Comments on: Talkin’ About My Home

By: whiteray

whiteray — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:47:17 +0000

I always thought — during my thirties and into my forties — that my home town, St. Cloud, was a great place to be from. But when the chance came, I moved back – accompanied by the Texas Gal – in 2002, and I’ve never regretted it. It’s not the same town I left, in a lot of ways. But, changes and all, it’s still my town. And that sometimes surprises me.

Great post. As you pointed out to me when I started my blog, it’s easy for us to err when we assess the value of our own posts. And this one was a good one.

By: Yah Shure

Yah Shure — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:49:12 +0000

Ah, but those “not much of a blog” posts have a way of resonating sometimes in ways that you’d never expect when tossing them out there.

It’s funny that you should mention the Joe South song as an aside. The first time I heard “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home” was on KIOA/Des Moines, while visiting at my grandmother’s house, just outside of Paton, Iowa, about thirty miles south of Fort Dodge. And along came this brand-new song asking me if I wanted to go home, to which I wanted to shout, “Yes!! Yes!!!”

Two years ago, I went on a photo-taking expedition to snap some pictures of the old Iowa homesteads to use for a family reunion. Paton has definitely seen better days. The “Paton Place” restaurant, which had opened to great local fanfare during the heyday of the Peyton Place TV show, no longer even had a roof over the long-closed dining space. Only a faint trace of the name remained above the once-bustling establishment. It seemed that the only positive thing that had happened to the town was that it had been chosen as the fictional hometown for Private Ryan in the motion picture ‘Saving Private Ryan.’

The Paton school had been torn down, with only a commemorative arch made from the building’s facade as a reminder of what the town once had to offer. Grandma’s former house out on the farm looked a bit rough for wear, and the original family homestead next door, where my mom was born, had been torn down and replaced with a modern farmhouse. And yet, in spite of feeling somewhat like a stranger, this time I wasn’t in such a hurry to go home. I wanted to linger and let some of that same essence of family roots sink in that I was all too keen to blow off back in 1969.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:07:45 +0000

Well, jb, you hooked another compliment. *well done* My problem is that I have two towns to think about. One is Gary, which has never come back from the disaster of the early 1970s–they just recently started demolishing the hundreds of houses that had stood empty since then. And then there’s my “college” town, where I lived for 18 years. It grew from a going-to-seed downtown in 1978 to a vibrant center of commerce as of 2008, and I am still well enough connected there to feel deep frustration at being unable to return.

By: Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas,

Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas, — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:55:13 +0000

Having grown up in a similar environment, you totally captured it.

Of course, being a child of the ’80s, we had the abandoned auto repair garage that had been converted to an arcade :-)

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:34:16 +0000

I was unfamiliar with the Steely Dan song until now. Thanks.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:30:30 +0000

Well thanks, everybody. I appreciate the support, but “this blog isn’t very good really” was just an offhanded crack on the spur of the moment. It’s not like I’m trolling for compliments, but I’m glad to get ‘em nevertheless.

By: MMRules

MMRules — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:15:17 +0000

Hang in there JB..

You have a very good blog..

And,you can write a hell of alot better than I can..

But,I can play guitar pretty good..

We pick up what interests us..So keep on a writin.. :)

By: lizzle

lizzle — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:32:17 +0000

I would disagree with your suggestion that this post “isn’t very good, really.” It struck a chord with me, at any rate – enough so that I am commenting for the first time (I’ve been reading for a while now). Excellent writing. :)