I knew it was coming. Thank you.

Oh but you DO mean to pick! ;-)

I didn't share all that I experienced, and I clearly didn't claim to experience everything. Those were the two large negatives I felt existed in Birmingham. I don't think you could deny either problem exists, or deny that if either were improved Birmingham would be a more pleasant area to live. The downtown area had lots of beautiful old homes and buildings that were really run down – extra commerce focused there would do more than provide an entertainment district, it would restore the local history. Also, race relations could use improvement in EVERY American city or town, so Birmingham certainly isn't alone in this criticism.

Additionally, my trip wasn't all bad: I got to try southern BBQ, I had a lovely time at a local state park, I found a Marc Jacobs purse on sale for 60% off at the Saks next door to the Cheesecake Factory, I met some very nice people, and I learned what a Kudu was.

I’m sure if you visited the city where I grew up you’d have hoards of things you disliked about it too. That’s fine – it’s not where you grew up, so of course some things would bother you. No big deal.

Michelle, what more could a girl WANT? ;)

What did Chicago have to do with this? I will preface this by saying I'm not a big fan of Chicago and won't be here too long.

You are from Northern California.

And what exactly do you have in Northern California? Nothing but high rents, dirty homeless people, and an endless population of complainers. If you didn't have the pretty areas like Sausalito, it would suck.

Talk about a second rate, wanna be NYC, but still suffering from a Napolean complex towards SoCal kinda city.

-Rudey

Northern California is such a joke. Isnt it full of a bunch of Hillbillies/Country People?

Yes. With the exception of a couple areas, the rest of it is hillbillies. It's even funnier that someone would talk badly about the South given that those areas suffer from the same...dearth.

-Rudey

Atlanta, Disney, Key West, Memphis

If you REALLY want to talk about Northern California, and not just the bay area , that includes Tahoe and north to the Orgeon border all the way down to about Monterey. There are not only hillbillies in that span of Northern California. Yes the central valley (around Stockton) has a lot of agriculture and "hillbillies" :rolleyes: (if that's what you want to call them) and I will be the first to admit that Sacramento, isn't really my favorite place to be, and isn't the most "happening" city, but that is not all that northern california consists of.

Charleston, Savannah, the founding cities for a multitude of sororities and fraternities -- Macon, GA, and Farmville, VA, just to cover six big sororities off the top of my head.

Hahaha, Disney makes the south not "culturally vacant"? You're funny. I do like Memphis though and Key West. But still, the heat! Yuck, I can't take it. :(

Yes you named some beautiful areas like Tahoe and Monterey but these are not booming places where people are coming to work. Oh yeah, Tahoe is soooo blue and Monterey has nice golf courses and a small aquarium. Those places aren't even connected by BART or whatever. In fact they remind me quite a bit of upstate New York.

-Rudey

Culturally vacant... vacant of WHAT culture, exactly?

I am not out here trying to convince ANYONE that the South is better than any place where y'all live. After all, I don't want you here anyway :p

I enjoy living in the South, and generally would not choose to live in the "North". I hate cold weather and I have a distaste for strong Yankee accents. However, that doesn't mean that the South is the only place in the US worth anything.

I think you have to live here to appreciate some of the finer points of Southern living... and if you aren't from here, I'm sure the vast majority of our way of life would seem ass-backwards to you. But when I go other places, I feel the same way.

I don't expect you to bow down and worship the lower half of the country. Just keep in mind that we are not always who you THINK we are. I take offense to being swept into the corner with the rest of the bible-beating, racist, gun-toting, "culturally vacant" trailer trash that many people think characterizes the South. You can be progressive and Southern.

The South was actually way more advanced than the North through slightly past the civil war if it makes you feel better.

But that is no longer the case. I don't think anyone is out there saying the South is just awful...ok some people are. But the fact is that the South no longer carries what it used to...

-Rudey

Hold up right there.....


Don't put Disney and Key West in "The South" category, because they're not. Florida is not "The South". Memphis and Atlanta type of cities are nothing like Miami, Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, St. Pete or Clearwater. :rolleyes: Florida is in it's own category. Thats like saying southern california is south-western.

so when I travel to Florida from Iowa I head north?
Didn't Florida have a town that just a few years ago still had white-only dining rooms in their restaurants?
Sounds South enough for me.