Comments on: Stars Fell On Alabama

By: Louise

Louise — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:15:44 +0000

I grew up in Louisiana but lived most of my adult life in Texas. It took me many years to say I was "from" Texas as I always felt like I was "from" Louisiana and just "lived" in Texas. Now I'm back in Louisiana so it's all good! Louises last blog post..Paula Dean's Imitation Crab Meat Stuffed Mushrooms En Croute

By: Shanna

Shanna — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:00:15 +0000

I live in Mobile (midtown) and I like it enough to stay. I think that is partly because I used to live in Northern AL and HATED it. I was in a small town and everything was SO backwards. Mobile (at least parts) is not quite as backwards. Funny thing is that most of my neighbors are from other parts of the country! It is still a bit hard to make friends, I do see the cliques around and I am hoping this will not be something horrible for my boys to have to go through. I grew up all over the world but my family is from southern Indiana and I went to IU so that is where I call “home”. I hope you enjoy your time in Indiana, the seasons are what I miss the most! I had to laugh at your post about Ma’am and Sir. I just have issues trying to enforce that with my boys. My husband is southern so we go head to head on this! He says I am going to come across as snooty for saying Mrs/Mr Lastname!!

By: John Calvin

John Calvin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:42:11 +0000

My wife and I travelled through Alabama one time and found the locals to be some of the friendliest people we have ever met in our travels. I’d go back in a minute if I had the chance. Sorry that your experience wasn’t as good. Maybe you need to travel down and give them another chance.

By: Ronda

Ronda — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:15:35 +0000

I live in North Alabama and I LOVE it! The people are very friendly
here but we have a ton of transplants – high tech city and an engineers
delight! It has changed a bit over the years but it is not representative
of the old old south because of all the transplants! Love the City!
It’s a great size with lots to do! Had a neighbor who moved here from
Mobile and she was STRANGE! But I agree, so much has to do with
where you are emotionally in your life as to how you feel about where
you live. I lived in NC for awhile and HATED IT! The people there seemed
very remote and behind the times! But I was in a small place where
growth was nil.

By: Brian J.

Brian J. — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:08:33 +0000

I was born and raised in Mobile County, the Satsuma/Saraland/Eight Mile area to be exact. Spent my last two years living near downtown Mobile and moved out to Boulder/Denver, then to DC when I graduated from my second stint in college (my first was at Mobile College). I left Alabama in ’92 and although I get very nostalgic when I return to DC from a Xmas vacation with family (who still lives in the Mobile area), I have absolutely no desire to move back there. Nada.

You have to live where you feel the most welcome and happy, wherever that might be. As I grew up, I found that I had no future down there and finally packed it all up and moved, along with some friends, who are all now living in various parts of the US, none in Alabama though.

Where abouts did you live in Saraland? When I lived in Saraland, it was in Spanish Trace.

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:14:39 +0000

Oh my gosh, your description of what the south should be, expectations of "southern hospitality" cracked me up. That's exactly how we felt moving here too! I totally expected when our new neighbors saw our moving van, we would be greeted with a pie and invited all over the place. Old ladies loving up my kids and becoming our new grandmas since ours live so far away. None of this happened. Nobody even waves. It's not like we're unfriendly. I'm super friendly. We just happened to move into the lamest subdivision in Georgia, possibly in all of the south. Everyone keeps to themselves. And "southern hospitality"? I think it's a myth. People here are nice, but then people are nice everywhere. I'm from socal, and people there are just as nice, you never hear "socal hospitality" or then when we moved to Missouri, "midwest hospitality" and quite frankly, I've not noticed any difference in people here and there! People are people everywhere. Well anyways I just wanted to say I had the same expectations. Maybe we just moved in with them set to high? Tanya's last blog post..A Day Spent Hiking

By: Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:23:26 +0000

I've lived my whole life -- nearly 50 years -- in the South, the last 10 of them in Alabama. I'm here to tell you there is something different about Alabama. It's like the good and the bad about the South all wrapped into one and on steroids. One day I hate it, the next day I'm ambivalent, now and then I adore it, and about a quarter of the time I'm primarily grateful I live here because it provides the best material imaginable. The stereotypical image of the friendly, front-porch south is just that: a stereotype. The "not from here" designation never, ever ends with some people; in my experience, if you and your parents literally weren't born in a particular community, those sorts of people will never accept you in quite the same way as a native. But they may nevertheless come to love you. And the food just can't be beat. Betsy Bird's last blog post..The One Thing Ann Coulter and I Have in Common

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:47:42 +0000

That's how I felt when we lived in Oklahoma (a different kind of "south"). Hubby and I were called Yankees (and darn proud of it!). My hubby had to search high and low for Miller Lite and we dubbed it Yankee Lite. Too many stories to list on this comment form. But I empathize..... Isn't it strange how we can not enjoy living somewhere, yet we can still get nostalgic? Julie's last blog post..I'm SPEECHLESS!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:03:59 +0000

There was a geography prof at SMS who grew up in Nebraska and described it as a great place to be FROM. Which sounds like Alabama. Dawn's last blog post..Talkin’ About My Boobies!

By: moosh in indy.

moosh in indy. — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:49:20 +0000

Change Alabama to Indiana and I'll be writing this in a couple of years. moosh in indy.'s last blog post..Casey vs. The Stairs