Journey to the country

All over the rural landscape, the past stares back at me in many forms. Among the dense foliage of trees and grass alongside country roads, you see abandoned houses and schools that once had life within their wall’s generations past. Closed stores, sheds, stables, and old cemeteries deep in the woods lie untouched devoured by time and human forgetfulness. This is much of the landscape of Louisiana, which unlike other places in the US, as remained agrarian in character. You see structures from the 18th and 19th century still standing all over Louisiana.

The present and past are infused in the environment. There is no fervent desire to obliterate old buildings, cut down dense forests, and create a modern metropolis like my hometown of Houston. The place I deem “The City Without History”. By walking through the streets of downtown and staring at the looming skyscrapers reaching towards the sky, you would never know that Houston was over 150 years old. Old buildings from the historical district are demolished daily making way for a new bank, shopping center or parking lot. 50-year-old Churches and its history vanish in the name of progress and urban renewal. The only way I can tell I’m in a historical district is by the signs.

If I was to judge Houston’s history by the buildings I see, I would say its past doesn’t go beyond the 1970's. These observations pose questions that have been incubating in my mind over the last few days since my trip. The rural agrarian world vs. The postmodern futuristic metropolis of the 21st century. How do they view the past and what is their perception of its artifacts? For example, when I was visiting my late uncle years ago in Louisiana, his wife was cooking cornbread with a pan that was used by my GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER.

To me and many folks in the city, the pan would be considered an antique, something to be preserved and valued as a timeless emblem of the past. An object from a bygone era. Useless in a nutshell. But to my aunt living home in the country, the age of the pan did not change is practical function. Cooking. She probably would cook with this ancient pan until it can’t be used anymore. How could you damage such an antique? My own grandmother was still drinking out of a 50-year-old tin cup! Lol.

So where am I going with this? I think the concept of the past and history from the perspective of urban city dwellers lie on two planes. One side wants to destroy it and act like it doesn’t exist while the other side fetishizes it by putting it on display in environmentally protected glass or place it on altars in private homes for display. Oh! These are my China Plates, dear! I NEVER eat from them! They are so priceless!

I can assume that country folks would care less how much or how valuable they are. They would just want to fix something to eat and wonder why you can’t use the plates that are already clean