Southern Hospitality
Living in the north (Michigan), you would hear things about “Southern Hospitality”, whether it was on television, the radio, or in your household everybody has heard the saying somewhere. I am currently living in Bowling Green, KY because I attend WKU (Western Kentucky University) for college. I never thought this saying would be so real! Now experiencing the south first-hand, it’s obvious that it wasn’t just a saying. Do I think there is a specific reason for this? No, but if I had to say it most likely would be the expectations and traditions of southern living.
There is an overall friendliness about people here. I don’t know if it’s the air, heat, or could it be the smells experienced here? Whatever it is people are overall nicer in the south. What is known as common courtesy here in Kentucky is going out of your way to do something, up north in Michigan. It’s just the natural way of living and going about your business in the south I guess.
Do not get me wrong, by NO means am I saying northern people are rude, or inconsiderate or impolite! I wouldn’t hate on my people like that, they just don’t have that “SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY”. Maybe it’s the natural persona of southerners to be nice. Like in the movie “You Me and Dupree”, Dupree explains to Carl that he has somehow lost his edge, his “CARLNESS”. His “CARLNESS” makes Carl... What is CARLNESS? Well it is very simply Carl! It’s the Carl everyone likes, the Carl everyone relates to. So perhaps Southerners “Carlness” or “Southerness” if you will is that they are nice to basically everyone.
Your probably wondering why I think people in the south are so nice. Well here is an example, I will walk into a store not ever seeing the people in it before because I am of course from Michigan, I will have the door opened for me, have people ask me “How are you today son?”; or even have someone just start a nice pleasant convo with me in line. Back home if I did something like that to a random, they would probably be like “What the FUCK was that guy’s problem?” Or they would say sumthin like “Was that guy HIGH or DRUNK?”
Also another example of some pretty mean stuff. A friend of mine who is a freshmen at Michigan State University and obviously new to the bus system, her and her friends park way the hell on the other side of campus. (MSU is a pretty BIG campus compared to WKU) So in order for her and her friends to get to their dorm they need to get on the bus… No problem right?! But NOOO! She tells me the first bus was okay no problem at all. Then God forbid she has to change busses. So they change busses and my friend being who she is put her bus slip or whatever they use for busses, in wrong notta BIG deal. But this ignorant ass bus driver decides she’s gunna go off on my friend who I mind you, is a young girl, kind of emotional, and she is a freshmen first time bus user. The lady says to her and I quote, “Umm excuse me you’ve left the nest, your parents aren’t here to help you anymore, start learning to do things yourself!” Hearing this I was like WOAH! I wonder what would happen if I jumped on the bus or shuttle here and made a mistake. Would the son of a bitch yell and fire on me like that? NO! He or she would not. That’s typical Michigan bullshit. Here they would say sumthin like, “Oh no honey do it like this”. Or they would make an example of you but not by persecuting you! They would probably show everyone how it’s done properly for next time so they don’t make the same mistake.
Overall my experiences in both places have been good. But the difference in the way people act and treat each other is really just so obvious. Like it just makes where I’m from look bad as hell. Being from where I am from, maybe it’s just me who thinks this. Although I am pretty sure I am not the only one. If you haven’t experienced the north my advice to you is… Well don’t! It’s not that great a place. It snows a lot, it gets stupid cold out, and there are basically no reasons to go there unless you have family and you like to travel around I guess. But I will stick to my opinion for the time being because the majority of people down here have been very exceptionally well behaved and well mannered. I have not come across someone who was not generally nice to me.
So Southerners I say to you, “Thank you! And y’all keep up the good work”.
- Myles Allen
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Thesis: Now experiencing the south first-hand, it’s obvious that it wasn’t just a saying.
ReplyDeleteReasons: Way the common person is treated, Public examples, Experiences.
whats working:
ReplyDeletewell first off thanks, im from kentucky. i hope im nice enough of a person to classify for this title. but i love the blog because it feels like you are talking to me in person. you dont use proper l;anguage, cuss, and tell stories just like you would if we were standing right next to each other. you not only talk about how poeple are nice here but tell stories how it is up north. so for poeple who read this who have never been up north, they have something to compare it to.
suggestions:
there really is not much i would fix about it. overall i thought it was really good and the lingo was casual and not at all proper. i would read it over a couple times or print it out and have someone else read it because in the middle of some paragraphs when you are telling a story, some sentences can be kind of confusing. past that though, i think its good.
BY: Jordan Turner
thesis: people in the south have more hospitality than people in northern states.
ReplyDeleteReasons: people in the south do things out of courtesy where people up north would do these things only if they were going out of their way.
you use the word "here" a lot. try leaving it out some because we already no what youre talking about, or change it up, say the south, kentucky, or maybe even "in the bible belt" since some people refer to the south as that.
good job!
-sinclair sharpe dotson
Miles--what a great idea for an essay. I don't think a student of mine has ever written on this topic before. Also, for the most part, your unique voice is coming through here, and I'm glad about that.
ReplyDeleteYour essay has more grammar and punctuation errors than it should at the draft stage, so make sure you work extra hard on those issues in revision.
Also, you haven't yet spent enough time on organization. You introduce the subject in the first three paragraphs and then you include a really long paragraph with a ton of examples. You need to organize your essays around your reasons. Have one section for each reason, and then include these examples under the appropriate reason. In fact, if you look at your comment above, it says that your reasons are "Way the common person is treated, Public examples, Experiences." But "examples" and "experiences" are not reasons! Examples and experiences SUPPORT reasons. It's all right if you only have one reason, but you still need to use the reason to organize the structure of your essay rather than having an introduction, a bunch of examples, and then a conclusion.
Finally, be sure to explain more clearly that you are from Michigan and have moved to the South for college. You say that in passing, but I want you to spell it out.
One more thing--that comment about women being emotional is a bit sexist. Is it really necessary? Does it add anything to your argument? Aren't you making a hasty generalization when you say that?
ReplyDelete