Tennessee
I went to Tennessee in the summer break of my first year at university, living and working in Nashville, Nolensville, Shelbyville, Franklin, Murfressboro, and Brentwood. Places all surrounding Nashville, known by many as music city. I did door to door sales for a book company and gained a very, very fascinating insight into peoples lives because I was after all going into their homes. I and my colleagues lived with locals, went to church with them, as we were in the bible belt and there was a church on every other corner. We ate some of the best food too. Southern hospitality really is a thing and the people were generally very welcoming.
Tennessee Titans Stadium by Tanner Boriack.
I remember being invited into one guy’s garage where he had a 1932 Model A Ford. I sat on the porch for hours with a former steel worker as he told me the history of his and the surrounding towns. We watched every level of football, from high school through to college and an NFL game. The Tennessee Titans vs the New York Giants. The love of American football in the south was something of a shock, to see high school teams with 3000+ seater stadiums, small colleges like MTSU with 30,000 seats and then Vanderbilt in Nashville with its 40,000 seats. Seeing the Titans and the Giants at then LP field in the centre of Nashville was the cherry on top. Sports with Cheerleaders and fireworks were another culture shock, giong from the study of to the immersion in the society of the spectacle, large loud and brash.
Parthenon Nashville Wikimedia Commons..
Location
Tennessee.
Writing
I haven’t written too much about Tennessee, maybe in future as it remains a very unique experience. The only story that ever came from it was called the Smoky Road, detailing an approaching thunderstorm and then a common occurrence after summer rain when steam would rise from the road due to the heat trapped in the tarmac.