Why the South rocks

I left the South in August of 2004 to pursue a dream of sorts and work for the John Kerry campaign. I am sad that things worked out the way they did in that arena, but I don't regret the experience one bit.
However, with my decision to stay on in Philadelphia indefinitely, I am now officially a displaced Southerner, a "woman without a region," so to speak.
For people who have never lived in the South, there's no way to explain the experience of living there without actually doing it. It's a completely different culture, pace and sometimes, language.
The food is absolutely unparalleled. I love my Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, but they don't hold a candle to really well-seasoned crawfish and barbecue. Of course, the food is so unhealthy as to require an angioplasty after nearly each meal, but that's the sign of true culinary prowess.
The people are quite bewitching as well. The men are "good old boys," replete with gun racks on their expensive trucks, devotees of SEC football and an unequal love for their mothers.
There's a scene from "Primary Colors," where two character have a "Momma-thon," talking about whose mother suffered the most for her family and who clearly demonstrated more moxy, and it's entirely typical of a conversation you might have with a Southern man about his Momma.
The women are a whole other story. Apparently, there are two types of Southern women, as per "Gone With the Wind." There are Scarletts and Melanies. For those who haven't seen the movie, Melanie is the very genteel archetype who has children and marries her childhood love with no pretense and genuinely thrives on taking care of others.
Then, there are the Scarletts. Scarlett bats her eyelashes at every man within a two-mile radius to get what she wants, has at least three men "on hold" at any given time and schemes to get her true love away from Melanie, even though Melanie dotes on her and takes care of her just as she does her own children. Scarlett is the classic Southern manipulator, even if she does have a change of heart in the end of the movie.
She is the "smile at you while she stabs you in the back" kind of woman, and I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to which one I am. Look, there are people who know how to bend people to their will and people who don't. It's a skill, really.
That being said, there are things about the South that I don't miss at all and probably never will.
Those things are racism (it's still rampant), small-mindedness, lack of ambition in people, the humidity, the poverty, and the shoddy education system.
However, no matter where I end up in life, I will always be a Southern girl at heart who used to mud-ride in pick-up trucks and who owns her own rod and reel.