Lex is steeped in the heritage and culture of the Civil War with R.E. Lee at W&L and Stonewall Jackson at the V.M.I. Besides the two schools, tourism to see the Civil War history stuff is the best thing economically that Lexington has going for it. The officials in the town and at the two schools know this, but to my mind, the educated people in Lexington act accordingly.anjmissy wrote:I am also interested in this since I am an AA, and a lesbian too...triple wammy!..before i deposited that was the only thing that worried me, how it will be to move to such a small southern town with these identities.
However, Lex is in the middle of Rockbridge County, the second poorest county in Virginia. There is lots of mostly white rural poverty. In this type of environment, you are going to have ignorant, racist people. They don't see the ignorance of their point of view and probs wouldn't care even if confronted with it. However, as a student, you never have a reason to venture out into the hoots and hollers of Rockbridge County to encounter these people and they rarely come into the town where you'd be most likely to interact with them. Not to say that the county has the monopoly on this point of view and some townsfolks don't also have those feelings. But for the most part, it's two very separate worlds between the student-centric town of Lex and the county. One of the county folks may drive through town with a Confederate fla sticker on his truck or something like that, but I think such instances are pretty isolated.
That's my read on the issue after doing W&L UG.