I was born and raised in New York and have spent most of my life on the ground floor. But at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, I moved to South Carolina to stay with my family for what I thought would be a relatively short time. I ended up living there for two years and I just do not think the South is for me. Before I moved to South Carolina, the southernmost I had ever lived in was Las Vegas. However, this was only for two years after high school, so this was a huge adjustment. Now that I’m leaving South Carolina and back in northern New York, I decided to mention some of the most important reasons I chose to leave.
I find the intense heat and humidity unbearable
They will probably roast me because I’m a North who complains about the heat, but it ‘s hot down here. And not in a fun, tropical way. No, this heat of the South is like experiencing the effects of climate change in real time. Unfortunately, I have a premonition that it will get worse – and fast. Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. Shutterstock My second summer in South Carolina I easily felt twice as hot as the first, which made it almost completely unbearable to leave home between May and October. And when I say unbearable, I mean it. The air is so humid that I feel like someone threw a wet towel at my face as soon as I got out. My hair does not stay combed and my makeup does not stay firm. I miss the idea of looking good in the summer instead of being a disgusting, sweaty swamp goblin. I can not stand the heat, so I leave the proverbial kitchen.
Bugs in South Carolina are out of my weight class
I can handle alligators, snakes, birds, bats, lizards, turtles and frogs in the South. I even enjoy some of them. But I can not stand the mistakes. I have never been attacked by insects like the giant disgusts I have seen in South Carolina. These errors are huge. These mistakes could destroy me in a physical battle. A banana spider in South Carolina Congaree National Park. ShutterStock In South Carolina, I have come across banana spiders, mole crickets, palmetto bugs, millipedes and centipedes, to name just a few. These creepy alien creatures like to do things like bombard my face when I’m out and about doing my job. As someone who has lived in both New York and South Carolina, I would struggle with a subway rat for these bugs every day.
The transition from a blue state to a red state was difficult
I grew up in a diverse, progressive city in New York, a state that generally votes Democratic in elections. So moving to a state ruled mostly by Republican officials, many of whom have political views and morals with whom I strongly disagree, was a bit of a culture shock. Although a terrifying mass of racism and white supremacy is disguised as “Southern Pride”, I have learned that there are also vast areas of the area that are beautifully diverse and desperately underrepresented. And as I spent more time in South Carolina, I realized that its predominantly conservative elected officials were not necessarily representative of all the people living here.
I want to be able to buy weed, which is still illegal in many southern states
New York legalizes recreational weed in 2021. Peter Dazeley
It sucks to be a stonemason in a state where cannabis is illegal. New York finally legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2021, after spending its sweet hour. Unfortunately, many southern states still lack similar progressive cannabis laws. I would not even mind driving to a neighboring state to buy grass, but that was not an option. Marijuana is generally illegal in all three: North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Laws against buying, selling and possessing marijuana in some southern states are harsh. I consider them to be morally backward and unjust, as they disproportionately affect people of color. And I do not want to live in a state that imposes them. In South Carolina, I can still legally buy delta-8 THC, a cannabis compound that gives me a “high” but falls into a legal loophole in the US. It’s a good start, but I’ll still want to see cannabis legalized for medical and recreational use throughout the South.
I miss access to different vegan foods
The vegan food I loved in New York was hard to find where I lived in South Carolina. Shutterstock
It is important to preface my view by saying that access to vegan food depends entirely on where a person lives in the South. I do not want to paint the whole area as a huge desert with vegan food, because there is so much amazing southern vegan food worth recognizing. But if you want access to this vegan food, you usually have to be in a big city like Atlanta, which has amazing vegan options like The Slutty Vegan and Plant-Based Pizzeria. If you’re a vegan moving to a small town in the South like me, you probably have no luck. My family home was not as rural as it is here, but there were not many vegan options nearby. I cooked all my meals from home, which is fine, but I lacked the luxury of being able to order a vegan breakfast sandwich on Saturday morning.
When it comes to this, there really is no place like New York
Hiking in the Adirondack Mountains is a culmination of autumn in the mountains. Shutterstock
New York State is one of the most topographically, ecologically and anthropologically diverse places in the world. People complain about the harsh winters in the area, but it’s a small price tag for the breathtaking autumns. Adirondaks exploded in vibrant colors of red, orange, yellow and purple. The smell of autumn air in New York is the closest thing to the real magic I’ve ever felt, which sounds dramatic, but if you know it, you know it. The south is also beautiful. I will not pretend that it is not. Summers in South Carolina can get extremely hot. Shutterstock The beauty here has been what has kept me healthy for the last two years. But I’m ready to go home. I look forward to wearing a pair of boots and a sweater, putting on my headphones and going for a walk without having to do this gentle wave of the South that everyone seems to insist on doing down here. I know it is a matter of polite, southern hospitality, and I will always do it because I have an overwhelming fear of being rude to people who will always precede my excessive need to be alone. But I hate it a lot. Very. I just want to walk quietly and I can …
