I loved this! As a child of the South (whose best friend was a black girl named Emily Crowley) your descriptive narrative made me smile. I both love and hate the south. I am still here, though, and only one of about 10 people in my voting precinct who vote blue. Which I did last week! I don’t even feel safe at the polls anymore, so I vote at the courthouse early. What we do well in the south we do very, very well, but our dark underbelly is pretty ugly.
If you ever are near Charlotte or Asheville you better look me up!!