South of Broad

I am reading Pat Conroy's current novel, "South of Broad."

The book is about a group of teenagers who meet just before their senior year of high school in Charleston, South Carolina, and what happens in their lives 20 years later. I am enjoying this as much as any work of fiction that i have read in recent years. Pat Conroy is also the author of "The Prince of Tides", "The Great Santini", "Beach Music", "Lords of Discipline" and "My Losing Season". His books are about his native land, South Carolina and Charleston.

I am in a part of the book where the main character has ventured to San Francisco and meets various people who make fun of his dialect, his heritage, and his southern ways. He seems to be constantly defending his existence.

Has this ever happened to you? My first time was in my Junior year of High School when I went with my parents to visit relatives in Richland, Washington. I had a female cousin of my same age and spent time with her. One night we were exchanging stories and she says, "Oh, just keep talking. I love to hear you talk. It sounds so funny."

Years later, I was in Detroit working with an architectural firm on a joint venture project. One night the head of our partner company invited us to a dinner party at their house. It was a splendid affair with many guests and when the dinner was finished the architect's wife decided that I should be the entertainment. She started making fun of Oklahoma, the South, and our backward ways. She decided to have me represent the south and asked me to defend why many backward southerners were against Homosexuals! I declined saying I did not represent to south, but she kept pressing. I finally stated that many developed their opinions based on Bible passages against the life style. She said, "There's nothing in the Bible about That!" I just smiled and she jumped up, found a Bible and threw it in my lap and said, "Prove it!" I looked until I remembered the passages and read them. She gritted her teeth and replied, The Apostle, Paul was homosexual." Ar that I pitched the Bible in her lap and said, "Prove it!"

The night did not get any better. I realized (like the guy in the novel) that people in the North and West think that we in the South and Southeast are slow talking and slow minded. And like him I think: "Who cares?"