Is East Texas culturally part of the Deep South? (Houston: tenant, suburban)

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

By "home" I meant the Deep South; the floor of the DS, specifically.

Well, then it's no surprise that I don't feel that East Texas is really "home" to me!

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Completely understand!

No matter where else I live, Texas WILL always be home, period.

So what IS "home" to you?

Well, that's a problem considering my nomadic lifestyle. I went to high school and college and then lived several years as an adult in Georgia - that sort of feels like home.

Then, I have lots of family in Louisiana, so that sort of feels like home.

And then, my dad inherited a family estate up in SW Arkansas - the one he grew up on and where I spent many fun vacations as a child - so that's the most like home to me, the house anyway. But I frankly do not care much for Arkansas in general.

And then, finally - the place I'm most drawn to, where I'd really love to live and where I spent some wonderful years of my childhood -is Virginia - the Tidewater region in particular, but I really love every inch of that entire state (with the exception of Alexandria!). Though no family lives there (well, my daughter does but is moving to England in a few weeks), Virginia or anywhere in the mid Atlantic region feels the most like where I need to be.

Good thing -because my husband and I are considering a move to the Appalachians of West Virginia. Keeping my fingers crossed! That's close enough to Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay for me!

[Nairobi]

Virginia > East Texas? Oh, hun, your Deep South membership card has been hereby revoked!

Earlier, I said that something about you didn't sit right with me.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Well, that's a problem considering my nomadic lifestyle. I went to high school and college and then lived several years as an adult in Georgia - that sort of feels like home.

Then, I have lots of family in Louisiana, so that sort of feels like home.

And then, my dad inherited a family estate up in SW Arkansas - the one he grew up on and where I spent many fun vacations as a child - so that's the most like home to me, the house anyway. But I frankly do not care much for Arkansas in general.

And then, finally - the place I'm most drawn to, where I'd really love to live and where I spent some wonderful years of my childhood -is Virginia - the Tidewater region in particular, but I really love every inch of that entire state (with the exception of Alexandria!). Though no family lives there (well, my daughter does but is moving to England in a few weeks), Virginia or anywhere in the mid Atlantic region feels the most like where I need to be.

Good thing -because my husband and I are considering a move to the Appalachians of West Virginia. Keeping my fingers crossed! That's close enough to Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay for me!

Well, that's interesting, to say the least! The part of VA where I stayed (Charlottesville and vicinity) didn't seem like the "Deep South" to me at all. Haven't been to West VA, so I can't comment on that!

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Virginia > East Texas? Oh, hun, your Deep South membership card has been hereby revoked!

Earlier, I said that something about you didn't sit right with me.

Thankfully, you do not have the authority to revoke my membership! Having lived in the Deep South for over 25 years , I have an automatic lifetime membership card to the Deep South!

Not only that, my ancestry is chock full of Confederate soldiers from LA, SC, GA, and AL so I'm completely covered. Not a Union sympathizer in the lot! I even had a great great great grandmother and grandfather who were traveling Confederate medics - well, she was a nurse and he was a doctor - who traveled together to battlefields all over the Deep South tending to the wounded soldiers.

I think that's pretty cool. We don't hear much about WOMEN serving in the the Confederate Army.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Well, that's interesting, to say the least! The part of VA where I stayed (Charlottesville and vicinity) didn't seem like the "Deep South" to me at all. Haven't been to West VA, so I can't comment on that!

Oh, I never said that Virginia is part of the DEEP South - it's definitely NOT. Southern, yes - Deep South, no.

Kind of like Texas in that regard!

I'm at least very consistent - LOL!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Oh, I never said that Virginia is part of the DEEP South - it's definitely NOT. Southern, yes - Deep South, no.

Kind of like Texas in that regard!

If you are saying Texas is not, as a whole state, a "Deep South" state...of course you know I would agree. But if you are saying far East Texas isn't (which you are)?, then I disagree completely. And I can back up my position just as you can yours.

And nobody from south Mississppi or Alabama has the credentials to say otherwise on the basis of birth-place alone!

I mean, gosh KA...what would you say to someone from, say, south Georgia, who said Louisiana was not even a Southern state, much less a Deep South one? I am totally serious, because I have some distant cousins in MS who say just that!

I disagree with that contention, obviously, but the whole point is that it is very subjective; the whole subject is.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

If you are saying Texas is not, as a whole state, a "Deep South" state...of course you know I would agree. But if you are saying far East Texas isn't (which you are)?, then I disagree completely. And I can back up my position just as you can yours.

And nobody from south Mississppi or Alabama has the credentials to say otherwise on the basis of birth-place alone!

I mean, gosh KA...what would you say to someone from, say, south Georgia, who said Louisiana was not even a Southern state, much less a Deep South one? I am totally serious, because I have some distant cousins in MS who say just that!

I disagree with that contention, obviously, but the whole point is that it is very subjective; the whole subject is.

Well, it would be factually WRONG - I mean even in the most legal sense wrong - for someone from Georgia, or anywhere else, to say that Louisiana is not a southern state. I mean, even on a map it's obviously a southern state, and it was a Confederate state as well, so that would be a ridiculous assertion.

That level of ridiculousness is not on the same level as stating that East Texas is not culturally part of the Deep South. Saying that Louisiana isn't a southern state wouldn't be a subjective statement only - it would be factually and historically and legally a mistaken and wrong statement. In other words, OBJECTIVELY wrong.

As you point out - our disagreement on whether or not East Texas is culturally part of the Deep South is clearly a SUBJECTIVE argument. Both of us can "prove" our points - at least to ourselves and those who already agree with us - but neither of us can prove objectively that our position is the only correct one.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Oh, you're just not a city girl, that's all.

Without being a solidly Deep South city, Houston is essentially the most densified and urban manifestation of the Deep South. Build a major city anywhere along the Gulf Coast, and it will look like Houston; even much of Greater New Orleans, outside of the core.

You can't dislike Houston without disliking a large piece of what you call "home".

None of New Orleans looks like Houston. Neither does Metairie and other suburbs. Houston looks like Texas, respectively.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Oh, I never said that Virginia is part of the DEEP South - it's definitely NOT. Southern, yes - Deep South, no.

Kind of like Texas in that regard!

I'm at least very consistent - LOL!

LOL!! And we have (we = everybody) argued this point for several years/threads! Texas is partially southern (culturally speaking), but vastly less so in the Panhandle and West Texas areas.

I have southern roots going back forever--I just don't embrace it, and I don't want to live in an area where the South and Deep South dominate! The farther west in Texas, the better it gets, LOL! I identify with my Texan/Western roots far more than my distant past southern ones!

That's probably why I don't care for ET, LA, MS, VA etc. as places to live. They're just TOO southern for me, both culturally and climate-wise. Great places to visit, but not to live. That goes for the Midwest that I've seen, too!