On the reality of three sides to every story

I spent a glorious afternoon with a dear friend today. We were debating whether or not we live in "the South".

As two girls from the North, Maine and Pennsylvania respectively, while we know Virginia is in the South, we've never really admitted the fact that we actually live IN the South. But we are, in fact, below the Mason Dixon line, and despite being in Northern Virginia - which really is not the South at all - life here can certainly tell a different story.

My friend's husband is a teacher and instructs Virginia history as part of his curriculum. The curriculum directions for discussing the Civil War include something like the following:

Northern aggressors were angry about the cheap labor available in the South to which they did not have access and so began the Civil War.

Um. That's not quite what my Yankee history book said, but whatever helps you sleep at night.