One of the big recent changes in the area I grew up was a move from Prohibition era laws against alcohol sales, which in my opinion has greatly enhanced economic prospects for the area.
And I grew up in Tift County just outside of the city of Tifton, Georgia, USA. It's a rural community with plenty of farmers, and other good natured people who do indeed behave with a great degree of Southern hospitality.
One purpose for talking about where I grew up here is to set some things straight as over the years as I've traveled the country I've heard all kinds of wrong things about how supposedly horrible it is to grow up as a Black person in such an area.
For me things were fine. Though I know there were plenty of exceptional things in my life, but still, there are practical realities, like a third of the population is Black.
Regardless of race, there is much support from community
Where I grew up is multi-ethnic across the board with a healthy population of immigrants from all over.
And, you see, Southern hospitality is also about Southern practicality.
It helps to really work at getting along when you have people from all over.
Part of me wants to talk about the sudden burst of famous people from the South Georgia area but not sure it really fits. Though wouldn't mind meeting some of those folks! Haven't yet.
Have gained a certain amount of appreciation for all my hometown area has to offer as I've gotten older. It really has a lot of beauty with lots going for it which helped me out immensely growing up.
Fascinating to me that I'm much more fond of the area now that I'm in my forties, as when younger mostly was thinking about elsewhere.
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