Brad Watson

This reading was the perfect end to my otherwise awful day. The experience screamed "Buy this book!", and if only my bank account wasn't stamping out that sound with a more resounding whisper "I'm empty!", I would have. I will most definitely get "Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives" once I have the funds as Brad Watson's delightfully dark sense of humor is more than satisfying to any mind that craves more than the social standard for written entertainment (take that all you tired old critics).

I can't stop thinking about that magnificent toe, or the way the mother screamed in vein to wide eyed children who clearly had not a clue what she expected. My absolute favorite was the story excerpt with the couple when the wife leapt on top of the man's back and he flipped her off in the yard. It's much nicer to view such mishaps in a comic light rather than the frazzled, tense mood in which it is experienced and generally displayed. The subtle sense of humor that sneaks up on you just when you need it the most shines a light where a dark emotion usually prevails. Where exposed nerves once dwelled Brad Watson found laughter. Only the best of writers can unveil the humor within such tense moments so organically. Another thing that I enjoyed was his explanation of his process. All things come from personal experience and you can't write about what you don't know. I like the fact that many of his stories begin with an idea that stems from his own life and the relateable situations he incorporates into his work. "Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives" is the book that those look for lightheartedness in the worst of times have been waiting for.

Brad Watson Reading

I have not attended many readings, but this one was excellent. Mr. Watson was able to clearly convey the passion he had for the stories in his reading. He said that this book was the most fun for him to write, and it was evident in the emotion he put into the tone of the characters. I liked that he read us the first couple of paragraphs of his stories because sometimes it feels like the authors try too pick excerpts that will appeal to there audience even though the excerpts may not represent the true theme of the book. Mr. Watson choosing to read the first couple of paragraphs gave a a feel for the mood and themes of his writing. He basically said "This is what the book is like, and I hope you like it. If not, oh well."
I really do not understand why the critics did not see the humor in his writing. Thinking back on the imagery from a few of the scenes I am still laughing out loud. One image I cannot get out of my head is the scene where the young boys are staring slack-jawed at their mother who is yelling about being under-appreciated. If it was a movie I can imagine the scene as the camera cuts back and forth from the mother yelling to the children hearing only the vacuum. His humor is not something you would find in today's pop culture that is obsessed with cheesy comedy and dick jokes. It is dry and very grotesque. Even his story about his meeting with the doctor made me laugh out loud. I knew I should not be laughing at a baby being torn apart, but the idea that the doctor was telling them the story three days before she was due was just so absurd that I could not help it. I plan to buy the book once it is out on paperback (cant afford new hard-covers on a student income) and hopefully I can send it to his office at the University of Wyoming for an autograph since I missed it this time.

My project at present

To be completely honest, I'm not too awfully fond of how my project is going. Partially procrastination, partially overexertion, I have only written about 2300 words of my 6000 word goal. The book is unfolding quite nicely, and my notes are adequate to make my way through the next chapter, but the actual writing is not progressing very quickly. I will have to really apply myself to make my goal by the deadline. The writer's workshop was very helpful, giving me a new viewpoint stylistically as well as helping me come up with a systematic unraveling of the plot-line. All in all, I am pleased with my work, I just wish that I was farther along.

Italy's Little Memphis, Venice in the Age of

The old forest hike was a very nice walk. The wind was brisk, the air clean and cool. I think the smell of the forest air was my favorite part, a smell I have missed since my childhood. I played catch up for the first quarter of a mile or so, but once I got caught up the hike was slow and informative, a nice pace for a trek through Memphis history. I saw my grandmother. I chatted with friends. We made dirty jokes and watched our teacher hug a tree. But the names of the plants were forgotten the second we walked into the Brooks Museum of Art. Lunch was extravagant, the crepe was delicious, the French beverage I drank was grotesque, and yet it somehow complimented my brunch. The camaraderie added a nice overtone to an already pleasant day, but the real magic was when we stepped into the exhibit. The paintings were very Memphian. They portrayed a dirty, lived-in city in the prime of its degradation. You could easily see that some of the paintings were done for money while some were done for artistic expression. My favorite was the painting of the centaurs. There was an extravagant beauty to the painting when witnessed from afar, but a closer examination revealed its truer nature. The centaurs raped and pillaged the grotto scene as the men fought tooth and nail, literally biting and scratching, to fend them off. I spent as much time examining this painting as I did most of the others combined. I saw my home. I saw myself. I saw my life. It moved me in the way that only art can, and I am very glad I got the chance to experience it.

The paradox of Prose

I like Wanda Rushing's book. A lot. She knows her Memphis History well. She seems to have a love/hate thing going for the city, something to which I can very closely relate. It was a little slow to start. The first few pages were very droll, but the book very quickly picks up speed. It reads like a novel, not an informative book. More like prose than an informative text, I like the forward momentum the book carries. Once it picks up speed, it's a hard book to put down. I'm behind in my reading, as I am in my blogs, but everything I have read so far has been easy to understand. I can't say that everything she has written has been to my liking, but then again not everything in Memphis is to my liking. My one big complaint with the book is the idolatry. She idealizes Memphis. She paints Fed-Ex as this big saving grace economically avoiding the fact that college students drop out of The University of Memphis to make an easy $40K a year doing mindless labor. She points out all the good things about Memphis and, although she does mention the bad side, she tends to focus less on it. You can't have the Yang without the Ying and I just wish she had focused a little more on what makes the city part of the "dirty south" today. She does a very good job in this regard when it comes to the founding and formation of the city, but the negative side dies off later in the book to make way for a dreamer's vision of what the city is and what it can be. Memphis is Memphis. Memphis has always been Memphis. And Memphis will always be Memphis. There is no salvation, no drop of water to cool its tongue.

The Personal fulfillment of Sun Studios

I have always been a child of music. When I was still a young child, my older brother and I shared a room and some of the few occasions that I ever stood up to my seven-year senior were for my music. I grew up with Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. My short-stayed step-mother had the house littered with Elvis Plates and other memorabilia. A saxophone, a piano, a bass, and a distorted guitar are capable of providing every range of music from the sexiest ballads to the sweetest lullabies. Walking through the door into the lobby, I felt none of that. I saw commercialization in the form of coffee cups and tee-shirts. I didn't feel like I was sharing a moment with Perkins or Orbison. Sam Phillips was gone from the place. But the second I got upstairs and the tour began, I felt my Memphis coming back to me. Seeing the "portable" vinyl press and tape decks Phillips used to lay his first tracks was an intense sight. Listening to the sounds of Memphis music from its beginnings was intoxicating. Watching a video of young Elvis even brought back a small piece of the childhood love of Music I had listening to Elvis and Watching old Elvis movies with my dad. The studio its self was exactly as I thought it would be. A mixture of new and vintage equipment sprawled out, the ceiling falling apart, masking tape marking the floors. And then my personal piece de resistance: I played my harmonica, albeit not too well, amidst the souls of Cash, Lewis, Perkins and Presley. For just a few seconds, it became the million dollar quintet.

Frost/Nixon

Saturday night we attended a great play at the NEW Playhouse on the Square. Frost/Nixon was a superb production that changed my view of Nixon. I am not saying that I like the guy now, but I see him as a man, weak and fallible, and not as the horrendous villain that many of my generation may believe him to be. My knowledge of Nixon has mostly come from personal accounts of my family members, and they did not like him much. So my opinion of him mirrored my families. After seeing Frost/Nixon, which was not especially sympathetic to Nixon, I came away with a little more understanding of who he was, what he did, and why he may have done it.
The acting in the play was great. The gentleman who played Nixon, Bill Andrews, was especially outstanding. The play is not a comedy but there were quite a few one liners interspersed throughout to loosen the suspense. The comedy was used in a way that someone in a tense situation would use a joke to put things at ease. We laughed but at the same time we knew that really there was nothing funny about what was going on.
Frost/Nixon runs through April 3rd, and if you are a fan of theatre I highly recommend it. If you are not a fan of theatre but you are a History person you will also thoroughly enjoy this play because of its unique view of one of the most traumatic times of U.S. history. I hope some of you see this play, and I would love to hear what you think of it.

Progress on my project Regaurding the Integration of Spanish-Speaking preschoolers in the Memphis Area

When I spoke to Mr. Branch about my project on Tuesday of last week, I was prepared to speak on the progression of the Spanish-speaking preschoolers I had, and continue to volunteer with at the Kid's Corner across the parking lot from Southwest's Macon campus. I was not however prepared to speak well on the rising population of Hispanics in the city or the fiscal roles they play. In addition to addressing these issues, I have also been looking into references in response to academic development in Spanish youth who learn English as a second language. From the profiles of U of M faculty and staff that i had previously scanned I found a book edited by D. Kimbrough Oller, PhD, "Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children", which I intend to use, and an e-mail address I can contact him through. I also found a guide from the White House Initiative on Education that details where a child of four to five years old should be concerning language development. I can use this as an arbitrary method of gauging further progression, and with the comparison of the children who speak English as a second language to those who are monolingual in English. While my project's focus is on the development of a second language in preschooler's, in a study I read regarding the subject I learned that suggests that children who learn to speak multiple languages have greater cognitive capacity and flexibility in comparison with monolingual children and that further research on the subject may help better define positive affects of bilingualism and how a child's brain interprets language and writing tasks. With the high influx of Latinos, Memphis has a unique opportunity to expand its intellectual market and improve its educational standing by studying this occurrence.

Old Forrest

Our hike in the Old Forrest was perfect. Being that i have no car I am an avid pedestrian and have always enjoyed walking in the woods behind my home in Bartlett with my pet dog, Ivy. Unfortunately, she tore the ACL in her left hind leg about six months age and cannot do a whole lot of walking anymore. because of this and a full schedule I have allowed my once daily treks through the woods to dwindle down to a couple short visits a week. It was great to get back out there and breathe some fresh air. Since then I have been trying to make more time to go for a walk and clear my head, as the easy access to nature is one of my favorite things about the Memphis area.

I think that Naomi was a wonderful guide and I was impressed with the volume of knowledge she displayed regarding the Overton Park's vegetation. When she talked about the way it made her feel to be well-versed in said knowledge, it made me want to know more as well so I dug out my old book on common plant-life and have been taking it with me on my walks.

A Learning Experience at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

Hi, classmates! I am, first, want to apologize to you all for my absentee to hang out with you all at the Old Forest Hike, Overton Park. Prior to the upcoming event that we are schedule to meet at the Old Forest Hike, Overton Park, somehow, I was caught a cold, and then, I was become ill for several days. I was felt better on Sunday, March 14. For this missing assignment, I will eventually plan to visit the Old Forest Hike sometime during this semester whenever I have have a chance. I am do not sure when I intend to go, but I will let the classmates know as soon as possible when I will intending to make my visit.
Because I have miss this project, on Sunday, March 14, I visit the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art for the makeup assignment. It is really interesting to visit the Brooks Museum if you have not yet been to the place. The museum was located close to the Overton Park. You will see the sign of it when you enter the curve driveway where you actually have to enter before you can get into the Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo. This place closes on Monday, Tuesday, and major holidays and open from Wednesday to Sunday. It is best to go on Wednesday because the admission is free to everyone. Otherwise, the admission ticket will be $9.00 for adult and $5.00 to any students on Thursday to Sunday.
In the Brooks Museum, you will see many interesting arts and items that was dated from the Medieval period to our modern world. The museum subdivides into three floors. As soon as you walk into the entrance where you have to purchase the ticket for the admission before the actually tour, this is the middle floor. In this floor, it contains variety of art forms like paintings and artistic silks like a piece of garment, which dated from the Renaissance Era, and a few pieces of sculptors and materials such as antique table and silverware. In fact, most of the arts in this museum are mostly paintingsand most of the paintings are painted with oil on canvas. One of the painting that I like the most in the middle floor is the painting of the Church Interior, ca. 1620 from Francois de Nome known as Monsu Desiderio which wad dated from 1593-ca. 1630/44. This painting was somehow special for its uniqueness of the expression on the art. The Church Interior is a cathedral, and this is the biggest cathedral in Europe, Italy. One can imagines that the church is really big by looking at its width and long column of the inner entrance of the church. Furthermore, the bottom is what I consider to be the most exciting section of the museum. Still, there are a variety of paintings in this floor as well, but what is cool about this section is the event of the Venice in the Age of Canaletto and the surprising of seeing the painting "The Last Supper," which I was heard about and see it in the art magazine in the past but not actually see the real painting. The Venice is really interesting because it have a preview of the video on the Venice in the bottom floor. The Venice was built over 1500 years ago, and this place was built on 118 islands linked by 416 bridges which cross over 200 canals in Europe. In addition, not just only a preview of the city by watching the video, there are several paintings of the city of Venice for one to visualize and appreciate the artistic looks of how the city was built on water instead of land. On the third floor, there is nothing new about it except the artistic masks from anciet Africa. These masks are represent the cultural tradition of the African heritage which dated thousands of years ago. Overall, I would consider that this is a new experience to enhance my knowledge to live in this world because our world is full of meaningand we can view it like how you would visualize it to take it into reality. I would want to recommend to my fellow classmates who have not experience the artistic works of the Brooks of Art Museum to take a chance to take a trip to Brooks Museum.

Memphis: Paradox of Place

Well to be perfectly honest, I wasn't too happy with the book myself. Although there were lots of wonderful facts and juicy details about Memphis that are worthy of contemplation and debate, I found it to be very difficult to follow even though I knew the meaning of most of the vocabulary before starting the book, and all of the vocabulary by the time I was finished reading. I almost feel like she built a wall between the information her book held and the general public with sentence structure and wordage. I don't feel like I retained nearly as much as I would have liked, however I did find what Wanda Rushing said about the yellow fever outbreak to be quite illuminating. I suppose that "Memphis: Paradox of Place" just wasn't my cup of tea. I don’t know if the book is above my average reading level, or if I just got stoned one too many times in high school. All I can say is that, while Wanda Rushing was clearly qualified to speak on the ins and outs of Memphis as a place, I found myself struggling to find her meaning through all the words. By the time I finished a sentence, I had already forgotten the beginning of it. I hope I’m not the only one who had difficulty with reading this, but I guess I’m probably the only person in this class that considered senior English nap time, so it would make sense. Maybe I need to brush up on my reading too.

Sun studio

I really enjoyed the Sun Studio tour we took last week. As a musician, I am very interested in the development of music through history, and the romanticism of cultural nostalgia that floods the mind where older music is concerned in Memphis. I never would have guessed that Ike Turner's Rocket 88 was the first rock'n'roll song recorded. The first thing I did when I got home was dust off my electric Santana SE and slip a dollar bill between it's neck and strings.

I also really liked our tour guide. He seemed to have a good sense of humor and those glasses were radical! I can't believe I've been in Memphis for the past decade and missed out on Sun Studio until then. The experience made me want to start playing my guitar and buy a pawn shop piano to replace my old one. I've been letting my hobbies stagnate and kind of got into a rut the past few weeks with work, school, trip planning, and volunteering. No more, I say!

"Memphis and the Paradox of Place: An Effective Book for Understanding Memphis"

First of all, I must consider that the book "Memphis and the Paradox of Place" is truely a remarkable source for understanding Memphis. Before reading this book, I thought that I knew Memphis and its place very well because I lived in Memphis for approximately twenty years. However, I did not realize that there are more historical significant events in Memphis that I do not know until I have actually read the book. Wanda Rushing, the author of this book, have done an outstanding job of describing Memphis as a place. From the historical background of the Yellow Fever and the Civil War to nowadays events, she thoroughly explained and defined Memphis in details including the significance of the economic events. In fact, the central purpose of this book is to enhance the readers why it is important to understand Memphis, why its place is matter, and why important it is for a person to understand Memphis. A person who do not have any knowledge of Memphis might defines interesting for reading the Rushing's book while a person who thinks that he or she might knows pretty much about Memphis will eventually surprising with the little knowledge that he or she knows about Memphis. As a matter of fact, "Memphis and the Paradox of Place" impress a person in such a way that it makes a person wants to learn more about Memphis by visiting its city.

What impresses me after reading the entire book is the history of the Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and the economic events in Memphis. In the past, each time that I past by Union venue, I saw the statue of a guy who was mounted on the horse. I was not even realize what is the symbolic meaning of the statue. At this time, I thought that the statue was placed in the center of the Forrest Park for only recreational amusement for its visitor to see and enjoy while they are at the park. For almost twenty years, I was miunderstood the meaning of the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his horse until I actually read the book and make a first visited to the Forrest Park. Furthermore, the economic events of Memphis is what I also consider to be interesting. Can anyone imagine a Memphian who do not know any backgroundof business places where he or she have to go to shop for grocery? Indeed, I consider myself as one of the Memphian who felt into that situation. When I was young, my family and I used to go to shopping at Piggly Wiggly, but I do not know who was the founder of the business and where it originated from. I have to credit Rushing for giving me such a useful information to know the history of Piggly Wiggly. As a result, I was full of knowledge of having a better understanding of knowing Memphis like a person who just finishes his or her meal at a buffet restaurant after reading the entire book of Memphis.

lets play a game

the name of this game is called "where was I when I wrote this..."
here's the poem:

In periodic retort do shallow minds dwell
and to periodic passion do the unenlightened swell
for in frightened, feeble courage the faceless surmount
leaving waste on the walls as they beckon waste out

the winner will receive an ocean front bodega in Macedonia.