn Warren and Harper Lee are two of my faves.I won't go into the whole list or I will be here all day.So,any thoughts on the literature of the South?? Merry Christmas y'all! Shad

Yes! I love love Southern literature.

Tennessee Williams is one of my fave southern authors; I even adore the movies based on his work (the homo-eroticism is toned down or cut out, but that gaping hole was pretty evident even to '50s viewers).

Flannery O'Connor is one of my heroes in the literary world; she wrote (mostly) short stories--and they're brilliant. Gothic with a lot of internal struggle (that is never resolved), especially in relation to Christianity/religion.

I've also read Margaret Michell's Gone With The Wind--which is even better than the film!

I could gab about Southern Lit all day long, but I'll stop and say:

Merry Christmas, Ya'll!

[Jess]

Originally Posted by daisygrrl

Yes! I love love Southern literature.

Tennessee Williams is one of my fave southern authors; I even adore the movies based on his work (the homo-eroticism is toned down or cut out, but that gaping hole was pretty evident even to '50s viewers).

Flannery O'Connor is one of my heroes in the literary world; she wrote (mostly) short stories--and they're brilliant. Gothic with a lot of internal struggle (that is never resolved), especially in relation to Christianity/religion.

I've also read Margaret Michell's Gone With The Wind--which is even better than the film!

I could gab about Southern Lit all day long, but I'll stop and say:

Merry Christmas, Ya'll!

Love Southern women writers! O'Conner is def my favorite, because of the gothic nature of her stories. In good company with Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Blanche McCrary Boyd, Patricia Cornwell, Anne Rice and a friend of mine Sheri Reynolds

Who can leave out Faulkner, Twain, Capote, Poe, and Thomas Wolfe, and John Grisham? The list of Southern writers goes on as do novels written about the South by "yankees". I had forgotten That Harriet Beecher Stowe of Uncle Tom's Cabin was from CT!

I also get confused by some folks who seem to write from a Southern experience that don't live in areas I see as the south. I always "felt" Hemingway was a Southerner at heart, though he was from ILL. He must have been a "wannabe" southerner..LOL

Great thoughts to embrace about the South!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

[daisygrrl]

Originally Posted by Jess

Love Southern women writers! O'Conner is def my favorite, because of the gothic nature of her stories. In good company with Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Blanche McCrary Boyd, Patricia Cornwell, Anne Rice and a friend of mine Sheri Reynolds

Who can leave out Faulkner, Twain, Capote, Poe, and Thomas Wolfe, and John Grisham? The list of Southern writers goes on as do novels written about the South by "yankees". I had forgotten That Harriet Beecher Stowe of Uncle Tom's Cabin was from CT!

I also get confused by some folks who seem to write from a Southern experience that don't live in areas I see as the south. I always "felt" Hemingway was a Southerner at heart, though he was from ILL. He must have been a "wannabe" southerner..LOL

Great thoughts to embrace about the South!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

What a great list, Jess--I really love Walker's stuff. And, I forgot to mention that I dearly love Dorothy Allison, especially her novel Trash!

And, I really enjoy the wit of Mark Twain (another Southerner) who once said, "Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."

I also like, too, Jess that you mentioned about someone being able to be an honorary Southerner :-)

xoxo

[Zimmeh]

One of the things that I loved growing up as a child was listening to the stories of my grandfather who was from Lookout Mountain, AL and my grandmother who was from Tuscaloosa, AL. My grandfather and my dad both played the guitar, and my family would drive to my great-grandmother's house in Pakatka, FL for Christmas and we would have a huge family dinner complete with my dad, grandfather and great aunt playing their guitars and singing.

That is one thing that u muss at this time of year, but I am having fun with my three nephews and two nieces passing these Christmas memories onto them!

Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas everyone.

Zimmy

[WolfyOne]

Took me a while to get through this thread with all the stopping I had to do to listen to YouTubes, but it was worth it. Especially when everyone got back on topic and moved away from the flag.

All ya'll made me hungry for southern cooking. I was born and raised in Chicago. Moved with a GF back in my younger days to TN. I last 3 months there and wound up back in Chicago. It wasn't because I didn't like it. It was because jobs were hard to come by in that area in the 80's. I learned to eat grits with sugar and always like hot cereal. I would, however, not have a problem eating it other ways. In TN I learned what hillbilly steak was. Many places offered pit bbq and hillbilly steak, so my curiosity got the better of me and I had to try it. Later, I found out I'd been eating it my whole life. Only when my mom cooked it, she just called in fried bologna. I ate pulled pork with a clear sauce that was quite hot and I loved it. Fishing in the Smokey Mountains was wonderful and beautiful. I learned what a mudpuppy was as I pulled up a stringer of trout and one was sucking on the last one on my stringer. Scared the crap out of me. Made me veer back and as I was trying to stand slipped on a pebble and found myself in the cold creek water. I found out where I lived that they do breakfast, dinner and supper. There is no meal called lunch or at least ther wasn't back then. A sup is the same as a sip. I could go one and on, but I think I've wrote enough for now.

I adore southern women and have lived with a few of them. My biggest problem when I was younger was not with the women, but with the work in the south. The security of always being able to go home (Chicago). Since living in Oklahoma for nearly 3 years, I've not wanted to go back north for anything other than the types of food I miss that isn't as good or available here. I can finally say without a doubt, this is home for me and I feel comfortable.

[sharkchomp]

I was born in Wisconsin but moved to Tennessee when I was nine years old and have lived here since. It is home. My beautiful home. The mist that rises from the fields in late summer mornings. The fog that rolls across the lakes in the fall. The red and yellow leafed trees that dot the hillsides like large lollipops in late fall. UT football. The two inches of snow that fills grocery stores and causes 1,000 wrecks and pure panic for all Southern drivers! And spring!! Azelias, red buds and dog woods!!! Tulips and flocks! The hungry fish awakened from the winter slumber, damned near jumping in your boat for the promise of a fresh lively worm!!! Watching the mountains turn green, like kudzu creeping slowly up the mountain crests. And summer, lakes and streams full of hot people, meandering down the little river on tubes. Humidity surely produced by the devil himself. Summer afternoon showers that are just aggrevating enough to make your grass grow for you to mow. This is my Tennessee.

~~~shark~~~~~~~

[Darth Denkay]

Dana makes the same threat to me - which is why I sleep with one eye open... Hey, I do shave down the middle so I don't have a uni-brow, isn't that enough?!?!?!?!?!

Originally Posted by christie0918

Just an FYI... we will NOT be trying this method out. While I constantly threaten to wax Jess's eyebrows while Hy sleeps, I would rather them be unruly than singed.

Christie

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has kept this thread alive and in the good Southern spirit. I go through periods where I can't get online much and the past week was one such stretch. It warms my heart to come in hear and feel all the SOuthern love!!!!!

Ya'll have brought up so much that is part of my Southern pride. The beautiful and diverse lands, the slow pace - FOOD, the music, the women, the hospitality. And I had never even thought about Southern writers but that's definitely another slice of the southern pie. Which, by the way, I pronounce peCAN, preferably the chocolate peCAN my mother makes!

Love me some Dolly Parton, and I'm not a big fan of country music. Speaking of Dolly, we have Dollywood too!!!!!

I know there was more I was going to mention but I'm drawing a blank. I'll be back and post more as I think of things.

Ya'll keep posting, ya hear!

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

and while we are on the subject of things that irk me...laugh.
It irks the HELL out of me when someone calls me a Southern Belle.
VOMIT
I was not presented at a debutant ball and would not want to be and do not live on a plantation.

Sorry can't help myself...
But, but, but, I had you pegged as the Belle of the Ball , please say it's true?!?!?!

[Niceguy]

Originally Posted by Jess

I also get confused by some folks who seem to write from a Southern experience that don't live in areas I see as the south. I always "felt" Hemingway was a Southerner at heart, though he was from ILL. He must have been a "wannabe" southerner..LOL

Hemingway did some of his writing in his barn studio at his second wife's family home in Piggott, AR. "Fathers and Sons", "A Clean Well-Lighted Place", "Wine of Wyoming", and part of "A Farewell to Arms" were written there. The house and barn are now a museum.


As for the topic of the thread... Anyone who knows me very well knows how proud and passionate I am about being born and raised in Arkansas and the south. I've traveled all over the country and have yet found a place I'd rather live. I can take a joke as well as anyone, but jokes about Arkansas and the south get really old. I find it interesting when people who get offended by other stereotypical jokes such as butch and femme jokes can make stereotypical jokes about certain states or regions and not realize they can be just as offensive.

Btw, if anyone is interested in a tour of Arkansas, I might know a good tour guide!

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Write14u

Heh! It's already been brung! *grin*
Dearest Southern Belle,
I dare say your tea is pretty damn good. But you KNOW you can't find good sweet tea in the restaurants down there. You have to admit it. LOL

P.S. I love how people call them Palmetto bugs. Hell, they're just big ol' flying roaches. *wink*

Well, I'd have to utterly disagree with you on the good sweet tea in restaurants, honey. Even here in Texas they have good sweet tea. Find a McAllister's next time you are in this area. I actually bought a jug to take home.

My preference is to call them "SHRIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK" but I've found that many of my acquaintances prefer to have their ear drums left intact.

Originally Posted by Niceguy

Hemingway did some of his writing in his barn studio at his second wife's family home in Piggott, AR. "Fathers and Sons", "A Clean Well-Lighted Place", "Wine of Wyoming", and part of "A Farewell to Arms" were written there. The house and barn are now a museum.


As for the topic of the thread... Anyone who knows me very well knows how proud and passionate I am about being born and raised in Arkansas and the south. I've traveled all over the country and have yet found a place I'd rather live. I can take a joke as well as anyone, but jokes about Arkansas and the south get really old. I find it interesting when people who get offended by other stereotypical jokes such as butch and femme jokes can make stereotypical jokes about certain states or regions and not realize they can be just as offensive.

Btw, if anyone is interested in a tour of Arkansas, I might know a good tour guide!

I'll take you up on that tour guide! I love your state. My best friend moved there so I visited a lot in my younger days. Of course, it was just up to Crossett and Hamburg. LOL

You are right about the stereotyping jokes. I honestly think that most of those types of jokes are fear-based. Whether that fear is a fear of the unknown or a real fear, I just wouldn't know. Have to be on an individual basis.

But I try not to categorize all Yankees as stiff and rude. I can only control what is in my hula hoop. :*

[Write14u]

Originally Posted by Arwen

Well, I'd have to utterly disagree with you on the good sweet tea in restaurants, honey. Even here in Texas they have good sweet tea. Find a McAllister's next time you are in this area. I actually bought a jug to take home.

My preference is to call them "SHRIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK" but I've found that many of my acquaintances prefer to have their ear drums left intact.

Psst, McAllisters is a chain, not a real restaurant, and from what I hear, yes, they do have good tea. But as a rule, it's pretty hard to find brewed tea with sugar already added. Just sayin. *grin*

I remember my freshman year in college. We walked into the dorm and there was a HUGE effing "palmetto" up on the wall. My friend with me was from Oregon and it was the first she'd ever seen. You should have seen the look on her face when I just slipped off my shoe, smacked it then walked away. LOL

As for Yankees, I know a number of them and they're all pretty good peeps. Some of them have strange ways, but it's their upbringing, I imagine. *grin*

[NotAnAverageGuy]

NC bbq, yummo

how I miss that bbq