Wednesday, February 6, 2008
~*Trained In*~
Did you grow up in an area where there was train traffic? I know that sounds a little weird, but you know what I mean. Were there trains near were you grew up? Well, there were trains near where I grew up! I grew up playing on a railroad track that is directly in front of my grandmother's house. I know you're wondering what's the point here. But the point I'm trying to get at is that trains seem to be a big part of the southern culture. (To be honest, I don't know if there are many, or any for that matter, in the northern region. So that is why I am speaking of the south.) I enjoy hearing the sound of the train at my grandmother's house, and I often reminisce of those days when I hear the sound of the train in my dorm room. Even though I adore trains, I don't think I would like to be surrounded by them. And that my friend is the focus of my blog today: "Trained In". I'm borrowing the title from the documentary made by UA's own, Allison Bragg and Kevin Garrison. Bragg and Garrison were enrolled in the "Documenting Justice" class at UA. Also, the documentary was featured in the Sidewalk Film Festival. The documentary featured the citizens of a city near Birmingham, called Collegeville, that has about 20 train tracks running through it. The residents are pretty used to it; even though, it is a pain in the butt to live around. It becomes such a hassle because the trains sometimes sits there for hours at a time making it hard to get from one place to another in a reasonable amount of time. Also, some people have died or lost a limb trying to climb across the train instead of waiting. I found out about this documentary because we watched it in EN 101 last semester, and I didn't think it hit home until the other day. I was thinking about how excited I am to go home this weekend, and my train of thought led me to my grandmother's house, which in turn led me to this documentary again. I thought of all the times my grandmother would tell us to be careful and always watch out for trains as we played on the railroad tracks. So this documentary definetely hit home for me. I was saddened by it as I watched it. And the fact that this has been going on for years without a resolution was the most shocking part. I still don't understand how the city council or any other form of government can sit here and allow this to happen. I would do the whole "call to action" thing, but I don't really know what kind of actions should be taken in this situation. So my call to action is: Think about this situation and what you would do in this situation. Until next time....toodles!
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3 comments:
Great post, Hello! Until I was seven, I lived a block away from the train tracks in Medfield, Massachusetts(so yes, we have trains up there, too)--after we moved, it took me months to fall asleep at night because the train noise just wasn't there. I haven't seen the documentary, but I'm excited to learn about the project. As to my thoughts on the prohibative train traffic, we have a little of that right here in T'town--I was driving through the back way to Skyland the other day and came across the Crescent route train stopped across all of the 4 intersecting streets by the train station. I ended up taking a detour that took twice as long as the regular route would've taken. So I wonder, how have the trains shaped that section of T'town? And what does it mean to live on a train route? Not everyone does. Freight trains and passenger trains seem to me to say different things about what's going on in a town. For us, the Crescent route is going places. Makes me thinking about going places, too.
Great ideas, here. Thanks for the call to action!
I can always hear trains at night when I'm at home so I'm really used to falling asleep with train noises in the background. I actually really liked that quality when i first moved down here and I think it's probably one thing that prevented me from ever getting homesick. However, the whole getting stopped by trains quite often and usually when I'm in a hurry is not something about home that I enjoy experiencing here, as well.
yeah I have never lived in a town where there has been a train coming through the middle of the town, just coal and grain trains on the outskirts of town. Even though I live more than a mile away from the tracks, I still here that horn when I'm trying to go to sleep. Can't say I am a fan. I don't know how people live with it running through their backyard.
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