Brown Beans and Cornbread

I find it interesting that things take on more importance in retrospect than they had at the time. I grew up in West Virginia and I left the state when I was 19 and spent the next 21 years living in other parts of the country.

We moved back to West Virginia when I was accepted in medical school at Marshall. I found it interesting to discover that things I really didn’t remember as being part of the culture had somehow become iconic.

What most surprised me was brown beans and cornbread. Schools and churches had brown beans and cornbread suppers to raise funds. This was supposedly a West Virginia tradition. Unfortunately for me I really don’t remember it. 

I know we had cornbread and probably had brown beans.  I don’t remember them being linked together as the “classic” Appalachian dinner.  Although I must say it has become one of my favorite meals and I regret all those years I missed out on enjoying it.

This got me to thinking how many things that we consider traditional or “American” have only become so from the vantage point of looking backward.  Nostalgia minimizes faults and amplifies virtues.

Many things that were not so important at the time have become set in stone as an important part of our heritage. For example, collectors now pay a fortune for old toys that are considered to somehow represent a special bygone era. However, at the time, they were just toys. They were played with and discarded when the kids lost interest in them. Who has not said at one time or another, “I wish I still had my”, you fill in the blank here, be it the original Barbie doll, baseball cards or Star Trek toys. 

Speaking of Star Trek, let’s look at the series.  I’m sure this is where The Grumpy Doc may upset some people.

When you consider the entertainment dynasty that arose from the original Star Trek series it is hard to believe that it only lasted three seasons. It was initially cancelled after the second season and brought back for an additional season only after an aggressive letter writing campaign by fans.

If you look at the old shows, the stories were simplistic, the special effects were rudimentary, and the acting was over the top. Especially Captain Kirk, who could always find it within himself to over act in any scene. Yet somehow, after many movies and numerous spinoff series, we have come to regard this initial run as classic television. I will admit they made moral points on many episodes, but these were often heavy handed and  in-your-face moralizing.

 When we think of Great American literature one of the books we think of is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At the time of its initial release, it sold poorly. When Fitzgerald died, he considered himself to be a failure as a writer. It wasn’t until World War II when The Great Gatsby was one of the books printed and distributed to the troops, that it became popular. He is now considered an American icon and rightly so.

The same thing happens to politicians. These are people that we know and revere as great Americans and who have been subjected to near deification. These are people literally carved in stone, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.  From the perspective of many years, we have come to believe that these men were universally loved, admired, and respected. However, during their lifetime they had many political and personal enemies who criticized them at great length and all three suffered through periods of declining popularity.

In future posts I’m going to discuss each of them in turn and look at how they were perceived during their lifetime as compared to how we perceive them now. Each deserves separate attention. Despite their flaws, each was vitally important to the America that we now know.

Equally as interesting are things that were once popular or considered important and are now almost completely unknown. I will be addressing those in a future post as well. 

One thing I will warn you about now, I have a great interest in historical trivia. The Grumpy Doc is really trying to understand how perceptions of previous generations have shaped current opinions about many aspects of society.  I will be sharing many of my thoughts on these issues.