"...living somewhere else and then realizing that there can be a lot of shame in being a Southerner. I grew up just regular old guy in Alabama, and I feel like because of the stories that we are told and the things we read we think, “Oh man I guess we as Southerners are not as cultured as other people.” Then by moving elsewhere I’ve seen that there are just as many rednecks in Connecticut and Massachusetts as there are in Tennessee and Alabama. You get somewhere else and you realize that there are all the same kind social problems and issues that happen in the South. I’ve realized that I don’t need to be ashamed of my Southerness. I think now I can go toe to toe with a person who thinks something negative as to what being a Southerner is. I can talk about it with some amount of realism because I’m living elsewhere."
Micah Whitson from The Old Try
I moved out of the South more than 40 years ago and struggled with that part of my history for a long time. There are things I love about the South and things I am no longer willing to put up with. I can find those bad things where I live now also; but they are not the norm. Mainly, I have just learned to avoid them.
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