What's it like where you live?

That's another question we're often asked, both from friends and family in Peru, and in Wisconsin. The initial post explained why and how we located here. It seems only natural that the second post should deal with the physical area as well as the culture and customs as we see them, and to compare those same concepts to our former residence in Wisconsin, and by extension to the surrounding mid-western states. To describe and contrast the geography of both locations is not going to be a problem: all I have to do is organize my thoughts and start typing. But as I'm thinking about it from the other perspective; society, culture and customs I can see that it's not going to be so easy. The differences are not dramatic...in fact they're subtle and it's only by looking at them in total that a picture of the southern culture emerges as I see it, or what remains of it. There are many, many transplants living here.

Let's start with a geographical broad brush. Northern Wisconsin is mostly flat with lots of agriculture and forests. There are small to medium sized towns scattered throughout. There are thousands of lakes and rivers both big and small. Many of those lakes had resorts where families would spend their summer vacations but that was a different era and the few remaining resorts are struggling to hang on. But that's not pertinent to this discussion. 

The area we live now is mostly hills, mountains and forest. We don't see much farming or ranching of any kind, and lakes are few and far between. Let me digress here for a minute. I said in the description portion of this blog that we live in a census designated place. The name of that place is Fairview. Our mailing address is Rossville but we live in Fairview. If you're interested you can Google Fairview to see a map and a few demographic statistics. We live in a typical house in a typical Fairview neighborhood located at the bottom of Missionary Ridge of Civil War fame. We can see Lookout Mountain from our driveway. 

In Wisconsin we could look out our window and see pine, cedar, catalpa (we used to call these Indian cigar trees when we were kids) spruce and oak trees. Here in Fairview we look out our window and see the same trees plus pecan, walnut and chestnut. When I was a kid pine trees in the northern forests were temples to me. They were everything that symbolized "The great up north." I would bring pine cones home with me to Milwaukee and put them anywhere I could see and smell them to keep me connected to "up north." I'm talking about cones that were 6" long by 3" wide from trees that were sixty-five feet tall. Here in our yard is a slash pine tree that is seventy feet tall with the same sized cones. I guess I have to rethink my definition of up north. 

In Wisconsin the typical birds in our yard were blue jays, robins, cardinals, crows, wrens, and finches. We see those same birds here plus yellow bellied sapsuckers, bluebirds, woodpeckers and mockingbirds. Both places have squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and field mice. What it boils down to is that with a few minor exceptions the views from our windows in Wisconsin and here in Fairview are the same. I didn't expect that. I don't know what I expected,, but sameness wasn't it.

Finishing up with geography, downtown Chattanooga is a fifteen minute drive, and the city of Fort Oglethorpe where we do most of our shopping is ten minutes away. Both Nashville and Atlanta are a two-hour drive. For us, though it pains me to say it, Fairview offers everything we had in Wisconsin plus more opportunity for entertainment, beautiful mountains and a better climate.

Now lets deal with the contrast in cultures. A good place to start would be with the notion of the "bible belt." Depending on the source there are anywhere from eight to sixteen states comprising the bible belt; all located in the south eastern section of the country. All of them are characterized as being more socially and politically conservative than the rest of the country, and having higher church attendance, which assumedly indicates a deeper seated religious conviction as well.

In our experience there are only a few physical manifestations of the bible belt. For example, in Wisconsin cities there is a tavern on every corner. Here there are churches on every corner, usually Baptist churches. There are many men wearing t-shirts that basically say, "Don't mess with my family, God or guns." There are lots of Donald Trump t-shirts and bumper stickers. Church activities are constantly taking place everywhere. Churches are the social hub in many communities. In our experience most gatherings, political and private begin and end with a prayer. 

I feel comfortable in a politically conservative setting, though I am not as stanch a conservative as many people I have met here. For example, during a recent discussion with a neighbor, he commented that in his opinion, "Donald Trump is the greatest president this country has ever had." I didn't respond...couldn't respond. To describe Trump as the greatest president ever is to me absolutely mind-blowing. I will say no more about the matter, at least not in this post.

In Peru it is normal for what people refer to as 'bible readers' to canvas neighborhoods and knock on doors Saturday and Sunday seeking converts. I expected that to be a common occurrence in the bible belt but it has happened only once in two and one-half years. Nor have I see any baptisms on the bank of the Tennessee River. That's sort of a joke. See, we northerners have an image of southerners lined up and singing along side some muddy creek, about to be dunked and...Ah, forget about it.  

I don't normally generalize; for instance during my time in Peru I never wrote or said the phrase 'Peruvians are.....' because there is way too much diversity between the regions, however I can say that of the people we have met, southerners are friendlier and much more willing to go out of their way to be helpful, and that seems to include those who are not native to the area. Seems like they have become 'southernized'. 

If I can summarize, I'll say that from my perspective southerners are more politically conservative, but it's not the in-your-face obnoxious conservatism. They are much more tolerant than that.  And while there is more emphasis on religion down here I haven't seen any extremists...it's more on a personal level and fellowship among like minds. On a recent visit to Wisconsin we were asked if there were many rednecks where we live. There are rednecks, just as there are rednecks everywhere, but I think I can honestly say we saw more rednecks in northern Wisconsin then in the Fairview area.

Now, all of the above is not to say everything is perfect down here. It's not. There are some things we'd like to see differently, and some things that are down right annoying, but I'll save those for down the road. For now I'll say that we were happy with our decision to come here two years ago and we're just as pleased today.