![]() ![]() Perhaps it is because of Mississippi’s struggles that our home gives birth to great artists who, in turn, must suffer to create the art, music and literature that is loved worldwide. Mississippi is one of a handful of states without a state poem. However, if y’all could grant me a battlefield promotion as a full-fledged Southerner for just a moment, I’ll get to my point. ![]() They believe me to be from another culture-and they are correct. I teach a class called “Cross-Cultural Perspectives” at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where I lay the “y’all” on pretty thick during lectures. ![]() It is noted that while Southerners like to say, “Southern by the grace of God,” one never hears “northern by the grace of God.” In fact, I am sure folks up here never think of saying it-and for all sorts of reasons.įact is that northerners believe I am a Southerner. What? How can a culture built on food, music, literature and football compare to one built on congestion, snow and Snooki? Uh, not sure-there is no accounting for taste, I suppose. I wear the Wanna-Be Southerner label proudly up here in New Jersey, not in small part because it flummoxes the locals-they cannot imagine anyone actually wanting to be Southern. It seems everyone has to feel superior to someone, doesn’t it? However, my dirty little secret is that I was born in Pennsylvania, or Pennsil-Tucky, as some wags here in the Gotham Metroplex like to call it. You see, my formative years were spent in Mississippi, beginning with the first grade at Bramlett Elementary in Oxford and ending after five glorious years at Ole Miss. I have a confession: I’m actually just a Wanna-Be Southerner. ![]()
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