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GUEST EDITORIAL
ACCESSORY TO TIME
How Can Athens Know History When
It's Perpetually the Same Age?
Few towns live in the moment as truly as Athens does.
And yet, there is also a sense of history here, or, if not histo
ry in the traditional sense, then a more intuitive form, almost
an “earth-memoi y.”
This type of memory fixates not on recorded lacts but on
objects, on accoutrement. For proof of this claim, witness the
blooming of the Southern Gothic tradition, the lust of citi
zens for old, overgrown homes with high ceilings, the clam
my appeal of red clay and rock musicians. Or, more recently,
the resurgence ol s «^ks, cheesy ‘70s-futuristic logos and
lunch boxes.
The center of all this is the historical resonance of objects.
This “earth-memory" is based in aesthetics, which is perhaps
why it finds such favor in a town known for its “scene."
It is a sense of history that jumps immediately back to
pre-nuclear times and hopscotches its way to the present. It
may harken back to the Newtonian era, winding its way on
old train tracks back to ante-bellum houses, tracing the rings
of the Tree That Owns Itself back to the future, stopping off
in the ‘70s for a pair of Toughskins and a banana bike seat.
Of course, for »his “jumping” to take place, a few things
must be bypassed. And a lot has happened in the meantime,
between the ever-changing now and the all-allusive past of
20-100 years ago.
Is it the Vietnam War that makes the collective memory of
this town jump back so far. to suppress recent events? This
cloister of liberalism certainly was against the war — and as
a college town, it formed a natural refuge, a safe haven for a
generation to lorestall a ruthless, inexorable war.
But wait — let’s net get too political: the point is that
Athens is more ante- than anti-nuclear.
Could it be the Civil Rights movement Athens wishes to
ignore? It is shocking that a town as “progressive" as Athens
claims to be remains as segregated as it is. This extends
down the line, from housing and schooling (Hello, White
Watkinsville!) to employment and social events.
That may reveal the popularity of Civil War re-enactments
in the area. At the least, those staged events are similar to
the path Athenians take into history: by invoking an era’s
fashion and “attitude," we separate ourselves from the pre
sent, on the one hand, and imprint the past with our inter
pretation, on the other.
By invoking an era’s fashion and
“attitude,” we separate ourselves
from the present, on the one hand,
and imprint the past with our
interpretation, on the other.
What can one expect, really, in a town whose population
is always in flux? To a point. Athens is merely a big laborato
ry in which high school graduates conduct their next —
largely unsupervised — experiments. The ones who’ve
learned how things work and how to behave (the seniors,
one would hope) must leave, and are replaced by a new
batch of unformed thought every fall.
This may answer the earlier question: How can a town
conceive of history, when its denizens are perpetually
(relentlessly?) replenished, in effect always the same age?
Perhaps this is why the only accessible history here is that
which is e.idenced physically, like the houses, the trees, the
train tracks (and the trestles, don’t forget those kudzu-
draped trestles).
Is this the reason that stories of 12 years ago, when
Athens had a conservative mayor and downtown closed at
midnight on Saturdays, have taken on mythic proportions?
(“Yeah, man, that’s when all the great parties were.")
The common thread of these examples is that, out of trou
bled times, we seek solace by appropriation. From the Civil
War we preserve old houses and rolling hills. From the
Depression we take old bikes and brogans. And so on, through
the Cold War (Members Only jacket, anyone?). The result,
however, is that in the buzzing hive of the collective uncon
scious, the fabric of history doesn’t stretch to the present.
Athens, preoccupied with music and football and the
drinking that goes with both, is comprised of the newest of
the new and the oldest of the old. In a place which embraces
trends (lattes and computers, martinis and sushi) as eagerly
as it nolds on to a sensed, not remembered, past (hardwood
floors, gas heat, 3-speed bikes, bowling), there’s just no room
for the more recent, possibly relevant past — a past that is
still intricate and complicated, and isn’t yet musty with pati
na, but instead regains the gamey-ness of the newly dead.
The trappings of modern life offer the same comfort as
the accessories of old, but in a different manner. The sport
utility vehicle, the cell-phone, the Internet: All conspire to
convince us that we are in the present, and that we have a
future, just as our carefully assembled bric-a-brac asserts
that we haven’t missed the good part, that we’ve saved what
counts.
W.H. Chappell
Chick Piano Co,
240 IV. Clayton St, / Downtown Athens ♦ S43-434S or (54-MUS/C)
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CIVIL WAR
STORE
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FLAGPOLE is seeking...
NEWS, MUSIC, ART AND CALENDAR INTERNS for fall 1998. Candidates should be organized,
detail-oriented and dedicated, with a high tolerance for clerical work and a desire to write.
These positions are unpaid. Flagpole is also seeking a FREELANCE WRITER to produce our
weekly restaurant column. We're looking for a proven writer with a broad knowledge of
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REPORTER positions are also open. We're looking for good writers capable of explaining
Athens to Athenians in our City Pages.
INTERESTED? Drop off a resume, cover letter and writing samples (for writing positions)
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□ FLAGPOLE SEPTEMBER 9, 1998