In the spring of 1990, I was living a simple life in the suburbs of Chicago. Darien, Illinois, to be specific. One day, my dad, a salesman, threw me a Piggly Wiggly wooden nickel and said, “we are moving to Memphis.” “Memphis? I’ve never heard of it,” I said. I was 11, and my brother, Chris, was 13.
That August, we moved to the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. Germantown, to be exact. Over time, I slowly but surely learned and eventually fell in love with the culture of the south. A culture that should have an onboarding book in my opinion.
Getting used to Memphis, and the south, wasn’t easy. In fact, I was suspended from sixth grade only a few weeks into my tenure for essentially not saying, no ma’am and yes ma’am.
Seriously, why don’t we have a roadmap for folks who move here?
I attended Farmington Elementary, and from there, I went to Houston Middle and Houston High. When it was time to graduate, I decided to try my luck at the University of Memphis, where I eventually landed a degree in journalism. This was also the time when I moved to Binghampton and fell head over heels for Midtown, a place I’ve never left, except for a brief stint Downtown in the Pinch District. This was also the time when I pushed all my chips to the center of the table, musically, and began touring the country with my band Snowglobe. Today, I am a proud 17-year resident of the Vollintine Evergreen historic neighborhood, and 35-year Memphis inhabitant.
In late July, the Memphis Flyer’s cover story was about our city’s perception problem, and while I appreciated my colleagues and peers weighing in, I’d like to share my piece as well.
So, here it goes.
Sure, we have our issues and plenty of work to do, but people here care. People show up and do what they can to make this place better — every day. You may often hear that if you hug Memphis, it will hug you back, and that’s so true. Just get involved. Throw your hand on the pile and start digging in. Don’t ask to get in the mix, just jump in. You can make a difference in Memphis.
Memphis is where I fell in love with music, met and married my wife, Annie, and where my children, Ella and Beatrice, were born — one at Methodist Hospital, and the other at Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Crime? Yes, we have crime.
Poverty? Yes, we have poverty.
Food insecurity? Yes, we have food insecurity.
But for all of these problems, which are slowly but surely improving (thankfully), there is hope, compassion, kindness, and love in spades. I see this on a daily basis in the work I do with many nonprofits across the city. Such as how the Memphis Botanic Garden reaches into our city to serve more than 52,000 students with meaningful and interactive field trips. Or how Shell on Wheels meets people where they are by extending the Overton Park Shell’s mission of bringing performing arts programming to Memphis and Shelby County neighborhoods.
I know I sound like a homer, but that’s what I am. I bleed Memphis Tigers and Grizzlies blue, and will defend our city to the nth degree if someone speaks ill of it. My advice to anyone who is down on Memphis — get involved. Join a board, volunteer with your neighborhood association, or simply attend a show. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Jeff Hulett is a freelance writer, musician, and PR consultant in Memphis. He lives in the Vollintine Evergreen neighborhood with his wife Annie, two girls Ella and Beatrice, and two dogs Chalupa and Delilah.