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For what it's worth: Now, of course, if one wanted to muddy the waters even further here, she might consider the troublesome nature of said REM (one of my "most favorite" bands, BTW), by pointing out Michael Stipe's ties to/adoption as a poster boy for Southwestern Illinois, a/k/a the "metro East" or "Illinois side" of the St. Louis region, before the boys headed off to Athens and fame. He did, after all, spend a formative year or two in Collinsville (suburban St. Louis) and at Southern Illinois University--Edwardsvills (also in metro East). And if St. Louis proper, Southern Illinois/Little Egypt, and the unholy conglomeration of ghetto and backwoods, sophistication and hillbilly tendencies, fabulous wealth and abject poverty, and alternating uber-boosterism and community self-loathing that are part and parcel of the Metro region's birthright, aren't a microcosm of REM's best work--and, in a lot of ways, of Southern rock and of a lot of country music as a genre--I don't know what is. (And lest anyone unload on me for my harsh assessment: this region is my stomping grounds, born and raised, and I LOVE the place--you ought to hear folks who hate it here talk about it!) Not that I've given REM, or my native environs, much thought . . . . Barbara Schwarz Wachal Assistant Professor, English St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley M.A. (Research), English, and Ph.D. Student, Am. Studies Saint Louis University bwachal@stlcc.edu
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