Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 1 - January 23, 2026
Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 56 - June 1, 2026
It
feels as if I’m nearing the end of this response series. I think questions have
been addressed and background has been provided to answer and help. There are
just a few loose ends, views that should not be overlooked or sidestepped,
including words of apology to some who have yet to be acknowledged. These may
not be obvious to all, but that doesn’t make them any less necessary. And perhaps
like my last post, these words may be long overdue.
I
was once called an amateur historian. And as with the nickname, Houdini of
Homes, I really liked someone pointing out how much I appreciate the stories
and events of the past. More than an interesting subject matter to read about or
discuss, I’ve grown to fully attempt to consider how the events and periods of history
have impacted how, why, and where my project houses were built. Even though others
might not concern themselves with these sorts of details, seeing them as
trivial, I think this mindfulness is just part of what I do and how I do it. It
allows me, at least as I see things, to do a better job making the most I have
to work with and turning my pig’s ears into silk purses.
Berchador
reveres those who grew up here and have remained to live, work, and raise their
own families in this tri-county region of the Palmetto State. I think this is
common in other parts, but here, because of its unique history, it’s notably different.
For example, the Gullah Geechee call natives binyas—people who’ve been here.
And people like me are described as comyas, since I’ve come here from somewhere
else. And not being from the South, and even though I’m a Midwesterner, I’m also
a Yankee, which I had to learn was more than a joke but is actually a sharply pointed
pejorative to keep folks like us in our place.
One
of the factors that makes this part of the world so special is its deeply
rooted history of not agreeing with folks in other parts of the country. In the
eighteenth century, the South Carolina Royalists with Britain, against the fellow
colonists. These folks remained loyal to King George III. In the nineteenth century,
the state leaders were the first to secede from the union. And in the twentieth
century, they were defiant over segregation and miscegenation.
Most recently, June 24, 2010, the Charleston RiverDogs held Go Back to Ohio Night. This promotional event echoed chants shouted by locals, binyas whose patience for transplanted buckeyes has grown thin. Along with the rallying cries, select natives wear anti-Ohioian t-shirts, drive cars with likeminded bumper stickers, and one fed up creator launched a website dedicated to this animosity.
It
would have been helpful had I realized this back then. However, I was oblivious
to long term implications and really wanted to take my shot. And in that way, my
unawareness might seem as if I, and also, the networks and producers, were insensitive
and disrespectful. With certainty I can write how this was unintended. But I
can see how some folks from here may have resented the fact that an outlander
like me was given such a big platform to speak about this area.
In my own defense, many locals were skeptical and apprehensive about working with people from outside of the South. And although I have come to accept these feelings, those unfamiliar with this area just might not get it. I was willing and able to do it, and really wanted the gig, and since I’m familiar with non-southerners, I was less reluctant to talk and think this chance out. And that comfort was the one thing that might have made me more qualified than a born and bred binya.
Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 58 - Coming Soon
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