Crossroads: Encyclopedia - Crossroads

Crossroads

A crossroads (the word rarely appears in singular) is another word for road junction, where two or more roads meet (there are three or more arms). It is also an alternate name for a hamlet located at such a junction. The word is more often used as an abstraction of places or occasions where people meet. The Latin word trivia (literally "three roads") is a place where three roads meet, and has given name to the kind of smalltalk that often occurs at such places.

Another interpretation of the crossroad hinted at by some blues songs is that point at which a particular road is taken in life - similar to Robert Frosts' 'road not taken'. In some Asian cultures further interpretations and traditions about what crossroads are diverge from the explanations given above.

Originally the blues "Crossroads" was a literal crossing of two railroads - "where the Southern cross the Dog" - in Moorhead, Mississippi (33.449° N 90.507° W). The "Southern" was a line of the Southern Railway, sold to the Columbus and Greenville Railway in 1920, and the "Dog" was the "Yellow Dog", officially the Yazoo Delta Railroad, part of the Illinois Central Railroad system after 1897.

• Crossroads was a British soap opera produced by ATV, Central Television, and later Carlton Television, from 1964 to 1988 and again from 2001 to 2003.
• Crossroads is an American country music television series airing on CMT. The series pairs a country music artist with one from another genre, such as rock or rhythm and blues.
• The Crossroads Centre in Antigua is a nonprofit drug rehab centre founded by Eric Clapton.
• Crossroads is a 2002 Hollywood movie featuring Britney Spears.
• Crossroads is a 1986 cult film featuring a cameo performance from guitarist Steve Vai as the devil's guitar player, Jack Butler.
• Crossroads is a 1989 album by Tracy Chapman
• The song "Crossroads" (adapted from Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues") was a major hit for Cream.
• Crossroads opened in 1999, is Mumbai's first-ever shopping mall constructed in the heart of the city at Tardeo, Haji Ali.
• Crossroads has also been used as the title of various music albums, among others by Ry Cooder, and Eric Clapton.
• There are several schools known as Crossroads School.
• The Crossroads Movement was a Christian restorationist movement that gave rise to the International Churches of Christ.
• Burial at cross-roads Reference to where criminals and suicides historically were buried
• Operation Crossroads was an atmospheric nuclear weapon test series conducted by the United States in the summer of 1946.
• The Crossroads is also a major Horde outpost in the fictional Warcraft Universe.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Crossroads", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki