What happened to regional styles? There was a point in American culture where writers from the South wrote fundamentally differently from writers in the North or the West. I don't think that's true anymore. The whole culture of the country is becoming so homogenized. You go overseas and you find the McDonald's or wherever. If we're going to fight this anywhere, it has to be in the cultural artistic creative sphere. That's our last chance to create regional pockets of creativity. — @tedgioia