When I was growing up in Southern Illinois, my grandparents liked to vacation where they could listen to country music. Most Saturday nights, my grandfather had the Grand Ole Opry on the radio--AM 710 on the dial--so I became familiar with names like Roy Acuff, Grandpa Jones, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb, Chet Atkins, Porter Waggoner, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. This was not the new, Disney-commercial, theme-park fancy, Grand Ole Opry-land. This was hardcore Ryman Auditorium Opry. But one year, we broke with tradition and went to Florida. I think it was 1976. I had never been to Florida, never more than a state away from Southern Illinois. My grandpa always avoided driving through cities on our trips, preferring to take the bypasses and go around them. He said this would save us time in the long run and avoid the big traffic jams that always occur in a city. So early on, cities were places of great mystery for me that we always avoided. I will never forget what he said about New Yor...
by Chris Rainey. This is a blog of my journaling, essays, opinion pieces, religious satire, and creative writing.