What's not to love? Alligators. Alligators and Crocodiles. It's a great place, but who's stupid fucking idea was it to put alligators in there? I'm on the fence about the South. I spent a lot of time there, and a lot of time in the water. I absolutely love me a Pig Picking. I love the land, I love the sailing, the beaches. But whoever decided to put in 5-20 foot lizards that eat you needs to be kicked in the face.
I think you will be surprised how many people do NOT care about you being half black. Things like your attitude, manners, knowing how to act in public, etc will be the things that matter to basically everyone you come across. Believe it or not, very few people care about skin color at all, if for no other reason than the fact that there simply are so many people of various ethnic groups around. Black, white, Asian, Middle-Eastern, Indian, Native American.... You name it, you find it here. And that is just here in my home town. The larger the city, the greater the diversity. Us Southerners have better things to do than worry about trying to figure out where all these people are from so we can form our prejudices, haha. If you come to GA, I suggest Savannah over Atlanta. That will give you a better example of what the South is all about. Head down to River Street. Take in the historic squares. I bet you won't find anything about the city you don't enjoy. If it is BBQ you are after, plan to get off the beaten trail a bit. Some of the best BBQ you'll ever taste can only be found in tiny little towns that you've definitely never heard of, in little mom-and-pop places. If you make the trip, I'll give you a list of places to look for. Personally, every time I go somewhere I've never been, I make a point to find a little local restaurant and give the food a try. Some places have been just ok, but I have been completely overwhelmed with greatness a few times. There is a place in Metter, GA, that has some of the Best BBQ I can think of off the top of my head. Once you come down for a visit, you'll fall in love. It's a whole new world down here. (And for the record, I'm a chick, not a dude.)
I'm at school here in Savannah (the big art school that basically runs shit down here), and having lived here for two years, you won't find a better place to visit or live. I'm originally a yank (Central Illinois), but I consider Savannah home. I live in the middle of the historic district and believe me, Atlanta doesn't have shit on Savannah. If you can't make it down here, check out Charleston and Hilton Head in South Carolina. I've traveled all over the south playing rugby and seen most of the bar/social scenes from most of the medium to large cities and the north just doesn't compare. Everything that I did back home (ATV's, hunting, general fuckery with fireworks, guns and girls) can be found down here, x10.
I hate the wait staff at bars here (Huntsville, Al). The service is slow and the bar tenders are all chubby guys. I lived in Manhattan for 4 years where there might be a couple guy working, but they were all outnumbered by the aspiring actresses/models who were quick on refills (probably from the cocaine). I also hate the politics down here. I got a robocall earlier criticizing a candidate (the same one accused of believing in evolution) for not supporting "huntin' an' fishin' lack you an' may." And, I honest to God this morning heard someone, in person, explain why he was voting for "The Judge" Roy Moore. PS: Texas is not in the South. Texas is in Texas.
Amen. Florida is Florida as well. I live in Winston Co, alabama, not to far from Huntsville. I'm also a small town cop, so I have seen all the good things and the bad things the south has to offer. I love My home.
I was more talking about the South in general. Not just Florida. Like I said, Florida is kind of like a hybrid southern state. It has some elements of the South, but it's not completely "The South". As far as alligators and crocodiles, yes we do have a lot of them. I could probably go find one right now if I was looking. But I haven't seen one in years. I don't see what the big deal is, I don't mind them (unless they're from UF). Plus, alligators are pretty much all over the south. They're really not that dangerous. I've been like 10 feet away from them before, even when I was a kid. They just sit in the sun. Unless you're a country hick trying to wrestle them, they're not going to fuck with you. edit: The safest alligators will actually be the ones you find in the wild, such as the everglades. This is because dumb fuck humans don't feed them, which removes some of their fear towards humans. The most dangerous ones will be the ones you find in parks or something. If they've been feed by other humans and you walk up to them they can mistake your hand for food and try to eat it. Rarely will you see an alligator charging towards you, but if you do I was always taught that when running from them you should zig zag in and out. It's hard for them to turn. edit 2: But when it comes to water, it's a different story. Humans are safe on land. But in the water, well, either stay in your boat or swim in salt water.
The Lizard Death Machines start from Mid North Carolina on South. Unfortunately, I don't know how far west past Florida they go. I've lead several mobs to kill all the Gators, but we usually get all drunk, riled up, and lynch a fish instead.
It seems the vast majority of people in Florida, are NOT originally from Florida. Same with the city of Atlanta.
I'm from a small town on the Indiana Kentucky border, and now attend a school with a large East Coast and Chicago population. I have also traveled extensively throughout the South. If you're from anywhere way above the Mason Dixon do yourself a favor and take a trip down to South, its damn near like visiting a foreign country compared to somewhere like NY or Chicago. If I had to sum up my Southern experience with one memory it would be from my visit to Savannah, where I saw a sign in a bar window that read: "You can drink in our streets!"
They actually start in Southeast (Tidewater) Virginia, in the Great Dismal Swamp. I used to go to undergrad in that depressing swamp and made many drives up and down US-17 to get to Norfolk, Virgina Beach, and Hampton. I used to worry about hitting a reptilian speed bump on my way back to NC late at night. If I remember correctly, that swamp/marshland used to run all the way to Washington DC.
I was in Huntsville opening a restaurant 2 years ago, and I found it to be the worst town in terms of customer service I'd ever seen. The attitude and speed of people there reminded me of JFK's description of DC as an amalgamation of "Northern manners and Southern efficiency". The most prime example would be when I had to run to Wal-Mart for some contact solution at 4 in the morning. It was cold, and I had run into the store wearing shorts and a t-shirt since I'd been working in my hotel room all night. I grab my things and hit the only open register. The clerk doesn't acknowledge my presence, say "Hi, shit, do" or anything. She just grabs my stuff, slides it, then looks at me and says in a hostile tone, "Why are you dressed like that?" For the most part, this was the type of customer service I encountered in that town. Also, the cost of liquor at bars was just staggering, and the strip club was the worst I'd ever seen. When the phrase "Turn right at the cop car with flashing lights." is included in the description, that's never a good sign.
I think part of the reason Huntsville has such shitty customer service is because the city is over educated. Almost 10% of the residents are engineers of some sort. There are few young people who want or need these jobs, so there's little competition and stores have to take whatever assholes they can get. And you're right about liquor prices. It's easy to find cheap beer down here (my regular bar just start a $1 dollar domestic bottle happy hour), but liquor is over priced. A $6-7 Jack and Coke is normal for a bar in Manhattan. It shouldn't be normal in Huntsville. As for the cop car, the place I usually go to always has two police cars parked outside of it on weekend nights. I used to worry about going from a bar to my car with cops around, but then I learned to time it when people leave the black club downstairs. Decoys. Love it.
Like someone said, being half black won't instigate anything unless you're moving to Montgomery, AL or somewhere along those lines. Even then, there's more prejudice toward sexual orientation than race I believe. I'm Whitey McGee and I'd be scared to move down there. Roughly 50% of Atlanta is black or mixed, and most people in the cities you mentioned aren't even from the state. Focus: the South. I lived in Atlanta for 3 years and, while I enjoyed my neighborhood in the heart of the city, I quickly decided it would never become home and it was simply a stop along the way. All of my friends were fellow transplants. If you love humidity, Baptists, ridiculous laws and loads of stereotypically narrow-minded people, move to the Deep South. I don't consider Texas part of the South. It has its own culture, and I love the people and attitudes here. You'll never find a place as unique as Austin. It's the live music capitol of the world, it has a crunchy scene for the outdoorsy-types, a quirky art scene, and it's so laid back and liberal Willie Nelson calls it home. It's a blue county in a red state, and I'd absolutely love to live there.
I'm Georgia born, Georgia bred, and when I die, I'll be Georgia dead. I fucking love this place and don't plan on ever leaving. We have awesome food, women, football, weather, etc. Sure there's ignorance and stupidity, but who doesn't have that? I'm near two major cities and the world's best college town is about an hour away. Y'all come.
I was born in Florida, 3 years after my parents moved here from Chicago. But yes, that is true. It's true the older the resident is. They say this state is home to the newly-wed and nearly dead.
Born in Texas, live in Texas, will eventually raise a family in Texas. I'm not leaving Texas. Sweat tea and margaritas at any time of the day, awesome bbq, and some of the greatest Mexican food (call it Texmex, whatever) that you will ever taste. Also, we have: - Whataburger - Taco Cabana - lax guns laws I frequently go to dinner at places where the trucks in the parking lot outnumber all other cars and SUVs at least 2:1 or 3:1. Most of them are filled with some form of farm equipment, and basically all of them have at least one pair of mud boots upside down in the gap between the truck bed and the cab. But yes, I agree, Texas is not in the south, Texas is in Texas. My only real complaint: FUCKING CONFEDERATE FLAGS. I just came back from the lake where I saw several of them flying on the back of boats. I've seen them in the back of trucks and flying level with the American flag in front yards. Can someone please explain this to me?
Whataburger is not something to be proud of him. We don't have them here in Atlanta but when I was in Tallahassee it was a popular spot for the 4 A.M. drunk run. Even then their "food" wasn't even tolerable. It's also funny you mention Taco Cabana. My dad used to work about a mile down the street from the only one in Atlanta, and over the course of a few years about 4 or 5 people he worked with got food poisoning after eating there. But maybe the Atlanta one is the only bad one.
Call me ignorant if you want and mods feel free to delete this if its too off subject, as I am sure that I will get ridiculously made fun of as this is a serious question. Is BBQ not a common thing outside of the south?? I have lived in Houston my entire life and primarily only visited family in other southern states so I am extremely surprised at all the posts about BBQ.
I've lived in Atlanta for the past 7 years, before that St Louis and Denver. Without a doubt, Atlanta is my favorite. I'm not sure you can even place Atlanta in the same category as Birmingham or Biloxi, it's very progressive. Commerce is thriving and there's always plenty to do. As far as racism goes, white bigots in the metro area are wise to keep their mouths shut ever since African Americans and Mexicans became the majority 2 to 1. The North does a better job at segregating and there's much more passive aggressive bullshit.