I'm From Arkansas Ya'll

sick of negativity about Arkansans and other Southerners... we ain't idiots!

I'm from Arkansas, ya'll
I was born here
in Arkansas

I have teeth
I have shoes
I have a lover
who isn't my brother

I can read, write
add , multiply and divide
talk of this and talk of that

I am from Arkansas
guess what?
I am not a hillbilly
my neck is not red

I can cook, sew
hush a babe
shoot a gun too
I am southern lady
 through and through

I'm an Arkansan
and proud to be
Yee-Haw
Ya'll
Woo Pigs,  Sooie, Arkansas Razorbacks
I'm from Arkansas - ya'll


I read some comments on Yahoo news about the flood here in Arkansas at a camp ground. People were swept away... some still missing. Many were children... what is a parent's worse fear? Losing a child. This is something that is unbearable,
Many of the comments were cruel with a capitol C. Such as.. "Stupid crackheads", "Incestuous idiots", "toothless rednecks".
and one said something like, "Yay, got rid of a bunch of hillbilly scum".... I take offense!  This is so wrong. We are not inbred idiots here... nor toothless, shoeless hillbillies. We pull together in times as these. We are educated. I am tired of hearing all the negative comments about Arkansans and other Southerners .... All over the world and in the U.S. there are people who are rednecks, hillbillies. Incest was not patented in this state it happens every where world wide. So I think the people who wrote those ignorant uncaring comments show the world that ignorant people are rampant... all over the world

There are many famous people from Arkansas. Many well known writers, John Gresham, Maya Angelou, Helen Gurley Brown a writer who also publishes Cosmopolitan Magazine, John Gould Fletcher the first Southern poet to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and a peer to EE Cummings and of course, Legion, the flying pig,Sam Dickens, Craig Froman and me! ~ (haha) ...Actors Mary Steenburgen, Billy Bob Thornton... this is getting long.. so let me mention William Jefferson Clinton one of the best presidents in my opinion, And Mr. Johnny Cash! No sir we ain't a bunch of ignorant hillbillies!

Author's Note

just a little crap poem and rant of sorts - written last year - it was in May i believe when this tragedy occurred .. entire families swept away...
This is a beautiful state.. the picture is of Old Mill Creek outside Little Rock click on it .. so beautiful... of course i am using 'ain't and yee-haw ' with some sarcasm... I don't say ya'll or ain't( i have a baby- i want him to speak correctly) ... if i drink a bit on New Year's Eve I might say yee haw tho :D

Reviews

[Fran Marie]

Yep, I hear ya on this one,a rightous rant on the hillbilly and such stereotypical connotations, of the term Hillbilly,then redneck, supposely refered as to southerns who picked cotton got sunburned necks~etc....indeed; it's a cruel world to hear such derogatory comments and remarks such as hillbilly scum
a great piece and love the picture~ y'all gut a rite purrdy state and i ain't a lyin hee haw~j/k

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

I completely understand...coming from NC. I have people all the time ask me why dont I have an accent...as if I'm supposed to sound like someone from a sitcom.

This tragedy should have been mourned...but Y! has some of the most ignorant people in the world posting comments. I find it odd that the most ignorant ones always get put up. The Administrators there are bogus. I honestly believe they screen the intelligent things out.

[An owl on the moon]

Arkansas is a beautiful state filled with absolutely wondrous people.. giving and kind... and talented too! What horrid things for idiots to say about those dear ones we lost here.. I remember that tragedy... Thank you for writing something very emotionally stirring and dang brilliant! Go Razorback Nation!

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

I'm English so I can't comment properly but personally - I've always loved the southern states. First I love the accents :-P Secondly, you all seem so friendly, happy and willing to help a poor English lass out!
People can't help but get on their high horse, put others in little boxes and try to make themselves feel better by putting others down. It's just a sad little part of humanity and society unfortunately.

[Siddhartha]

Oh, stereotyping is just plain terrible and wrongfully stereotyping is even egregious. You have wonderfully portrayed blatant untruthfulness of the same.Nice write, this.

[emmajoy]

What a wonderful poem, what wonderful prose to go along with it! Great to read this sort of 'rant', great to read defense of self and neighbours, that's how it should be. As a Brit, this post has taught me as much about you and yours as it has about snobbery in your country - thought that we Brits were supposed the snobs of all snobs, but not the case at all. Seems all over the world there has to be people who look down their noses cos the stink they think comes from others does, in fact, come from their own stupidity! (still laughing at that very last line!)

Wonderful write, a pleasure to read and be 'instructed' by you. Good on ya, gal - or however it goes!

[SpokenWord]

I love this poem this is a classic and has to be one of the best on the site. I still remember this from the first time I read it and it is still just as good as the first time. A true classic!

[Elizabeth]

Yes, Ma'm! I am a Texan... just your neighbor little ways over. And you're right. These stereotypes are offensive. I've seen more people in New England with no education and no teeth than I have down here. And they don't have nearly the southern charm we do.... so there. :P

[Poetic Beauty]

I love they way you take people out of the stereotype that they tend to think of when you talk about Arkansas. I like how you let people know that you are an intelligent woman who knows how to handle herself in a tough spot. Brilliantly done and I commend you for making people step out of their small minds.

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

And Neva did post the picture - and what a beautiful smile she has ... take that people who think we are toothless LOL

( i work for a DENTIST - free dental care ) lol