Reply #21: I am a first generation American [View All]

[hyphenate]

born of indeterminate parenthood (on my father's side), but raised by Canadian parents. I was born and raised in Brookline and Boston, Massachusetts, and I was always proud of my heritage.

Boston is a popular city for Irish-- and Scottish--Canadians to come to from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. There are deep roots here in that area (and for many others (such as Italian) as well) and there were very few times when I felt an outsider in my home city.

Boston has always been known for being a very cosmopolitan city, and for having many, many cultural groups as well. In fact, I think we knew more 1st generation Americans of European descent than we did those of Southern birth. It just never really entered the equation.

I think over the years of my growing up, we acquired a great deal of what we "knew" about Southerners from books, TV or film. There was the sleepy, uncomplicated small town atmosphere of Mayberry; there was the fiercely emotional (and to many of us, ditziness) attitude from Gone With the Wind; and there was the hatred and bigotry of To Kill A Mockingbird. It was never said outloud, but it seemed most of my life that life in the south was a lot different than life in a city such as Boston--there were few parallels to draw between them. In history, of course, we learned even further that the South was different. They had waged a war over "slaves" and many of us, obviously from a Northern city, found that incomprehensible. In some ways, even now, it is difficult to think of the south outside of the slave issue for Northerners. It's also hard to draw a line where the north ends and the south begins. I visited friends in Maryland once, and found the fact that their "accent" wasn't more southern to be odd.

I think in reality, the South likes to consider itself different from the rest of the country. They seem to have a different view of many things in the world--whether that is good or bad isn't relevant. Their perception in many cases is just a little "off" of the rest of us, and it's sometimes difficult to ascertain why it's different.

I've met many people across the country, having driven three times across, and spending more than one bus trip as well doing the same. I have always found that those from the South seem to enjoy life at a slower pace than many northerners, which was refreshing, and they seemed in many ways to be able to stop and smell the roses more as well. In my personal dealings with these people, I've always concluded my business with them on an "up" and not a "down" because they seem to have a more optimistic approach toward things than a lot of Northerners.