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• Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:12 PM

  For about the tenth time

  The cities in the south are not The South. I live in Atlanta, not so different from Austin, and there are more northeners, mid-westerners, Californians, etc, here than true Southerners. There ARE a good number of restaurants that exploit the tourists and the yankees, but that is commerce, not culture.

  I used to have a sweet Alfa Spyder that was a joy on the back roads of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, North and South Carolina. I still drive those roads. I have broken down, been hit by a deer, had flat tires and a dozen other road tribulations and the local people have ALWAYS risen to the occasion, helped without pay, sheltered me and my possessions with just the willingness to be there for a stranger. Never did I have to discuss my race, religion, or politics, much less defend them, in spite of my city dress and flashy car.

  I have done the same driving through New England, Pennsylvania, New jersey, New York. It costs to be in need there, through the nose and you have to pay extra for a smile. Political diatribes are free, usually about the Jews (gulp). I slink away in fear. I don't like to drive up there.

  I had always figured that it was because Northerners grew up without front porches; they were not used to hailing their neighbor from a rocking chair, asking about the kids, loaning out a yard tool, offering a cool drink, small talk in the heat of the day. Cold weather makes you suspicious neighbors, I think.

  My theory is that Southerners, having this neighborly trait, tend to go into politics more frequently. Good with people, they are chosen by the operatives for media. They are just more visible.

  —RD Read RD's other letters
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