Loss of Southern Identity

This past week I spent my spring break in another popular beach resort, Destin, Florida. On this trip, I noticed many of the things pointed out by the previous bloggers. First of all, to get to Destin, I had to drive through some of the most rural southern places i have ever seen in Alabama and Florida. All of a sudden, when you reach the city of Destin the scenery completely changes. People from all over the country populate the area and it gives of a completly tourist trap vibe. Because of what i found at this location, I believe that most southern beach resorts no longer even try to be southern.

Hilton Head

I went to Hilton Head for Spring Break one year with my family. I remember thats the island is mainly just full of golf courses and condos. The island basically puts on a personna much like Seaside in Florida. It plays more on being a coastal place instead of the traditional Southern stereotype. I think do this much more than other Southern tourist traps because these places attract a lot of Northerners during the summer and spring break. I did however this Spring Break when i visited Seaside I did eat at a pretty stereotypical Southern restaurant with some good fried oysters and hole fried okra.

Hilton Head

This past week I spent my spring break off the coast of South Carolina on hilton Head Island... with half of Ohio. Before my most recent vacation I had never seen a license plate from the Buckeye State. Over a four day period I would become very acquainted. We had mentioned that Hilton Head was a false representation of the South but I was surprised to see a lack of southern images. The restaurants and shops made no attempt to be overly country, with most being regular seafood joints and surf shops. The local mall included a variety of shops and didn't seem to force the point of being southern. Maybe the Island is losing its personality instead of putting on a fake one.

Perception of Southern culture

     When I first told my friends and family I decided to go to Georgia Tech, their immediate reactions were You're going to school in the South? Before college, I had no connection to the South, and no previous exposure to the actual culture of the region. So in my mind, the South was the way it was portrayed in media - country, farmlands, non-industrialized. However, throughout the course of this course I have learned that many areas in the South are very developed and modern. After living in Atlanta for six months, my perception of Southern culture had slowly changed.
    For my group's photo essay, we visited Greater Traveler's Rest Baptist Church, a megachurch in Decatur. The church's congregation comprised of more than 2,000 members and its property consisted of 5 buildings in total. Visiting Greater Traveler's Rest helped alter the perception I had of the South.  The video below of the church's choir demonstrates exactly how large the congregation is on a normal day.

Southern Heritage

Throughout the course of this semeseter I have to come to realize that the "South" is not one place, one mindeset, or one way of acting. The "South", or southern way is composed of a plethora of different people's experience. In this Def Jam Poetry video by Jason Carney he talks about some of his experiences about being a southerner. His recollection is one of a hundred thousand that piece together to form a Pangea like masterpiece. This is how my perception of the south has changed over the course of the semester.

What I've Learned

When I came into this class, I had my perception of the South, the South I had grown up with. My South was everyone on Saturday either tailgating at Sanford Stadium or watching the game on mute with Larry Munson blarring through the house. It was eating Holcomb's chopped pork and brunswick stew then running outside with my brother to go fish in my Granny's pond. So far, I've learned that there are so many different parts to Southern culture that differ from region to region. In Carolina, you have your mustard based barbeque sauces and in New Orleans you have so many differing neighborhoods. Allison's South differs so much from mine, as I'm used to my Granny's huge farm, although we both spend time on the porch.

Re-evaluation of Southern Culture

The topic of this class and, more specifically, this blog is to learn about southern identity and culture. We have passed the midpoint of the semester and have recently completed a photo essay project in which we had to go off campus and conduct interviews about this topic throughout the city. After all of this, evaluate how your perception of southern culture has changed over the course of this class.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Probably one of the most stereo-typical southern foods is fried green tomatoes, which is unfortunate because it's one of my favorite foods in the world. Basically you take unrippened tomatoe and you cut into slices, I like the semi thick ones, and bread them. My mom breads them with cornmeal which makes them a little crunchy. My dad's favorite place to eat friend green green tomatoes is at the Blue Willow Inn, located in Social Circle, Georgia. The restaurant is an old plantation-style house converted to serve Sunday brunch and draws in a large crowd for its southern charm.

Southern Experience

Well Teresa, growing up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama many things shaped my life. As you know by now Alabama Football rules here, but what overtook that for me was soccer. I have been playing since I was 3 years old. I don't think its so rare for people to play soccer in the South, but comparing it to how all my friends either played baseball, basketball, football, or ran track I was kind of the odd man out. This bothered me for the longest of time, but as I grew older and matured I understood that playing football or basketball in the South would not make me any "cooler." My character depended on me and I determined what ideals would form my passions. My old soccer club is used to win state championships back to back which is what helped me gain a passion for winning.

Southern Culture in Your Life

For this week, write a post that recounts an experience where your Southern identity has directly affected your life. Describe how that event played out and why Southern culture made a difference in the situation. Would someone not from the South have treated the situation in the same way? Also explain how you were influenced by this specific event.

Barbeque

One could make the argument that barbeque is the most significant food tradition to come out of the South. This is mainly because of its connection to southern identity. The following clip is a trailer from the world championship barbeque circuit and takes place in Kansas City and Memphis. It shows its roots in southern history and culture with its togetherness and emphasis on southern Steryotypes. Please reference my Visual Analysis Project for further analysis.

Family Quotes

My family has a bunch of funny Southern sayings, many of which come from my uncle. When its cold outside, he loves to say "it's colder than a well diggers ass in the klondike", a saying which I've picked up and use all the time. Not many people get this saying and I've got to explain to them how it gets colder the further down in the soil. Another saying we have in my family is "fatter than a tick" and "shoot the rabbit". "Fatter than a tick" is a funny saying based on the swelling of ticks when feeding on something. My granny used to say "shoot the rabbit" when changing the little kids cuz they would put their arms up like they were surrendering. Those are just some funny sayings we keep in our family.

Git-r-Done!!!!!

Git-r-Done is a term that was coined by the comedian Larry the Cable Guy in his stand up acts. This phrase has become a wide phenomena when people want to be funny by replacing the words "yes" or "ok". It seems so stupid but, personally I have a had a full conversation with people just having a good time saying, "Git ur Done!!" The steryotype of people who use this is redneck, hillbilly, country, southern people who don't have anything better to do with their time. You can view all the meanings and possible ways this word can be used by this word at urban dictionary . You will find a plethora of interesting topics here. Until next week I'm out of here.

Sweet Tea

Known as the "Champagne of the South", sweet tea is a signature drink of the South and is served at mostly every restaurant in the region. The popularity of the drink originates from the end of the Civil War when poverty was prevalent and the ingredients for sweet tea - water, tea leaves, and sugar - were inexpensive. Not only is sweet tea is traditional summertime drink, it is a year round staple.

The first recipe for sweet tea was published in 1879 in Housekeeping in Old West Virginia by Marion Cabell Tyree. Since then, the importance of sweet tea as a part of the Southern diet has been evident. In 2003, House Bill 819 was written trying to make a law that every restaurant serving iced tea must also serve sweet tea in the state of Georgia. The bill proposal was intended to be humorous, but it shows the significance of sweet tea's impact on Southern identity. Recently, even McDonald's has added sweet tea as a dollar menu item nationwide. To be served in more than 13,000 franchises in the U.S., sweet tea must be a pretty big deal.

Sit down and stay a while...

The South has many famous sayings, foods, drinks, and songs. Pick one the four and give a little history of how it came to be and why or who made it famous. HAVE FUN WITH THIS!