Stone Mountain

Cohen attends Easter Sunday at Stone Mountain in Georgia. I have seen Stone Mountain, a very impressive monument to some Civil War heroes. It is an interesting thing about the south that there are quite a few monuments to the losing side of the war. Cohen mentions that growing up he always heard the war referred to as the "war of Northern agression" and never even knew that the south lost. Growing up in Maryland, I never knew that I lived in the south. Of course Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line, and it was also a "border state" during the war. I realized much later in life how touchy Maryland is about its identity as a southern state. In school we were always lead to believe that we were really on the winning side because we weren't really in the south. A few years ago I looked up the words to Maryland My Maryland, the state song. I had never heard them growing up, although I knew the tune very well (it is the same tune as O Christmas Tree). When I found the words I realized why we never sang them. It is a a Conferderate song. This NPR story tells of a state bill that would change Maryland's song.