Let me introduce myself before I get too deep into my analysis. I’m Southern in every way except the dialect I use, and even my dialect walks a line blurrier than a drunken man’s vision. My family is from Bradley, Arkansas, so the family dinners might as well consist of the whole pig on the table. I was born in Tuskegee, Alabama (the T! the U! S K E the G double E! Tuskegee! Wooo! Woo! Woo! — says my mother every time I say it)- a town so small my mom had to drive an hour away to another town to have me in the County hospital. Bullock County. I grew up in Chicago, so the outdoor markets, local restaurants, public transportation, and all is booming in the late 90s/early 2000s. I came (back) to the South at 10 under force, and I’ve been an observant inhabitant ever since. Y’all just don’t know.