Do some Southerners still harbor mistrust of the Northern states?

Parent Cafe
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<p>No, i’m not implying that every southerner is a dogmatic racist. As mentioned before I have met some very amiable people, a few of which have even been conservatives. I do not wish to insult, merely to convey that the South still harbors some of the same sentiments prior to the Civil War and intolerance is still evident, as evinced by the comments above. I believe that the New Orleans situation and the fact that Bush is president, blatantly conveys that racism still holds its roots in America (particularly the south).</p>

<p>"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”</p>

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<p>…and as a seventeen year old in the “Parent Cafe” I thought I was supposed to be the immature member.</p>

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Well, I for one think you are doing your part and don’t let anyone tell you differently.</p>

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<p>BHG, not going to start a thread because it will probably degenerate into a political argument. Better to post someplace where most people will just ignore it. </p>

<p>You asked where I was during the storm and what it was like. I was working in the social services at the time, so I had to shelter in place with some of the people we serve, about 50 miles nw of New Orleans, and 50 miles due west of my home in Slidell. Where I was, it was about 10 days or so before things started looking normal, in terms of having things like power, stores open, etc. </p>

<p>It was heart-breaking the people who straggled into town having walked the whole way from New Orleans on foot, with nothing. Others came in cars, but since the gas stations were all closed, couldn’t go any further; they had to camp out in parking lots till they could move on. The first few days after the storm, I had to turn off the radio to sleep at night. It was too much hearing about the people still stuck on their roofs and in attics, and knowing there was nothing I could do but sit in the dark and heat and listen. I felt bad not at least listening, but I had to turn it off to rest or I wouldn’t have been able to function in the daytime. In some ways, I know less about those early days than many of you, because I had no access to anything but the radio and word of mouth. </p>

<p>I came back to Slidell as soon as the roads were “sort of” passable. This was about day 10. (The sheriff said the roads were officially closed, because it was still too dangerous, but if people wanted to come, he wouldn’t arrest us). In some places, people were living in tents or in lean-tos they had built from the wreckage of their homes.</p>

<p>I never really understood till then why so many people die in the aftermath of a storm (absent a levee breach). To get to my house to check on things, I had to drive under fallen trees that were held up only by power lines, stretched to their breaking point. My neighborhood had been cleared by people who stayed during the storm, using their own chainsaws, and it looked it; it was just a tiny zigzagging maze wherever the trees were easiest to cut; some roads were still stacked 10 feet or more with fallen trees. </p>

<p>And of course you get so desensitized to downed power lines that eventually you drive or walk right over them without thinking twice. I think I would have turned back, except that I had promised my daughter (who mercifully was away at school) to check on her dad. Since the roads were blocked, he couldn’t drive out to a phone, and no communications were working on this end of the parish. After 10 days, she was fearing the worst. Naturally, by the time I was able to get in to check on him, I missed him, because he was driving out to call her. There were still plywood signs nailed to trees everywhere as a means of communication (whether to boil water, who was open and selling chainsaws, people even nailed up signs with their names and homeowners’ policy numbers, or to tell the light company that their access road was clear so they could be restrung, or even to let people know they were alive). </p>

<p>The day I arrived was the first day the National Guard had come to St. Tammany to distribute supplies and maintain some order. Ex-H’s neighbors were very frightened and wild-eyed by this time; one of them was very upset that I was driving around without a gun and tried to get me to take one of his. I think the only reason people on his street were still alive is that ex-H has an artesean well (which operates without power) with a spigot outside. The water was green as heck (algae in the pipes or something I guess) but people had been drinking it for days. (Some people did have generators, but had run out of gas, and there was none for sale in the area).</p>

<p>I was so overheated, that before I left that first day, I got in the National Guard line to get some ice for the drive back. They were on high alert; they were set up in the parking lot of the closed Walmart, and there was literally an armed soldier every 10 feet or so all along the line. When I explained I just wanted ice because I wasn’t staying that night, the soldier looked at my damaged car, looked at me (all full of leaves and scratches from having to climb over downed trees to get into my house) and said, very firmly, “Ma’am, you’re going to take some of everything we have. It’s free, and you’re going to need it.” Since he had the gun and I didn’t, I did what he said.</p>

<p>I still have two cases of MRE’s left (this is about 3 weeks food, I think). They were a godsend. Some days I could pump water via generator and cook on the camp stove, but most of the time I didn’t have the energy after everything else. </p>

<p>You know those little old ladies who lived through the Depression and still wash and reuse their aluminum foil 70 years later? I am like that about my MREs. I have heard of people selling them on E-bay, even seen people bring them for lunch at work when they were between paychecks. Not me; they’re my security. It’s one of the things that 30 or so years from now, when D. is deciding what of mine to pitch and what to give to Goodwill, she’s going to go, “I wonder why she kept THAT all these years?”</p>

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<p>Since you seem to be an expert, I was wondering if you could give me a few pointers.</p>

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<p>We need to add that to the “Skills that are now Obsolete” thread. My mother made me do this all through my childhood. So far I’ve resisted as an adult ;).</p>

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<p>But you do squish all the slivers of soap together to make a new bar, and save rubber bands on the doorknob, right? :)</p>

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<p>Well, I am still using up the ends of shampoo that my D. left under bathroom sink when she went to school 3 years ago! Can’t throw any of that out. The soap slivers I make my H. use until they are totally gone! ;). Never thought of the rubber bands on doorknobs–that would free up the one kitchen drawer…</p>

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<p>Ah…the soap slivers, rubber bands on the door! There is also… reusing brown paper lunch bags, washing out baggies for reuse, reusing wrapping paper (my mother was aghast that people threw it away after a single use! The horrors!), eating the “heels” of the bread and ALL the crusts, putting out three pieces of cheese, if three people were coming for lunch…the list is positively endless.</p>

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<p>Well, only a total wastrel would throw away a perfectly good baggie after one or two uses.</p>

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<p>We recently had a deli/lunch counter open near our home. The family is from NYC. I asked them how they were being received and they have been thrilled with the outpouring of help and friendliness. Also, the business is doing great…so evidently alot of us southerners like the NY deli food!</p>

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<p>Allmusic, but they just don’t make that wrapping paper like they used to! My mother finally gave up trying to save it. But I do save all the nice gift bags.</p>

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<p>Not to say that Northeners aren’t thrifty too, but in the South, I think it has serious roots in Reconstruction. My grandmother was reared in Reconstruction, widowed during the Depression (with five children still at home), and still had WWII to get through. By the time she was in her 90s, I don’t think there was one penny, one scrap of food, or one minute of the day that she wasted. She’s the only person I know who actually USED their seal-a-meal.</p>

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<p>One older southern woman here taught me to make apple jelly just using the peels and cores that are left over after making applesauce—you’re right, nothing wasted.</p>

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<p>Just wait a minute. I never saw a single person save aluminum foil while growing up in the south. The very first time I saw that was when I moved up here to MA. My frugal New England husband made his lunch everyday and saved the foil. He would use the same piece for a week, then throw it away. Yuck!!! That was change #1 in our marriage:) Foil is used once, then tossed.</p>

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<p>My grandmother (raised in Baltimore which she insisted was the South) used to iron the wrapping paper from gifts for the next Christmas. Now I know where she got that from!</p>

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<p>While our house was being built, we moved into H’s grandmother’s house (Grandmother was in nursing home) to save money. The first time I lifted up the mattress to put sheets on the bed dozens of pieces of aluminun foil fell out on the floor.
I can’t laugh too much though because my Mama did that too. When I was a child we also saved wrapping paper, wax paper, glass jars to be re-used later, baggies, aluminum pie pans, bacon grease for seasoning and the best recycled thing possible…watermelon rinds were cut up and made into pickles…ummmm.</p>

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<p>I’ve always thought that the thrifty habits of my parents generation came from living through the depression and World War II. My folks have never lived farther south then South Jersey and my in-laws, who are the same kind of thrifty are from PA and Colorado.</p>

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<p>My aunt used to make soap.</p>

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<p>My daughter just made soap last weekend (ok, it was from a kit, not from slivers…full of glitter too…).</p>