North v. South Diatribe

[emleepc]

I knew it was coming. Thank you.

[XOMichelle]

Originally posted by emleepc

One trip to any particular city cannot give you the full picture of what that place represents. You cannot possibly experience all there is to experience in just a few days.

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.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

Originally posted by XOMichelle
I didn't share all that I experienced, and I clearly didn't claim to experience everything....

I got to try southern BBQ, I found a Marc Jacobs purse on sale for 60% off at Saks ...

Michelle, what more could a girl WANT?

[Rudey]

Originally posted by XOMichelle
I went to Alabama once to see my Dad for 10 days. It was a very beautiful area, with lots of trees and hills. The people were friendly and I thought their accents were fun. However there were 2 things that bothered me:
1) I was in Birmingham, and the center of the city was essentially all hospitals and university buildings. It really lacked an entertainment district. Maybe I was in the wrong part, but my sister and I drove all over to find places to hang out. We found a few cool second hand record stores near 5 Points, went to the Barking Kudu for NYE and found some cute shops in a suburb with the botanical gardens, but all in all it was pretty sparse.

2) There was a racial divide that made me very uncomfortable. It was just odd for me to walk into a store where ALL the patrons were white and ALL of people who worked there were African American. Not only that, the nicer stores and restaurants tended to hire all white employees. I think the only place I went with a mixed staff was the Cheesecake Factory. I know in CA you are more likely to see people of certain ethnicities doing specific kinds of work too, but I felt like it was more stark there than it was even in Chicago or Wisconsin. It made me happy I lived in California

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

[cashmoney]

Originally posted by Rudey
You are from Northern California.

-Rudey

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

[Rudey]

Originally posted by cashmoney
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

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

Originally posted by PhiPsiRuss
1) Its not just Birmingham. Except for New Orleans, the South is culturally vacant.

Atlanta, Disney, Key West, Memphis

[Glitter650]

Originally posted by Rudey
If you didn't have the pretty areas like Sausalito, it would suck. Yes. With the exception of a couple areas, the rest of it is hillbillies.


-Rudey

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" (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.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

Originally posted by IowaStatePhiPsi
Atlanta, Disney, Key West, Memphis

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.

[FAB*SpiceySpice]

Originally posted by IowaStatePhiPsi
Atlanta, Disney, Key West, Memphis

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.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Glitter650
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" (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.

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

[CarolinaCutie]

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

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.

[Rudey]

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

Originally posted by CarolinaCutie
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

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.

[cashmoney]

Originally posted by IowaStatePhiPsi
Atlanta, Disney, Key West, Memphis

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. Florida is in it's own category. Thats like saying southern california is south-western.

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

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.