My Southern Roots

I am a confused person. I was born and raised in California, but my parents are transplants from the South. At times I can seem like the stereotypical Californian; at others, I am pure Southerner. I remembered this when recently getting into a discussion on bbq (see post on heading to the Big Easy). This all reminded me of something that happened when I was living in Virginia.

I had gone to DC for the day with some friends to hear an oral argument at the Supreme Court. On the ride back, this guy from Mississippi started a heated conversation with my friend, Karen, about "damn Yankees." (Karen was from upstate New York.) After half an hour or so, Karen finally turned to the guy and asked, refering to me, "Why don't you pick on her? She's from California." His answer? "She may have been born in California but her parents are Southerners. Therefore, she was raised right." As far as many Southerners I have met over the years are concerned, I'm one of them. It's not really my fault that my parents decided to move to California a year before I was born.

I just find that "Yankee" take on barbeque to be quite interesting. That whole obsession with sauce just seems to be a Texas/Kansas City kind of thing to me.