2 Thoughts (2020)

“2 Thoughts” is an ongoing series on Natetheworld where a special guest and I respond to a published story in the manner of our choosing. Enjoy!

To read the original essay, The Bar That Showed Me Who I Could Have Been, click here.

From Field Parties to Hollywood by Nathan Box

For all practical purposes, the Tillman county of my youth was a dry county. Sure, you could score beers from all the convenience stores, but there was no bar to hang your hat. By the time I reached “drinking age,” all the bars of Frederick had been shuttered. The Brass Rail was just a name to me, nothing more.

Still, I have stood in country fields, drinking with friends, and acquaintances from high school. I have sat in bars in Oklahoma City. I have walked into a gay bar in Seattle for the first time and I have sipped cocktails in the shadow of the Hollywood sign. Each of these scenes provided an opportunity to see who I might have been and who I would become.

The country fields and barn parties of my youth were filled with danger and teenage rebellion. Taking place on some farmer’s land, I could see the future for many of the people before me. Many of them would never leave Frederick or Southwest Oklahoma. Many of them were not forced to stay. It was their choice. They would choose to work and toil in the soil like their father and…