tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post1619549016763167986..comments2023-05-02T10:52:43.408-04:00Comments on Church of the Big Sky: When Hell Freezes OverMerujohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14123831956012950960noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-19600958225724164632008-02-19T18:55:00.000-05:002008-02-19T18:55:00.000-05:00Well, I read it as "the Big O." Most of us would ...Well, I read it as "the Big O." Most of us would prefer that over a "Big B.O." Yet, still not classy enough for B. Obama. I even pulled my daughter our of school to go see him speak in College Park. It's historical for any Presidential candidate to campaign in Md (albeit I'm reminded Wallace did in 1972, um, like I remember that? sorry he got shot, of course), and JFK did. Ah, he was President when I was born, so.... yeah, no one usually comes to Maryland. Did you know, B'more had the largest population of free blacks either during or right after the Civil War? My Georgia-born Grandmother had a relative who was a Civil War hero -- as a doctor (phew), and they were Quaker, but probably someone had slaves even if I cringe to think it. My Maine-born mother had a grand-something who was given a mountain for his leadership in the Civil War. I feel more northern than southern, and insisted as a kid that I was northern as I was born in D.C. Yet, our collective history makes us who we all are. May the hate be gone, even while I see bigoted and racist comments at times even today, may we move on and forward. I like Barack Obama's words that we're not a white America and a black America, and an Asian American, we're ONE America. Etc. This is history, our history now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-47810190913815872922008-02-15T18:21:00.000-05:002008-02-15T18:21:00.000-05:00I have not forgotten about this post! I have just...I have not forgotten about this post! I have just been so busy lately I haven't had time to come back and see your response until now. And alas, I have no time to respond! But I will get back to you ;)<BR/><BR/>For now: I know you didn't mean any offense, of course. You were discussing your feelings, and somebody's feelings are nothing to get upset over. They're a product of who the person is and how they have lived--part of who they are. I'm certainly not sad that you are who you are! It just reminded me of the divide, which makes me sad in general, because I love things from both cultures and wish they could just get along, or at least tolerate each other ;)Heather Meadowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04962932701620185508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-1824570931574588062008-02-15T10:20:00.000-05:002008-02-15T10:20:00.000-05:00Oh, I realized I should note, my sister with the b...Oh, I realized I should note, my sister with the big 'fro? Not a mixed race kid, but she knows every product in the black hair care aisle!Merujohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123831956012950960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-76604680677251661532008-02-14T23:52:00.000-05:002008-02-14T23:52:00.000-05:00I've been pondering a thoughtful response to your ...I've been pondering a thoughtful response to your very thoughtful comment all day, Heather! I'm so sorry the post made you sad - it wasn't my goal to upset or offend any of my friends and readers in the South. Elements of the post represent my reaction to moving south, based upon the images, ideas, and, yes, prejudices I grew up with in the North. It also reflects some things I've seen and experienced since moving here in 1993. I'm still amazed that Maryland has retained a state song that castigates the Union to which it belongs. That said, half of my family was on the Confederate side of things 150-ish years ago.<BR/><BR/>Re: the causes of the war - slavery did spur the war to begin - the Republicans didn't want slavery to spread beyond its then-current borders, they won the 1860 election, and some of the southern states seceded. That was rebellion in the eyes of the Union, and it set the ball rolling. There's actually a pretty darn good Wiki on the Civil War that gives a decent picture of the events that brought about secession, rebellion, and war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War<BR/><BR/>When my mother was a little girl in Nevada, there were still Civil War veterans in the Armistice Day parades - that seemed so unreal to me, but I have to remember that Mom was born in 1921, and men who were teenagers or twenty-somethings in the Civil War were in their 70s and 80s when she was a kiddo. Phrases and concepts left over from the war and Reconstruction peppered my mother's speech throughout her life. Growing up, when I wanted something badly, my mother would say, "Save your Confederate money!" What I didn't know until I was an adult is that the full phrase was "Save your Confederate money - the South will rise again!" An exhortation to maintain Southern pride. (Maybe it was also said derisively by Northerns? I don't know. I'll have to look it up.)<BR/><BR/>I know some of the prejudices and presuppositions I had about the South before moving here came from my parents - parents who both lived in the South in the 1940s and were afraid to take my siblings camping in the South in the 1950s because one of my olive-skinned sisters had a big 'fro of hair. They had seen firsthand how some folks reacted to mixed race kids.<BR/><BR/>I grew up in a town where some of my friends lived in houses that were stopovers on the Underground Railroad. (Right now, I live, literally, down the street from Uncle Tom's Cabin.) Neither our educational system nor our popular culture in the 1970s did much to improve a New Jersey kid's understanding of southern culture and history.<BR/><BR/>Sure there are some people who fly the stars and bars as a sign of tradition, but that's not the case with everyone. I visit Richmond, Virginia periodically with the Sasquatch (who goes there to commune with other guys who like to make models of WWII armor.) One year, we decided to visit the Museum of the Confederacy (which is a gorgeous museum) - it's next door to Jefferson Davis' house, which is also a museum now. In the Museum of the Confederacy, Stonewall Jackson isn't described as "General Stonewall Jackson", but, rather, as "the martyr Stonewall Jackson." This leads visitors to see the war not in terms of a political or economic war, but a war with an almost religious fervor.<BR/><BR/>Maintaining slavery was about maintaining a way of life. Parts of the North were industrialized, certainly, but vast swaths of the North were - and still are - covered in verdant, rich farmland, and they were cultivated without slave labor. <BR/><BR/>I think debates about the Civil War and the emotional divide of North and South will continue for generations to come. As someone trained as a historian (albeit not an American historian), I find it fascinating.Merujohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14123831956012950960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-22261843356396644712008-02-14T01:14:00.000-05:002008-02-14T01:14:00.000-05:00I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope Obama wins.As a reside...I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope Obama wins.<BR/><BR/>As a resident of Georgia, I didn't roll my eyes at your post, but I did feel rather sad. It seems like people still think we have slaves down here. While I'm originally from Kentucky, which the Mason-Dixon splits neatly in two, I do rather like it in the South. I like, for example, that the black-white ratio is close to 50/50, because back in Kentucky I barely knew any black people, and unfamiliarity breeds misunderstanding. We still have race issues here, and there are plenty of people who still fly the Confederate flag, but we are definitely not the Old South. (I knew more racists in Kentucky than I know here. I think people who fly the Southern Cross do so out of tradition, and possibly because they are pro-states' rights.)<BR/><BR/>The only reason slavery is not part of the history of the northern states is because the north didn't have the abundance of rich farmland. You guys made your money with factories. Factories provided jobs for people; there weren't so many factories that there was a run on labor. Meanwhile, the South provided your cotton...and chose the wrong way to produce more cotton faster.<BR/><BR/>I'm not going to argue that slavery was inevitable, but I do think it's silly to assume that certain states had higher moral standards than other states. The Civil War wasn't even really about slavery; it was about economics.Heather Meadowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04962932701620185508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-47111386012501195032008-02-13T09:18:00.000-05:002008-02-13T09:18:00.000-05:00Excellent! I hope Obama wins. Hillary is about as ...Excellent! <BR/><BR/>I hope Obama wins. Hillary is about as inspiring as a can of past- expiration- but- the- top- hasn't- popped- so- it- might- be- okay- to- eat- it tuna.<BR/><BR/>As I said to a friend the other night, Obama may seem naive, but I'll take naiveté any day over hubris. It certainly can't be any worse than what we have now and it just might be successful. And, as you point out, Obama is charismatic and hopeful. <BR/><BR/>He's got my vote!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-52359496382238718852008-02-13T08:47:00.000-05:002008-02-13T08:47:00.000-05:00The big B.O.-- fill your lungs with freedom!The big B.O.-- fill your lungs with freedom!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com