I Don't Get It: Derby Infield

Today, we kick off a new series titled: "I Don't Get It." Each Friday, one of us will each share one traditional Kentucky element that just doesn't make sense to us. With a group of such diverse and opinionated belles, this is sure to be interesting!

Drunk people, obnoxious college students, girls flashing everyone, and mud wrestling.

No, I'm not talking about Bonnaroo or Mardi Gras, I'm talking about the infield at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby.

When I think "Derby," I think of wealthy people, celebrities (although more B and C- list than A-list), mint juleps, fine bourbon, pretty dresses, and fabulous hats. The singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" is robust and full of state pride, whether you're a lifelong Kentuckian or just in town for the day. Even those who don't know the words try to fake it. For those few minutes, my Kentucky heart swells with pride.

This just doesn't match up:

image via Churchill Downs

Image via Louisville.com

Keeping it Klassy (via ambergris on Flickr)

As a state (um, Commonwealth), we already have stigmas of overalls and shoeless feet. When I see the coverage of the Derby on TV, and they cut to the bead-wearing, mud-covered, keg-standing flashers, it's like I'm watching what happens in the hours before filming a Girls Gone Wild video.

When I do Derby, count me among the ones who will get dolled up and pretend like I'm a classy southern lady with a fabulous hat and a genuine interest in the horses - not one of the flashers in the infield.

Have you ever done Derby infield? Am I being a judgmental stick-in-the-mud?

Kentucky Places: The Balconies Overlooking Keeneland's Paddock

Via State-Journal.

On Keeneland's second floor, just off the Sports Bar, lie a series of balconies that can tell a million Lexington stories.  They are among my very favorite Kentucky places.

Yes, it would be easier to just say that Keeneland itself is one of my favorite places.  That would be a true, true statement.  But the thing about Keeneland is that there are so many different worlds within the track.  There's the everyday folks, dressed down and hanging out by the track.  There's the college crowd, dressed for church or a fraternity semi-formal, in the Sports Bar and the Equestrian Room.  There are the professionals taking in meetings and working lunches in the upstairs dining rooms.  And then there's the Clubhouse crowd, enjoying a more subdued, members-only atmosphere.  

Via Shedrow.

Most of the time, the worlds never meet.  You go through an elaborate ritual of text messages and near-misses to find a friend who's enjoying a very different day at a different part of the track.  But the second-floor balconies provide an equalizer of sorts.  You'll see many romantic assignations go down on those balconies. You often watch business deals take shape.  You see suit-clad professional types sneak a smoke, while true horse enthusiasts strain to get a better look at the magnificent creatures that will soon be racing.  In a lot of ways, it's a microcosm of Lexington itself- college town meets horse town, rural meets urban.

via Keeneland.

For my money, the balcony on the farthest left (just off the betting windows) is the preferred spot.  It's the most scenic.  It sees the most action.  And, it always seems to have a roomful of people on constant watch to find a vacant spot.  But, no matter which balcony you find yourself standing upon, you'll always have a great view.

Unpopular Opinions

My mother isn't a sports fan.  

Repping the Big Blue, late 70s.

It's kind of crazy, really.  My daddy used to be a basketball coach, as was his daddy before him.  My beau and I live and breathe UK basketball and football. My brother is an obsessive fan of both of those Cincinnati pro teams.  Any time my family gets together, the conversation turns to sports, sports, and more  sports.  There's at least one person sporting a team logo at any given time, while my  poor mother fakes her way through it.

Music City Bowl, 2007

And so, we find ourselves in late October.  I'm, as you can well imagine, obsessed with the upcoming basketball season, one in which we have the potential to win it all.  I'm studying up on Coach Cal's latest Dream Team and counting the days until the season starts.  Yesterday, my mom hit me with an odd query: "The news keeps referencing a potential new stadium. That seems kind of extravagant in the current economic climate, doesn't it?"

I own a lot of Kentucky shirts.

I immediately answered her with all of the pros and cons of Lexington's great arena debate.  I presented the economic benefits that potentially exist for the University and for the city.  I tried to frame it in reference to the campaign platforms of mayoral candidates.  But, ultimately, my answer came down to recruiting.  I want my team -- my grad school alma mater-- to succeed.  That's my number one agenda item.  And if first-class facilities are the key to another title, then facilities are what I want, whether refurbished or rebuilt.  I realized that the conversation between my mother and me wasn't about an information exchange.  It was a bigger-picture debate among Kentuckians: those of us who live for basketball, and the quiet minority who don't. 

Unpopular opinions are something that we here at Her Kentucky have been talking about quite a bit lately.  We've been discussing many of the Kentucky traditions that one or more of us just don't get.  Burgoo, mint juleps, hot browns, Ale-8, even my beloved Kentucky basketball.  Just because we're all Kentuckians, we don't all love "Kentucky things."

Over the next few weeks, Her Kentucky will bring you a series of blog entries about unpopular opinions.  We'll be discussing some of the Kentucky traditions that fall short of our expectations.  We'll give you some ideas that you don't quite see in the travel brochures.  We'll most likely drop  the phrase "there, I said it" a time or two. 

Until then, we'd love to hear any unpopular opinions y'all may have.  

What Kentucky traditions fall short of expectations for you?

In Photos: Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace

First, let's clear something up. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky - making Kentucky the Land of Lincoln. So, no matter what other states might say (Illinois) we gave Abraham Lincoln to the world.

I am a bit of an Abraham Lincoln fanatic. However, despite my obsession, I had somehow managed to go my entire life without visiting his birthplace. I had passed it a thousand times on my way between Paducah and Lexington but had just never stopped.

Of course, nothing motivates a Type A personality like myself quite like a To Do List - so I finally made a visit last Spring. It is a beautiful place, but the historical significance of a "similar" cabin enshrined in a big ole temple leaves a bit to be desired...I don't want to hear it, Illinois.

~ Sarah Stewart Holland

Celebrity Encounter at Fayette Mall

Oh, Kentucky-bred celebrities.

I'm not talking about the horses - I'm talking about the rich and famous! There's smart cookie Diane Sawyer, unofficial UK basketball cheerleader Ashley Judd, eternal bachelor George Clooney, and wife of McSteamy, The Noxzema Girl (aka Rebecca Gayheart). I don't know about you, but I think that's a whole lot of hotness coming out of this state.

So let me tell you a story about working in the mall. It ties together, I promise.

Fayette Mall

is the largest mall in Lexington, and I think the second biggest in the state. In college, I worked at the mall in a little tiny kiosk - you know, the ones where the ladies chase you down and try to rub manicure stuff all over you? My kiosk had much less harassment involved - I changed watch batteries. During work hours, my eyes were usually cast down at my hands while I popped backs off watches and figured out what size they took.

On one late afternoon on a weekday, there were no watch batteries to replace. I polished the glass cases, drank a cherry Icee, and people-watched. I was gazing off into the distance staring towards Sears. I saw a couple who looked slightly out of place walking towards me. I suppose they could have blended into a crowd if there was one, but since the mall was pretty empty, I was noticing pretty much everyone. As they got closer, I racked my brain trying to figure out why one of them looked familiar. The female took a split second to turn her head to The Body Shop window, which was directly across from me. That split second gave me enough time to grab whatever piece of paper I could and whatever pen I could find. I approached the man from right outside my little kiosk.

"Excuse me, can I have your autograph?"

"Sure, what's your name?" he asked.

"Emily" I replied (how lame is that? not my name, but that I didn't say anything more)

He scribbled something on my paper and handed it back to me.

"Thank you" I said.

"No problem" dude replied.

He and the woman continued on towards Dillard's, totally unfazed, and I hopped back in the kiosk and stared at the paper - a frequent watch buyer card:

emily - all good - johnny deep 

There was no scene or commotion. Just me quietly asking Kentucky-bred Johnny Depp for an autograph, and him politely obliging. Seriously- he was so nice. The woman with him was his partner and baby momma - Vanessa Paradis. 

While I still harbor resentment towards anyone who goes to Fayette Mall around Christmas, I thank Johnny Depp for giving me a great memory of my little watch-battery-changing days.

Harlan County, U.S.A.: My Love-Hate Relationship with Raylan Givens

via F/X Network.

Not long ago, I was emailing with a friend from Chicago when she asked my opinion of the F/X show Justified.  Specifically, she asked whether it was an accurate depiction of life in an Eastern Kentucky coal camp town.  Bless her heart, she wasn't in for the very long-winded tirade that I've spent two television seasons developing. The bitchy answer I sometimes provide to that question is that Matt and Trey did a far more accurate job portraying Southeastern Kentucky when Cartman traveled to Corbin to meet Colonel Sanders.  The longer, kinder answer is that few television shows have left me with a more conflicted set of emotions than Justified.  It's a fun show.  It's a well-done, old-school Western.  But it drives me utterly insane.

via Times-Tribune.

In case you aren't familiar, Justified is the story of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, played by the always-handsome and awesomely-named Timothy Olyphant.  For some reason or another, Raylan gets in trouble at work and is punished through a reassignment that stations him in the Kentucky hometown he's tried to escape.  He's now based in the Lexington U.S. Marshal's office, and has been sent to clean up his hometown, Harlan.  The show is based on Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, and the short story Fire in the Hole.

via Amazon.

Now, in my opinion, Elmore Leonard is outright fantastic at what he does, despite some of the memorable theatrical flops adapted from his work (The Big Bounce, anyone?).  He basically owns pulp fiction as we know it.  His dialogue is accessible and engaging.  He lands the reader squarely in the story's plot with little exposition needed.  But, Elmore Leonard is from Detroit.  He quite famously uses a researcher for information on his settings.  I've read that he chose Harlan County, a place he'd never visited, because it seemed an unspoiled, old-fashioned place to set a classic Western.  Both Pronto and Riding the Rap are set in Miami, with reference to Raylan's Kentucky roots, while Fire in the Hole moves the lawman back to Harlan, where he takes on the Klan.  Leonard's celebrated knack for dialogue establishes a tough and thoroughly likeable Raylan, while the descriptions of Cincinnati, Jellico Mountain and Harlan itself sound very much the way a native would describe them.

Justified developer Graham Yost does not create as seamless a portal into Harlan County.  I often find myself in the room when my beau or my daddy are watching the show, and I have to leave before I threaten to shoot the screen, Elvis-style.  Something about the fact that they're always taking "Tates Creek Pike" to travel from Lexington to Harlan just drives me nuts.  As does the fact that everyone on the show talks like Dwight Yoakam (who, despite his Kentucky roots, has spent way more time in Detroit and Bakersfield than in Betsy Layne).  I had a similar reaction to Cameron Crowe's cringe-worthy Elizabethtown, but that's another story.

via F/X.

God bless 'em, Justified tries real hard.  They have the right product placements -- there's Ale-8 and Kentucky Ale.  They're working to make the police uniforms more realistic.  They even cast my very favorite Kentucky-born actress -- my Transylvania classmate Mandy McMillian-- as a local lawyer.  But, I still find myself saying "It's not like that."  I'm always reminded of the way that Family Ties' Mallory shopped at Lazarus as a nod to the Keatons' Ohio locale.  And, I'm left scratching my head when Steve Brady plays a brash mobster "hiding out" in Harlan.

Maybe it's because I have several friends who work in the actual Federal Courthouse where Raylan's office is fictionally located.   Maybe it's because my great-aunt and uncle lived in Harlan County for years (which, mad props to Leonard for referencing the Evarts community in the story).  Maybe I'm just too much of a control freak to treat the show as a fictional account. Still, I find myself jarred by the weird juxtapositions every time I watch that show.  It just doesn't seem like home.

In Photos: Cherokee Park at Big Rock

"All this, dear children, belongs to you..." Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline and the Gypsies

On beautiful fall days like this one, my girls and I like to walk to Big Rock in nearby Cherokee Park. Some days we wear our rain boots to walk on the rocks, feed the ducks, and splash in the shallowest part of Beargrass Creek. We always spend time on the playground, and sometimes we walk through the woods to the huge rock that gives this section of the park its name. We also like exploring the historic Gaulbert Pavilion, which was built in the early 1900s and was recently restored. The columns frame the landscape beautifully—and they're perfect for climbing, too. We think this is one of the prettiest spots in all of Louisville.