Just pretend I'm a columnist with a readership of 1. That's how I'd like to start. Like I'm Lewis Grizzard and my editor says, "You're so talented, just write about whatever you want." I'm not sure that ever happened to him but I do remember he sometimes wrote about UGA football (check). Sometimes he wrote about his dog (check). Sometimes, he'd write about church (check). And sometimes, he'd write about what it means to be a son of the South and trying to understand what that means.
Like Lewis, I grew up in Georgia. Tucker, Georgia, to be exact. That was 'metro Atlanta' then and metro Atlanta consisted of 5 counties then. The metro area is now something like 30 counties. And the culture is definitely different. Often I'll visit Nashville or Birmingham and say to myself or to whoever is listening, "This reminds me of how Atlanta was when I was a kid." It was a regional city. A
Southern city.
It doesn't necessarily upset me that so much has changed. The older I get, (oddly) the more I can go with the flow. But I do a lot of things backwards. I like our neighborhood for instance. Growing up, most of the people on our street were like me - they were born in Atlanta and they stayed put for awhile. Today, in Alpharetta where I live, we have neighbors from all over. It is kinda like a big Southern melting pot and you can see it on Saturdays when college football is being played. People fly flags of every sort. LSU, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina. I think Atlanta is the capital of the South in some ways.
But in our 'hood, I also know of friends from Philly, New York, Boston, California, Chicago, even one family from Canada. I enjoy cornering them at parties and finding out if they miss home or if they are just glad to be someplace warmer. Usually, they speak nostalgic about home and how much fun it was growing up wherever they grew up. I confess, I sometimes envy them and wish I had grown up someplace different. I love the old cities like Boston and New York. Like to think about the history of those places which is more interesting and certainly more voluminous than ours.
But aside from rooting for the Yankees when they are in town, for the most part, I'm pleased to report that our friends seem pleased ... that they are now adopted sons and daughters of the ATL. One guy tells me, "My friends up north can't believe it when they come and visit. They think I've struck it rich because of the size of my house and the swim and tennis and all these other things. I tell them, things are just a lot less expensive down here." That's good to know. The thing I like to imagine though runs a bit deeper. I like to imagine that underneath the business opportunities and the schools and the affordable housing that is tangible and real - underneath all that is a spirit. A distinctly Southern spirit that takes all that is backwards with the South and all that is wrong and shameful and embarrassing - and it is distilled away. I like to imagine that! I like to imagine people being the very best of themselves and what that could look like. And what you're left with is a concoction that is a little bit Southern and distinctly Atlanta.
We're business-like but polite. In a hurry, but we know how to relax. We have terrible traffic but that's just because people have moved here faster than we can keep up! It can get hot, that's for sure. But there's nothing quite like our springs and falls. Ol' Lewis used to say to all the outsiders, "If you don't like it, Delta is ready when you are." Personally I say, the more, the merrier. Tell us what you like and what you don't like. Learn from us and we'll learn from you. All we ask is that you be respectful and appreciative of the good things here, before you tell us how to fix the bad things. I like all the different folks I get to interact with - like new and varied experiences. To me, it takes that ol' Southern concoction and makes it taste better and more unique. Drink deeply, we can always make more!
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