Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Who are the Dixie Divas?

By RONDA RICH

It all began with the observation of someone smarter than me. True, those people with intellectual powers greater than mine are a dime a dozen. Yet, it is ironic that it was a die-hard New Yorker, a Jewish man no less, who recognized the exceptional qualities of Southern women and passionately urged me to write of this amazing sisterhood and our patented trade secrets. As the literary agent on the project, he brilliantly shepherded the proposed book into a somewhat lengthy bidding war among the New York publishing titans.

One of the hippest editors leaned across the table in her office in the Time-Life Building that sat high in the clouds above Manhattan and whispered in awe, “I’ve always wanted to know how you Southern women can tell someone off so charmingly that they fall to their knees in gratitude. I want to be able to do that.”

The book became a bestseller. Devotees united to proclaim pride in their dew-kissed DNA and converts to the Southern way of femininity emerged from the backwoods of Montana, the beaches of California and the traffic-jammed streets of Chicago. From these enthusiasts rose up the women now known as Dixie Divas.

I chartered the first group in my living room as some of the best Southern women I know, sipped tea, nibbled on cake and nodded in agreement that we must uphold and preserve all things dear to Southern womanhood and the land we love so. The second branch of the Dixie Divas, amazingly, was formed in Manhattan while New Orleans and Atlanta, among other towns, become home to additional chapters.

What exactly is a Dixie Diva?

She personifies all that Southern women hold dear - grace, charm, compassion, humor, tenacity, home and family. It is a ladylike curtsey to femininity and all it entails.

We make casseroles, pour them into dishes with our initials painted in red polish on the bottom and take them to those ailing or hurting.

We believe in tea that’s sweet, cornbread that’s not, gratitude that’s expressed in handwritten notes, vegetables grown in our gardens and canned in our kitchens.

We are a sisterhood with relatives who live in the Appalachians, in rural communities, on ancestral plantations, on the steamy seacoasts, on working farms and in big cities.

There are threads of commonality woven throughout the many sub-cultures of the South and, as I wrote in that book, “there are those who would call these women the heart of all things Southern. But they are much more than that. They are the magnolia-scented breath which sustains the life of the South.”

I can’t wait for you to meet them. My mama, who earned money sewing dresses for others to put me through college, and my cousin, who never misses a funeral or the food that comes with it, are two of my favorite divas.

Kudzu and Dixie Divas have a lot in common. They are practically indestructible, thrive in Southern soil and both refuse to be controlled by man.

Sound familiar?

[Ronda Rich is the author of “What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should)” and “My Life In The Pits.” She lives in Gainesville, Ga.]