Baby It's (been) Cold Outside (and inside!)

[Deleted member 53080]

I had an ancestor lead a brigade at Gettysburg who fell mortally wounded breaking a Union Corps. His name was William Barksdale and you can google a bit about him. Another fought at Cold Harbor and was captured at Petersburg. He was my mother's favorite uncle (great uncle) who told her stories about the War Between the States as she sat on his knee. Still another rode with Forest. I personally remember my "Aunt" Mammy who was one of the last Confederate widowed pensioners in Tennessee (young second spouse to an aged veteran). As you might surmise, all were Confederates. I grew up with a sense of the War being of immediate history.

To digress a bit more than you already have, I should note I served this Constitution in uniform as did my father and grandfather. But that in no way takes away my pride in those ancestors who chose to fight for Southern independence. It is merely one of the reasons I so hate the woke generation. What have they contributed that has earned them the right to cancel my history?

You and I will agree that Texas was never strictly Southern in the sense of South Carolina or Georgia. It has always had a flavor of both Spanish and Southwest Anglo culture that were different than the deep South. On the other hand, you would be hard pressed to find any Federal Regiment that would have wanted to face Hood's Texans more than once. And one can still conclude that Texas sure as hell isn't Wisconsin.

That sense of regional identity has indeed been under quiet assault during my whole lifetime. The internet and social media are accelerating it - much less wokeness. But differences still prevail. The SEC sure isn't the Big 10. As it was two hundred years ago, New Orleans remains a remarkably successful multicultural success story. And though the Domain in Austin might as well be in Long Beach, the Galleria in Dallas still feels like a place of tall, bold women and men who deserve them.

And my highly refined Southern blood still objects to this unnatural meteorological nonsense that Yankees seemingly tolerate every winter.

Let me further my digression.. I guess my comment about you was a little provocative. Rest assured I’m not a member of the woke or cancel culture. Not by a long shot. I’ll take you at your word and conclude that you are one of the few and far between who fall into the category I provided for, that uses an alternate title as a result of upbringing so by all means continue to do so. There are precious few people left who grew up with a sense of the Civil War being immediate history or slavery for that matter.

I too have many Confederate veteran ancestors, Texan (Wise County) ones even. I’ve yet to find a Northerner in our family tree although that’s possible. Like you I feel no shame and no need to apologize for what happened 150+ years ago.

What’s the saying? “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it”? Something like that anyways. It is what it is and it was what it was.

I was well aware of your service and
I thank you for it and your families’ as well. We agree that Texas is assuredly not Wisconsin. My hat is off to those up north who deal with real winter conditions on a yearly basis. I apologize for derailing your thread.

 

[ActionBob]

I seriously doubt many people, in this day and age, refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression or the War Between the States as the OP chooses to do so often, without making a serious mental effort to do so (at least until they have drilled it into their own brain). The folks who do use these alternate titles in an honest, sincere manner, as a result of upbringing and/or education, are extremely few and extremely far between.

To say that the modern day state of Texas and Texans are “Southern” in a general cultural sense is a VERY tough argument to make. Every bit as hard an argument as saying Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida and some would say West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are “Southern”, again in a general cultural sense. These border states have some serious identity issues.

Texas pride and “Southern” pride aside I believe if one puts bias aside and objectively looks at the whole picture they couldn’t fail to come to the realization that the “Southerness” of the inhabitants of the aforementioned states (in general and including Texas) can only be determined on a case by case basis at best.

“Southern” culture, along with every other American subculture, is on its way to becoming a truly unfortunate casualty of the rise of the American macro culture, born of this melting pot which is a result of access to technology, urbanization, de-ruralization, emigration and immigration. There are few bastions of quintessential “Southern” culture left and Texas ain’t one of em. Neither are any of these other border states I mentioned earlier, including my own IMHO.

In short, not many Texans are actually “Southern”.
I realize your post was in jest so I apologize for any offense given.

From my recent experience being stuck in Mississippi a couple days during a "severe " winter storm (curb high snow LOL), I can assure you those folks down there have zero Northern common sense when it comes to winter weather

 

[Deleted member 53080]

From my recent experience being stuck in Mississippi a couple days during a "severe " winter storm (curb high snow LOL), I can assure you those folks down there have zero Northern common sense when it comes to winter weather

Haha same thing here (we did have a foot or so though lol ). People think they can still drive 70 mph

 

[CoElkHunter]

Well, here’s what the weather is like here right now. Not very cold at 23F, but so much for the 2-3” of snow predicted. I’ve got 6” on the patio table and it’s snowing like a bitch! Wish I were in the “Land of OZ”! Ha! Ha!