Everywhere Is North Of Richmond
<p>L<strong>anford</strong> <strong>Wilson’s play</strong>, <em>Talley’s Folly, </em>is a lovely courtship dance between Sally Talley, a young woman from the Ozarks, and her unlikely suitor, Matt Friedman from New York City. Donning his “I’m more worldly” hat, he expresses his frustrations with Sally’s reservations about their cultural differences saying:</p>
<p><em>Sally, I’ve been all over the country, and there is New York City, isolated neighborhoods in Boston, and believe me, the rest is all the South.</em></p>
<p>Nailed it.</p>
<p>Compass directions can be as connotative as they are absolute once they spin from directions to definitions.<strong> </strong>North is up. South is down. Young men go West from back East. Even modifiers contribute. Australia will always be Down Under and if you travel to the North Country the wind may blow, but will it always be fair?</p>
<p>Nature’s dividing lines make somewhat more sense, arbitrary as they are. But humankind’s desire to lay claim to what rivers run through can be just as unforgiving as a wall of water cascading through a flood zone.</p>
<p>Draw a map, build a wall, checkpoint a border, construct an expressway and you can minimize and memorialize entire populations into a them or an us.</p>
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