I thought I would take a moment to thank you for making this Honors Symposium such a fun and successful one! I am really thrilled with the way the course is going, and so delighted to have the chance to meet and get to know each one of you. Teaching this course this semester has truly been a treat!
I also know that the last thing you want right now is to be hassled about classwork, so I will be gentle. I would really, really love to know what you thought of Elmwood last Saturday. The weather was certainly on our side, as it was a cool, sunny, gorgeous day. I hope you found the trek insightful and interesting--and the grounds at Elmwood as beautiful as I do.
We'll mark the deadline March 15th for you to say something about your experience there. What did you learn? How did you find the place? Was it a bit creepy? A bit beautiful? A bit beauti-creepy? You tell me what your thoughts are!
In the interim, please be reminded that our next venture is the smART auction on the 19th of this month. Doug Branch puts a lot of heart, soul, and energy into this event, and it is our duty to support him. I do expect our class to be there early and help with the set-up--this means unpacking the artwork and setting it on display, and perhaps some readying of the snacks and drinks to be served. The event begins properly at seven p.m., so if I could ask all of you to arrive at six, that would be wonderful. I will be there as well.
And again, if you are an artist who would like to donate some artwork, please let me know ASAP, and I will get those donations to Doug; or, if you know someone artistic with a willingness to share his or her work, please let me know right away. I will see you soon!
I loved our Elmwood trip! It has been my favorite trip so far. I had never been there before and I truly enjoyed it. I even told my father that we should be buried there. It was such and beautiful day for that trip as well. Only downfall is that the pollen got to me pretty bad and I now am spending this lovely rainy Spring Break with a sinus infection. Even though I enjoyed the Elmwood trip, I did feel a little conflicted walking on the graves and taking pictures of the gravestones. I guess it is just some type of deep rooted hardwire that is within me that felt guilty walking on the dead and taking pictures. It begs to ask the question; where is the line between respecting the recently passed and taking note on history? I did snap a few shots and even wished I had brought my camera and not just my camera phone. I could see myself going back to Elmwood on a nice sunny day and when I do I will be sure to bring my camera. Elmwood was filled with so much history; I think it would take months to read every headstone. There were some many interesting headstones as well; that you couldn’t help but want to know the history of the person. I was drawn to many; for example, the one with the two sisters sitting upon the headstone, the firefighter memorial headstone, and the elaborate headstone of the young man that was killed in a car accident recently (the statue of the man with an angel flying above him). But, the headstone that stole the show, was Lillie Mae Glover’s. She was born September 9, 1906 and died March 27, 1985. Her headstone read “I’m Ma Rainey #2. Mother of Beale Street. I’m 78 Years old. Ain’t Never had enough of nothing and it’s too damn late now!”. I found out online that she ran away from home at the ae of 13 to sing in a traveling medicine show and soon found her way to fame. She also happens to have a music note on the sidewalk downtown, inducted into Chicago’s Hall of Fame of Music and Entertainment, and had her funeral procession downtown on Beale Street. I just happened to think her headstone was funny and that she had to have been an interesting person.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that you enjoyed the trip as much as you did! It is truly a beautiful, serene, and interesting place to visit. Although I don't think the deceased would mind your interest in recording their headstones via photograph (or notes), I support your reverence and respect.
DeleteI'm sorry you had to suffer a sinus flare-up! I hope it is on the mend--perhaps all this deluge of rain has tamped down the pollen for the time being!
Thanks for your post, Aly, and thanks for coming on the trip. I am so glad you had a positive experience--I love the anecdote about Lillie!
I found Elmwood Cemetery full of history; past, present and future. The past with great monuments; displays of angels in different poses and position, each with its’ own meaning; the bath tub marker symbolizing family surrounding; the field representing mass graves from the yellow fever. But the most interesting marker to me was the tree stumps, which represent being cut off before time; I had not seen this type of maker before.
ReplyDeleteThe present; the memorial statue, of the young boy who was recently killed in a car accident; how his family showed their love by representing his transformation from this life, being suddenly swept up by an angel, transporting him to heaven; the freshly dug graves with flower from a recent Homegoing, where the maker have yet to be placed.
The future; the monument erected by a husband and wife, the husband had passed on and the stone craving waiting for the engraving of the wife to join her husband.
The cemetery was not scary at all to me, but it made me think, as our instruction/tour guide was talking about the different areas of the park; how, even here, segregation exist; from rich to poor; race and color. But you could not tell it, in the way the grounds were maintained; the level of respect for the dead displayed no preference. We must all take this path, whether thru burial, cremation or lost at sea, it is worth discussing and planning with our family; your wishes, and like some of these individual, you may have to pick, plan and buy, before time.
It was a nice sunny day with a few flowering trees in bloom, I can only imagine the beauty of the trees and crepe myrtles in full blossom, throughout the park, as spring makes her arrival.
I like that you mentioned the flowering trees--that is the only thing I feel we missed out on during the tour. The last time I went in 2013 was on a Saturday morning in mid-April...I could wax poetic on the place and how beautiful the flowers were! There were magnolia, crepe myrtle, and one plant I could not identify, but it was big and beautiful and bright pink. I am so glad you enjoyed the tour!
DeleteI don’t find cemeteries creepy or weird and I don’t think I ever have. The school I attended for all of my elementary, middle, and high school years had a cemetery right next door, existing around death has always been something that I’m comfortable with. I do find Elmwood cemetery overwhelming at times, there’s such a lot of things to see that after a certain amount of time I simply need to leave. I don’t feel any guilt about visiting the cemetery, Elmwood exists to be visited. Nor do I feel any guilt about taking pictures, it isn’t allowed at some cemeteries and out of respect most cemetery photographers usually try not to get the name or personal details in the photo. Taking pictures of gravestones is a tradition in my family, there are whole sections of photo albums at my grandma’s house filled with photos of gravestones of relatives. It’s just something my family does and always has done. I was taught never to walk on the graves, which can be difficult at Elmwood where everything/ everyone is so close together. The creepiest thing I ever experienced in a cemetery was visiting my grandfathers grave over Spring Break and seeing my still living grandmother’s name and date of birth on his gravestone, just waiting for her. It was like a visual reminder of how empty her life became after his death and that disturbed me. My favorite grave at Elmwood is the Falls statue of the Whispering Woman, which to me serves as a reminder that one can visit the cemetery and enjoy it, but should always be conscious of what it means, not just to oneself, but to other people.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that you bring up the thing about 'walking on graves.' I too, was taught that it was disrespectful. And true, at Elmwood, it is difficult to negotiate where one grave ends and the other begins! Still it is a beautiful place, and it really does make us think about how we view death and the afterlife. As for your experience with your grandfather's grave, I can relate. My father passed in 1989, and when he was buried, his marker, which was shared with my mother who was still living, bore a symbol of his service in the navy during WWII. Hers, with the dates reading 1928-- had a lamp, symbolizing the light of knowledge. She was a teacher. I lost her in 2004. It is always a numbing reminder of our short time here, and how imminent the loss of a loved one is. I think it can also remind us to love each other as much as we can while we can. :)
DeleteFirstly, I apologize for missing the official tour. I was really ill the day before and I completely forgot. However, my individual trips were really interesting too. The first trek I took I spent most of the time moseying around just looking at the various graves. A few things really stand out to me when visiting Elmwood Cemetery. Despite its neighboring a major interstate and a railyard it is remarkably quiet. You would think that it would be really noisy, but there is an almost unreal peacefulness to it. Driving around, I felt as if I were cut off from the rest of the city. Elmwood still has that aura of a rural cemetery even though it is in the center of town. I loved how the different time periods could be seen by just looking around. To your left there would be a huge monument dedicated to a Civil War general, and then to your right you would find really modern, contemporary polished stones. It was really neat seeing the changing styles of the generations through the graves themselves. It is like looking at a timeline of Memphis history. My second trip was the most exciting for me because I actually found some ancestors of mine. There are a lot of McPhersons in Elmwood, but there were a few that I confirmed I am related to. William Wallace McPherson (born 1842, died in 1922) and his descendants are relatives of mine. I found some of his possible relatives dating back to 1811. I always thought that we were of Scottish heritage , I found out that we are from Irish immigrants. So even though I did not get to go with you guys as a class it was still really fun and enlightening!
ReplyDeleteThis past trip to Elmwood Cemetery has been my favorite trek so far! Just one of the many fascinating things that I learned from this trek was that the even if the headstone did not have the deceased’s name on it, it could still represent the person who was buried if it was either a lamb, a tree stump cut off, a shattered pottery or some other ones that I cannot remember at the moment. The most touching graves to me were either the young children that died, or the military graves, whether they were killed in action, missing in action or just died from natural causes. Another thing that was moving was the plot of land dedicated to the people who died from the yellow fever, even if there were no headstones in that particular section. My favorite headstones were the two sisters who had themselves portrayed as their “ideal self,” along with their brother, who was guarded by a lion. The fact that the brother is not buried there makes the headstone even more special and touching; I love the fact that the sisters loved their brother enough to create an elaborate headstone for him, without knowing where he was. To me, that is beautiful because it encapsulates what a siblinghood is supposed to be, not filled with sibling rivalry. I did not find Elmwood Cemetery to be creepy; my family has been going to a military cemetery every Memorial Day since I was born so going to a cemetery is not out of the ordinary for me. I thought Elmwood Cemetery was absolutely beautiful; I want to go back once the landscape is blooming. The cemetery was not at all creepy; the only reserve that I have about the cemetery is that the placement of some graves makes it next to impossible to not walk over the graves. No matter how hard I tried I would find myself accidentally stepping where a body should be buried. All in all, Elmwood Cemetery is a beautiful historic asset to Memphis.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy going to Elmwood Cemetery. It's sad that the people are gone but at least they are remembered. The grave with the swing over it was the most memorable to me. The story goes that a father left behind a young son. The sun was afraid to visit his dad at his new resting place. An adult that was close to his deceased father build a swing for the child; to swing on while visiting his father. This swing made visiting a resting place with a gloomy atmosphere less scary for the child. The cemetery had huge beautiful trees with lovely purple flowers. I wanted to touch the pedals but I didn't want to disrupt the peace. There's something about being at a cemetery that makes you want to be extra respectful. I felt uncomfortable walking on the grass because I stepped on some people's graves (the grass part, not the tombstone part). I suppose, I felt bad because I wouldn't want anyone stepping on my resting place. Another grave that I remember was the one of the baseball player's. His grave was pretty but his story was sad. He passed away days before his 21st birthday. I found his story tragic because I could imagine how devastated his family must have been. Instead of celebrating another year of Life they had to plan for a funeral service. And although the baseball players grave beside the ones that were the saddest to me where the children's Graves. Honestly, that could have been anyone; we don't have control over certain situations. Situations such as when we are born, how we grow up, whether we develop diseases or not. As far as I'm concerned I have done nothing to deserve to still be alive; I am only here because of the grace of God. We all play a game called life and the cemetery is full of people who have ended the game. Going to the cemetery made me count my blessings because even though we live in a messed up world I'm still alive and I still have a chance to make it a little less messed up. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! Also, count your blessings because you are all beautiful people that still have an opportunity to impact the world in a positive way! :)
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