Pickin' on Collierville TN

This past Friday night I hung out with my dad (lame alert! j/k, I love my dad, he's cool). We went to a Bluegrass Jam Session at the historic Collierville town square. Every Friday night this summer, the whole town is invited to bring their bluegrass instruments and just make music together from 6-10. As neither my dad nor myself play such instruments, we just went to listen to the music. And it was awesome. First of all, I really like bluegrass music so it was a treat to hear it everywhere. There were three groups going in different corners of the square, just pickin' away, admiring each others instruments, comparing song repertoires, but mainly just having a good time. Besides the actual musicians, there were families everywhere that had packed suppers and brought blankets and lawn chairs. Children ran with reckless abandon in the beautiful summer evening. My dad and I stopped by an old restaurant, The Silver Caboose, to enjoy a Coke float and some blackberry cobbler. We ducked into the new coffee shop to admire some local photography. I got the opportunity to take some pictures with my new Pentax ME Super (a recent garage sale find and my new obsession of the summer).

THIS is why I love my town. This is why I love the South, for nights like these. As I'm sure most of you know, I'm a "Yankee transplant" (David's words, not mine) and not a native Southerner. I have some serious issues with the South, but since I've lived here for so long, I can honestly say that I've come to love it more than resent it. I'm not sure I could ever really take its influence away from my personality and my personhood. It's been the backdrop for the most formative years of my life; how can someone break away from that? Because of things like Bluegrass Jam Sessions, I don't really want to.