It took me 36 hours on the ground in this city by the Mississippi to get the answer to the question of "what is a person from Memphis called?" but I was relentless and succeeded.
The other questions I asked were, "what do Memphians take pride in for their city?" (Blues, BarBQ, FedEx" and "what are real estate prices like?" ($200k for a 4 bdrm/2 bath in a nice neighborhood.) That was just the tipe of the iceberg as tte four of us spent the weekend in Tennessee as part of the wedding festivites for Tamar's family.
A firm believer in the need to learn about the location you visit and experience its unique attributes, I made sure we (well, at least Calanit and I) were off and running as soon as we landed. (The logistical elements of moving 2 kids, getting up at 4.30am, taking car seats, strollers, and clothes is a story for another day. The rough parallel is the US Army invading Iraq.)
Anyway, I took Calanit to Graceland and, like my dad did for my siblings and me, made a point of explaining the significance of Elvis to American pop culture. We also talked down to the river, where I told Calanit about its importance to American economic development. Beale St. is the heart of the Blues culture, which was complemented by a visit to the Stax museum of Soul Music, so we could talk about American music and the African American culture of the Deep South. We also saw the famous ducks of the Peabody hotel parade out of the elevator and into the pond.
All of this plus tremendous family bonding time, including a mock football game in the conference room of the hotel where we dstayed, made for a memorable weekend.
(The picture at right is Calanit in front of Elvis' fur covered bed in Graceland.)
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