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Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 1302
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 9:52 pm: | 
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Please, anyone, please, let's discuss something other than the middle east. I'll start.
Why are there so many hicks in the south?
Please respond, please. I can't take another worthless middle east post. Where's Big Poppa when I need him! |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2124
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 10:21 pm: |
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good. Let's look at education systems in southern states. Outside of Virginia and North Carolina, there's not much to brag about in elementary or secondary education. Expenditure per pupil is low, and the results are what one would expect.
According to the Smartest State designation, Virginia is, at number 12, the highest ranking southern state, trailed by North Carolina at 25, then the rest of the southern states, beginning with South Carolina at number 32, and ending with LA at 46 and Miss at 47.
Methodology: The Smartest State designation is awarded on the basis of 21 factors selected from Morgan Quitno's annual reference book, Education State Rankings, 2004–2005. Rates for each of the 21 factors were processed through a formula that measures how a state compares to the national average for a given category. The end result is that the farther below the national average a state’s education ranking is, the lower (and less smart) it ranks. The farther above the national average, the higher (and smarter) a state ranks.
Source: Morgan Quitno Press. Web: www.morganquitno.com .
Such rankings are a shame, because it's all about investment in education and infrastructure. I've lived in North Carolina and Texas, and I liked both states, but I would never want to send a child of mine through the public education systems there.
By the way, by comparison, the top six states are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and New York.
On the other hand, if you want to read GREAT American writing, you must read Southern authors, and I don't mean John Grisham. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5294
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 10:40 pm: |
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Cormac McCarthy is my personal favorite.
But I'm with you on this one, Southerner. Posting on a middle-east thread here can be like a casual stroll through a minefield. It's the most black-and-white topic there is. |
Mr. Big Poppa
Citizen
Username: Big_poppa
Post Number: 783
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 11:03 pm: |
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Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2125
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:41 am: |
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To my mind, Cormac McCarthy is more Southwestern than Southern. I'm thinking of Flannery O'Connor, Reynolds Price, and a few others.
To me, Mc Carthy is good but is a mini-Larry McMurtry. |
Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 3976
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:46 am: |
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MBP/// Classic, very funny....  |
Billy Jack
Citizen
Username: Kendalbill
Post Number: 206
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 6:10 am: |
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I'm surprised to see your post, Southerner. I have been going down south at least once a year all my life (mostly NC and VA but other places as well). I have seen a decline in the hick factor over the last 20 years, just as I have seen a sharp rise in the hick factor in the east and midwest. And what do you call hick anyway? One man's hick is another man's chicken fried steak. When the top show nationally on Comedy Central is Larry the Cable Guy and there are Barnes and Nobles opening in every southern town over 30,000 people, I question the premise. I'vbe met more hicks in New Hampshire or Southern NJ than in NC. |
Factvsfiction
Citizen
Username: Factvsfiction
Post Number: 1060
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 7:22 am: |
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I find Southerners to be quite polite and friendly. They are peaceable, outgoing people who never get "in your face" in social situations or political arguments.
A Southerner will give you their own iced tea if you are thirsty.
The South has produced some of our greatest authors.
Southern women are also quite attractive. I find Kelly Pickler to be disarmingly charming and perky, even though she is the product of a jailbird and a "Jerry Springer" situation.
If you ask me, it is the Midwesterners that are the problem. |
Chris Prenovost
Citizen
Username: Chris_prenovost
Post Number: 1007
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 7:34 am: |
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. . . not quite the snippy invective you were expecting, Southerner? |
Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 1303
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 8:19 am: |
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No Chris. I didn't expect an invective snippy comments. This MOL crowd is okay in my book even those with whom I totally disagree with politically. I just couldn't check MOL one more time and see nothing but Middle East stuff so I figured I'd have some fun. Besides, I have no problem with the image that anyone may have. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5295
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:03 am: |
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I grew up in northern Ohio, and every year when I go back there I'm shocked by the increased hick factor since I was a kid. Back in the '70s for some reason there started this big influx of people with appalachian accents and more fingers than teeth. Meanwhile, people like me were blowing out of town. Meet the New South -- Cleveland. |
Joe
Citizen
Username: Gonets
Post Number: 1285
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:46 am: |
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Rather than discuss something so divisive as Middle East politics let's chat about something we can all agree on. Legalized Abortion. |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 649
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:03 am: |
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By the way, by comparison, the top six states are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and New York.
and yet Hicksville is on Long Island... go figure |
mjh
Supporter
Username: Mjh
Post Number: 690
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:18 am: |
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re: southern states are all hicks!
How can a state be a hick? C'mon, mind your grammar (unless you're trying to prove the point)!
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Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 10173
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:27 am: |
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Quote:Mc Carthy is good but is a mini-Larry McMurtry.
Them's fightin' words. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5297
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:07 pm: |
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It's a comparison so off-base it's not even worth discussing. Nobody who's read "Outer Dark" or "Blood Meridian" would even place them in the same field of endeavor as "Lonesome Dove."
But McCarthy grew up and attended college in Tennessee, and his early novels are set there. So his qualifications as a southern writer are fairly good. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2128
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:16 pm: |
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Frankly I'd place "All The Pretty Horses" on the same level as a fanciful "What I did on my summer vacation" essay.
How are those for fightin' words?
And as much as I like "Lonesome Dove," I think it pales next to "A Light in August," or "As I Lay Dying." |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5298
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:24 pm: |
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FWIW, I think "All The Pretty Horses" is his weakest, despite the critical acclaim and high sales.
Read "The Crossing". Seriously. It is one of the two or three greatest novels I've ever read.
Or, if you're in the mood for "what I did on my summer vacation in Hell," try "Outer Dark." |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2130
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 1:34 pm: |
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The comments about the "increased hick factor" in places "where we wouldn't expect to see hicks" (whatever they are) interest me. They speak more perhaps about the dumbing-down of the US and the decreasing quality of outcomes in our educational systems than they speak about perceived regional differences. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5299
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 1:44 pm: |
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I got the sense in Ohio there was some kind of mass migration going on. No idea why. But because of the accent these people had, they weren't native to the area. |
mimosa
Citizen
Username: Mimosa
Post Number: 222
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 6:04 pm: |
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Aren't they coming from West Virginia to Ohio? Thought I'd read something recently about how West Virginians totally love their state, but leave it to find work, with Ohio being a popular destination. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2134
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 8:29 pm: |
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Kentucky is just across the river from Cincinnati, and the Ohio River Valley has always been a pathway in both directions.
Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus have a surprising number of "immigrants" from Kentucky and West Virginia, and I guess they're making their way up to Cleveland as well.
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Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3577
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:33 pm: |
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I saw the title of this thread, and assumed it was started by a completely different poster.
I'm sitting in a hotel in Birmingham right now. Though the temperature was over 100 for the past two days, it's much better than sitting in my office in the city. The office has a nice pond outside with fish and turtles. There is even a small dock with a sitting area to hang out during lunch. The people are wonderful, the food is good, and the housing prices are cheap. The schools vary about as much as in NJ - some excellent, some awful. The pay is not in the range of NYC or NJ, but cost of living is much lower.
If I could give up winters and rising home prices, it might be worthwhile. |
Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 1163
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 11:46 pm: |
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Hey Southerner: You should be able to answer that one...just ask yourself why are you there! |
Factvsfiction
Citizen
Username: Factvsfiction
Post Number: 1081
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 7:32 am: |
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Rastro-
So a pickup truck with a gun rack is starting to sound good? |
Chris Prenovost
Citizen
Username: Chris_prenovost
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 7:45 am: |
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So, Southerner, happy with what you started. . . ? |
Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 1318
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 8:47 am: |
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Yes. No Middle East talk! Now does anyone have any opinions on Westerners?
Rastro, glad you made that post. I recently received word there was a Yankee in that area. Now, that I know it's you, I'll ensure safe passage back up north. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3580
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 9:07 am: |
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FvF, I already have an SUV, so a truck isn't a stretch. I think trucks down here come with gun racks standard, so I don't think I'd have a choice on that.
Southerner, there are actually about a dozen others here with me. Who'd have thought... not only a Yankee, but a Jew Yankee being safe in the land of cotton. Next thing you know, there'll be world peace or a Democrat in the White House. |
Chris Prenovost
Citizen
Username: Chris_prenovost
Post Number: 1021
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 10:09 am: |
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Jes' don fergit the huntin dawg - damn!
Leave no cliche unturned. . . |
Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 1321
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 10:42 am: |
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Have a good visit then get the hell out! |
Factvsfiction
Citizen
Username: Factvsfiction
Post Number: 1092
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 4:41 pm: |
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Rastro-
Then a hunting dog and a bottle of Jim Beam. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3589
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 6:59 pm: |
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Actually, most of my colleagues from down here are well spoken, well dressed, well bred business folk. Not a hanging tooth among them. Who knew Americans were the same everywhere?
The strip I'm near could exist in any city in the country. Lots of office parks, fast food and casual dining restaurants, and hotels.
Of course, who knows what they do on the weekends! |
Billy Jack
Citizen
Username: Kendalbill
Post Number: 209
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 7:48 pm: |
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You want good southern writing? I'd include the previous entries, but add Larry Brown, Walker Percy and a book called "Wolf Whistle" by Lewis Nordan (great publisher with other terrific authors- Algonquin Books). And thats just the dudes-- howze bout Eudora Welty...Flannery O'Connor. Any place with this varied and rich a heritage just cant be all bad. |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4567
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 12:24 pm: |
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Fifty-one years ago, Southerner, a North Carolina mountain man, was
drafted by the Army.
On his first day in basic training, the Army issued him a comb.
That afternoon the Army barber sheared off all his hair.
On his second day, the Army issued Southerner a toothbrush.
That afternoon the Army dentist yanked seven of his teeth.
On the third day, the Army issued him a jock strap
The Army has been looking for Southerner for 51 years. |
notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 3628
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 12:37 pm: |
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