My Memphis: City as Text

As my “Memphis: City as Text” final project for Honors Inquiry I am going to begin writing a book about growing up white in urban Memphis. The work will not be directly autobiographical in the sense that it is a story about my life. It will, however be taken partly from my experiences and from the experiences of people I knew growing up. The format will also be autobiographical, told from the first person perspective. I have chosen this style of writing because most of the human condition is kept within the confines of the human mind. Writing a story from the perspective of “I thought” rather than “he thought” should offer a more personal, less strictly-factual image of growing up as a poor white person in an environment socially-run by black people. I’m not sure what sort of response to expect from being the author of such a book, but I am hopeful that those that read it will take it in the spirit with which it is written, and not read too much into the white/black references that will no doubt fill its pages.