ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of conversations between two roommates who are from different backgrounds. Anna, like many eldest sisters in the South, goes by the nickname Sissy. Sissy is an academically talented, 18-year-old, white female from a small, rural town in Alabama. She lives with her stay-at-home mom, stepfather, and two younger stepsisters. Sissy's family, like most of the families that live in her town, have been there for generations and do not travel often. Sissy has never been more than two hours away from her hometown. Sissy's mother left Alabama after high school to go out West and live for two years in Denver, Colorado, where she met Sissy's biological father. The relationship between Sissy's mother and biological father dissipated when Sissy's mother found out she was pregnant. She moved back home to Alabama, and quickly married her high-school sweetheart, Bob.
