I Love My City

My father is a pilot. His job brought my family from New York to the Virgin Islands when I was a baby. St. Thomas was the first hometown I ever knew. But then, when I was eight years old, his job caused us to move again, this time to Memphis Tennessee.

St. Thomas was my home up until that point, and I was fairly familiar with New York since I used to spend two months of every summer there with extended family, but Memphis was completely foreign and new! My sister and I were so excited, we  jumped on the couch in pure joy until my mother yelled, ¡Bájense de la silla!  I memorized the shape of Tennessee on the map until I could draw it in my sleep. I was so ready for the big move ever since my parents announced it.

We moved to Memphis in the summer of 1999. It was hot and humid, just the weather I was accustomed to. I loved it! As my sister and I spent hours playing with the neighborhood kids around our apartment complex, I thought we were adjusting to Memphis quite nicely. And then school began.

I started to notice it in my interactions with my 4th grade classmates, then slowly realized it with everyone else.

I did not fit in with Memphis culture.

I had to train my ears to understand the southern accent that rang on everyone’s tongues. I still remember the day that I missed my school bus home, because the announcer called out bus number 3359, which was my bus, but her accent made it sound to me like 3355. When we realized the mix up, in my childish frustration I thought, it’s pronounced Nine, not Nian.

Despite being a quite girl who was always adamant to follow the rules, I got in trouble with a lot of adults for forgetting to say “Yes ma’am,” or “Yes sir.” To this day, those phrases still haven’t made it into my everyday vocabulary.

I kept to myself because I was always…weird. Colloquial idioms went way over my head, and I constantly found myself in a state of uncomfortable confusion. I didn’t know whether kids were being mean or being nice when they “checked” each other, and me, with insults disguised as compliments. The coolest kid would come up with the slickest remark at the most opportune time to impress all his or her friends with Ooos, Ahhs, and laughter. And I’m standing there, not knowing what happened, but knowing it wasn’t good. So I wouldn’t react. I’d be silent and let the moment pass. It became rather awkward to the point that the kids left me alone. I didn’t mind it.

And then the winter came. It’s true that I was born in New York in the middle of January, but way down in St. Thomas, there was no winter. Winter was something that I saw on TV, almost like a fantasy. My father once showed me the frost inside the refrigerator and told me that’s what snow looked like. I couldn’t fathom how the outside, with the sun and all its fiery glory, could possibly get cold enough to generate ice.

My first Memphis winter was miserable.

You’d think it would be an exciting experience to witness the seasons changing around me for the first time. The weather got cooler and cooler, and I just wanted the heat to come back. Then it got cold. Biting cold. Deathly cold. I didn’t have a proper coat that day. Anyone in Memphis knows it can be 60 degrees one day, and 20 degrees the next. I was unprepared for the cruel weather and spent the whole school day in actual pain because the only thing  I had between me and the vicious elements was a flimsy, black sweater. It was a long gloomy winter and at one point, I thought the sun would never come back. This was life now.

In a nutshell, my first year in Memphis was rough. For years and years after that initial 12 months, Memphis was something I tolerated, and I yearned to move to a different city with different people and warmer weather. Even my Mother and Father would agree that the southern Memphis culture, in all its soul food glory, is not something they could fully get used to. To be fair, they are both immigrants, so their perspectives could be different from mine.

But in the recent years, something has changed. I have spent almost twenty years in this southern city, and I think finally, its charm is starting to grow on me. I got baptized here. I graduated high school here. I even graduated college here! Memphis has so much soul and history; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated here! The National Civil Rights Museum – which features artifacts and exhibits that trace the civil rights movement from the 17th century to today – resides here in Memphis Tennessee.

Memphis is also the home of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The doctors, nurses and researchers at St. Jude are committed to curing childhood cancer and other illnesses, without adding any financial stress to the families of patients as they never receive a bill. St. Jude even saved my life once.

Memphis has some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

Take the violence that you see on the news with a grain of salt. While one should always be careful, the news is notorious for displaying disproportionate levels of bad publicity. In Memphis, you can strike up a conversation with a stranger in the park as naturally as talking to your own sister. I may not know how to play the game of friendly teasing, but it’s the way Memphians show affection. When I do it, I don’t have the necessary swagger to pull it off, and it comes across as overtly hostile / stiff. It’s quite a charming skill that comes native to southerners; I sometimes envy it!

In Memphis, you can go hiking and biking in Shelby Farms, where the buffalo run. With a size of 4,500 acres, Shelby is more than 5 times the size of New York’s famous Central Park. You can walk down Beale Street, and watch the entertainers flip and dance for your tips. Or go sing karaoke at a bar if you’re feeling adventurous. 

While you’re downtown, have a picnic at Tom Lee Park on the Riverside Drive, and check out the Bass Pro Pyramid while you’re at it. Is it bragging if I mention that for just $10, you can ride the elevator to the top of the Pyramid where you’ll have a higher view than the torch of the Statue of Liberty? I don’t think so. It’s simply a fact.

Memphis is a beautiful city with lots of adventures in which to find yourself. If I ever move from here, against all expectations I would actually miss it dearly. Memphis is my hometown. I have spent most of my life here, and its impact and influence will never leave my heart. I love my city.