Recently a college friend (who isn’t from around here) asked me why I identify as a southern girl through and through. She made sure to state that she wasn’t asking about my gun shooting, God fearing ways, but rather the location, the people, and the culture. I went ahead and ignored that the gun shooting, God fearing could be part of the culture & instead I started with the first element she asked about.
The location.
I’m not going to pretend that we don’t have cities, but we also have: Fields of green, wild flowers, back roads, red dirt trials. I can reach either, and if I drive across my state, it’s the latter I see more of. I love that. It’s quite beautiful to look at.
Not to mention all the things that tend to be in them.
& The heat!
It causes some beautiful things and amazing summer days.
The cold actually hurts my soul.
Plus our flowers bloom so early compared to up north.
Oh, and my favorite, the older buildings in the “traditional” southern style. Those are always Swoon worthy. This one was in New Orleans. But I swear my main goal in life is to live in a white house with a front porch.
I’ll skip onto the people.
People in the south, it’s a tricky subject to handle because it deals into stereotypes and we’re working against them, and we should be, by all means. But some of them I found true.
Southern hospitality anyone? I went to New York City when I turned 18, and yes, there were plenty of nice people there (I’d like to confirm that one of my best friends is from NY) but I found that it wasn’t so normal to strike up a conversation with everyone and anyone. It wasn’t so normal to chat with people in an elevator. & it was clear that in a city that big no one was on a friendly bases with their neighbors. (which was a really odd thing to me, because I know all of mine so well) & if we go outside of the US: When I was in Switzerland visiting my cousin who lived there at the time, she told me I needed to stop waving at people who drove past while we were walking the dog. What?
“It’s rude” she stated, “And super weird because you don’t know them.” Waving? Rude?
Plus Good Ole Boys. The world has never seen anything more beautiful than a good ole boy. I’d swear by that, dear sir.
Now onto the culture.
I’m trying to find a way to cover this in more than: butter, yes ma’am, hard working, home grown, craft centered, sweet tea, sport loving, darling/sweetie/honey, cotillion, debutantes, mason jars… Actually we could just listen to country music. That would answer her question completely, wouldn’t it? But for now here’s a quick glimpse:
I said I’d avoid the God and Guns, but I lied. Here’s my granddad hovering and instructing my shooting.
Anna Down South 
I’ve only been to Louisiana, but I absolutely love southern homes with their tall columns and wraparound porches.
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As a Brit, Southern America feels like a totally different world! But the houses are so beautiful – and big!
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I was born in the south but grew up moving all over. I still identify so strongly with the south because of the sense of family and tradition that seems to be steeped in every way of life there.
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