When in Nashville…
“Around the corner from Al Gore’s house, five minutes from Bill Frist’s house,” was how our location was described upon arriving at the Bruce household, in Nashville, Tennessee. The Bruce household consists of my classmate Will Bruce ‘08 and his parents Bill and Linda, and they had generously agreed to host us and the Nashville get-together at their house. Thanks to all you guys! Will is currently in the midst of a two year Carroll Wilson fellowship at Oxford where he’s studying Philosophy and Economics, but he’s home for the summer interning and applying to Law Schools, and so he volunteered his house for our event.
Will looking pensive
One line of Will’s family has been in Nashville for generations (they’re essentially original Nashvillians) and so we enjoyed some southern charm and hospitality while hearing some local history from his mom (she’s into genealogy) and dad. Will engaged in some good-natured eye-rolling.
Our event was potluck, anchored by the delectable southern barbecue of Linda Bruce. The first guest to show up was Daniel Nelson ‘99. Love brought him down south as he moved to Nashville for his wife. They met at a wedding at Nashville and soon after he was there to stay.
We also had a mini ‘08 reunion, as my classmate Jim Clayton showed up soon after. Jim is from Nashville originally and is back as a law student at Vanderbilt. For me, seeing Jim again was fantastic, as we were both Art History majors and we reminisced about taking “The Mosque” together with Professor Holly Edwards our senior fall and our final project to design a mosque for the Williams college campus.
Dave Amlicke ‘80 showed up and brought his two daughters. Erin is going to be a senior in high school and Maire is going into eighth grade. Erin is an aspiring actress and is looking at lots of different schools, Williams included. Dave brought her along to bask in the warmth of the Williams family, get any questions answered, and, perhaps, nudge her in the direction of the purple and gold. The crowd didn’t need to be told twice (or really even once, for that matter) and poor Erin had to endure numerous attempts to convince her to choose Williams, including numerous plaudits of the ‘62 Center. Maire heard as much about Williams as Erin did (Jim and I chatted with her about Williams and the track team since she’s an aspiring runner), eventually leading her to protest that she’s in eighth grade and we should love her alone for a few years. MaryEllen Pickrell ‘89 is involved in college counseling and she was giving advice to the Amlicke crew.
The event was scheduled to go from 6-8, and at about 9:30 the last guests left. Afterward, Will volunteered to give us a small taste of Nashville culture, so we drove downtown to the Grand Ol’ Opry. There’s a bar next door called Tootsie’s, which is one of the most famous evening destinations in Nashville. Bands and artists would play the Opry, and then afterward would make their way through the back alley into Tootsie’s. When we were there a Country cover band was playing. I knew one song, but Will proved his southern roots by demonstrating his mastery of all the lyrics.
Nashville was lively, lovely, and well-lit, and we were finally starting to hear some serious southern accents. The Tennessee group was awesome, and I’m thrilled we got to hang with them.
~Jason
