Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET by MARGARET DICKSON THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Southern Charm The South is hot right now, and not just in a humid, sweaty way. It is hot in that it has dawned on people from all sorts of other places that the South is a great part of our country to live, have a career and raise a family. The sleepy North Carolina where I grew up in the mid 20th century is now among the fastest growing states in our country. Our state has knocked New Jersey out of the top 10 in population growth and is breathing down Georgia's neck. We are acquiring, and in some places have attained, a cosmopolitan polish, a patina of high culture. We have creative and innovative arts and restaurants and chefs who win the James Beard award. We have vineyards and a burgeoning wine industry. We have homegrown fashion designers and novelists with international reputations. We have universities that everyone wants to attend and professional sports teams. We have entrepreneurs developing innovations that resonate around the world. Among my most cherished memories are of the mother of one of my closest childhood friends, a woman whose gift was to make me feel that no matter the circumstances, no matter what else was on her mind or on her plate, I was the very person she wanted to see and be with at that very moment. And I am far from the only one of her fans. So gracious and welcoming was she that at the end of her long life, people of all ages and walks of life mourned her. This, to me, is the definition of Southern Hospitality. It is the wide smile and sharing of self that makes others feel at home and embraced. People all over the world are hospitable, of course, but, like my friend whom I miss to this day, we in the South are blessedly good at it. North Carolina is among the top three states where people retire. Our God-given physical attributes — the unrivaled beauty of our glittering coast and of our dreamy mountains — lure thousands of tourists and entrance so many retirees that our state is among the top three states where people retire. We are also traditional farmers of corn, soybeans and livestock. We celebrate and gobble down barbeque, vinegar-based sauce in our neck of North Carolina and catsup based over to the west. Our coastal fi shermen do what they have always done — bring home shrimp, fl ounder, oysters and crabs — and fry them up so fi nely they make grown people salivate. We still wait for hunting season to open and off we go. Many a North Carolina household boasts a stuffed deer head over the fi replace, each and every one of which has a story of adventure to go with it. Our fi nely honed crafts, showcased in our mountains and elsewhere, are a signature of our state. We even have a magazine, Our State, affirming our uniqueness, maybe even our goodness. Those are the facts, ma'am and sir, but what really accounts for our charm? Woven throughout North Carolina culture — the traditional, the contemporary and the meld of both — run themes so old no one among us can imagine their not being with us. In no particular order or weight, here are three — there are oceans more. I deliberately tried — and usually succeeded — to charm my Northern diners with my southern accent. Think, "What could I git y'all to drink tonight?" I was hoping for better tips, but it is true nonetheless that slower, softer, warmer speech is easier on the ear than harsher sounds, making Southern cadence and pronunciation appealing and engaging. Come to think of it, maybe our accent is why we are passing New Jersey in population…? Finally, sweet tea. So ingrained is this beverage in our culture that years ago on a family road trip through Virginia, the Precious Jewels were nothing short of fl abbergasted when we stopped for lunch and their tea arrived un- sugared. They simply had no idea it came that way! So popular has our traditional beverage become that on my last trip to New York City — a wonderful place but not one known for its sweetness and light — a server in a restaurant actually inquired whether I preferred "sweet or un-sweet." A younger Margaret once yearned to live in the Big Apple or some other city, though life intervened, and I never have. A more mature and perhaps wiser Margaret now knows where she belongs and why plenty of others want to be here, too. cherished memories are the college days when I waited tables at a fancy- smancy private club in Massachusetts. Decades later, I will confess that Among my less MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JULY 25-31, 2012 UCW 5