Southerners Smile More Than Other Americans.

The South Is Like My Favorite Pair Of Blue Jeans. It's Shrunk Some, Faded A Bit, Got A Few Holes In It. It Just Might Split At The Seams. It Doesn't Look Much Like It Used To, But It's More Comfortable, And There's Probably A Lot Of Wear Left In It.

Dixie Has Just Fallen To Pieces. There Are Little Patches Of Dixie. But Even In The Heart Of Dixie - In Alabama - Dixie Is Slipping. They've Stopped Using The Word In Commercial Listings.

You Ask People What Their Ethnicity Is, And A Lot Of Scots-irish People Either Don't Know Or If They Know It They Just Don't Acknowledge It. It's Not Something They Really Identify With. They're Just Plain Old Americans, Plain Vanilla. I Don't Think They Are A Self-conscious Voting Bloc.

Barbecue Is The Third Rail Of North Carolina Politics.

But I Still Do Believe That There Are Useful Things To Say About Elvis Presley, Including What His Own Ordinariness As A Poor Southerner Says About 20th-century Hero-making.