VESTAVIA HILLS – A lot’s happened in the few days since I last wrote. Most importantly, I made it to America but my phone decided to stop working the moment I set foot in the country – a real pain, and absolutely typical… Of course, this means blog content has accumulated faster than I can keep up with it, so I’m going to celebrate being back online by summarising my journey, arrival, and first impressions here in one go…

A Flying Start

American Airlines laid on a proper consumer experience on the flight from London to Philadelphia. It was seven-plus hours of dazed, sedentary travellers eating, drinking and watching back-to-back movies without a break. Not bad at all, if you like that sort of thing, but it could also wear a little thin if you’re someone who prefers walking around. Perhaps my mistake was not ordering any booze – I decided airline coffee would improve my chances of being awake for US customs. This was no bad thing, because border control was intense. It’s a multi-step procedure with seemingly endless checks, metal detectors, swabs, questions, et cetera. Luckily for me, though, the security agent in Philadelphia seemed more concerned about the fact I was going to Birmingham, Alabama than anything I planned on doing there. His remarks about the place seemed to encapsulate what I’ve heard of America’s north-south divide (more on that later). Then I cooled my heels in Philly for five hours waiting for my connecting flight, which is when my phone started to go haywire… many espressos and failed attempts to join glitchy airport WiFi later, I somehow made it to the house where I’m staying in one piece.

law & disorder

I’m living with 3DC’s legal interns at a contact’s house in Vestavia Hills (one of Birmingham’s “safest” neighbourhoods) and four of them are already here. This week they’ve been writing an appeal document and summarising existing files for the contentious capital cases they’re investigating. When I finally woke up on Friday, we discussed Alabama’s legal and political landscape in general terms – my sort of icebreaker! The lines “it’s a banana republic” and “almost everyone gets arrested here at some point” stick in my memory. I’m interested to see how much of this is true – seeing as multiple former governors have served jail time themselves, this may not in fact be too sweeping a generalisation. We also watched the award-winning documentary To Live and Die in Alabama later that evening, about the controversial execution of Nathaniel Woods in 2021. There will be more to say about this soon…

welcome to walmart

In the meantime, the need to buy groceries intervened. So yes, as well as familiarising myself with a number of high-profile legal cases, I have now set foot in Walmart… Where do I begin? Perhaps by confirming that the stereotypes are true. Suffice to say, I didn’t fit any of them and stuck out like a sore thumb, especially when I started packing items into my tote bag at the checkout – they still have single-use plastic bags here, so I attracted some very strange looks. 

What’s more, everyone drives to the store. In Europe, I’m used to shops and houses being nestled together in suburbs and city centres alike; most capitals I’ve visited radiate out from an Old Town along crooked, historical lines and almost everywhere can be reached on foot or by public transport. Not here. To get to the Walmart from Vestavia Hills, you have to drive for twenty minutes on the interstate. There’s no concept of popping out to a corner shop for that one item you forgot. However, the heavy concentration of preservatives in Walmart goods supposedly facilitates this once-a-week shop mentality. It’s interesting. And the above notwithstanding, I didn’t dislike it. Something about the layout of the place seems designed to compel you to buy things, and I’m sure I’ll return to indulge capitalism again soon.

castle culture

Back in Vestavia Hills, meanwhile, it’s unbearably humid. At 98 Fahrenheit (37 C), you can hardly go outside, and if you do, don’t stand still, or your clothes will suddenly turn heavy with sweat and start sticking to you. Inside, every room is air-conditioned to the hilt, by necessity. Perhaps this is why no one here seems to leave the house on foot – another significant culture shock. I found this out when I tried to go for a walk yesterday and the neighbourhood was deserted apart from the odd car driving around. There’s no pavement in this part of Vestavia Hills and to make matters worse, it’s a “high security watch” area. The houses are positioned in such a way that anyone in the street will be spotted immediately and attract attention. I spent most of my walk paranoid that trying to take pictures of the crosses and confederate flags on people’s front doors would get me done for suspicious activity…

“Doesn’t anyone here want to go out and about?” I asked, calling a friend who previously lived in Alabama in bafflement.

“It’s the castle doctrine,” they replied. “People are kings and queens in their own houses. Also, if you set foot on someone’s property, you pose a legitimate threat so they have a right to shoot you.”

All in, things are off to an eventful start. I’m looking forward to having wheels in a few days’ time when the intern who can drive shows up, and to properly starting work on Monday. It’ll be fascinating to see if any of the law here is actually grounded in logic.