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A hick town and damn proud of it
Doug Thompson March 25, 2008 - 8:00pm.
The visitors sauntered into Cafe del Sol, ordered two lattes and spread their maps and real estate brochures out on the table and started talking about where to buy land.
As usually happens, they turned to a stranger at the next table and asked:
"Excuse me, sir, do you live here."
"Yes," I answered, "I do."
"Tell us about the community."
So I went into my well-rehearsed litany about lifestyle, government, schools, cost of living and community attitudes. It's a lot like a political candidate's stump speech. I've delivered it so often that notes aren't needed.
The came a question that caught me off guard.
"Are there a lot of hicks around here?"
I took a sip of coffee before answering.
"Absolutely," I answered. "There's a lot of us hicks around here and we're damn proud of it."
Hicks. Rednecks. Bubbas. Over the years, the names have changed but the intent is the same. They were afraid they might encounter some dumb country bumpkins out here in the sticks.
They left, probably headed for Asheville where the imported sophisticates outnumber the hicks. I finished my coffee and went back to the studio to work on a new video about the growing artist's community in our little hick town.
But I did stop to scrape the cow dung off my boots first.
Hicks
Bravo!
Call me Redneck, please.
Right on!
I call myself an educated Hillbilly
Good response, Doug. I'm just sorry that "Dueling Banjos" wasn't playing at that moment too.
Hicks
I didn't check the phone book the last time I was in Floyd, but I hadn't noticed a prevalence of Hicks in the area. Just down the Parkway in North Carolina now...Almost every third or fourth mailbox up quite a few of the hollars in the Boone area proudly proclaim the surname.
I'd rather be a hick than a
I'd rather be a hick than a city slick.
We get the same thing in my
We get the same thing in my community of Burke's Garden, Virginia. Bunch of dumb-a$$ flatlanders with lots of money to spend move in and the first thing they want to do is make it like the place they left. We tell them- "If you like Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Fairfax so damn much, then stay there!" Then there's the runners, bikers, and gawkers. I am so tired of seeing spandex clad behinds that I could scream.
Bubby Hinkle, pleased to meet ya!
Cue the 'Stones!
But come on, come on down Sweet Virginia,
Come on, honey child, I beg of you.
Come on, come on down, you got it in ya.
Got to scrape the shit right off you shoes.
Sweet Virginia
Hicks
What the hick were they talking about? You should have asked them if you could use their maps for target practice while gripping your six shooter.
A little hospitality?
Well, here we go with the name calling again.
First of all, what is the definition of "hick"?
Not to excuse someone's rudeness in asking such a question as they asked Doug, but I know some of you who have responded with such disdain for the "outsider" (including Doug) also moved here from somewhere else (with much higher population density) and/or have college degrees, have travelled widely and made a good bit of money somewhere else before moving to Southwest Virginia.
Now it's OK to adopt the "country folk" persona if you want and it's nobody's business but your own but if you you're going to comment on wine, music, the arts, international travel, world politics or regional planning on one day and call someone a "city slicker" (or worse) the next, you've got some soul searching to do.
Why can't we just politely help those who might be "misinformed" and show them the same kind of courtesy and hospitality others in the area have shown us every day? I know most of you do and it's certainly not my place to judge anybody; It's just not a very pretty face to see on otherwise very nice people. A little kindness can go a long way toward changing someone's (skewed) perspective.
Hostility no...
C'mon...Doug's response was 'right on'. 'City-Slicker'...geez, really, is that such a bad word???
Bubby has it right, too.
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