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.

I still have that tie to the land of my section of Southwest Pennsylvania. I was shocked at how little has changed, but in another 10 years it could start to become a bedroom community for the greater Pittsburgh area. I'd forgotten how much I love the hills I grew up in. It's like a landscape I could snuggle into and pull over myself, all nooks and crannies and dark woods. Much of my current desert mountain landscape is gorgeous and impressive, but it's a bigger beauty than the ancient hills my people settled in.

What's amusing is how twitchy I get in the flatlands. I need massive earthworks to put my mental back against. But I do love big sky.

I need to pick up a Tennessee accent (neither the text nor the news give me any sort of idea of which one)

Dinah Shore had a classic Middle Tennessee accent, and there are a fair number of clips of The Dinah Shore Show online.

Oh gods yes, Connie. My usual description of being in flat country is, "exposed as a seal on an ice floe," or "a bug on a plate." One of my supervisors decided my desk and I should be marooned in the center of a large reception area in our new offices--and then expected me to spread out thousands of dollars in cash and coin to count, or to concentrate on nitpicky records. Right, while my head is on a swivel searching for oncoming predators? Yeah, no. We quickly relocated me to a wall at my back, and I arranged desk, return, guest chair, bookcase and filing cabinet as barricades against the oncoming horde. Much cozier--and more productive!

So: taste good, consistency FAIL.

I'm fairly tolerant of consistency, so I might try them anyway, but I'll stay tuned for future outcomes.

I've watched a passel of pro-vegan documentaries lately...thank you netflicks...and have reflected on the last 6 years of non-vegetarianism as my least healthy. Now, a lot of that is no doubt due to middle age, etc. but what I cram into my face feels like the one thing, over which I have much control these days. So, yeah.

The tricky bit for me now is also wanting to avoid wheat, corn, sugar and soy. I think something is going to have to give in that formula.

Heh, Beverly, I think I might be similarly 'predator wary', though my twitch manifests in needing to live above the first floor. No basements or first floors for me. Perhaps I was an unsuccessful warren-dweller in another life.