The southern spokesperson

Last night I hung out with my friend from Pennsylvania (the same one from several posts ago), and once again she got me thinking. What can I say? She's very interested in learning about different cultures.

Here is the gist of our conversation:

Her: So I've been meaning to ask you, when people in the North fly rebel flags, what are they representing?
Me: You made me pause Food Network Star to ask me that?
Her: Well I figured you would know.
While her assumption was accurate, the whole conversation made me think about my newfound position as the self-proclaimed spokesperson of the South. Until my Southern awakening in undergrad, I had about as much Southern knowledge as a Northerner.

But then again, a lot of the people I grew up with didn't either. I went to school with several people who thought the South won the Civil War, but that's a whole different conversation.

What's that I hear? A chorus of rebel yells coming from my hometown?
I hate to crush their dreams and tell them the truth but here it goes... we lost the Civil War.

Here are things I knew about the South when I was growing up:

1. We lost the Civil War and a lot of people were not happy about it
2. Outsiders thought it was funny when we said "Y'all"
3. We blessed more people than the Pope (Women blessed hearts; men blessed people out)
4. The redneck parade marked the start of every school year (This was when all the rednecks in the school - 50% of the people - got in trucks, flew rebel flags and drove around the school parking lot. Yeehaw.)
5. Saying "please," "thank you," "ma'am" and "sir" were not options, they were strict rules.

But even after my Southern awakening, I still held more cultural than historical knowledge. That is until I took History of the South my senior year of college. It changed my whole world and with that semester in my back pocket, I am now a plethora of random Southern knowledge.

So bless her heart, at this time in my life, my friend accurately assumed I would have the answer to most any Southern question. Thank you Dr. Speer for teaching me well.