proving thomas wolfe right

As I alluded in the previous entry, I'm visiting my folks this weekend in smalltown Appalachia. I love my family, and I enjoy spending time with them, but I've already been involved in one unwise political discussion with my sister (hint: she doesn't allow anyone to listen to the Dixie Chicks in her presence); just missed seeing my mom's cousin, up from Georgia with her 17-year-old son and the 14-year-old girl he just got pregnant; and am about to head over to the "Camp" on the river where my mom for some reason is planning a family cookout--for the whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.--this weekend (my sister, noting that we'll be eating "fatted calf," suggests that my presence here is reason for the cookout, though the truth is that the whole family gets together at least once weekly, though not usually with this kind of fanfare or preparation). I'll provide any gory details, and possibly some pictures, later this weekend or upon my return.

Besides the liberal mindset of my friends, and food that doesn't include grease as a primary ingredient, what I most miss this weekend is broadband. My folks can't get DSL where they live, and they're only able to average about 28.8kpbs on their AOL dial-up.

(To be fair, some of the extended family are Democrats and dislike/mistrust Bush almost as much as I, and they're all--Democrats and Republicans alike--extremely accepting of my homosexuality. So it's not precisely Deliverance, though impromptu bluegrass or gospel singing at family cookouts has not been unheard of.)