But there was no question whose regionnwe were in.nSometime recently, though, wenpassed a tipping point that’s as easy tonrecognize as it is hard to define. Therenare now so many newcomers thatnthey’re no longer just the seasoning innthe stew; they’ve become a lumpyningredient in their own right, one thatnshows no signs of dissolving. Peoplenfrom places like Ohio and Michigannare moving into neighborhoods full ofnother people from Ohio and Michigan,nand they all go down and get thenNew York Times on Sunday. FlannerynO’Connor liked to tell a story about annAtlanta real estate salesman showing anmigrant couple around. “You’ll likenthis neighborhood,” he says. “There’snnot a Southerner for miles.” I used tonfind that funnier than I do now.nNo offense. Northern folks, but Inlike the South because it’s full ofnSoutherners. You all are fine people,nbut you make me tired. I came here tonbe with people I don’t have to explainnthings to, you understand? Peoplenwho share my views about things likensquirrels.nWe’ve almost reached the pointnaround here where Southerners are thenones who have to worry about fittingnin. One of our students, a local boy,ncomplained recently in the collegenpaper that people are always comingnup to him and saying “I just love tonhear you talk.” “Let’s get one thingnstraight,” he wrote, “we are in thenSouth. Therefore, I do not have thenaccent.” Besides, it’s impolite: “If wenwere sitting around the beach house innCape Cahd discussing clam chowdahnor Uncle Joe’s haht cahndishen, Inwouldn’t stand up and say, ‘Hot damn,nyou boys shore talk funny.’ It justnwouldn’t be gentlemanlike.” What reallynbugged him, though, is what bugsnme: “There’s something about havingnto defend my region when I’m still in itnthat I don’t like.”nStudents aside. Chapel Hill looksnmore and more like Princeton thesendays. Some people think that’s fine,nand not all of them are from NewnJersey either. Our local realtors apparentlynlove what’s going on, and evennsome people who aren’t making anynmoney off of it seem to have boughtnthe view that it’s impolite to complainnabout the increasing presence of unassimilatednNortherners.nNot long ago a reporter from thenCharlotte Observer asked what Inthought about the fact that someonencan live in the South now and nevernhave to come to terms with it. I toldnher I thought it was a shame. Soonnthereafter, my long-suffering departmentnchairman got a telephone callnfrom an irate reader, a native NorthnCarolinian (she said) who objected tonmy opinions or, anyway, to my expressingnthem. She insisted that I was “stillnfighting the Civil War” and demandednthat he fire me. When he wearily toldnher that it’s too late, since I haventenure, she said she’d take her case tonthe president of the university and tonthe governor, if necessary.nNow, I’m not worried about that;nboth of those worthies are adept atndealing with cranks, as I have reason tonknow, having dealt with them in thatncapacity myself. And there’s a nicenirony to knowing that the last membernof my department whose head wasndemanded by angry citizens was angentleman and scholar whose offensenwas believing 50 years ago that blacknfolks were entitled to be treated likenhuman beings and American citizens.nBut let’s think about that accusation:nstill fighting the Civil War.nNon-Southerners are never accusednof that, no matter what they say aboutnthe South. Neither are Southernersnwho make it clear that they prefer thenNorthern way. You get charged withnthat offense if and only if you are anSoutherner who would like to see thenSouth stay Southern. And it’s a sorrynfact that the charge is often filed bynother Southerners, like my accuser.nSome of us like to joke about suburbannWashington’s being “Occupied Virginia,”nbut let me tell you it’s no funnliving in Vichy, North Carolina, either.nLook, I don’t want to impose Southernnways on the world; I just want tonhang on to them in the South. I don’tnthink that one Princeton is too many,njust that one is enough. I even feel thatnway about California: I’m glad it’s outnthere, for all sorts of reasons. If thenGreat Wen, DC, were just anothernunpleasant East Coast city — why, I’dnsay let it be. It’s like food: when I go tonNew England, I want to eat broilednscrod and Indian pudding; I just don’tnwant them on every menu down here,nthat’s all. And I think it would be nicenif New Englanders in these partsnwould eat Brunswick stew and okra, ornat least keep their opinions aboutnSouthern food to themselves.nIf that’s still fighting the CivilnWar — make the most of it.nJohn Shelton Reed writes from ChapelnHill, North Carolina, which he saysnNew Yorkers will find a great place tonvisit, but they wouldn’t want to liventhere.nLetter From thenHeartlandnby Jane GreernBleary-Eyed for ChristnnnAnxious to be liked, mainstreamnChurches roll over and piddle on thenfloor regularly these days, and seem tondo so with the greatest vigor in thenspring, when the pasqueflowers sproutnon virgin soil and the “renewal” comesnto town.nFundamentalist Protestants have hadn”renewals” for ages and call them “revivals.”nNeophyte Catholics and mainstreamnProtestants make up the rules asnthey go along and have many names fornthe extravaganzas — Reach, Renew,nCursillo—whose true name is Legion.nIn a moment of weakness last spring,nmy husband and I showed ah interest innattending a Cursillo weekend sponsorednby my Episcopal church, to be held at anlocal high school. My curiosity wasnpiqued when some of our more stolidnparishioners (or is that redundant whennreferring to Episcopalians?) waxednbreathless with excitement.nI grew even more curious trying tonget someone, anyone, to tell me whatnwould happen on that weekend. (Cursillos,nfor adults only, usually run fromnlate Friday afternoon to Sunday morning.)nLeaders of these events mustnundergo rigorous training, professionalngroups travel from church to church tonemcee the affairs, and I just wanted tonknow what we’d be doing. All of thentrained parishioners I asked looked offninto the distance and struggled for thenwords to describe what I might findnduring the weekend. It was all ethereallynvague: There was something about anspeaker and guitars and prayer andnbreaking up into small discussionnMAY 13881 49n