Response to "Dying for Dixie"

My initial feeling after reading this chapter of “Confederates in the Attic” was amazement at how people could still act that way. I was astonished that there are still people who are that ignorant. The whole over-production of the death and funeral of Michael Westerman made it seem as though the people of Guthrie had finally gotten a reason to justify the feelings they’ve had for so long. The beginning scene in the bar is just so outrageous. I honestly did not believe people like that still existed, but I’ve been lucky enough to have a Southern heritage that doesn’t involved using those words or pressing those beliefs on others.

As in my last post, I feel as though some things were left out in order to influence a certain picture into the reader’s mind. For a majority of the first 16 pages of this chapter, “Dying for Dixie,” Horowitz describes the town of Guthrie only through the shooting of Westerman – how the town reacted, how each family reacted and so on. In general, these descriptions left me thinking that the whole town was ignorant and stuck in the past. On page 104, Horowitz explains to us another part of Guthrie’s history. He tells us that Westerman and the man who was to become his murderer used to play basketball together and that Westerman’s mother worked in a factory that was evenly divided between black and white employees. Horowitz also tells us that interracial dating is common at the high school and that they had recently voted a black student as Homecoming Queen. These were the first signs of “normality” given by Horowitz to describe the town and people of Guthrie.

Autobiography

I've lived in the south my whole life. I was born in a small town called Mills River, located in the mountains of North Carolina. To me, my southern heritage means a lot. I feel like now that I've left my home town for the first significant amount of time in my life, I see how southern my little town really is.

For this post, I'll talk about my family because I feel like family is a huge aspect of southern heritage. My extended family all live within 10 mintues of my house. Both sets of my grandparents are natives of the town, as were their parents. My grandpa lives on 10 acres of farm and I used to help him harvest his hay, sugar cane, and corn before he grew too old to take care of it. He taught me how to drive a tractor and I used to go fishing in his pond. My grandma even had a secret recipe for bread.

I've never lived in a neighborhood and always had a big yard to play in. I still attend the same methodist church that I have all my life and that my whole family has always attended. My parents got married there and I like to think I might do the same. I went to the same elementary, middle, and high school that my dad and his parents went to.

My favorite "southern" aspect of my family is that we're all so geographically close to each other. It gives me a sense of security and more importantly a greater sense of what a family really is.

Response to Cats of the Confederacy

My first impression of the Cats of the Confederacy was that it was selectively told. In describing the scenes he experienced, it seemed to me that Horowitz chose certain details to focus on and that there was possibly some part to the story that he was leaving out. In the scene where he sat in on a Sons of the Confederacy meeting, Horowitz mocks the people in the meeting by explaining how they introduced themselves by rank but “none of the men wore uniforms.” Horowitz also does this in portraying the scene of the Children of the Confederacy event by juxtaposing the Kmart to the “faux-plantation” as a comparison of reality and fantasy.

I also feel like a lot of the things he observed are very true. From reading the chapter, I get an overall sense of pride from the neo-confederates that stems from the thought that the South’s prime was during its rebellion and its uprising. When visiting the color sergeant Mike Hawkins, Horowitz asks if Hawkins thought “there,” meaning the past was better than “here,” meaning the present. Hawkins replies by saying that he felt “like it was bigger somehow … I just feel like the South has been given a bum deal ever since that War.”

I was surprised to read that the president of the Children of the Confederacy, 12-year-old Beth, didn’t agree “with all this ‘South is great’ stuff” and that she was actually more fascinated with the Jews oppression in the Holocaust than in the Confederacy.

Event #2 - baseball game

Today, I attended the baseball game against UNC-Charlotte. This game was a non-conference game. It was drizzling and humid throughout the game, which aren’t the best baseball conditions. Not only was the weather poor, but the game time had been changed earlier in the day to account for the forecast of bad weather. I think it’s these two things combined that account for the lack of fans, but I also think that the lack of fans allowed me to experience the most dedicated Carolina baseball fans. I got my ticket for my seat, but didn’t sit down and instead stood under the overhang of the newly renovated baseball stadium. Not having been to a game in the old one, I couldn’t compare the two stadiums.

The language during the game by the fans generally included short, sporadic yelling either as encouragement for their team or as an argument toward a call made by the umpires. This is fitting for the audience in that they were there to cheer on the team. We ended up losing by 1 but most of the fans were dedicated enough to stay for the singing of the alma mater. This showed the amount of support the baseball fans have for their team, win or lose. Going to this baseball game has added to my experience at the university because it gave me the opportunity to cheer for a team that isn’t as glorified as the football or basketball teams. Also the fact that it was drizzling gave me the opportunity to see the true tarheel baseball fans and experience their dedication to the school and the sport.

Observation #3

My third observation took place at lunch at Lenoir Dining hall. During this time, I was having lunch with my friends, which included two Morehead Scholars and three non-Morehead scholars. The conversation was very casual. It started with the normal “How was your day” and we talked about how our classes were going just as we would with anyone else. The only time during the conversation that it was obvious, to me at least, that the three Morehead Scholars were in fact Morehead Scholars was when we started talking about our plans for the week. Everyone’s responses included things like intramural games, tests, or parties. One of the scholars stated that they were going to a reception on Friday night and was unable to give much more detail than that. When the subject changed, I noticed that scholar ask another whether they were going or not. The scholar’s inability to give more detail on her reception and the fact that she only asked the other scholar at the table if he were going makes me believe that the reception is a Morehead event. She also chose not to further discuss the reception, which argues that she was trying not to call attention to her being a Morehead Scholar.

Observation 2

For my second observation, I observed my suitemates, who are Morehead Scholars, and friends of there who are also Morehead Scholars as they watched TV in their dorm room. The atmosphere was very friendly and upbeat. They were watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, both of which require a certain level of intelligence on the subjects of politics and other worldly news. The conversation consisted of many things one might here in conversation between anyone such as classes, weekend plans, and the status of our fabulous basketball team. However, a few key subjects that I was looking for were brought up. One thing I was listening for was discussion about meetings or banquets. The group began talking about their next meeting and what it would consist of. Another thing I was looking for was talk of study abroad trips. My suite mate is studying in Brazil with a fellow scholar who happened to be over at the time, so discussion on details of the trip was brought up. Other minor clues of Morehead-speak were their mention of people I had never heard of. Overall, the night consisted of mostly common conversation with a few flags that would give away their Morehead Scholar status.

Observation Hour 1

The first observation took place in a restaurant on Franklin Street. In this scenario, I was observing current Morehead scholars as they took Morehead scholar finalists out to dinner. These potential scholars were seniors in high school. The finalist were shy and hesitant to talk at first, seeing as they were in the presence of current scholars and the ever-intimidating college students. As the dinner progressed, the current scholars began asking the finalists questions, like where they were from, what they liked to do in their free time. After the initial “meeting each other” conversation, the group progressed into more Morehead-related topics. The current scholars began describing their college experiences so far, talking of the required meetings and banquets. The finalists asked where the scholars would be studying abroad. Though one does not need to be a Morehead scholar to study abroad, one does need to be a Morehead scholar to study abroad with no expenses. When answering the question, there was no mention of money, and they also spoke of their fellow scholars with whom they would be traveling with. There was no mention of “cousins” or any other code, showing that they were not trying to hide that they were Morehead scholars when with the finalists.

Revised Mircoculture Hypothesis

The microculture I plan to observe is the Morehead scholars. Morehead scholars are a group of students selected as high school seniors who show outstanding achievements in leadership, academics, and in other non-academic areas in both their school and community. As students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, these students receive full four-year scholarships, laptops, and stipends for travel and other miscellaneous activities. I was a nominee for the Morehead scholarship as a senior in high school and my suitemates are Morehead scholars. They piqued my interest because they are a group of the academic elite here at North Carolina and for that, they receive certain privileges and are, in turn, held to certain standards.
Because of the benefits they receive and their high achievements, Morehead scholars are often put on a pedestal by the rest of the student body and are therefore isolated. My hypothesis that I plan to test is that Morehead scholars, when in the company of non-Morehead scholars, will attempt to blend in by not discussing Morehead-related topics, such as their trips abroad or their meetings and conferences they attend. I am doing this hypothesis because, in speaking with my Morehead scholar friends, they feel the need to try to blend in with non-Morehead scholars. Most do not want the attention, plus no one is technically supposed to know who a Morehead scholar is because they are not supposed to tell others that they are scholars. This study would be of interests to the larger UNC community because it would be an inside look at a very secretive group that most know of, but do not know much about. Also, it would give the Morehead scholars a chance to be understood more instead of being held as high as they often are.

Microculture Hypothesis

The microculture I plan to observe is the Morehead scholars. Morehead scholars are a group of students selected as high school seniors who show outstanding achievements in leadership, academics, and in other non-academic areas in both their school and community. As students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, these students receive full four-year scholarships, laptops, and stipends for travel and other miscellaneous activities. I was a nominee for the Morehead scholarship as a senior in high school and my suitemates are Morehead scholars. They piqued my interest because they are a group of the academic elite here at North Carolina and for that, they receive certain privileges and are in turn held to certain standards.
Because of the benefits they receive and their high achievements, Morehead scholars are often put on a pedestal by the rest of the student body and are therefore isolated. My hypothesis that I plan to test is that Morehead scholars, when in the company of non-Morehead scholars, attempt to blend in by not discussing Morehead-related topics, such as their trips abroad or their meetings and conferences they attend. I am doing this hypothesis because, in speaking with my Morehead scholar friends, they feel the need to try to blend in with non-Morehead scholars. Most do not want the attention, plus no one is technically supposed to know who a Morehead scholar is because they are not supposed to tell others that they are scholars. This study would be of interests to the larger UNC community because it would be an inside look at a very secretive group that most know of, but do not know much about. Also, it would give the Morehead scholars a chance to be understood more instead of being held as high as they often are.

Disruption

The space I disrupted was the Union. When I observed the Union, I saw that, unless with a group, people mostly keep to themselves and don’t generally interact with others. This is especially true in the line for Alpine bagels. For my experiment, I decided to cut the people in line for Alpine. I also included a few of my friends in this experiment, seeing as there are only so many bagels I can buy. In this experiment, we would be testing if the people in line would step out of their comfort zone and out of the norm to interact with me and my friends when we cut in line. To start the experiment, we would just walk up to the line, especially when it was long, and casually slip in around the middle. Initially, those around me just stared at me for a while, probably trying to decide if I had actually just cut in line. The reaction of those around us varied. Mostly, those in line just politely told us that they were already in line and asked if we would move back, to which we kindly obliged. Once, the people in line either didn’t notice, or decided not to mention it. Overall, the people standing in line stared and, when they felt like their bagel-obtaining rights had been breached, asked if we could kindly go to the back of the line.