I’d like to preface this post by saying that I’ve always hated the idea of Southerners writing about the South for other Southerners. It always smacked of a certain kind of smugness that left a foul smell in my nose. It reminds me of trailer park folk bragging to their neighbors that their trailer “don’t have no roaches.” Anyway…..
Tigers share retail space with elephants here in the South. Occasionally, an alligator slithers into the mix. Here, presidential speeches are preempted by collage football, and who you pull for is second only to “which church do you go to?”
I don’t cotton to religion or football, but nonetheless, it is was makes the Deep South the Deep South. I see Facebook pages littered with Biblical quotes underneath a picture of a 19 year old in a bikini with 2 guys and a beer in her hand. In the South, we speak loudly and carry a small stick.
Down here, we have pride. Pride in what, I haven’t worked out yet, but it is pride. We don’t give a lick about school unless the aforementioned wild animals line up with our religious convictions.
We are slow to change and are afraid of anything that sounds foreign. I’ve seen many a redneck fall over dead when he learn the origins of his beloved can of Cope.
Southerners are not a complex people, they’re a down to Earth group of people. God, guns, and college football. The title says it all.
