Southern Cookouts

Hey, it has only been a couple of days since Spring Break ended, but I know that we all had fun because we either did many activities or participated in many events. So for the next topic, we will talk about the different significant activities or events that the South participates in.

Whenever I think of a Southern event, I think of the basic outdoor cookouts. In these cookouts, the people get together, eats some barbecue, drink, listen to music, and basically have a good time. Usually, these types of events are held in summer afternoons so that everyone can enjoy the bright sunny weather. I think that barbecues are really important to the South because they unite the entire Southern community. They are not just social events, but events that remind the community of its culture. The food at these events pretty much contain some sort of grilled or barbecued meat, usually pork, because these foods remind the South of its history. Also it is a custom in these cookouts to listen to some type of country music since this is the music most closely related to Southern identity. So cookouts mean more to the South than just an ordinary event but an event that reminds the community of its identity.

In this music video, there is a perfect example of a Southern barbecue:

An Experience with Southern Hospitality

Every time I go back to Nashville, I always go get fried chicken fingers from McDougal's. Not only do they have the best chicken fingers you will ever eat, but they also are extremely nice and hospitable. When I was in high school I would go with my friends a couple of time and it soon became our favorite spot. When we ordered our food, the cashier was really nice and chatted with us a little bit. After just a couple times the employees knew us by name making us feel like regulars. Pretty soon Ricky, our usual cashier, was giving us our drinks for free. Up until that time I hadn't experienced southern hospitality like that so I would always end up leaving what I would spend on the drink as an additional tip. Also, they had free ice cream with each order.

What I thought was great about their southern hospitality, was how short of a time it was before they started giving us a discount and just how nice they were when I went there for the first time. They are right by Vanderbilt University and are a college hang out spot, which in my experience don't tend to have that much southern hospitality, but this place and their employees were really nice from the beginning. Whenever I go back to Nashville I will always eat at and support McDougal's Chicken.

Southern Unfriendliness

For this week, I would like to talk about my experience of Southern inhospitality. I know that the topic is about Southern hospitality but I wanted to share my experience of inhospitality. Yesterday, I went to Waffle House with 6 other friends around 1 a.m. First of all, they did not greet us with a huge smile or a "Welcome." They sent us a sign saying "Just site wherever you want." We found out that the largest table could only hold 4~6 people maximum, so we sat at the largest table and grabbed two chairs so that we can all sit, eat and talk together. However, as we were sitting, the lady who was working there came to us with a serious face saying that there were too many people in one table. We explained that we wanted to sit together. She stared at us for few seconds and left us mumbling something.

After we sat down, she only brought 4 sets of forks and knives, even though there were 7 of us. She never brought the other 3 until we asked her for them. When she was taking our orders, she didn't even look at us and just wrote down the order. Although she was asking questions, her eyes were focused on the order sheet. She also didn't serve us water when we first arrived. She brought cups of water after the food was served. She didn't talk in a friendly voice but rather in a ignorant manner. Her manners and attitude offended some of my friends, including me. So, although Angelica said that Waffle House was friendly and presented the Southern hospitality, I did not feel the same way.

Moving In

Since I have been living in the South for my entire life, I never really notice any kind of Southern hospitality. However, when I first moved into my new house, I really experienced Southern hospitality. The minute my family drove into the neighborhood with our stuff, everyone around was staring at us because we were new, which I thought was kind of weird. After we entered our house, we began unpacking some of our stuff so we could settle in as soon as possible. When we began bringing in our larger furniture, many neighbors even asked to help bring them inside. Later, our next-door neighbor rang our doorbell and began talking to my parents. The neighbors were telling us useful information about the neighborhood, the city in general, and where we could find general places such as the post office, nearest hospital, etc. As they were leaving, they invited us to their house for dinner the next day. After we finished moving in and settling at our new house, we felt like we were already part of the neighborhood.

Here is a cartoon of neighbors moving in:

Southern Hospitality in Different Ways

For me southern hospitality has been around me for 10 years since I have moved to Virginia. I have experienced it everywhere. Hospitality from people and places I know to people and places that I do not know. There were several instances where I have experienced this hospitality, but the most memorable remembrance was with my old track coach. Now I'm guessing your might be saying thats your coach he's supposed to be nice, but he helped through one of the hardest moments I have experienced in my life and that was the death of my grandfather, which takes a real hosp.

The traumatic event event happened around my sophomore and junior year of high school. Though we knew each other for 2-3 years we weren't extremely close. But when the fateful week that my grandfather passed. It was difficult for me, because my brothers and sisters were at college, my dad was working, and my mom with the rest of the family at the hospital. I was in a bad state and not many were open to help with me. Then after my track meet, my track coach gave me a ride home. He noticed I was acting different and was open to discussing with me about my grandpa's death. He showed hospitality or southern hospitality he talked me through my struggle and told me that my grandfather had passed certain traits of himself to me that I will live without through my life, in a sense living through me. Now my coach really didn't have to open his mind to discuss this with me about my struggles, but he showed hospitality that comforted me tremendously.

Now there were other people and places where I have received hospitality. Though as the my home town becomes more commercialized. But there have been several places where I have felt that southern hospitality. There are places by me that greet with the southern hospitality and feeling of being at home. One of these places was a hole in the wall BBQ place by Toccoa, Ga where the people were really nice and the food was even better. You had to know it local because of the classic outdoor appeal and some of the people just got back from hunting and were eating there. There are several places by my hometown that have that homey friendly feel like Wayside Fried Chicken and our local Dairy Queen, or 'DQ', and the Brownsville Market where everybody knows what the high school's football score was and the lastest news in town. But these places are also very open to the widest array of strangers and always willing to lend a helping hand.

Those many of these places or people did not have specific examples, except the one with my coach, they were all happy/comforting moments that touched me somehow. They all showed me what southern hospitality is and what it is about.

Southern Hospitality

As I have mentioned several times throughout the blog, I am not originally from the United States and I lived 5 years in Florida, so the stereotypical South is kind of new for me. However, two weeks ago I experienced a characteristic of the stereotypical South that we have mentioned several times in class and is most appreciated by non-Southerners-- Southern Hospitality. The past weekend, my roommate's parents, who are Colombian as well, came up to Georgia because she was running a Half- Marathon in Rome, Georgia in Berry College. So we went up there and stayed from Friday to Saturday. While my roommate ran 13.1 miles, her family and I decided to grab breakfast in the first dinner we saw, in this case it was Waffle House. As soon as my roommate's mother and I entered through the door, the cooks and people who worked there welcomed us with big smiles and pleasant greetings. They made conversation with us and referred to us with words like 'honey' and 'sweetie'. My roommate's mother was really surprised and did not understand why they were being so overly nice. In that moment I remembered all the discussions we have had in ENG 1102 about this topic. I could finally say-- 'Oh, so this is what they are referring to when they say Southern Hospitality.'

This impacted me very much and I would like to hear more experiences like this, so for this week's topic I would like you to narrate a memorable experience/moment that you have had where you felt that you were a victim of Southern Hospitality.

Texas

When I first think about the South, I automatically think of Texas. I have never been to Texas nor have any friends from Texas. However, somehow in someway, Texas has always been the representative of the South to me. So although I do not have specific evidence to support why Texas best represents the South, I would like to share some of my thoughts.

South is first distinguished by their typical southern accent. Throughout my life, the southern accent that I have always heard was the Texan accent. Well, to tell you the truth, I thought there was only one southern accent. I didn't know it differed from region to region. However, in my opinion, the most used southern accent in movies or TV shows were Texan accent. Therefore, I think Texas represents the South.

Another reason why Texas represents the South is because of the food. I was well aware that Southern states are famous for fried chicken. Although I still have not tried a typical southern fried chicken yet since I came here to Georgia, I heard that the Texas fried chicken is the best. I may be right or wrong, but that's what I heard. Therefore, I believe that Texas represents the South in food.

Moreover, I have a strong image of a cowboy when I think of the South. Furthermore, I think about Texas when I listen to word 'cowboy.' It makes me imagine a red plane with cactus standing still on its own, and cowboys riding a horse with their jeans on. Well, I do know it's a common image of a cowboy riding a horse in a hot glazing red plane; however, that's the image that I had and heard from other people before coming to the South.

-Hye Jin Ahn-

Which South is the True South

As I was watching TV recently, I saw a lot of new shows and many of them were so to say about battles between opinons and restaurants over which stuff was better. So for this weeks topic, it is the battle royale of which state is the most southern or most important and why. Nobody can be wrong, just use supporting facts or what u think characterizes the south and give your best opinion.

Although being biased in several ways I feel that Virginia is basically one of the most southern places, though geographically it is one of the most northern southern state. There are several facts that contribute it to being one of the most important states of south. First they produced some of the best and biggest generals in the Civil War. Two of the most famous ones were Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee. Also still today there are rural places in Virginia where there is confederate pride present. Also many farms including tobacco a southern staple is still grown in Virginia. Other staple products like Virginia Ham, peanuts, soy, and hay. Even with farming being the number one industry in Virginia it is still tied to its roots with 87% of farms owned by an individuals or families. Though it is still northern compared to other states its still prides itself in its southern history. Another fact is that most of all the fights in the Civil War took place in Virginia. It is also home to many of the famous leaders in United States history: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Woodrow Wilson.

Richard Wright

I don't know how many of you guys heard about Richard Wright, but he was an American author in the mid-20th century who wrote many novels and short stories. Wright's literature provided a real image of the racial relations of the South at the time. Because he experienced these racial relations firsthand, he was able to use those experiences in his works.

One of his most famous works is Native Son, which is about a young African American who has to run away from the cops because he accidentally kills a white girl. Throughout the novel, the protagonist commits many crimes such as murder, robbery, and rape and is confronted with racism, violence, and debasement. The main theme of the novel is that racial inequality and social injustices affect a person so deep that it is nearly impossible to determine where the expectations of society end and free will begins. Wright's Native Son is a good illustration of the image of the South at the time because it provides the emotional and social issues that African Americans faced in the South.

Another important piece of literature that Wright provides a good image of the South is Black Boy, which is Wright's semi-autobiography which talks about his race relations in the South and his affiliation with the Communist Party after he moved to Chicago. When Wright was a young teenager, his mother became ill, so he took it upon himself to get a job. However, his white employers often treated him really awful due to his race. Because he felt harassed, Wright would quit that job and go to another one, only to find the same type of employers. This book showed how African Americans in the South were treated in terms of their labor. In a way, African Americans still were harassed like slaves even though it was the mid-20th century.