Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women and nonbinary writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.
A decade ago, I left my lifelong home in the Pacific Northwest and moved to Nashville. Almost a year after I arrived, I was hired by then-editor-in-chief Jim Ridley as the new culture editor at the Scene. It was the first time I’d lived outside of Washington state.
While many folks were welcoming, I lost track of the number of times my worth was questioned or my opinion dismissed because I wasn’t a Nashville native. I heard and saw the comments. “She’s an outsider.” “She doesn’t understand our city.” Or, my favorite, “Go back to Seattle.”
So many Scene readers were pissed when I questioned why the Confederate flag and related merch was still for sale all over Lower Broadway. The post had dozens of angry comments. Most of them told me to go home. That sentiment continued for years.
The battle between “old” and “new” Nashville has only gotten hotter and louder since. Every week, I see folks who grew up here write scathing posts on social media about how newcomers are ruining their city. Rarely does anyone specify beyond the word “new” or define how long it takes to be accepted by longtime residents. Anyone moving to Nashville, for any reason, it seems — from the greedy developers to the teachers to the refugees and immigrants — is lumped together into one giant, faceless monster that grows bigger by the day.
But I’m not a piece of that monster. Most of us aren’t.
Truthfully? I didn’t want to move to Nashville anymore than all those angry gatekeeping goobers wanted me to be here, but my husband, a Nashville native, uprooted his life in the Pacific Northwest to care for an ailing family member. A family member who, by the way, dedicated 50 years of his life to being a pediatric nephrologist and general practitioner in this city and bettering the lives of thousands of patients across multiple local hospitals.
Still, I tried to make the best of my situation, and the best of the new city I called home. I have written hundreds of stories for the Nashville Scene, The East Nashvillian and other publications that shine a spotlight on some of the city’s most interesting musicians, chefs, artists, politicians, athletes and dogs. (I like dogs, OK?)
I’ve hosted bake sales to raise money for local mental health services. I’ve collected thousands of dollars from friends across the country to stock the shelves at the Nashville Free Store, a community-run effort to feed Nashvillians who can’t afford to eat. I’ve protested with so many of you. I’ve marched with so many of you. I’ve spent more money than I have to spend at local businesses. (And by “businesses,” I mean bakeries. This city’s dessert scene is phenomenal.)
And I’m not special. I am not the exception. I know of dozens of people who have relocated to Music City for all kinds of reasons, and so many of them have all worked tirelessly to help this city thrive.
Musician Mickey Guyton grew up in Texas, but she moved to Nashville in 2011, and has since called for change within the very white, very male-dominated country music industry. Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan moved to Nashville and opened her first restaurant, Chauhan Ale and Masala House, in 2014, and has not only helped the city become the well-known food destination it is today, but she now owns four restaurants and employs hundreds of locals.
When you attack New Nashville by lumping every non-native together into one faceless enemy, your enemy, you are doing a disservice to the city you claim to love. If you’re mad at housing prices and the cost of living, get mad at developers. Call them out by name. Attend Metro Council meetings and public zoning hearings and make yourself heard beyond social media.
If you’re mad that there’s more traffic, bigger crowds and deeper potholes, don’t blame your neighbor who moved here six months ago. Get pissed at the politicians who’ve prioritized tourism over infrastructure — roads, sidewalks, transit and more — that would better benefit full-time residents. Vote! Run against them! Support the candidates who are working hard to ensure Nashville can be an affordable, diverse city for generations — even if those candidates, gasp, grew up somewhere else!
Stop whining about how much you hate New Nashville. New Nashvillians are not the enemy. Real change could happen if you instead focused your energy on the powerful Nashvillians — the politicians and generationally wealthy — who got you into this unaffordable tall-and-skinny penis-whistle-adorned mess in the first place.
