Fortunately, much more of my experience is being treated like one of the family and called hon and doll despite my funny accent.

My mother is from Massachusetts. The summer after my freshman year of college, the two of us took a road trip through Cajun country and the Gulf Coast. In practically all of her interactions with Southern people, I had to translate both ways -- the accents were mutually unintelligible.

My shoulder ache is done now anyway. My vaccine shot giver was this soap opera handsome Italian pharmacist who was cracking jokes the whole time. I answered the "Are you allergic to eggs or any other food" question with my standard, "Not as far as I know" and he stopped, looked at me, and said, "You've never eaten eggs?" I laughed. "I know I'm not allergic to eggs, I was just giving the disclaimer for all food ever!"

I had a great experience in college in eastern Tennessee, despite being a minority in an interracial relationship who was clearly a northerner.

My Los Angeles nephew is in the same spot in eastern Tennessee as Liese was, and he is having a great experience - but he has learned there are some issues where it is better to plead "math test" than engage.

On a tangentially-related topic, I need to pick up a Tennessee accent (neither the text nor the news give me any sort of idea of which one) and a Texas accent (ditto). Anyone have recommendations for media-type sources (movies, easily-gettable tv shows, etc)

I was born in Georgia and raised mostly in South Carolina. I have such mixed feelings on the South. I had a pretty idyllic childhood there, but realized as a young teen how much racism and just plain backwards thinking there was in my family and many of the people around me. It makes me sad as an adult that I can't even consider moving there with my family as a gay woman. I know there are liberal pockets, but now that I have kids, I would never take the chance that they would be treated as less than for something that is 1.) not wrong and 2.) not something they chose. So yeah, mixed feelings.

My sympathies to the sickies. I have joined your ranks and am currently sacked out in my comfy chair watching Push. Unfortunately, I still have to go in to work since I have a new student hourly to train between 4-7 (our Tuesday office hours for career counseling). I will wobble there ungracefully on my limp, noodly limbs, but I will be there. I feel betrayed by my flu shot, it has failed me.

Most of my experience in the south was around military bases, so my perspective is pretty skewed. There's a lot of hostility to the military because of their transient nature (there for two or three years and then gone again), and while they no longer post signs saying "sailors and dogs keep off the grass" in Norfolk, they still aren't completely welcoming. It's more prevalent around training bases. Also, I've been turned down on credit card applications and personal loans despite the fact I belonged to the NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, because the people who run the branches are local and they don't trust anyone who's in the military. I've had to resort to Vortex levels of intimidation to get the service I needed at some branches, even in larger areas like Norfolk, VA. And I had better luck getting approval on things like those loans/credit cards from the credit union I belonged to back home in another state (while I was overseas, even) than I did from the local branch of one of the largest CUs in the country.

The worst place was Millington, TN. Very small town where one of the largest training bases was located (since relocated to Pensacola, FL) was so offensively hostile, I swore I'd never go back there for training after the first time, but ended up going back for advanced training anyway, because it was the only place it was available. Memphis was fine, but Millington sucked. I enjoyed going in to Memphis for shopping and dining (hello, Sunday brunch on the rooftop of the Peabody!), and I loved Beal Street.

Generally, I've found the south much more welcoming when I was traveling anywhere outside of a 100 mile radius of a military base or if they weren't aware I was military. I've driven from California to Florida along I-8/I-10 and everywhere I stopped was very friendly (except Houston; sorry Houstonites, although, I think it was just big cityitis aloofness), especially in smaller towns.

As for monolithic culture, I think the only thing I found in common was that grits was on the breakfast menu everywhere. Which was fine by me, because I love grits.

Debet, can't recommend anything to listen to for a Tennessee accent, but the best way I can describe it is "average" southern (probably closest to what you hear in western Virginia (but not West Virginia), with a nasal Midwestern twang thrown in for good measure. I had a friend from Roanoke, VA who sounded a lot like she was from the area around Memphis, but minus the midwestern thing.

My immigrated-from-Britain people, settled in Hattiesburg, MS though I know very little about their lives there...except that a branch of the family, with a much cooler name founded a successful piano manufacturing plant that took up a city block.

That is a detail I think belongs in a novel.

I do, due to the influence of one particular family member, have certain Southern idioms in my speech patterns.

It strikes me as odd that, despite traveling a LOT, I have so little direct experience of the South. Business trips to NoLA, adjacent LA and Kentucky, notwithstanding. Oh, and I met my mother in Arkansas, but even then, I don't remember much about the place.

Huh. A real gap in my experience.

Steph, I'm working toward veganism (gently) and am wondering how you like the coconut snowballs. They sound pretty yummy to me.

Born and bred in NC, and had the sort of idyllic childhood GC described, until I became more aware as a teen, and had that painful but inevitable break with my family and culture, which only widened as I got older. Winston-Salem was definitely Old Money plus pre-Revolutionary privilege, a firm, broad line which divided the socio-cultural haves from the have-nots, no matter what church you belonged to (as long as it was Protestant). There were more liberal areas, but "home" was consistently more stifling than nurturing, and it wears on one, body and soul.

Escape was delayed, but all the more appreciated for that. I do miss the assumption of certain things, like a literary culture I was part of, the family members I can actually stand, a nostalgic and practical familiarity with the area that takes years to achieve, and which I'm still working on, here. A tie to the land--but then developers were destroying that while I was still there, so in practice, me leaving was less painful than watching it be destroyed.

I carry the wonderful things about growing up in the south with me--the bad things, too, but they are easier to shed, here.

Ugh. I woke up with some very mild vertigo today. It has mostly passed but it has just made my whole day a bit off. The two hour commute to the film set wasn't that much fun, I will say that.

Steph, I'm working toward veganism (gently) and am wondering how you like the coconut snowballs. They sound pretty yummy to me.

The taste is good, if rich, but I could NOT get them to a proper consistency to form balls, so I just pressed the whole concoction into a small pan. I thought to cut it into bars, but it didn't really firm up well in the freezer -- it's still kind of the consistency of moosh, even after the freezer. So: taste good, consistency FAIL.

There are similar recipes floating around the Internet, so I'm going to see if I can tweak it so they actually firm up. I suspect more coconut oil is called for, since it hardens when it's cold.