My bags are pretty much packed and class is over. Someone just mentioned we have 14 hours till we board the bus. And I'm actually reasonably calm after a really fun morning in Nashville that sort of set the tone for the 40 days ahead. Here's some of the things we observed in Nashville sociologically...
When we first got on Broadway we came across a man with an American flag guitar named Tony. On the opposite corner of the street was a man playing a guitar decorated with a confederate flag. We saw the evidence of "new culture" with American Apparel and the statue Musica along side record shops and bars that strive to hold on to the nostalgic "old Nashville." We talked a lot about this dichotomy in class and I really loved what Heather said about Nashville not having a concrete culture and how this Nashvegas image is sort of being forced from one side and the new hip "Vandy/Belmont/Hillsboro village is emerging elsewhere.
As I observed the types of people that were downtown on a Friday morning, I saw a lot of what I expected--older people dressed in cowboy attire and saw a few surprises--a younger family that looked like they could be touring Disney World. I kind of laughed to myself at the ridiculousness of both groups and the fact that they were buying into this Nashvegas image that only represented 4 blocks of our city. But it made me take a step back and think about how we are going to be viewed by the 'natives' of each place that we visit. Ken summed it up well when he said that we are going to be those tourists landing in the "four blocks" everywhere we go--Fisherman's Warf, Bourbon Street, etc. And we need to look at each place with questions like 'why are they selling this portion of the city?' and 'does it really represent the city as a whole?'
Well, this has been a sort of random post that I am going to blame on the mixture of being very excited and a little overwhelmed. I can't wait to see what this new experience is going to teach me about myself and the country I live in. . I can't get over how blessed I am to have this opportunity-shout out to the padres! So, here I am-signed, sealed, delivered I'm yours... summer 2009, America, 40 states gang!!!!
3 comments:
Jenni I'm so excited for you! This is going to be amazingly eye-opening. I will be here waiting for you in Minneapolis! We'll even be in Chicago the same days. :) I like reading your blog!
Thanks Kate! i was just going to facebook you to make sure I could still meet up with you! The other day Cory, a guy on the trip and I had a conversation where I was talking about you and he was talking about a different Kate! it went on for a good couple of minutes before we realized we had different Kates! miss you!
Hahaha. That's funny! Cory was in my Theories of Writing class fall semester 08. i hope you are having fun!
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