Please give me a second grace
Please give me a second face
I've fallen far down, the first time around
Now I just sit on the ground in your way.
--Fly, Nick Drake
I love small towns. There's something about a sleepy little village in the middle of nowhere that inspires me. Maybe because there is a deceptive quiet about them. Bubbling underneath that ordinary surface are secrets hidden from the prying eyes of outsiders. I think some of the most fascinating characters--alive and fictional--are products of that small town milieu. For some novels, the small town even becomes a character. Think of To Kill A Mockingbird. Main Street's fictional Gopher Prairie. The series of dying towns in The Grapes of Wrath.
And where would Twilight be without Forks? Vampires can't hunt deer in the middle of NYC.
I grew up in a small town just like the one in this video. And it thrills me to see that the stereotype can always be challenged. It's long, but at least catch 6:12 to around 7:00 for a smile. Make sure you watch it with the subtitles if your Spanish is as rusty as mine.
Who are some of your favorite small town characters?
