One question that pretty much everybody and their mom has asked me after finding out about my tendency to pack up my things and move
to another part of the country once every few years is: So how do you like it here?
It's an understandable question, and I don't blame people for asking. However, the way in which this inquiry is usually phrased or the context in which
it is usually employed suggests that the asker anticipates a negative response from me. It's as if they're hesitantly saying: "I
know my city isn't that great, but how does it compare to the other places you've been?"
When I moved to Potsdam, people wanted to talk about my adjustment to two things: the snow and the seclusion. Many thought I had
never seen snow before.
Now, in Montgomery, the locals want to know about how I'm adjusting to the humidity and the preconceived (and wildly inaccurate) notion
that everybody here is racist.
I spent two years telling people in New York that Potsdam is the prettiest snow globe I had ever seen. It seemed I was the only person
who didn't get sick of the snow. After two years there, I still got giddy when it snowed outside. And the seclusion? That's
why I picked the school. Why'd you think I moved there? The music program?
As far as the south goes, I gotta say that my roommate who told me that racism still exists is dead wrong. I have yet to meet a single
racist individual out here. It's 2013, folks. Racism died around the same time Americans thought that one car per family wasn't good
enough. I'm sure there are some buttheads in existence who are exceptions, but they're slowly dying off. And I'm sure that there are
some small towns that have a few more racist folks than others. But the people I've met in Montgomery, Alabama, are not racist and have
moved on from that old school notion that whites are the best.
That isn't to say that there are some weird (and unfortunate) class/racism struggles out here. 56% of Montgomery is black, but the
majority of that population is in the lowest income brackets. My observations during the four months I've been out here lead me
to conclude that this isn't because of any blatant racism from some white CEO at the top of the food chain. It appears to me that
they're stuck in a cycle of poverty that is left over from the bus-boycotting days.
It seems to me that there are a thousand things wrong with Alabama that lead to many generations of families living in the same filth as
their ancestors...but
racism isn't one of them. At least not from my perspective. Many of the problems, in my opinion, can be found in the education system.
Which reminds me: an Alabama-native recently said to me: "we rank 49th in just about everything. But at least we're not Mississippi."
But I digress...
Anywho, I've checked, and the racism isn't there. A cycle of poverty is. Tell your friends.
Alabamians, rich and poor, are so much nicer, in my experience, than the rest of the country.
I can hardly go a day without a stranger saying hello and asking me how I am.
Southern hospitality is a real thing, yo.
And sweet tea? You haven't had it until you've had it here.
And church? Yeah, that's everywhere, too. It's like the plague. Kidding (sorta). There were even billboards for Easter Sunday services
for various churches around town. I've been invited to church by half of Montgomery already
and my neighbor literally got mad at me the last time she saw me because I still hadn't made an appearance at her church a month after
she extended the invite.
My point? Alabamians are nicer than the rest of the country. Now before you slap me in the face and say "Lizy how DARE you make such
a sweeping generalization! You know that's not academic! Didn't college teach you anything?" Please don't. You just
be hatin' that I think Montgomery is nicer than your hometown.
