I think I have a Southern fetish. The evidence:
1. Southern food (fried chicken, biscuits with honey, etc.)
2. Line dancing
3. “y’all”
4. Considering living in the South (Atlanta?)
5. Social conservatism
Much of this resulted from getting in touch with my Midwestern roots again. Though I’ve been in the Boston area for 8 years, my formative years in the Midwest shaped me more than I realized until recently. “Hidden” conservative values started surfacing: I didn’t realize 25 seemed like a young age to get married to many, and I respect this nation’s tenuous division of church and state. A re-evaluation of my values has left me wondering where my “roots” are.
This kind of re-evaluation seems to have translated into a Southern fetish, though I have never really been to the South. (Two years in Kentucky doesn’t really count.) Now, I did legitimately grew up on Southern food, and my love for line dancing could stem from either square dancing in gym class or dancing in Footloose. So maybe it’s no fetish; I’m just not as loyal to New England and Massachusetts liberal ideas as I used to be.
2 comments:
I most certainly had a Southern fetish of my own upon leaving for college in North Carolina four years ago; I really enjoyed my time down there, and cannot say that I will never return, but it is good to be back. It goes with the grass is always greener saying that you are always fascinated by someplace you have not lived. I think for every thing you might like about the South, there would be another thing that you would find incredibly frustrating. I will have to expand upon this to you in person, but there are so many facets - culturally and otherwise - to Southern life, more than one can imagine without being immersed in it.
I beg to differ on the KY comment, Susan! Four years there left me convinced that the Mason Dixon line easily shifts North to about Bardstown, if you let it. Bourbon, conservatism, Jeezus, and pork barbecue were the mainstays of my experience there, and when I return, it feels just the same. Next time you visit, go on down to Lexin-ton, y'all-- you'll see what I mean :)
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