The Southerns

My email conversation with Jennifer a few months ago, which I revisit with her in this Episode, was the source of the name The Southerns, and in some ways the catalyst for the idea behind this show. She was gracious enough to take time out from her very busy life helping hundreds of dogs escape euthanasia in the Deep South. We spoke just a half our after a new dog joined her in her home.

The origin story of The Southerns stems in part from an email conversation with the woman featured in Episode 3, Jennifer Gordon, founder of Leader of the Rescue Pack. Hear why she thinks so many black dogs end up in shelters in the South.

In Episode 3, we meet Brian Henry. He’s a Georgia native like me, and like my mom, Brian grew up on a farm. Now, Brian travels the world as an IBMer, and whether he’s in Budapest or Nairobi, he sets off in his running shoes to explore. Rather than looking for home, Brian is creating home – in Brazil, in New York City, for himself, for his parents and for his friends from around the world.

In this teaser for Episode 3, Brian Henry and I talk about niceities and congeniality when it comes to ordering coffee and living in New York City as a Southerner.

When Tren'ness Woods-Black began her career at her family's iconic Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem, it was at the hostess station - a role she was quite literally born for. It is one she continues to play both at the restaurant and in her role as a communications consultant, welcoming presidents and neighbors alike to experience a bit of the South on Lenox Avenue. Most recently, she and her fellow culinary entrepreneurs put together the hugely successful second annual Harlem EatUp festival this past weekend. In this Episode, Tren'ness and I talk about the legacy she carries on and how the South can be your home even if you never actually lived there.

Tren'ness Woods-Black has a Southerns story like no other. Hers is the first family of Harlem, but their journey in this country began in South Carolina, a place they left two generations ago, but one she still considers home. In this teaser, we talk about the ghosts that haunt the South, and Southerners. Of special note, the music here was performed by Cecil Owens and Martha Owens at the home of Ben Robertson in Clemson, South Carolina, on June 10, 1939. It is archived in the Library of Congress and was recorded as part of the John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip, a 6,500 mile journey through the South collecting songs and stories.

In Episode 1 of The Southerns, I talk to Kathy. She and I went to high school together in the small town of Buford, Georgia. Now she and her family live out West in Scottsdale, Arizona. Talking to her, I realized that in many ways, we both remade ourselves when we fell in love with someone whose upbringing and experiences caused us to reconsider our own. Now, near 40, we’re questioning and reinventing again. Listen in to our conversation and share your own Southerns story on Facebook and Twitter.

Until you go somewhere else, your accent is just the way you talk. But then you meet someone who speaks differently from you and you realize that the way you talk is a signal about who you are. Then, you figure out it is a signal you can teach yourself to control. It is also a secret code. It is a thing you can shed. A thing you can acquire. A thing that can sneak up on you. A thing that can slip away. It is a thing of nostalgia and ambition, a thing of comfort and of power. Monday, May 16, Episode 1 of The Southerns goes live, but there was one section of the interview that didn’t make the final cut. Kathy talked about having a Southern accent, both what it means to her and what it says about her. I’m releasing it here as a teaser while I’m counting down. More on my thoughts on Accents at http://bit.ly/southernsaccents