Brown County
MERCANTILE STORE
Since 1979
( 812) 988-2725
Same Shop, New Location
Jackson Creek Village 108 E. Washington St. in Nashville across from Casa Del Sol
Welcome to a Happy Place!
• T-Shirts • Toys • Gifts
• Collectibles— Elvis and Betty Boop
• Brown County Souvenirs
“ Old and Young Love this Shop!”
Now at COACHLIGHT SQUARE One block east of S. Van Buren Street on Washington( in front of the high school) in downtown Nashville
FULL BAR AVAILABLE
Friendly Service 812-988-4535 Carry Out Available
Brown County
RAILROAD
MUSEUM Home of the Iron Pony...
Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5 pm
B & B Miniature Railroad excursion, park trains including the Riverside Amusement Park train, stationary steam engines, Lionel and other model trains, railroad memorabilia. Close to Nashville and Morgantown.
10 miles North of Nashville, corner of SR 135 and Three Story Hill Rd. 812-720-1229 • locobobtrains @ gmail. com • Visit us on Facebook
TECHNOLOGY continued from 20 who may be a genius by some folks calculations, but is probably lacking in social graces and may not even bathe regularly.
I have spent my life trying and mostly succeeding by using good old horse-sense. I know enough not to eat oysters in months with no“ R” in the name or any of the other months if the oyster smells funny. I don’ t tell cops that I know my rights. And I floss my teeth regularly. But, I digress.
What I am trying to demonstrate is that when I write a story or an essay I have a certain way I want it to look— a way that makes sense to me and pleases my aesthetic sensibilities. But does my computer comprehend that? Well, if it does then it is a spawn of evil because it constantly tries to undermine my confidence by asking me, every little whip-stitch, if I am sure I want to do a certain thing. If I answer the machine and affirm that I know perfectly well what I am doing, it lets me finish and then proceeds reformatting everything according to its own whims.
The computer has also introduced the concept of,“ if we can do something then we have to do it.” Just because we can broadcast our every thought, mood, and cat picture that doesn’ t make it an imperative. I think we got in enough trouble with e-mail but now there is“ Twitter”( if you use it, do you become a twit?) and Instagram. I have noticed that a lot of folks use these things like fitness centers for their egos.
So what should we do? Well, the first thing is to remember is that we live in Brown County— a place where there are broad swaths of the hills and hollers where the inter-web cannot penetrate. It’ s a natural sanctuary— a moat of nature keeping out the more intrusive aspects of the twenty-first century.
Brown County is a place where folks use tools of creativity to produce useful crafts and pleasing art. It’ s a place where the music is more acoustic than electronic. We even have a couple of Bluegrass music festivals. Folk and acoustic blues are played in the cafes and saloons here. We also hold a finger-style guitar competition where you won’ t mistake the sound of the guitar with a chainsaw.
Well, I could go on about my discontent with modern technology but I think maybe just saving this little essay in the machine might act as a warning that it needs to straighten up and work for me— otherwise I just might mistake it for an alarm clock. •
22 Our Brown County • July / August 2014