Our weather has finally taken a turn for the better, blue skies, snow geese thick on the ground digging up all the playing fields, cold for Vancouver weather….it’s been dipping below the freezing point most nights, and rarity of rarity no rain.

I hope you had the best Christmas possible and that you have a safe drive home.

Lorraine

Thank you for explaining about Texas. I was pretty sure it wasn’t part of the Confederacy but I was more curious about the social aspects, whether Texans would admit to being from “the South” or whether they would hold to the distinction of being from Texas. You and Diana have answered that quite well.

As for respect, I find it’s easier in the long run to assume everyone deserves resepct until proven otherwise. But in Diana’s case she’s proved herself respectable to my satisfaction and then some.

Dave

Dave, to answer the question about Texas and Texans, which I am and have been for over 68 years, we were never part of The South at the time it was designated as such. We only joined the Union in the 1830s, but we were, even then, sort of independent, and many of our people, as in other states, had divided families when the War came. We never seceded, as far as I remember, but I may be wrong about that; I do know that one of our governors was replaced becasue he wouldn’t sign the declaration. Anyway, we can still secede from the Union at any time, because we came in with the option to do so, since we had been a totally separate country.

Yes, we are Southern. But we are also Americans. And we are, now and forever, TEXANS!!! And wherever we go, we still will be Texans; maybe transplanted, but still Texans. (Diana is, but she may not be quite as rabid about it as many of us are, since she has had the opportunity to live in many different states—and even Iraq!!!)

Also, let me take this opportunity to say that I enjoy your replies to Diana’s writings. And I have seen that both of you respect each other’s opinions, and that is good!

But if it’s more a matter of culture, as I view it, and considering things like the slave trade, convict lease systems, religious makeup, and KKK involvement of various areas…we’re Southern, all right.

d

A newspaper reported from Dallas told me I sounded like I was from Chicago, which is an advantage professionally. But when I’m tired I sound like I’m from West Virginia. I grew up in what used to be a coal mining area about 25 miles from the WV border. The accent is nowhere near Carolinian, Georgian, or those of the Gulf states. The best example I can give is in the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter. But to a New Yawker it all sounds the same I suppose. (A political campaign ad a few years ago chastised a state senator from NYC for publicly stating that he thought “the Wild West started on the other side of the Hudson River.")

That reminds me of a question I never knew who to ask, but you’re probably the best authority that I know. Is Texas considered part of the South? Geographically it would seem to fit but the very few natives I’ve known seemed to be loyal to the Republic of Texas and that was that.

Dave

Thanks for clearing that up for me. That explains DQ’s need to clarify. :)

Oh and…you Ohio folks don’t sound anything like us, so you can rest easy.

d

Congratulations, you’ve summarized Damnation Alley in 1000 words. Scheduling tornadoes was a nice touch. (Grin) I’m glad you made the trip safely and hope you’re having an enjoyable Christmas.

You’re giving me a bit of an identity crisis with your remarks about Dairy Queen. I do count DQ as an integral part of my heritage and I miss them terribly. (The nearest one to my current home is in Buffalo.) But I never considered myself Southern; a hillbilly maybe, but not Southern. Ohio was a Union state after all. But apparently I’m misguided. The DMV clerk that exchanged my Ohio driver’s license for a New York one asked me if I was from the South. I said, “No, I’m from Ohio.” To which she replied, “Okay, I thought you sounded like you were from the South.”

I hate to bring you bad news, but there are Dairy Queen stores that don’t serve anything but frozen treats. Worse yet, there are Dairy Queen Brazier stores (which I associate with burgers and chicken strips) whose only meat offering is hot dogs. And then to add insult to injury, about half the stores between here and Toronto (and none in Canada that I can find) offer malts. DQ has become something of a zombie in some regions; it’s not the full-service heart attack shop that we remember.

Dave