423 magic

I'm listening to "And I'm Wearing It to Bed" by The RadioFix, and only an hour ago I was scrolling through photos of downtown Chattanooga, taken by my good friend Matt Dyer on his digital camera.

I can feel it. Again. A bolt of electricity surging through the Scenic City. A revivial of All the Good Old Things. Music, art, comradery. Clubs, shows, gallery viewings. It's even more interesting now because some of us are grown up and we own the clubs... Something's going to come of all this, friends, and I'll go so far as to finger the principles in this, our Future Scene...

Matt Dyer, Steve Sapp, and myself... the writers.

Adam White, Alex Agee, and even Peter DeLong Vaughn... the artists.

Claudine Auguste... film.

Chad Hughes, Jim Barnett (God please), Adam Newport, Michael Gordon, Beau Riggles, Chris Dotson, and yes, even Dave Phillips... the musicians.

There are so many more I fail to mention...

I know what I have to do. I know my purpose in life. I have a direction now, a goal to achieve.

I'm going to finish school and graduate as fast as I can. Then I'm going to bombard Rhea County High School with my application and resume. Nothing would please me more than teaching English Lit at my old high school.

As back up, I'll saturate the surrounding Chattanooga area with my resume, as well. I'll nip at their heels like a hound. I will teach in the 423 area code. Dammit.

Ideally, I will rent an apartment in downtown Dayton (or Chattanooga, depending on where I'm teaching). Eventually, after saving enough money, I will purchase a little bit of land on Dayton Mountain or in the Frazier area. I'll design and build my own home (that is, have it built). There I will live out the rest of my days, grow old, and die.

When I'm seventy-five years old, I'll want nothing more than a rocking chair on a porch overlooking the Tennessee hills, with a dog at my heel, a cat on my lap, and a cool glass of Jack Daniels clenched firmly in hand.

Whether or not I'm married in this fantasy depends entirely upon my wife's willingness to spend the rest of her days in Dayton, Tennessee. And I seriously doubt any sane girl would agree to that.

Meanwhile, the entire time, I'll be cultivating relationships with the various artists, musicians, and writers lurking in the Chattanooga/Dayton/423 area; introducing, combining, unifying everyone into one great big force of... of... of fantastic f*cking art. Art for the sake of art, m*therf*cker!

Chattanooga... Something about that city... Something's gonna happen.

I gotta be there.