Saturday, July 26, 1997 -- Sweet Solution
Regionalism Rears it's Roaring Rage		Something I noticed before I left for Tennessee, was that there was a raging debate going on on the diary-l list. I apologize for bringing this up, I'm sure lots of us Open Pages journalers (basically the same group as the diary-l list) will write about this too. I'm not going to berate people for flame wars, or berate them for leaving because of flame wars. I've been online for a long time, reading lots of email lists, and newsgroups, and the inevitable flamewars, I guess I've gotten used to it. Anyway, this "Discussion" was about USA vs non-USA journals. With a focus on background. Whether, for instance, people here in the USA just assume that others will understand, and, perhaps, non-USA journalers might have more explanation. I've felt like a few times when I was writing, that some of the things I wrote about were quintessentially American, and since that was part of what stood out, I explained it. That's all I can realistically do, and it's why my email link is on every page. If I'm unclear, I want to know! I truly think that for the most part, non-Americans understand what we Americans write. I don't mean that our culture is so saturated, and we are haughty egocentric types; I mean that the things I write about are things that happen to people. I write about love, and tragedy, fear and hope. Maybe my loves and tragedies aren't huge epics, but they are mine, and I write about them. We really have much more trouble with Regionalism inside the United States. One of the first times I really had the chance to travel far away, was back in 1990, when we flew up to NY for my brother's induction into West Point. I'd never been to NYC before, and we walked down 42nd street, at at Hard Rock Cafe, did touristy things. But what struck me was the Pizza Huts and the McDonalds and the Sbarro's. All food places that we had in Greensboro. Ads for the same types of products. But in the last few weeks I've travelled quite a bit, and met people from diverse areas of the country. Ok, most of them were East Coast people, but not all of them. What I centered on then was our differences. I'd never seen a Bob Evans until I was in Champaign, IL. But Buck over at The Meyhem Project writes about them all the time. We also made jokes about "soda" and "pop", or when Iced Tea should be sweetened (or even if it should). Sweet Iced Tea is a deliciously Southern thing. You know you've left the south when you can't get it in a restaurant. [Ok, there are restaurant chains here in Charlotte that don't offer it, but they are chains. It must be a corporate thing...]. In that trip to NYC, I made the mistake of asking for sweet tea (it's a habit..). The waitress looked down her nose at me, and informed me in her NY Accent, that I could add the sugar later. I got a Coke. See, sugar dissolves in hot water better than cold, basic physics right? So "proper" Sweet Tea is sweetened right after it's brewed. There's just no point in trying to sweeten it once it's iced. Today, our waiter solved this problem for me forever. Azura and I decided to eat lunch at a steak place, near where she lives. The waiter accidentally filled my tea (sweetened, of course!) with unsweet, or at least, not-very-sweet tea. He apologized, then cheerfully promised to fix it. He brought out a coffee mug full of hot water, with sugar mixed in. Sweetened up my tea perfectly! [We gave him a good tip, too!] I realized that now matter where I was, I could probably get hot water, and sugar, and solve my sweet tea problems anywhere in the US. Needless to say, I was quite happy. Generic Joe's A Typical Male