I'm from Tennessee. I love the state of LA. We have been to New Orleans twice. Once for our honeymoon 8 years ago and then last year on vacation. It was awesome. I had some ideas going down there about what I would see, hookers, crazy homeless people on the street, women running around with their tops off, voodoo shops, witches, just all kinds of stuff because of what I had heard on tv and what other people had told me, but it was so far from the truth, the same as is what people from other parts of the country think about the south. It's a beautiful place full of history. Although I did see a few things I had never seen before and did step into a voodoo shop for about 2 seconds it wasn't at all what I had expected.
As far as the alligator for a pet. Thoughout Miss and LA I looked for alligators trying to see one in the wild but the only one I have ever seen in the wild was a dead one on the road in GA. LOL. The only one I have ever seen as a pet was in Mississippi. My aunt lived in the lower part of the state and her neighbor had one in his front yard in a small pond with a large collar and chain connected to a wire that went across the yard. That was the biggest alligator I had ever seen.
A friend of mine on the internet told me a joke the other day and after he had he said he was sorry cause he thought he offended me cause Im from Tennessee ....the joke was .....what does Texas Tornados and Tennessee Divorces have in common....answer...someone is going to loose a trailor.........although it kinda annoyed me I wasn't offended. But if people came to Tennessee and Im sure as well as in Texas they would find out that more people live in houses then trailors. And anyway my grandmother lives in a trailor and has for as long as I can remember and there isn't one single thing wrong with it. For the first four years of my life I lived in a trailor till my dad built us a three story A frame house. But most of the people that live on the mountain I grew up on live in houses and own them too. You find very few people with cars in their yard and only on occassion do you find that person that put the mail box up by using a tire.
An on the subject of the kkk in the south. I don't know how it is for the rest of the south but I can speak for the area I'm from. Although we know that the kkk still exists in our area we never see them. A friend of mine came up on one of their bonfires one night but that is the only time I had ever heard of them being out. In all my 28 years we never had any kind of racists things happen that I know of. And believe me if it happened in a town of less then 10,000 people I would have heard about it. LOL.
I just think it's funny how we get ideas about other places like California is all rich and glamour and everyone that lives in florida has artifical turf for their yards decorated with pink flamingos, the mountains are covered with shoeless toothless moonshiners, my great grandfather was a moonshiner by the way and I dont think he was shoeless or toothless lol ......then you have New York that they are all rude, or that everyone that lives in New England owns a bed and breakfast. That all canadians speak french or that in Mexico all husbands beat their wives and grow pot. We have all sorts of people in this world and when it comes down to it everywhere is mixed up of the same types. There are hicks in Michigan just as well as here. The term red neck came from farmers because they worked outside and would get sunburns on their necks and last time I checked there are farms all over this country. An have you ever looked up to see what famous people came out of the south if not you should you might be suprised who is from right around where you live.
Im sorry my post is so long I tend to rattle. If I was ever given an Indian name it would be TALKS WATER UP HILL.
