A Little Bit About Me

My name is Charles Bryan Matthews. I am a native of Memphis and its outlying areas. I was born to a farm in Arlington, just northwest of the city limits in March of 1984. I have moved almost 40 times in my life, never leaving the Memphis area so I have lived in most parts of the city at least once. I have driven trucks for three service companies, each catering to separate parts of the city, so I can find my way from almost anywhere to almost anywhere with relative ease. I went to Alturia, Macon road, and Raleigh-Bartlett Meadows elementary schools; I graduated from Craigmont High in 2002. I had my first full-time job when I was 16, pre-wiring houses for electricity and learning as much as I could about Electrical Engineering. I went back to electric work when I graduated high school, but focusing instead on low-voltage technologies and electronics. I have worked with computers, cameras, security systems, fiber optics, access and lighting control, audio/video, and home automation. I took a year off to take care of a sick father and spent another year working in a concrete factory. I didn’t start college until I last summer; I was 25 at the time. Come the end of this semester I will have completed 45 hours of coursework, working toward two degrees in Physics and Philosophy. I love my city and the heritage of being one of most influential cities in the creation of the south. What I don’t love is the tension that still creates racial boundaries and the uncleanliness of the city’s more unscrupulous denizens. I’m not sure exactly what I plan to learn from this class, but I hope to learn much of my city from what should prove to be an outsider’s perspective.