(no subject)
Sometimes I forget just how close I am to the true South. Yes, Maryland and Washington, D.C. are both south of the Mason-Dixon line, but they only feel like the South when they freak out over snow. An inch of snow and the schools are closed. Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday early morning 2 or so inches of snow plus some ice over that and nearly every school district in the area is closed through the end of the week. Still not so bad though. It's once I head south a bit that it starts to really seem like the South. Perhaps maybe about 30-45 minutes south of Washington D.C. on I-95 is when it always hits me that I'm in the South. Waffle Houses just off of every other exit. Signs with place names that I recognize from the Civil War (which, being such a history geek, makes me giddy). A massive Phillip Morris plant in the Richmond area bordering 95. And the accents! One of my cousins lives in the Atlanta area, and I remember when I was there for the wedding, the Southern accents weren't so strong. Even ignoring his in-laws, who had lived in the mid-west for a while, the other people at the hotel, restaurants, and everywhere else had very light accents. I don't understand how in the deep South in Georgia the accents can be so light when there are a large number of people with very heavy accents in southern Virginia.
Why does this come up now, anyway? I'll be writing about the experiences of women who were members of the Women's Army Corps during World War II, and the army base at Fort Lee, Virginia (which is south of Richmond) is the home of the Army Women's Museum, so I drove down on Friday and spent Friday and Saturday reading oral history transcripts and reading other assorted archival material there. It was sort of exciting, because I've never been on an army base before...going on a tour of the Pentagon doesn't count since all of the branches are there. At the same time, I wasn't happy because I'm automatically a ma'am down there, even though I should be a miss. There are no misses, just ma'ams. I generally look much younger than my age, so being called ma'am just gets on my nerves.
Bottom line: I can't wait until the semester is finished so that I can get back to the northeast where I belong. Visiting the South is fine, but I don't belong this close to dixie.
Was there a need for this? Maybe a bit of the rant. But if I don't post something in the next few days, I don't get a fun comment from Gun because my last post was just before his commenting resolution. So this bit of quasi-rant and observation/reflection is for you :-P
Why does this come up now, anyway? I'll be writing about the experiences of women who were members of the Women's Army Corps during World War II, and the army base at Fort Lee, Virginia (which is south of Richmond) is the home of the Army Women's Museum, so I drove down on Friday and spent Friday and Saturday reading oral history transcripts and reading other assorted archival material there. It was sort of exciting, because I've never been on an army base before...going on a tour of the Pentagon doesn't count since all of the branches are there. At the same time, I wasn't happy because I'm automatically a ma'am down there, even though I should be a miss. There are no misses, just ma'ams. I generally look much younger than my age, so being called ma'am just gets on my nerves.
Bottom line: I can't wait until the semester is finished so that I can get back to the northeast where I belong. Visiting the South is fine, but I don't belong this close to dixie.
Was there a need for this? Maybe a bit of the rant. But if I don't post something in the next few days, I don't get a fun comment from Gun because my last post was just before his commenting resolution. So this bit of quasi-rant and observation/reflection is for you :-P