Diversity in the Southland

I had a Woven Branches reader who lives in a large urban city ask me once if I thought it was believable that a small Southern town could be as diverse as Noeware, Georgia.

I smiled and answered this way ...

Do I think a small Southern town could have its first African American mayor in the 2020s? The small town of Rome, Georgia, in which I live, did. Do I think there are openly gay and lesbian people in a small Southern town? I think I am probably a good example of the former, and I have many friends who are the latter.

Are there many interracial couples in a town like ours? You beat your life there are, and there are trans folks, too. There might have even been a madam or two in our town's history. The diversity present in a small town is no different from the diversity seen in big cities. Folks just respond differently. That different response, when depicted in a dramatic way, is what my little soap opera is all about.

Enjoy.