Room 306

Today I went hunting for a new address with a real estate agent. I think I have a place I can call home. It's near the heart of downtown and is called the Fogelman YMCA building. Funny, when I was looking on the Internet, I discounted this place but when I saw it in person, I was hooked. Hopefully all will work out and I can get this deal done. I still have to sell my loft in Atlanta, but I'm confident that in time things will work out.

After eating at the Memphis's oldest restaurant, Arcade, I set out walking about the city to get more familiar with the place. All of a sudden I see this sign, National Civil Rights Museum and realized I was near the Lorraine Motel. Turning on the next street off S. Main I saw it. To be honest it was a very surreal experience setting foot on hallowed ground.

The museum is wonderful, a true gem of the story of our people's struggle. Just peering into the room where Dr. King spent his last hours was eerie in itself. There is so much history to be told in both the motel and the flophouse James Earl Ray occupied one can't take it all in in one visit.

This is a must see for anyone visiting Memphis, this city has a story to tell.

PARADOX

Since my arrival to Memphis last week I have been able to see some of this beautiful city which has created quite an impression on me. One of my goals was to find a place that would substitute Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. Found it!

Tom Lee Park is one of those treasures every city should have. Located down on the shores of the Mississippi. this park contains all that I was looking for. The history and man who the park is named after is very intriguing.

In the throes of segregation, Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century, one man, Tom Lee, pushed all of that to the side to save fellow human beings that were not his color.

On 8 May 1925, Lee saved the lives of 32 Civil Engineers whose steamship, M.E Norman , exploded on the Mississippi river 15 miles south of the city.

Lee, who could not swim, disregarded his own life to save human beings bent on keeping their boots on his neck. It mattered none that these same people saw him as inferior for on this day he held their lives in his hands, he was God's instrument of life or death.

On that fateful day he saved as many as he could, 32 in all and in the end 23 did perish, but for that one day, whites in one of the most segregated cities in the south were grateful that a black man cast away his prejudices and saved lives.

Two years after Lee's death in 1952 the city erected an obelisk and dedicated a park in his memory. A storm destroyed the original statue in 2003 so three years later a new obelisk was erected along with a bronze statue.

So many things have happened here, from the assassination of Dr. King to the death of Elvis Presley. No one should ever forget Tom Lee because he to this day means so much to so many.

Including me.

Clunker Of A Party

The much anticipated "Cash for Clunkers" program started last week and already the GOP is calling it another failure in the young adminstration of President Obama. While heading to Memphis on Friday the "genius" of the right, Rush Limbaugh, railed against the program, even going as far as putting a "car salesman" on his show to derail the program.

Funny, seems like the average American see things a little differently because every car show room in America has been filled with people wanting to participate in the program. Yes, there has been glitches and the program has been so successful that the initial $1B USD allotted has almost run out. Well, that is a good problem to have, especially since most of these dealerships were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy the day President Obama took office.

What Rush and others of the G no P won't share with you are ideas they might have to make things better. Why? Because this is a party devoid and bankrupt of ideas. Every move President Obama has made, the G no P has tried to obstruct and delay. They don't want our nation or the President to succeed because if the latter does pull it off it will only highlight their ineptitude over the past eight years and besides, cash for clunkers was not their idea to begin with.

This is yet another example of a party completely out of touch with reality. When you have dimwits like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin rail about the evils of ACORN as this nation struggles to pull itself out of an economic morass then you know that these people have no ideas or credibility. These and other conservatives are in continual denial mode, hoping that the American people will somehow forget the past eight years; the messes they created to get us here.

Well, sorry, we're not going to forget and every time you shout to the top of your lungs we will shout even louder. Conservatives are morally bankrupt, lusting for the day they can get back in power to screw the average American again, but it is not going to happen. President Obama didn't cause this mess, but he is the one entrusted to clean it up.

It is time for all of us to flush these idiots down the toilet for good!

Time Capsule

July 31 will be a day I'll never forget. I closed out 22 years of living in Atlanta and moved to Memphis, heading for the "wild blue yonder". Closing the door of my loft was like the a pharoahs tomb being closed, only to be reopened at a later date. The art and artifacts are there, just as I left them. The finality of it all got to me as I headed west on I-20 to an uncertain future.

I am not afraid, but I'm curious as to the nature of my living here on this city on the Mississippi. I can say that I'm close to water again, even though it is not close to the body of water that I grew up living in Charleston.

The people, the scene, it's so surreal, different and I know it is going to take some adjustment. This is the furtherest west I've ever lived and I know abosolutely nothing about the city, sans from what I have read.

To have lived in two cities that marked the birth and death of Dr. King is surreal in itself. I must admit that I am drawn to this place. For some reason I feel like I belong here and a a lot of questions will be answered - finally.

As I arrived on the outskirts of the city yesterday the first thing I muttered was, "Why in the hell am I here". We All know that God wants me here for a reason and the whys will be answered.

His work is mysterious...