I want to take a moment to apologize for my absence Saturday night at the art auction. Please know that if it hadn't been for a 14-year-old, money-sucking clunker who ran a fever, I would have been there. I missed you all, and I missed seeing Doug and my colleagues. In any event...
We will be visiting Sun Studios next! In keeping with our modification to the schedule, we will tour Sun Studios on Saturday, March 26th, which is why no actual class meeting was scheduled for this Tuesday. In lieu of that, I am asking all of you to please comment to this post with an update on your projects. Let us know how things are going, what discoveries you've made, what roadblocks you've hit, and so on. I know this has been a hectic semester and we all have so many things going on, but I hope you will keep the faith and don't despair if and when you have difficulty. I am always here for you (even when I'm not physically around). If you need to talk with me about your project, just text or call and I am at your service.
I look forward to hearing of your progress, and to seeing you next Saturday.
DL
Project Update: Tom Lee Park
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the participating in the Art Show at Burke’s Book Store; another place in Memphis I hadn’t visited. It was also nice meeting and mingling with other students, faculty and friends involved in the same endeavor. I’m glad I didn’t bring my little art; it would NOT have measured up.
Finally I have started to compile some of my information for the project. I spend two weeks or so, tying to schedule a time to interview Dr. Wade; but because of her illness, schedule, poetry reading and spring break, it was not successful.
I thought about changing my topic several times, but I am going to force myself to complete this one. I have decided to take a different approach, instead of just focusing on the statue and what I think, about its symbolic meaning; I am going to focus on Tom Lee “the man” and Tom Lee “the park”. Actually I was thinking about going back in time, (in regards to the park). I don’t want to give too much information to you all; I do want you to be interested.
I have taken several pictures and interviewed quite a few visitors in the park, even with that, I am still trying to pin point one or two main ideas and stay on task. I don’t want the project to be long and uninteresting, so I keep modifying things. I do think power point is my best solution.
There is a lot going on with me, and I am trying to clear something off my plate, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough time in a day.
I am looking forward to our meeting at Sun Studio on Saturday; what time are we meeting? I did not have anything in my note regarding the time.
I understand how you are feeling overwhelmed: that is commonplace these days! It sounds like you are nurturing this project as you ought to be. If you need to tweak some details of the project, that is fine. I think you are on the right track concerning how to approach this project in terms of foci--that is, Tom Lee the person and Tom Lee the park. I think that strategy will yield some interesting results. Oh, and we will meet at two p.m. at Sun Studio. :)
DeleteI enjoy learning about BB King. I figured he would be perfect for this presentation because his death is contemporary. It was not even a year ago when he died. Learning about his childhood is very surprising, because he was not born in Memphis. A part of our presentation is that we should try to include some kind of paradox, and I guess BB King not being born in Memphis could be that paradox. He has his own place in Memphis, which I still need to visit, but he is not from Memphis. I also found in my research that he did some recording at Sun Studio. Hopefully our class trek on Saturday will provide me more information that I could use in my presentation.
ReplyDeleteOther than his history, I did not start on research for his role during the Civil Rights Movement. The man was 89 when he died, so he was most likely had some kind of involvement with it. So after we visit Sun Studio, I need to take time off of my schedule to go to Beale St. and visit his club. It just would not be right to do a presentation on him and not visit his club.
For that matter, Elvis was born in Tupelo, MS, not Memphis, yet everyone associates Memphis with being his 'hometown.' I suppose you could say something about how transplants to Memphis from other, neighboring areas have come to symbolize a unique Memphis sound. I also think it would be a good idea to visit his nightclub, as you say. It might give you some insight in ways you hadn't expected.
DeleteMy project is going well, I was able to visit three more cemeteries this week, making up for the time lost before and despite having the worst allergies. I have done some more research into my subject, which is slow going because of a certain vagueness on my part about what exactly I want and because of the age of my subjects. I’ve also realized that not everyone has my passion for hanging out in cemeteries and that not every cemetery inspires or desires the same level of visitors that Elmwood gets, so interviewing people is difficult. However, I’m taking that as a good thing, the fact that some cemeteries, such as Forest Hill Midtown don’t get many visitors is part of what I was interested in researching. I have to think about why people only visit that cemetery if they’re attending a funeral or visiting a certain grave. It also caused me to look into why Elmwood encourages visitors, which is something that most operating cemeteries don’t do these days. I have the majority of my PowerPoint presentation mapped out, if not already done. All in all, I think everything is going along smoothly and I’m very excited to see how it all turns out!
ReplyDeleteDid I ask you whether you had considered talking to Kim McCollum at Elmwood? She is the director there, and she is very friendly, so she might be a promising lead for general information about 'what attracts' us to specific cemeteries, and the more culturally-based questions you might have. Even if the other cemeteries have been difficult to tap for information, Kim could probably share her insight on those, too. I could call her for you if you are interested.
DeleteI'm still molding my project,I'm deciding which direction I would like to take it in. So far I have collected interviews from the hairstylists, some customers (long time clients and newcomers), and the owner. I even got an interview with the owner's daughter. I have collected some photos of the hair salon and some of the clients getting their hair styled. Now i'm currently working on figuring out why the hair salon is important to Memphis. See, this hair salon caters to a specific group; that group is natural hair. When the salon first opened it was the first in the area of it's kind. Knowing this information sparked an inspiration in me, it made me want to be the first to do something that helped out the community. I want to inspire the audience to have the same aspirations of making the community a better place. I want my project to highlight the importance of small niche businesses and inspire people to serve the need of an overlooked group in their community. And for me, I believe that telling the story of "A Natural Affair" salon and Mrs. Berry-Brooks is the best way to convey my message. For me I learn best when I can see, hear, and write down things. I will not be able to give the audience a pencil and pad but I will be able to reach them with sound & visuals. My presentation will be similar to a picture storybook. It will be a slide show. Each slide will be like a page in a book. There will be a photo and words underneath the photo. I haven't decided if I will make the words rhyme or not yet. But I will let you know if I do! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)
ReplyDeletePlease do not use rhyming captions.
DeleteMay I ask if this salon is owned and managed by African Americans? If so, you have a very interesting angle to work with: African American-owned businesses in Memphis! Especially if it is run by an African American woman. This aspect is of particular interest because Memphis has, historically, been a place where business run by blacks have been suppressed--thinking of Ida B. Wells, the downturn of Beale Street--a formerly black business district. I think you should point up the historically and socially relevant aspects of your topic rather than staging it as a storybook.
My project of delving deep into the history, outcome and repair of the Yellow Fever and the disastrous effect it had on Memphis is going as well as I could hope. I have already interviewed a viral immunologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and I have scheduled an interview with a Tennessee congress candidate/County Registrar to ask questions about how Memphis was rebuilt after the loss of the charter. I have acquired pictures for my PowerPoint presentation, but I still have yet to organize the presentation. I am excited about being given the opportunity to shed light on a lesser known subject with my fellow peers. I plan on researching statistics on the deaths of Yellow Fever, along with information about the virus itself. I am hoping that my fellow classmates will enjoy gaining knowledge of an extremely historical period that jolted their lively hood. I am hoping that my peers will enjoy listening to the redemptive tale of Memphis: the city that was left desolated by a medical problem that became a metropolis and a hot spot for hospitals and research centers. I am hoping to collect more details on each of my key points before I begin compliling all of my pictures, facts and notes. I have run into problems of interviewing; some people that I have interviewed have not been extremely knowledgeable about the Yellow Fever devastation leading to the desolation of Memphis, therefore causing the major part of my interviews to be limited. But I am sure that I will be able to reconstruct my project so that between their information and other research that I am conducting on the subject, I will be able to properly organize my presentation. However, I am getting anxious that my project will not be long enough. Are there any parameters that should be met, aside from speaking between eight and ten minutes?
ReplyDelete