Music City

I'm in Nashville. Music City. The town of Honky Tonks, the Grand Ole Opry, and crazy Southern goodness. I have to say I was more than a little apprehensive about coming here. Australians are quite prejudiced about America, and the friendliness of the people, and the similarity of the city to many Australian towns has quite surprised me. I've been charmed by random locals, and introduced to more new types of food the past week than I would have thought possible.

The archives, too, have been a pleasant surprise. Studying homosexuality in the Southern Baptist Archives was always going to be something of a risky proposition. And the staff have been a little cautious about my topic. But they have also been extremely helpful. And generous. And, at times amusing. I never thought I'd get told to "holler out" in an archive. Or eat fried catfish in one!