All Eyes On East Tennessee

I bought a house in rural Knox County Tennessee in 2020.  I moved into it to stay in January 2023.  I was retiring and what I wanted most was to leave behind the hustle and bustle of big city life in southern California – to be kind.  For the most part, I have gotten that.  But this weekend – not a prayer.

Today is 9/25, or since Dolly Parton’s death a few weeks ago, “Dolly Parton Day” as it has come to be known in homage to her big hit “9 to 5.”  Dolly’s hometown is Sevierville (named after the first governor of Tennessee, John Sevier) in neighboring Sevier County and since I live on the border of Knox and Sevier counties the distance to there is about the same as the distance to downtown Knoxville.  Talk about being stuck in the middle of a celebration!  There is much hoopla planned for this date to honor a woman viewed almost in saintly terms around these parts.

If only the madness ended there.  Sitting adjacent to downtown Knoxville is the campus of the University of Tennessee and its massive Neyland stadium.  Tomorrow Neyland plays host to the biggest college football game in the country – #1 ranked Texas versus the #13 ranked Tennessee Volunteers.  “College Game Day” will be here – a clear sign the game is huge.  Now, the population of the city of Knoxville is around 200,000 people.  The stadium seats over 100,000.  You do the math – game days are nuts traffic wise.

So, it seems President Trump has decided to attend the game tomorrow exponentially increasing the madness.  Topographically and geographically, campus is a world away from my home, even though on a normal day I can be on campus in 15-20 minutes.  This weekend I am grateful for the natural barriers that separate us from all that.  As close as we will come to the madness is, if the prevailing winds are right, Air Force One will make its final approach over the house.  I’ll be sure and wave to the President as he flies overhead.

I am forced to reflect on the fact that when I moved to Los Angeles in the 1980’s the whole world was focused there.  Every weekend a great movie was released in which the city played a role.  Most TV shows were set in L.A.  The music business produced hit record after hit record out of the studios on the west side.  The city was celebrated in song.  Since the 80’s, the population of southern California as grown by roughly 50% while the population of Knoxville metro has grown by about 20%.  And yet this weekend Knoxville is getting Rose Bowl (the day southern California shined brightest in the media) levels of attention while California languishes in its post-fire failures to rebuild and a homeless population that rivals Knoxville’s general population.

Knoxville does not covet this attention.  We will accept it for the weekend, but we do not cultivate it, nor long for its return any time soon.  Like Dolly, we’ll put on the big wig and make-up while we are in front of the cameras.  But when it is over we will, also like Dolly, cherish the peace and quiet of a normal life.

I cannot help but wonder if L.A. and environs might have suffered a different fate during the decades of my residence there had they cherished the spotlight just a little less?  And I wonder what that says about this social media obsessed age where everyone seeks the limelight?