Hello, Class. As we discussed, for this second post I'm asking you to discuss your plans for your "Memphis: City as Text" semester-long projects. In roughly 200 words or so (a healthy paragraph) give us a general overview of what you have decided on, what you hope to learn from the project, what you think others will appreciate from your project, and how you will go about conducting your research. If you are still working out the finer points, that is acceptable, but I do hope you have come to some semi-finite decision on what your project will be all about. This will give us a chance to discuss these topics further Tuesday night. I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone!
Since I am going into the medical field, I thought it would be fitting to learn more about the history of the medical field right here in Memphis, Tennessee. I hope to learn more about what it is like to be involved with this career field, especially in a place that was once stricken with a disease that made a prosperous city hide behind their doors. I think my fellow students would be interested to see how a disease hotspot can turn into a treatment hotspot and what is is like to be part of this wonder. I plan on conducting interviews with people from several hospitals in Memphis and discuss this amazing transformation. I also think it would be fascinating to hear whether the majority of interviewee's realize the history behind Memphis. For example, before the yellow fever hit, Memphis was once Tennessee's capital; this changed once the yellow fever epidemic began and those who could leave packed up. Overtime, Memphis has grown into an amazing city to receive treatment in; especially for children, as people all across America pour into Memphis for pediatric cancer treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
ReplyDeleteHow do you plan to do your report? Video? Essay? PowerPoint?
DeleteVery nice idea! I am glad you chose to do something in line with your own professional goals, as I think this project has the potential to be very rewarding for a very long time. I do caution one thing, however: I see the paradox you are identifying here, but I need a "so what" question answered. Certainly cities can turn around their sanitary conditions in a century's time, so what makes our history in Memphis so extraordinary. You might complicate this topic just a little with questions concerning race and class. The poorest Irish immigrants and African American slaves were left behind during the Yellow Fever epidemic, so what can be said about say, the charity and compassion of St. Jude, or the integrity of the city's poorest citizens to endure and yield one more generation after another?
DeleteI’m researching the cemeteries in Memphis. I like older cemeteries because of their beauty and solitude. Because of the age of the city, a lot of the original cemeteries in Memphis are Victorian, which was the golden age for cemeteries and the rebirth of the cemetery as a place of recreation. Victorian cemeteries are beautiful, they’re laid out like parks and feature ornate statues and mausoleums. Sadly, a lot of the older cemeteries in Memphis were neglected for a long time due to things such as urbanization and lack of space. Most of them have recently started to be taken care of, although not all of them. I’m planning on speaking to visitors and non-visitors to cemeteries in Memphis to see how people feel about them and about the dead. Memphis has a long history of dead between our high crime rate, high infant mortality rate, cancer rates, and the Yellow Fever epidemics and with such an awareness of death it seems odd that the cemeteries would be forgotten in the way that they have been. It would be interesting to know if these factors are connected with the neglect of the cemeteries and if they aren’t, why the cemeteries were allowed to be neglected. I’d like to find out what sort of death rituals and customs, if any, are still being observed by Memphis residents and if any of the Victorian rituals and customs are still being observed in any way. I’d like to see if cemeteries are still important to people, if they still regard it as important to reserve space for the dead as well as for the living. If this importance is being overshadowed by the practical measures involved with cemeteries, such as costs and space, and if that means new practices should be instituted like plot leasing and crematoriums.
ReplyDeleteHow do you plan to do your report? Also, if you can please video tape people reactions once they find out that playground their children play on is actually a cemetery, that would be great. :)
DeleteNyssia, you are certainly after my heart: this is the sort of project I myself would love to do. As you know my relationship with Elmwood--I have a book you might find useful, btw--I had a lot of opportunities to learn its history and come to appreciate Memphis history that much more. I am not a scholar of the topic, but as Elmwood is the only still-active cemetery in Memphis, I'm wondering how exactly you will frame your research. That is, are you going to look at others that didn't survive? How far back do you want to go? You might also think about the most modern cemetery we have in Memphis on Yates and Poplar and it's 'garden' atmosphere. How has that changed in the last century?
DeleteHey class, Aly here. I am thinking that I am going to do my semester long project on the Memphis Fire Department. I also think I am going to mainly focus on women that work in the department. In my eyes this is the ‘Year of the Woman’ in the Memphis Fire department because they have just named their first female Fire Director. I plan on set up interviews with women that work in different areas of the Fire Department. I also plan on interviewing men that may remember when women join the force in Memphis and also men that work with women in different areas of the Fire Department. I plan to video tape my interviews and take notes to help me along the way. Hopefully, I have some skills to put a video together and if not or as well do a PowerPoint. I am open to suggestions on questions you may want to know that I could ask the women and men. I am hoping to get an interview with Gina Sweat, the new Fire Director, so wish me luck. I am also wanting to know if any of these women or men have been a firefighter in any other cities and if Memphis has any effect on their work environment. I hope this is a good idea and grabs some of your interest. I would love so feedback on my project idea as well.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! I think you will have a wonderful time with it and learn so much from the history--which in itself is very interesting as it runs right into the legacy of Boss Crump--one of our mayors who effectively ran a political machine for years in city government. But, he did install the first fire brigade and merged Memphis Light, Water, and Gas.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei dont think my full comment posted...
ReplyDeleteSince I am an International Studies major, I want to do my semester long project about the various cultures in Memphis. When people think of Memphis, they do not normally think of diversity. However, if we pay attention, this city really does have variety. I plan to interview different businesses and people that I know personally to see what not only brought them to America, but what brought them to the Memphis area specifically. I will ask them a series of questions, take a few pictures, and maybe bring something I bought from the stores to show. As of this moment, I thought about separating my findings into three categories of people’s main reasoning that made them come here; business/ economic, educational, or social opportunity. Although how I categories them could change as the assignment progresses. There are a few businesses I have in mind that are very interesting. One of them is a really neat Arabic store near my house and another is the Asian/Vietnamese place in midtown. There are some other places, but I am still brainstorming. It would also be cool to interview some of the foreign exchange students we have here at Southwest. The main Idea is to get familiar with the different cultures that have come to Memphis, find their motivation for coming here, and to see if I can find a similarity amongst them all. I also hope to find out about other things like if their culture was welcomed here. In a region that is known for prejudice, I want to compare how different people’s beliefs and cultures were treated when they first arrived. I am, as well, curious to see how different places view America from an outside perspective and how that view changed after moving here. The project will be presented in PowerPoint form and I will have some videos/ other forms of media to present along with it. In the end, I plan to get others interested in the medley of people they didn’t even know were in Memphis.
ReplyDeletenevermind i think it worked
ReplyDeleteMy proposal for my semester long project is to create a documentary (of some sort) on Theater Memphis. When I was in middle/high school I performed in school plays. When I was in theater I enjoyed being on stage, off stage, helping others with costumes and make up, reading scripts, etc. For me theater is fun and it's an experience that everyone should witness. Last year I wanted to visit and volunteer with my friends at Theater Memphis but, my schedule was always jammed packed. I haven't written in stone my paradox yet. But I'm positive that I will find my paradox through research. An obvious paradox is that the real action happens off stage instead of on stage; but that's with theater in general. For this project I need to find a paradox that can only happen with Theater Memphis, and I will only find that with research and interviews. I plan to go the library and research the history of the Memphis Theater. In addition to that I will also film/ take photos (if allowed) and create a type written report of my interviews with the director, cast mates, crew members, and audience members. If I’m allowed to film; I would also provide a small clip of the play. I currently have four ways to present my final project
ReplyDelete1. Create a standard short documentary on theater Memphis.
2. Create a documentary presented in the form of a slide show.
3. Create a song about the Memphis Theater; with lyrics at the bottom of the screen and pictures at the top that correlated with the lyrics.
4. Create a picture slide show and speak to my audience members about Theater Memphis.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)
Wow! This sounds terrific--I can't wait to see how your project shapes up. Now, when you say that you have four ways to present--are you planning to do all four?? That would be quite a mammoth presentation. I would suggest the documentary/slide show with you narrating live. That idea gives them the narrative of the place, but with your narration the get a full interactive dimension to your project.
Delete