Stream of consciousness: north vs. south culture

I've lived in New England my entire life.  I've been to other states but never to what I consider the "deep south", or any of the states that belonged to the Confederacy.  The culture in that region is almost as foreign to me as any of the international locations on the bucket list I posted yesterday -- maybe even more foreign than some of those places, actually.  I don't mean any of this in the perjorative and want to be careful about what I say because I'm good at accidentally offending people; I acknowledge that I hold stereotypes against people in the south, but like many stereotypes there's a seed of truth or reason buried somewhere.

One of my friends who grew up in the South was telling me about how many of her friends are married and have kids (babies).  She's sort of a unicorn in that she doesn't even have a boyfriend.  On the other hand, none of my friends are married or have children.  It's just not a priority.  I'm not trying to thumb my nose at other members of my cohort who've scored a spouse and/or procreated, it's just that in the culture in which I was raised it's atypical to have accomplished all that already.  Education and career are bigger priorities.  Right now my mind is nowhere near starting a family of my own.  But then again, it seems to be a pattern in my family to marry late (late 20's- early 30's).

I like to think of myself as open-minded but when it comes to music I tend not to like country music.  I can enjoy or tolerate most other types of music-- I can appreciate the manic angsty joy of death metal-- but country music is so hit or miss.  I like Reba and Shania Twain but I think they're pretty mainstream for country singers.  It's the combination of the twang, accent and song subject that really kills it for me.  I don't have a Boston accent but I'm used to hearing it, and hearing people speak quickly.  But country songs tend to overcompensate on their R's and speak so slowly as to add syllables to words, e.g. "there" becomes "they-errrrrrrr" (I know that's not a great example but it's the first thing I think up).  Maybe with a different beat and a different accent I'd find the songs more palatable, but often they sound so whiny to me and rarely does the singer garner my sympathy.  I am not a cold-hearted person, nor one who likes violence; however some country songs make me want to do violent things to the radio--or my ears.

I know, I know:  not all Southerners act a certain way, just like not all Northerners are God-hating pot-smoking liberals.  It'd be nice to someday not have such strong negative reactions to country music, but the outlook is not positive.  Someday I hope to venture down South-- past D.C., at least-- and see for myself.  Although I worry slightly about being an Asian-American woman in the population where even proms are still segregated...but that's a matter for another time...