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The South | Stories by Southern Muse, |
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Welcome to the American South, land of stories, legends, and myths. Movies have made the South bigger than life. But... the South really is bigger than life. Unforgettable characters? Southern stereotypes are are only the tip of the iceberg. They're not always true, though. Lots of things about the South have gone the way of the dodo bird, including the front-porch, rocking-chair society that helped make the South the South. The region has a deep and rich cultural tradition. That hasn't completely been wiped out by air conditioning and MTV. Southern music, Southern cooking, Southern dialect, and alas, Southern stereotypes, still exist. Folks would be surprised to learn just how much of the culture is "gone with the wind." People who actually move South are often surprised to learn that the South never was quite "Gone With the Wind" ~ that is, the film never gave a total picture of Southern culture. How could it? The South is as varied as any pocket of human civilization ever was. The Georgian plantation culture pictured in Gone With the Wind is representative of only a smidgen of Southern life and culture. Aside from really bad accents, Gone With the Wind is only one chapter to the collective memory that is the South. So if I move South of the Mason-Dixon, will that creepy guy from Deliverance get me? No doubt about it... |
North Georgia |
