Hello, again class. I thought I'd take this spare moment to prepare a post well in advance for you respond with a brief introduction. This reference would help me acquaint myself with everyone. I so enjoyed our chat tonight, and am looking forward to more!
JL
I am not really sure what I am supposed to be posting in this introduction
ReplyDeletealexandra barnes
As I mentioned last week in class, you only need to introduce yourself. How long have you lived in Memphis? How do you feel about it? What is the best/worst about Memphis to you? That sort of thing.
DeleteHello Class! My name is Alyson Pyfrom, but please feel free you call me Aly. I am very excited to take the Honors Inquiry class this year. I am a Memphis born and raised woman, and excited to learn new things about my city. I have lived in other states before and plan on trying out a few more in the future. However, I can’t help but come back to my hometown of Memphis. I hate that Memphis gets a bad rep and I hate that people from the area never speak about the good side of Memphis to others. I think in order to have a well-liked city one needs to focus on the positives and not the negatives when talking about the city to others outside of the area. Many people from other cities and states often associate Memphis with murder, drugs, and poverty (Thanks a lot The First 48 ). Every city tends to have their issues with crime, but why do we tend to dwell on that so much here? Perhaps I am just so numb and use to crime because I am from Memphis.
ReplyDeleteI think that as a community we need to highlight the best of Memphis. I hope we can get back to people thinking Memphis is all about Rock’N’Roll, Blues, BBQ, and Elvis. When I want to explore Memphis I’m all about good food at new local restaurants, The Orpheum, Beale Street, and Cooper Young. I love arts and craft festivals that are held in Memphis (Cooper Young Fest being my favorite). I use to love Memphis In May Beale Street Music Fest but I am just getting too old for that in my opinion, unless there is someone I really want to see. I like attending charity events as well. I just recently attended Drag Queen Bingo hosted by the charity PetsAlive that was so much fun. Memphis Tigers football is my jam and so are Memphis Grizzlies Basketball games. I take simple pleasure in going to the movies here in Memphis for it is my favorite pass time and love when we have The Memphis Indie Film Fest. Well, I hope this introduction gives you all some insight to me and my relationship with Memphis. If you would like to know more please feel free to ask, but I am sure throughout this course we will all get to know one another better. I hope we all have fun in this class and learn new things about the city.
Welcome, Aly! I agree with you that the rest of the country needs to see a more positive side to Memphis: only too often do I see Memphis paired with themes of guns, poverty, violence--and racism. The rest of the world seems to want to push for change and positivity, it is time that we spotlight the positive steps Memphis has taken. I am delighted to have you in my class and I am anxious to know more about you--and about Drag Queen Bingo...!
Deletei agree! we need to love Memphis before others can
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Brenda Walls, I am a native Memphian. I have lived in the suburb of Memphis, approximately 56 years. I have visited many places within and outside of the United States, but there is no place like home. I have no desire to leave my city.
My knowledge of the city is limited to work, school, major building and job related venue. When I go into the city, I usually go directly to the place of my destination. I have visited Beale Street approximately five times; Graceland once; the Civil Right Museum, once when it was first established as a historical site and last year for the opening of the new, remolded and updated exhibits. There are numerous places in the city I have not visited, not because of lack of interest; it is mainly due to time allowance.
When I drive into the city I usually rely on the GPS for direction to places I’m not familiar with. Oh, I know major Thera-fair and roads but other than that I rely on the aid of the GPS.
Once upon a time Memphis was a place where people were friendly and concern about others, a family orientated place; but as time passes it seems as though the atmosphere is changing. The lack of Love that now exists in the city (not all areas) creates a hesitation on me traveling late evenings and nights. Like most places there is a certain area that I refuse to travel without the company of another.
In the Honor Inquiry class first meeting, the introduction of the places we will visit and explore will definitely enhance and enlighten my view of Memphis. I look forward to the experience of exploring the historical sites, writing and sharing my thoughts and opinions with others.
Welcome Brenda! I am so glad to meet you and as I said during our first meeting, I believe you are my new hero! It is wonderful and inspiring to see a strong and independent woman such as yourself involved in a primarily male-dominated industry. I hope that this experience in Honors Inquiry will take you to places that you might have missed out on, due to your busy schedule, and offer you the rich and fun experience it promises to be:)
DeleteMy name is Nyssia Ruston and my relationship with the city of my birth is conflicted. I come from a long line of country folk, none of whom understand why my immediate family lives in the city. I went to a private school and everyone I met was trying to get as far away from Memphis as fast as possible. They were people who ended up in Memphis against their will, usually to keep their jobs. They saw Memphis as a dirty city, filled with uneducated people and crime. They were people who had come from the wild exotic climes of Oregon and New York (clean places with no illiteracy or crime as we well know) and passed their prejudice onto their children, who were often born here. The majority of the people I went to school with no longer live in Memphis, they’ve returned to Oregon and New York or to the places their parents were from, places they weren’t born. I knew, and still know very few people who were born in Memphis and who weren’t yearning to get out. The ones who can’t leave keep moving further and further into the country. They spend their vacations elsewhere and tell me that one day they’ll go somewhere better. This confuses me because I was born here, in most cases the people telling me they want to leave have children who were born here. Memphis is part of my identity and it’s a place I’ve been told I need to leave for almost as long as I can remember. It’s only recently, now that I’m an adult, that I’ve met people who aren’t ashamed to be from Memphis or to have moved to Memphis. People who looked at their terrified family members when they told them that they were moving here and ignored them. There isn’t many of them, but they’ve helped me accept the city of my birth and without them I still wouldn’t be able to find my way around Memphis.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the longer I know you, the more I discover commonalities between us. I too feel very conflicted about Memphis--and perhaps that's what Rushing means by "paradox." In her text she frequently mentions the inner conflict Memphians express about this city. I think that, in order to understand much of this conflict--and the reputation Memphis has earned over the years--one needs only look at the history, of course. This is the "birthplace of the blues," but it is also the place where Dr. King was murdered. In addition to that historic event, Memphis has been shadily connected to other themes involving Klan activity and systematized racism. What, if anything, can be done to change our own feelings about our city? Should we care what others think?
DeleteI think the best thing would be to explore Memphis, that's what has given me a better opinion of the city, just going around and looking at things.
DeleteWe should care about what others think only in so much as we should take it as a challenge to make things better; improve education and try to stop violence, etc.
I suppose it would be apropos for me to do an introduction as well, because even though I am the facilitator, I am also a student of Memphis culture myself. My name is Dr. Julie L. Lester. I was born in Memphis and I have lived here all of my life. As much as I too have become disillusioned with Memphis sometimes, my travels always lead me back home to a sense of love and familiarity.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are not from here, however. Both were born in Mississippi in a little hamlet called Neshoba County--a place that, if you read your history books, reveals a legacy of racism and some pretty horrifying things went on there. The three Civil Rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Cheney were murdered by a Neshoba sheriff's deputy in 1964. Only in recent years have some of these crimes been brought to light, but the Neshoba incident has never fully been reconciled. This is why, in some part, I chose to dedicate my life to African American Literature: to reveal some of the mysteries of my hometown and my parents' hometown, and to understand why there was so much secrecy around those events.
Heavier topics aside, I received my Ph.D. in 2011 and came to work at Southwest that same year. Since then I have grown as an educator and had the opportunity to teach a variety of subjects and get to know many wonderful students. I have a beautiful daughter, who is planning to return to SW for her AS before moving on to University of Memphis, and I have two adorable dogs who have no education: they just LOVE.
Hi class,
ReplyDeleteChante’ Dobson is my name. I first arrived in Memphis three years ago. It was two weeks before the start of my sophomore year of high school. Well, what would have been my sophomore year, I ended up skipping a grade but that’s another story. As for how well I know the city of blues, not that well. I know essential hot spots; the malls (Carriage Crossing, Oakcourt, Wolfchase, etc), the schools (high schools and colleges), and the restaurants. I enjoy the multicultural atmosphere the city of Memphis creates. Everyone here is different; different ethnicities, sexual preferences, religions, etc. Since everybody is different from their neighbor, in some sort of way, nobody is an outcast for being different (at least not by the majority of population). My previous home was the small town of Spindale, North Carolina. Located at near the Appalachian Mountains, it’s about twenty minutes away from South Carolina. And our closest mall is thirty minutes away. Spindale is a friendly town but diversity is not their specialty. My eighth grade year; there were four African American students out of the eighty something honors academy students. Caucasians students in the honors academy made up about 90 percent of the population. So when I moved when I moved to Memphis, seeing someone with a little bit of melanin in their skin was a breath of fresh air. My only complaint about Memphis would be the roads. I have one word to describe Memphis roads; busted. The roads are cracked, full of potholes, are too close together, and always have traffic on them. Not to mention that my fellow, licensed, automobile drivers can’t drive worth two cent. Everybody is driving over the speed limit, crossing into other lanes without a turn sign, and passing someone only to be stopped at the same red light as the person they passed (or tried to pass). My main goal in taking the Honors Inquiry class is to get my honors diploma. With that being stated, I’m also looking forward our class field trips and our semester project that we have to present. The class field trips because it will help me learn my way around Memphis and the semester projects because I will be able to put it on my resume. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)
I can't help but laugh when reading your complaint about Memphis. Our are always awful! As for traffic I can see coming from a smaller town it must be a shock, but you must have never driven in Atalanta traffic before. Compared to most cities are traffic is a walk in the park! Also, I must admit as a Memphian I know all the back roads and short cuts to take to get around traffic so hopefully as the years come you may learn the short cuts as well. Good Luck!
DeleteHello Y'all! I am Alexandra Faith Barnes. This is my second year and last semester at Southwest. I plan to transfer to the University of Memphis this fall as an International Studies major. I chose this major due to my fascination with other cultures and diversities of the world. I have lived in Memphis most of my life, however, I have moved around quite a bit too. I took this class to get a better understanding of the culture in my own home town. I feel like most people from this area take for granted the rich history we have. I am very interested to learn about it. Being of much Scotch-Irish descent, I would like to discover more about the immigrants who first came here and why they did. I have a deep-rooted love of the blues, so naturally, I cannot wait to see more of our musical history. I think many also overlook some of the major contributions Memphis had in civil rights. We get a lot of bad attention for racial tensions of the past, but I would like to know about some of the good that came from everything. I believe this class is going to be a great opportunity to not only read about our city, but to genuinely experience it as well. The exertions seem like they are going to be exciting! I hope, above all else, to gain a new sense of pride in my roots, and to be able to say some really cool things about Memphis when people ask where I am from. I see Memphis changing, in many ways, for the better, and I want to be a part of the people helping to see its beauty rather than bashing it. (What I am saying is a want to prove why we are better than Nashville).
ReplyDeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Kara Marr, I was born in Memphis and have lived here for all of my life. I am currently a sophomore pursuing my Associates of Science with an emphasis in Psychology at Southwest before transferring to the University of Memphis to obtain my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. I believe Memphis has great potential, and has an extremely unique history that should be learned. The best part about Memphis to me is being able to see both professional and college basketball games at the FedEx Forum, along with being able to see my favorite animal (the Cheetah!) at one of the best zoo’s in America! Memphis was named in the top ten list of zoos in America by Fodor’s Travel in 2015. Another thing that I like about Memphis is that it is home to two state of the art children’s hospitals; Le Bonheur Children Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The worst part about Memphis is lack of attractions available during both summer and winter. Instead of having to travel to enjoy summer break, I would enjoy the opportunity to stay in my hometown and have fun at the same time. Something that I wish would change about Memphis is the lack of communal feeling between neighbors and neighboring cities such as Bartlett, Cordova and Arlington. I believe Memphis should be a place where families can gather together on a nice summer day for a picnic spread out on a red plaid blanket and play football afterwards and live the American dream as it has always been imagined.