Finally, I’m nearing the end of my trip; I wish it would never end but sadly that is so. I arrive in Illinois and head to Chicago; the 3rd largest city in the U.S., also known as the windy city. I have always had an interest in freight trains growing up so when I stopped by the Burlington Northern Railroad I was pretty surprised to find out that Chicago is the nation’s railroad hub. I recall reading a poem by Carl Sandburg called Chicago, in the poem it referred to Chicago as “Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler” I don’t know how I recalled this for it was years ago when I was only a child so that also came as a surprise to me.
You know, Illinois reminds me a lot of Tennessee. When I think of these two states, I would automatically think of “backwoods” or the home of one of those “small town girls”. I completely forget to take into consideration the large cities, and strong business that comes out of these areas. Both have these rather large and famous cities, heavily populated and culturally dense. For example, Illinois’s Chicago, and Tennessee’s Nashville. Both of these cities are commercially equipped, and industrially powerful. Your blog mentioned that Chicago just so happens to be the “nation’s railroad hub.” Tennessee’s TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) is home to the nation’s largest electric power generation system. Perhaps these states have been effected slightly less by the economic issues were suffering through as a nation. I, too, read the poem called “Chicago”. I felt it was very descriptive, yet critical of the culture of the city. Take a look at our blog post about Tennessee: http://eastsouthcentral.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-makes-us-different-and-why-its.html. Hopefully it’ll give you some insight on how southern music told the story of its area just like this poem did. This just goes to show, states miles and miles away can be very much alike.
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