h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Athene Goes to Nashville - A87773764
Author: minorvogonpoet - U3099090

This is a response to Dmitri's challenge in the latest Writing Right column.

Nice one.

I have fond memories of the Nashville Parthenon.

When I was small, in the summer, we would drive from Memphis to my grandparents' farm in Middle Tennessee, about 175 miles from Nashville. It took all day, because there were no interstate highways then.

First, we would speed down the two-lane road. Then we'd hit a small town. We would have to crawl through the town, which would have a speed limit of 20-25 mph, not posted, to catch out-of-towners. It was extremely hot, and cars had no air conditioning back then.

If we started early enough, by lunchtime, we'd be in Nashville. We would have a picnic lunch in Centennial Park, by the Avon, feeding the swans and admiring the Parthenon. If we had time, we might go inside briefly before hitting the road to Smithville.

It was magic.

You didn't tell us you knew the building! Perhaps it's just as well I checked it out on wiki!

But there are interesting stories everywhere you look.
The story of Crystal Palace is a good one - built of glass and steel, it nevertheless burnt down. http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2004/07/27/history_feature.shtml. My father worked in the building for a while and saw the fire.

There's never enough time to do all the research.

Wow. I always wanted to know more about the Crystal Palace, it sounded like such a cool place.

Yep. So much wonder, so little time...

Ah yes, so much wonder, so little time. A sense of wonder works wonders for the health, I find, a secret cure .....

a bit philosphical tonight, then, I am. .

mvp, I love this story. I now have my own Athene dream, beyond Athene herself, and what does she look like my Athene? I know not, yet, but I follow her through this story ...

It is also educational. I never knew that the Athenian parthenon was painted and gilded, and the sentence about the plaster .... that wouldn’t last very long, while the stones of her temple had lasted thousands of years.....that's so great.

You know, its funny, I originally read it as 'the stories of her temple ...' and then I started thinking about Athene and the stories of her temple, and this is one of them! This is a story of her temple.

And Athene is there, at the parthenon in Nashville, your Athene, and my Athene (I think my Athene is wearing bluejeans, that is weird, it makes me happy, thankyou for leaving open in the dreamspace) and there's the different light...

...and she is checking the umbrellas that she doesn't recognise, and listening to people talking about the naked statues, its so great ...

And .... great writing, thanks mvp.

(heads off to commune with Athene and think about many things)

I think Athene in blue jeans sounds wonderful.

I'll bet she'd rather look like that than this:

http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/athena/index.asp

Ah, she is lovely though, with the gilding. She reminds me of a statue of Krishna or Vishnu for some reason, shiny and mysterious, otherwordly.

I think the gilding would go well with bluejeans. And the Harley Davidson. (I just saw Athene on a Harley, next daydream. Now see what you started, mvp).

Ah yes, not here the darkness in this twittering world.

TS Eliot would have liked Athene in blue jeans.