Rising Daughters: More Southern Exposure

We’re back from a second family vacation spent in Florida. I gleefully drove the entire way. During my time in the driver’s seat, I glimpsed telltale billboards along the interstate expressways. We also motored along backcountry two-lane highways. Lower speeds allowed me to ponder the weight of history still palpable in this region. I saw plenty of lingering damage and debris in the Florida panhandle. Many towns are still contending with the impact of Hurricane Michael of last October. Our course took us through immaculate small towns and along the Gulf coastline, and to large, growing cities. We experienced genuine hospitality and had a fine time.

Two lingering episodes from this trip come to mind that exemplify some of the South’s social characteristics.

One image is a young man in front of us in line as we waited for a roller coaster ride in Tampa’s Busch Gardens. He had Kid Rock-style arm tattoos, sported an unruly blonde mullet and a three-day beard, with jangling keys attached to his belt. His T-shirt proclaimed, “I love guns, titties and Harleys.” No judgments here; it was just interesting.

The second flashback is motoring along the I-4 from Tampa and viewing a biplane slowly bringing religion to the cloudless indigo blue skies over Orlando. He wrote “LOVE GOD. U + GOD = (Happy Face).”

It was mesmerizing to see this slowly materialize above our heads. I later found out this religious skywriting is a regular thing. The pilot is a believer. And why not spread a little love around?

I don't intend to ruminate on what the South’s history may have wrought, or was; I am thinking about what South is, now. But....arrggh. My verbosity is once again getting the better of me. What I am unable to crystallize are thoughts like:

- Do I sense any lingering Yankee-Rebel rifts here? Answer: Not in my neighborhood, nor in my experience to date.

- Is Dixie a toxic word? Answer: Only when it’s in the context of justifying mass shootings in Charleston or Charlottesville.

- Are the mental images of Southern life framed by palmetto trees, whiffs of magnolia and slow-paced afternoons, true? Answer: Every place has its own selfie, but I have taken to drinking iced tea, if that makes sense.

This derelict old gas station is only a few miles from where I live and evokes the stereotypical view of old time country living.

- Are there still racial problems here? Answer: Let’s face it; it takes time to overcome the scars of history. I do think most people are trying to get along. By contrast, I have seen roadside post office boxes embossed with the Stars and Bars, and I don’t think their owners are being ironic.

At this point, I will invoke some wisdom imparted by the late, great Gord Downie: “Me debunk an American myth, and take my life in my hands.” Rather than ramble more about my unoriginal theories, allow me to drop a few photos and brief scribblings to describe what lies in my heart as I think about living and learning here in the South.

Invoking Abe in Kentucky means America has its own two solitudes. Now more than ever?

I do think about eternity when I see these billboards. Nothing wrong with soul searching at 70 mph. And tiny spiritual course corrections.

I still don’t understand. Don’t. Understand.

Ice cream eat-a-thons, country music, state fairs. "If it ain’t fried, it ain’t food.”

This was a display at the NASA Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, that set the social context amid the great technological strides made to enable reaching the moon in the 60s. I have almost no experience with racism directed at me. However, the bicultural Rising Family on rare occasions detects tinges of it. There is no better way to educate my girls about real hardship experienced by people due to racial prejudice than by learning about the life of MLK. It follows that it’s wonderful to dream about, and work toward, changing the world for the better.