I grew up partially around Stone Mountain, Georgia, and in that part of the country, there was always this aura of mythology and palpable sense of otherness about being a Southerner.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think we Southerners have talked a fair amount of malarkey about the mystique of being Southern.
I also grew up on a farm in east Tennessee, so my roots are just naturally super southern, so I've always had that southern country lifestyle.
It's really rare that you come across a Southern character that's not stereotyped, vilified or aggrandized.
I was always very aware of the nature of the place where I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi, how that place was shaping my experience of the world. I had to go to the Northeast for graduate school because I felt like I had to get far away from my South, be outside it, to understand it.
I'm from Georgia, and everybody gathers around food in the South.
You know, Southerners are pretty cool.
I love Southern rock; it's because I grew up on it, and no matter where I am, I'll always be a Georgia girl.
There's no such thing as being too Southern.
I'm a Southerner.
You know, I'm from the South, and I wasn't interested in perpetuating a stereotypical southern character.