Dear Editor,
Just this morning, I was opening my East Tennessean to read the new regular column I have been enjoying recently, “Mohawktown.”
Before I read the March 22 column, I had made the assumption that Randi Brockman was an intelligent, creative person – a picture painted primarily by the tone and content of her previous articles.
However, her insensitive and poorly researched critique of Johnson City’s entertainment offerings displayed a very lazy side of a writer who is far too impressed with her own cosmopolitan nature to legitimately evaluate the town in which she has chosen to live.
Brockman, I know you are a columnist and not a reporter of facts, but please continue to grace us with your heretofore witty and entertaining banter and not your whining.
You actually used up paper and ink to offer advertising for the grotesque chain behemoths that are driving out of business the very shops you mourn the lack of. (I hope you are getting some generous kickbacks from Starbucks!)
Shame on you for not trying to better understand the region that is now your home.
As a native of the area and a person who appreciates culture all across the board, I feel I must defend the Tri-Cities and their offerings.
You could enjoy a cup of Free Trade Organic coffee along with music and poetry at the Acoustic Coffeehouse. (They even offer independent film nights regularly.)
Johnson City has not only the corporate-friendly Natural Foods Market, but also the independent Health Barn store offering the same goods at much lower prices.
There is the First Friday Arts event on Main Street.
You could enjoy the drag show and a game of pool at New Beginnings – entertaining fun for all sexual/gender preferences.
Bristol has the Paramount Theater on State Street, a used bookstore and a small health- food store near its high school.
Kingsport has a great little Indian restaurant called Sitar, where the service is impeccable, and the food delicious.
Though a bit farther down the road, Abingdon, Va., has numerous places of interest for the culture-deprived student, including the Arts Depot, the William King Regional Arts Center, the Barter Theater and the Starving Artist Caf, just to name a few.
You could utilize local libraries. You must also remember that you are living in Appalachia, the land of ridgelines and mountaintops. Climb above the haze and look around. Learn to ride a horse. Buy a pair of hiking boots.
At the very least, you could utilize Johnson City’s close proximity to North Carolina and Virginia (as well as its relatively low cost of living) to take road trips to Asheville (an awesome place) or Knoxville. Virginia, too, has multitudes of beauty spots.
Creativity is essential when entertaining yourself in this area, but please, are you not capable, oh cultured one? You may have to drive a bit, but that is simply the nature of non-metropolitan America.
And, as for leaving, we Appalachians do get stuck here in the mountains and hollows.
There is sometimes an eerie spell that keeps the locals in these hills, but there is an amazing sense of culture and history if you look long enough. I know you can look past the mullets and rattletrap Chevy trucks for a moment and appreciate what is here.
Finally, I implore you and those of you reading this with nothing better to do than waste time at the Olive Garden to support the local independent businesses that can make our city even more than it already is.

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