In light of the new movie, I decided dig deep into my book shelf and dust off an copy of The Nanny Diaries to review. The Nanny Diaries tells a story that most teenagers and young adults know all too well. It is a story of young girl, in college […]

Boys Don’t Cry is a powerful true story about a transgender man (in layman’s terms, a man trapped in a woman’s body), Brandon Teena, who was brutally raped and murdered after his biological sex was discovered by John Lotter and Tom Nissen on December 30, 1993 in Falls City, Nebraska. […]

You’ve probably seen a Cat-Tran once or twice in your time here at Western: one of the large, purple shuttles that are rumored to carry students from one place to another. They usually travel in packs of two or three and, if you’re lucky enough to catch one (you’re not), […]

For anyone new to the South, the first thing you’ll notice is a drastic change in dialect. It’s a known fact that there’s a distinct line between northern talk and southern talk. For those of you who need to learn a few things to get around, or for anyone who […]

Why would anyone want to live in the South? After all, so many terrible things happened here. Then again, terrible things happen everywhere. What is it about the southern states that attract people every year? For many people, the attraction is the local history. Southern states such as North Carolina, […]

Although a lot of students here at Western were born and raised in the South, there are a handful of us (from the North, obviously), who have flown south for the winter and have never left. For instance, I was born in Connecticut and moved to the North Carolina coast […]

Peyton Manning, Brad Hoover, Steve Spurrier, and Vince Young; what do all of these football stars and coaches have in common? They all started their football careers in the South. Football continues to grow as the South’s most popular sport. American high school and college football is a lot more […]

Life in the Southern states is as varied as the people that live there. Though many traditions were established years ago, many are still practiced today. Instead of being defined by geography, these traditions are often associated with diet, etiquette, or religion. Food and cooking create a sense of hospitality […]

To be fair, I went to the North Carolina Mountain State Fair on Friday, which meant that I went on the one day all week that it rained from morning to evening. So, yes, my experience has been colored every-so-slightly by the miserable weather, but I think I got just […]

It’s right around the corner folks! Can you hear the music, smell the Cherokee fry bread, feel the festive atmosphere? If not, you may be in the wrong part of the country. A celebration of mountain culture and Southern Appalachian history, Mountain Heritage Day draws in people from all over […]