Another Side of Provincialism

Minutes after posting my last entry, I saw that an expat friend who now lives in NYC had posted a Facebook comment about how backwards Knoxville politics is, with presumably the county sheriff  in mind. Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones (I mean, even that name...) released a statement on the Knox County Sheriff website in reference to the county being denied entry into the 287(g) program, which reads in part, in reference to "illegal immigrants": “If need be, I will stack these violators like cordwood in the Knox County Jail until the appropriate federal agency responds.”

Such an intentionally hateful and provocative statement, combined with recent news that an Urban Wilderness recreation area and many homes are under threat from a proposed parkway expansion, along with regular and dependably ignorant comments from a certain state Senator, serves as a painful reminder of how provincialism looks to those outside the area in which you are immersed. A kneejerk response might be: Why should anyone take seriously any kind of culture or opinion that is spawned from a region that is so... I don't know, trashy?

Yes there are bigots and idiots everywhere, but this is the kind of stuff that ends up making the rounds online and grabbing the attention of people across the country, certainly more so than the umpteenth feel good article about Knoxville's revitalization. It is depressing living here at times, and it makes you wonder how much art and music have been created as primarily a complaint or howl against or satire of our provincial surroundings. I mean created by adults, not just a product of young adult angst.

I don't have much use for the Drive-By Truckers, have always found their music to be an overly self-conscious, less interesting take on ground already thoroughly covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Randy Newman, The Band and other superior acts who are their near contemporaries. But by chance I happened to come across this essay by Patterson Hood not long after I read the Sheriff Jones' statement, and it resonated. Sort of like in his music, Hood's making an argument that's been made repeatedly for years - basically the South is a complicated place that has a lot to celebrate and a lot to be ashamed of - and the sad thing is this argument will probably continually need to be made forever.

Some days you feel like celebrating, some days you feel like crying.