Sneakers on Power Lines

The last stretch of my drive home is the best. When I turn on to Trousdale Road from Harding Road, my view goes from commercial to residential in as much time as it took to read this. Crieve Hall is an older community in Nashville, filled with ranch houses on large parcels of land. Big old trees (the best kind) form a shady canopy over the road, and the road curves and dips just enough to make it reminiscent of a kid's roller coaster.

Driving at 35 mph gives me a chance to survey my peaceful surroundings. Dogs merrily running with their humans, cats lounging in pockets of sun on driveways, gardens bursting with produce are seen whichever way I turn my head.

But yesterday I saw something I usually ignore. I saw a pair of sneakers dangling from a power line. I thought to myself what is up with this? I have seen this phenomena in many places, but never pondered it long enough to wonder why people would do such a thing. It just seems such a Little Rascals sort of thing to do.

Aren't they just the cutest little things?

So I thought that today I would google the subject to find out what the deal was, and there is a wealth of urban legendry on this topic. According to about.com, a popular belief is that sneakers dangling from utility wires designates "gang territory." Y'all I just don't see that happening in my neighborhood. Granted, we have crime, but most of the residents in my area are either the elderly, or young families. I have never seen kids sporting gang colors on their way to Crieve Hall Elementary School.

Another urban myth associated with this is that teenage boys who have just um "scored" for the first time will chuck their converse over a power line in celebration. Meh I dunno about this. Firstly, do you know how expensive sneakers are these days? And also, wouldn't stupid boys that want to display their stupidity by texting on their phones or posting something tacky on facebook? Again, this sort of activity seems so low-tech - not something our technologically advanced youth would do.

So I guess the sneakers on the wire in my hood will remain a mystery. If these fools have sneakers to spare, they should donate them to charity or something.