Feeder 3.1

In Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz explores the U.S. in hopes to find more about his deep interest in the Civil War. In two excerpts from the book, Cats of the Confederacy and Dying for Dixie, Horwitz investigates two separate towns within America and their ties to the war. In Cats of the Confederacy, Horwitz follows and observes the Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy in Lancaster, North Carolina. In Dying for Dixie, Horwitz researches the death of Michael Westerman over the Confederate flag in the small town of Guthrie, Kentucky. Within his writing’s, Horwitz portrays the South as a region stuck in the past while the world around them is rapidly moving forward. Individuals in the South feel as if they have to stand up for their “ancestors” even over 140 years after the war.
At the beginning of Cats of the Confederacy Horwitz is lead by locals in Lancaster, North Carolina to a woman named Sue Curtis, one of the members of the Daugthers of the Confederacy. Horwitz attends the Sons of the Confederacy meeting where the members introduced themselves as if they were generals or held a position in the Civil War. The beginning of the meeting was marked by a salute four separate flags, two of them representing the Confederacy. They celebrated Lee’s and Jackson’s birthdays with a Lee-Jackson trivia quiz that contained questions such as ”what did Robert E. Lee weigh at the start of the war?” It was rare that no one knew the answer to these far from important questions about particulars pertaining to these two individuals in the Civil War. Within this scene Horwitz mentions that the Sons of the Confederacy are among the “latter-day rebels.” Sue Curtis explained that the reason why the South still cares about the Civil War is because of family, all of their relatives that went off to the war and lost their lives. As these meetings are being held in this small town of Lancaster, North Carolina it seems as if no one takes notice to the world around them besides Tony Horwitz. As he steps out of his motel he is surrounded by a Kmart, a Waffle House, a Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, and several gas stations. This is the scenery in which there are “clubs” taking pride in their ancestors, acting as if they were in the Confederate army themselves, and pledging themselves to the Confederate flag.
In Dying for Dixie, Horwitz finds himself caught in a “war” inside the small town of Guthrie, Kentucky. Guthrie’s main street contained a Piggly Wiggly, convenience stores, and locals scratching off lottery tickets yet confederate flags were still flying as if the Civil War were present today. Interestingly enough, Horwitz finds that Todd County is not even rebel country when a large amount of its citizens are flying the rebel flag. Guthrie’s mayor explained that when he was a boy, no one had cared about the Confederate flag but today he believes people feel as if they have to stand up for what they believe. The younger southern generation feels they have to protect the confederate flag. A Sons of Confederate Veteran’s museum treated Michael Westerman’s death as if he was a confederate soldier who had died in the civil war calling him the “confederate martyr.” At the procession for his death, bikers on Harley’s recognized his “duty” to the Confederacy as they gathered beside the present day restaurant, Cracker Barrel. Horwitz makes note of what David Westerman, Michael’s father, says at the end of the excerpt and writes “They say that war ended a long time ago. But around here it’s like it’s still going on.”
As Robert Penn Warren once wrote “History, like nature, knows no jumps, except the jump backward.” Horwitz portrays the south as close followers and believers of its regional history even as businesses such as a Piggly Wiggly, a Dairy Queen, and convenience shops are prevalent. The Confederate flag and the Confederacy have the same if not greater meaning today than they did in the Civil War within the south.

Me and the South #2

Charlotte may be in North Carolina and it may be considered the South but to me, apart from less amazing shopping and less people, it is really no different than New York City. I never really considered that I lived in the South living there. I didn't even "realize" I was in the South until I came here for school. I feel as if every sterotype of the south is portrayed here at Carolina. When I think of the south I think of girls dressing cute everyday, hair up, nails done, high heels. I think of big victorian style homes with cute front porches and flowers in the front yard. I think of a small town in which everyone knows eachother. I think of the typical frat boy, all prepped out. I think of debutant balls and getting married at a young age. I think of southern bells with country accents and some of the nicest cars. I think of polite people, ones who will open the door for you or stop at a cross walk to let you walk. Now I don't know about any of you but at my high school we didn't have too much of any of that, I didn't even know what a "deb" ball was. Maybe the girls dressed all cute but I wouldn't call us any more Southern than a New Yorker. It was interesting to see the stereotypical south in real life and you know what, I love it! I love the polite people, I love the cute dresses, I love the victorian homes, flowers in the front yard, and small towns. Since being at Carolina I now know what its like to be a Southerner in my eyes and I am now a converted Southerner (minus the accent and the debutant balls).

Response to Dying for Dixie

As I was reading Dying for Dixie I noticed a pattern in the way Horwitz organizes his text through the Cats of the Confederacy. His writing jumps around a lot. For example, one minute he is talking about Redbone's, the next he is making references to Robert Penn Warren's childhood and a town names Guthrie. I believe this offers a comparison between two separate events, and that even though they are completely randomized, together they share a common rage (well at least in this passage they do). A biker bar on the edge of town filled with profanity and racism is no different from the small and what used to be quiet town of Guthrie. Two completely separate communities share the same characteristics. I also believe that Horwitz likes to display the "good and bad" sides of each case, the confederate flag bearers vs. the black individuals. With so much leeway open for biased opinions on each side of the case, Horwitz likes to keep a neutral position and leave the opinions to the reader. Who do we think is right in this situation? He likes to talk to people from each side of the spectrum and get their opinions on the whole situation of Michael.
I think its interesting that in a time of sorrow and grief that the whites come together and the blacks come together yet they only separate themselves farther apart. The South, which prides itself on family, just had its family split in two.

2nd Event - The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie was put on at the Playmakers theater on campus. Tom, Amanda, Jim and Laura are the four main characters in the play played by Ray Dooley/John Tufts, Judith-Marie Bergan, John Brummer, and Marianne Miller respectively. Tom has a low paying job in factory and wants to get out of town but can't because he has to support his mother Amanda and his disabled sister Laura. Amanda continuously reminds Laura of the importance of courting and finding a man. Amanda asks Tom to find a man for Laura and Tom brings home a friend from work Jim, a boy Laura had a huge crush on in high school. Jim used to call Laura blue roses. Laura is playing with her glass figurines or her glass menagerie when Jim comes in to talk to her, they begin to hit it off and dance. Laura's favorite glass figurine, her unicorn, gets the horn broken off and it is no longer "unique" so she gives it to Jim. Jim kisses her but freaks out because he actually has a fiance. Laura is heartbroken and Amanda gets mad and blames the whole ordeal on Tom. Tom ends up leaving.
This was the first play that I have attended here on campus and it was interesting to see that in the audience there were actually not that many students in attendance. I observed a lot of older individuals in the audience. Looking back, i see this older group who attend plays as their own microculture of Chapel Hill. Also, when reading through the playbook before the play it was interesting to read about the background of the actors and actresses. The man who plays Jim in the play, John Brummer, is actually a student in the Professional Actor Training Program here at Chapel Hill and the man who plays older Tom, Ray Dooley, is actually a professor here in the Department of Dramatic Art. I have been to many broadway plays before and this play was put on very well. As a student, I would definitely see another play or performance here at Chapel Hill in order to broaden my educational experience.

My first trip back from the south.

I was born in Pennsylvania and moved to North Carolina when I was four, living here ever since. Most of my family resides in Maryland. Maryland is where my brothers and sisters grew up. Throughout my younger years my "accent" (if i even had a northern one) never really changed. One event that sticks out in my mind though is when I went to Maryland for a family reunion the summer that I was 7 years old. Whenever I would talk to a member of my family who lived in Maryland they would say that I've "converted to the south" and that I "sounded like a true southerner". I hadn't even noticed this at all but I really took offense to all the people telling me that my accent had changed. I was never made fun of my accent in North Carolina so I couldn't understand why I was made fun of for my accent in Maryland. I remember thinking why is this such a big deal to them. Now that I'm older I don't get made fun of for my "accent" by my family members and I actually think they have a "more country" accent than I do. I never understood the separation between the north and the south. My family from maryland is to me, the epitome of a southerner. They live in rural parts of town, they say "yes ma'am and no sir", they go hunting, my Grandma makes the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. For my parents and I who have lived in North Carolina for a little over 14 years, Harris Teeter makes our fried chicken, we live in a big city, and besides my dad, none of us go hunting. It's just really funny to me that I used to get made fun of for my accent when I was younger by my Maryland relatives.

Response to C of C

My first reaction to Cats of the Confederacy was "these people are crazy." I couldn't understand why these group of people couldn't leave the past behind. I started to look into the reading more deeply and realized that these people used the Civil War as a connection between them and their family members. They have may have taken the aspect of the civil war too far for today but I could definitely see why they still believed in the war. I thought Tony Horwitz was very respectable to the individuals that he met yet when he wrote about them you could definitely tell that he thought some things were outright outrageous too, like the actual "cats of the confederacy" and "children of the confederacy". The whole time that I was reading this chapter in the book I kept thinking I was reading observations from 50-100 years ago. It seemed so old timey and as if the war had just ended. (I'm guessing that was the point Horwitz was trying to get across). One thing that I really enjoyed about this chapter was when Tarlton was talking to Tony and said the the sons of the confederacy was a place where many different individuals, such as doctors and farmers, acted as one and were all so respectable to each other. I really like how although these groups are so strict they are an opportunity for different people to come together.

Observation #3

For my third observation I observed the homeless people from 5-6 p.m. during the dinner rush on Franklin Street. During this time the passersby looked more to be students than professionals walking by and getting a bite to eat. The guitar man from the second observation was out again at this time and he sat in his chair and quietly played his guitar, not bothering anyone surrounding him. People were very generous in giving him money at this time a day for some reason and his money jar was more full than in my second observation. The streets did also seem to be more crowded too. A group of homeless people were again out at this time of day and were interacting amongst themselves, laughing and talking to each other most of the time that I was observing. They would stare at certain individuals walking by and those individuals would seem as if they were uncomfortable and move to the opposite side of the sidewalk then where the homeless people were. No particular homeless person asked for money. The group of homeless people stayed on the bench in front of starbuck's and on the corner of Franklin and Columbia for the whole time that I was observing with a few of them walking aimlessly down the sidewalk for a little and then turning around. These people seemed to have no particular destination and just walked back and forth with the flow of traffic. 4 cops came up to the homeless people at around 5:30 and focused on the ones that were walking by themselves. They looked to be asking them questions or having a conversation with them. But when the police were having contact with the homeless people the avoidance of the passersby seemed to go down and more individuals were walking closely to the homeless people and would even look up at them as the walked by. One man even smiled and waved.