Education

Disclaimer: This topic can get dicey.  It is not my intent to disparage any group of people – this is based upon validated statistics and my own observations. There are, of course, exceptions to these statistics in both the North and the South. We all know of someone who succeeded after dropping out of school, and we all know of someone struggling with poverty after completing an advanced degree.

There is a lot of correlation between education and poverty. On average, the less education a person has, the less they earn over the course of their adult life. The US Census Bureau’s study on this relationship noted:
“Earnings increase with educational level. Average earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates, and $99,300 for workers with professional degrees (M.D., J.D., D.D.S., or D.V.M.).  Each successively higher education level is associated with an increase in earnings.”

Yet poverty and poor educational attainment continue to plague the South overall. Southern states have reduced graduation rates both for high school and college. There are lower scores on reading and science, which indicates it is poorer quality of education in primary and secondary schools, not only kids dropping out who drive these statistics. Per-pupil spending is lower in the South, and poverty higher.  This is a pattern, but there is not necessarily a causal relationship.

Why is this? Nobody has a clear answer. Of course, per-pupil spending might increase quality and graduation rates, but because poverty rates are higher, where will the money come from? Are the people poor because of inadequate education, or is the lack of education preventing people from escaping poverty? It’s an endless circle.

Then there is the political side of things. I understand (and agree to an extent) that this nation cannot afford to raise everyone out of poverty. National programs cost billions and billions each year, but don’t have a significant impact at the local level. State and local school boards are supposed to know their people best – what is needed and how to fulfill that need. It’s obvious that a program which works in Montana or Maine may not work the same in Mississippi.  But continuing to vote against federal or state programs which “can” help seems to me to be against the best interests of the people.

It does not need to be this way, on the political side. Montana is a reliably Red state, so the philosophy of smaller government is similar to that of the South. Yet it has a much higher graduation rate and test scores, and lower poverty rates, with just a modest increase in per-pupil spending. Is the spending what causes the improvement? Or does the higher overall income allow the higher spend?

I don’t have the answers and I don’t know where to start. But we are not doing people any favors by allowing this pattern to continue.

Tornadoes

Tornadoes are associated with violent storms, and most everyone is familiar with them. While *of course* tornado severity is generally unpredictable, and small tornadoes can occur in the South, as well as large tornadoes can pop up in the North, my experience living in the Great Lakes area is simply that tornadoes were not as awful as those in the South. 

As a child, we had tornado warning frequently enough – storms can be nasty here, especially coming across the Great Plains. But when a tornado hit, it was often nearly surgical. One house here, and the next house virtually untouched. A bad tornado might take out a block (though often only one side of the street). 

My first experience with a Southern tornado was the one which hit Tuscaloosa in 2011. My company had a small location there as well as a landfill. While the landfill was not damaged really (hard to hurt a landfill), the rest of the site (and much of the town) were utterly destroyed. I’d not seen anything like it in the US from a tornado (I am rather news-oblivious, as I’m certain there were others when I was younger). The later that year Joplin, MO was hit even worse. 

Tornadoes in Florida are not super-common, as I’m guessing the narrow landmass is more conducive to hurricane damage rather than the types of storms which generate tornadoes, but overall in the South tornadoes seem to be massive. Whole counties are seriously damaged, on a scale exceeded only by a hurricane.

Up North in the Great Lakes area, the worst natural disasters I've experienced are winter storms, where the greatest danger is the large vehicle pile-ups in white-out conditions on the highways. When we get several feet of snow, we dig out and move on. You can’t do that as easily after one of the huge southern storms.

Beaches

The South has some impressive beaches. Beginning somewhere around South Carolina-ish, the beach transitions from the rock-based sand of the northern beaches to the coral-and-shell-based sand of the Deep South.  White sand predominates the beaches of Florida and the Gulf Coast, often lined with sea oats. They are very pretty and great for collecting shells. Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico can have blinding white sand.

The Carolinas change over with marshy areas along the barrier islands and move away from the white sand. Up north, we have golden and ‘sandy’ colored sand.

Further north, we abandon the concept of a beach and just go for ‘coastline.’ The rocky coasts of Maine are well-known, but are great for tide pools. Along the Great Lakes we have a variety of beach-like areas. Sleeping Bear Dunes and Indiana Dunes have normal sandy beaches and dunes.

Along the eastern side of Lake Huron you find pebbly beaches, which are great for finding shell fossils. Further north to Georgian Bay and the Canadian Shield the edge of the lakes are slabs of rock just angling into the water.

Beaches and coastlines come in many forms, but there seems to be more variety up north. Beaches are more enjoyable, however, down South.

Religion, Part One

Religious practices are expressed differently in the South. Deep-down, I don't think people are *more* religious down here, just that it is more visible. Up north, people overall are more reserved and private regarding their beliefs. Down south, it is an open part of daily life.

Wikipedia states: The Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the south-eastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. The Bible Belt consists of much of the Southern United States.

I'm not just referring to Southern Baptists or the Megachurch group. The gal in the office next to mine goes to the same Catholic Church that I do, but you would not know it comparing our offices. I have one small icon (which I think is pretty) in my office. Hers definitely says 'Catholic.' Even the local police have regular times to sit with their lights on for 20 minutes to assist in traffic going into and out of numerous churches on Sunday, if they don’t have a traffic light. Up north, I’m only used to seeing taking up police time in this manner for funerals and such.

Megachurches, while located in every region of the country, is most prevalent in the South. (California has the greatest number of Megachurches by individual state.) Since Protestants are the predominant group in the Bible Belt, and in my experience I think of the 'personal Savior' ideology as associated with Protestants, I find the Megachurch concept at odds with that. Now, I may have things wrong, this is just my experience and opinion, but to me any church which has 5000+ people at one service would have a difficult time making any concept personal.

I have maintained my more northern, reserved approach to religion, but if a conversation is started I am more likely to participate now. I also have begun to join in church activities since I've come South, primarily the Homeless Ministry.

Barbecue

The Smithsonian says:

“If any gastronomical treat could give the proverbially American apple pie a run for its money, it might just be barbecue. The culinary tradition of cooking meat low and slow over indirect flame (the true definition of barbecue – imposters who grill, take note) has become so prevalent over the years that BBQ itself represents a sort of pop culture.

Barbecue belt residents would argue that the beef-based BBQ of Texas doesn’t constitute authentic barbecue. To be real barbecue, purists argue that the meat must be exclusively pork, because the original BBQ-ers of the southern colonies depended on the cheap, low-maintenance nature of pig farming. 

The original styles of barbecue are thought to be those that originated in the easternmost colonies, like the vinegar-based “whole hog” barbecue found in Virginia and North Carolina. The technique of adding sauce to the meat as it cooks came from British colonists. North Carolina’s vinegar-based sauces are also a remnant of these Briton’s penchant for the tart sauce. In South Carolina, which housed a large population of French and German immigrants, a mustard-based sauce was born, again, a reflection of the immigrant populations’ traditional preferences.

In Memphis, the regionally unique sweet, tomato-based barbecue sauce was born from the city’s status as a popular port along the Mississippi River. Memphis residents could easily obtain a variety of goods, including molasses, which provided the region’s sweet barbecue taste. Out of Memphis’ barbecue genes, the last of America’s four main barbecue styles – Kansas City barbecue – was born.”

I grew up with fake barbecue. The only “BBQ” I experienced as a child in the Great Lakes area was really grilled meat, usually chicken. Toss some Kraft BBQ sauce on it, and it magically became “BBQ chicken.” Sometimes we made “BBQ hamburgers” too. I don’t recall stumbling upon pulled pork until I was an adult, and learned what “real” barbecue was. Low and slow, with smoke involved. (Yes, I know pulled pork does not necessarily = BBQ, you can make it in a crock pot, but what I find here is smoked barbecue pulled pork.)

In the South (we don’t count Texas and their beef) ‘real’ barbecue is pork, just as the Smithsonian says. In a restaurant you can find both brisket and chicken, but if you are with friends pulling out the smoker (or better still, if you can get to a real BBQ pit) , it will be pork down here. When we have barbecue brought in at work, it is so yummy that I don’t use sauce of any kind. I just love the tender, smoky flavor. 

Grilled chicken with sauce can be yummy, but just don’t call it barbecue.

Trees

Trees are very different in the South. Up north, we have red and white pine; balsam fir; bur and pin oaks; silver, Norway and sugar maples; horse chestnut and Eastern hemlock; white, black, and blue spruce; paper birch, and quaking aspen.

In the south, there are live and water oak, bald cypress; slash and scrub pine; royal and palmetto palm; river birch, flowering dogwood, southern magnolia, shagbark hickory, sweetgum, sassafrass, basswood, pecan, black walnut.

Yes, of course there is overlap – you can find some maples in the South, and the North has some varieties of magnolia, etc. I’ve even seen palm trees in Victoria, BC (Canada). But overall once you get into the Deep South, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.

What I miss about northern forests is the fall color. Birch and quaking aspen trees turn bright yellow, oaks turn golden and red, and of course maples are known for their spectrum of red through orange through gold to yellow. My favorite of all is the sugar maple, which has dark branches and the leaves turn from gold to red on the outside, while pale green hangs on inside the crown. In the sun it gives off a luminescent glow that is impossible to capture in a photograph. Even if you live in a cave (like I do) it is impossible to miss fall in the north.

On the other hand, the south stays green overall. Many trees are not deciduous, so they keep their leaves year-round (live oak, southern magnolia, etc.). And I do love a nice palm tree. If I must live in Florida, the least I can do is have a palm tree. My new house has a nice landscaping collection of Pygmy Date Palms, which are not native (most palm trees in Florida are not) but are cute nonetheless. A landscaping ad says “This wouldn’t be Florida without the waving fronds of the tropical palms. Palms are the easiest way to “tropicalize” your garden and give great shade but also allow the breeze to flow through.”

I’ve learned that some palm varieties are self-cleaning, meaning when a frond is dead it will fall off on its own. Other types of palms retain the dried fronds as a "petticoat" under the green fronds.

Live oak trees can also be very majestic looking (as oak are wont to be) and when dripping with Spanish Moss, are the poster child for the Deep South overall.

Wading Birds

Anyone who knows me knows I like my birds. There is quite a change from north to south.

Up north, we have lots of wading birds - killdeer, plovers, sandpipers, etc. There are also large wading birds here and there - egrets and herons (great blue, black crowned night, and little green).

Down south, there are a lot more big wading birds. I see the smaller birds as well - the killdeer, etc., but it's the big ones that get the attention. One is the wood stork. It is beautiful in flight - bright white with black wing edges, but up close its head is grey and featherless, reminiscent of a vulture. 

Egrets and herons abound here - great, snowy and cattle egrets, great blue, tricolor, green, little blue herons, among others.

One bird you don't see is an icon of Florida - the flamingo. They are not native to North America, and if you see one it is an escapee from the zoo or Disney.

The large pink bird you do see in the South is the Roseate Spoonbill. I spotted a flock of them flying overhead when I was near the Gulf coast in Louisiana. I nearly drove off the bridge trying to figure them out. It was obviously not a flamingo (which I did not know were not native at the time) but I'd never thought that spoonbills *were* native. You can also occasionally see a red or pink ibis, but typically I see the white ones.

Wood storks, spoonbills, ibis, and cattle egrets tend to be seen in flocks, at least in my experience. The other large waders can congregate (such as in a nesting site) but don't fly in flocks normally.

The variety of large birds is one of the benefits of living in the South.