Glad you are here, but where are we? This is the backyard of my website, based in Knoxville, Tennessee. You got here through a gate called a web browser. Maybe you searched “Home” or “TN” or “find” or maybe I invited you over. Either way, as a self-respecting Tennessean, it is my sworn duty to serve as the best host as I can.

There is an old turn of phrase which describes getting into a particularly personal conversation as “being in someone else’s backyard”, usually proceeded with something like “sorry to get into” or “I’m not too much in”. In development, someone who refuses to allow a change to his or her neighborhood might be referred to as Not In My BackYard (NIMBY) or some one in support would be a Yes In My BackYard (YIMBY). This is my backyard, and I welcome the conversation. But, why in the backyard?

Well, where else? The front yard, the drive or front approach, the front of the house— these are all in public view. The front of the house is architecturally referred to as the façade. Sometimes it is made out of a different (usually flashier) material as the rest of the house and you might not know that unless you were invited into the Backyard— I want you to see beyond that surface level. 

What about a chat inside the house? We do our best, but sometimes it gets stuffy in there and there are so many doors, we call it “indoors”. Being a part of a private home, these doors protect residents, but make conversations rather difficult. Walls and closed doors are useful categories but also interruptions in getting together. Backyards are filled with the tones of voice which balance between respectful and raised as a shared venue with neighbors. 

The Backyard is where the tea is poured, hot or iced and sweet. Where the beers are clinked and cocktails are stirred. Where the barbecue smoke rises on a cooling summer night, or the crisp fall air accompanies tailgating away from the stadium. Because, at the end of the week, this is where we can gather and share all of the bits and pieces of life we hear and experience elsewhere.

This is where the garden is planted, the fence goes up so the dog does not get lost and the children play make-believe. This is the place where we breathe, where we see the house from the opposite perspective and where you likely do not want someone else to be unless you trust them. Thank you for joining me here. I trust you will enjoy it and I am eager to hear what you have to say!