Hey there ! Used to live up the road a piece in Helena. I’m in SoFlo now. Still get back often to visit family and friends. It’s hard living there being a free thinker. I had a very small of friends.

Don't despair! I, too, am a left-leaning progressive (actually I'm more of a "done fell over" progressive) so you're not alone. Agree on the political discussions. I'm too old to try to proselytize the ignorant, and my BP is too hard to control to get into the spit-flying nose-to-nose confrontations I used to love!
Windows vs Mac: you'd have to hit up my Atlanta son: he's all-in MAC, my local son is a hybrid, has both but likes to impose his will on Macs, using back-door Linux in some kind of unholy alliance.
I can't afford Nikon, have a Canon (NOT DSLR - can't afford that either), but appreciate capabilities.
Turnip greens vs collards? Greens it is, lol.

I didn't know Alabaster was reportedly the most conservative. But it explains why I've been comimg home so stressed since I started going back to work. Before, I was a stay at home mom for 7 yrs, during which time I discovered I actually like politics and philosophy. Almost immediately upon my return to real life, however, I became painfully aware that the newly formed world view I had become so proud of is literally the opposite from everyone else's that I know.