Welcome.

The South. Definition: [the area that] constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States, which has developed its own customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines that have profoundly shaped traditional American culture.

Kentucky. Definition: As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state. Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on the fact that native bluegrass is present in many of the pastures throughout the state; Kentucky is also known for thoroughbred horses, horse racing, bourbon distilleries, bluegrass music, tobacco, and college basketball.

There’s a place in the world where rolling green pastures border a winding country road on either side, where horses gallop alongside their foals to the fences that border the farms. There’s a place where dry-stacked stone fences edge a pathway shadowed by the hanging branches of the tall oak trees overhead, where the sunlight glints in the space left free by branches and leaves, forming a patchwork on the mossy ground beneath. There’s a place where the wild beauty of nature meets manicured and well-tamed farms, where the cool clear water of a creek winds its way by an apple orchard, where green apples cling to gnarled branches, waiting expectantly for fall. I love this place...no matter where life takes me, I know that Kentucky will always be a part of me.

Some say Kentucky isn’t part of the South. I wholeheartedly disagree. Girls are ladies here; guys are gentlemen here. We love SEC sports and sweet tea; bowties and vintage dresses; high heels and cowboy boots. Some of us speak with a drawl, some don’t have an accent at all. There’s something unique, yet fully Southern, about these people, about this place.

It’s horse racing. It’s cowboy boots. It’s sweet tea. It’s flowered dresses. It’s Wildcat Basketball.

Welcome to my home. Welcome to Kentucky Southern.

(top photo courtesy of my friend Evi at http://20dc.tumblr.com)