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KALODIMOS: It was interesting--um, on a national level, the story became less of, “Oh, poor Nashville, look what happened,” and more of, “Bravo, Nashville, look what they’ve done.” And, you know, I think when, when we look back, um, we’ll be pleased that that’s the way the country saw us: as an extraordinary place that pulled together.
BLACKMAN: True.
KALODIMOS: I’ve gotta say, um, you know, I’ve never really had more pride, I never had--that feeling of ‘Oh, my goodness, I’m seeing something really unreal’ as I did in the weeks after the flood when just everyone--spontaneously pulled together and was doing whatever they could for whoever they could.
BLACKMAN: You knew that you were, it was history—
KALODIMOS: Oh, yeah—
BLACKMAN: --you knew that you were being—
KALODIMOS: --you were in a moment, yeah, you were in a moment in history, you were in a moment of philanthropy, that I don’t think anyone can rival. I mean, people do good things everywhere, and we all respond to tragedy, but the way this community treated everyone as if they were brother, or sister, or family member, was amazing.
BLACKMAN: I would have to agree, um, just based on the interviews that we’ve done so far, um, it’s the same, you know, we’ve looked and researched at other tragedies and natural disasters all over the country, but never has a city responded across the board--every neighborhood, every economic group, every demographics—
KALODIMOS: I mean, the Red Cross came down here and said, “you know, we do the first level of triage in something like this, you know, the toothbrushes, and the bars of soap--we don’t need to do that, that’s been done, that’s been taken care of by churches and the community.” And the whole “We Are Nashville” movement--I really hope that we don’t lose sight and lose momentum from that, because I, I think those three words are so powerful, they should probably be on our flag, you know. We should really remember and carve those words into stone, because they really mean a lot to those of us that were through, that went through May 1st and 2nd of 2010. |
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