From: at home she feels like a tourist

Southern Gothic Pyramid

It's something of a civic sport in Memphis to propose new ideas for the Pyramid, that giant empty white elephant that nonetheless occupies an iconic place in our skyline. Memphians debate whether Bass Pro will actually take over the building, and perhaps more importantly, whether Bass Pro actually should take over the building. We ask ourselves whether an aquariam would better serve the space and the city. Some have proposed an indoor amusement park; others prefer a museum; a few have suggested a casino (please, God, no!) Finding the art museums in Memphis rather disappointing, especially in the department of modern art, and being generally a geeky, arty type, I was instantly supportive of the art museum idea - not that there's any chance of this happening, but purely as a fantasy. I imagined an elegant modern art museum in that ancient structure, a clever juxtaposition of old and new, the sort of attraction which would lure an edgier crowd to downtown Memphis.

An iconic building in the Memphis skyline really should be a public space, not a glorified fishing store. Ideally, it should be educational in some manner, a genuine cultural attraction. But perhaps I should be more creative with my thinking. There are modern and contemporary art museums in dozens of cities across America and the world. I would still love to see one in Memphis, but perhaps an iconic Memphis building should house something a little more culturally specific, something which captures the spirit and soul of Memphis. Many Memphis museums, art galleries, and cultural spaces cultivate this city's keen sense of place by chronicling, commemorating, or displaying local culture: the Stax Museum, the Rock n' Soul Museum, the Center for Southern Folklore, etc etc. So in the spirit of absolutely delusional fantasy, I propose the following idea for the Pyramid:

A MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN GOTHIC

Consider the endless possibilities. A lending library and a bookstore focusing upon literary Southern gothic, featuring Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy and all the usual suspects. A visual arts wing, displaying paintings and photography capturing the haunted darkness and the heart of darkness of the American South. A theater for periodic film showings of classics like A Streetcar Named Desire and newer versions of the genre like Undertow. Perhaps a historical wing could examine the ghastly true tales which have inspired the genre. This would make for a fascinating, unique, apropos, and genuinely significant space. I could imagine scholars and aspiring writers and those with vaguely morbid sensibilities descending upon Memphis to visit such a singular attraction. It would fit perfectly into Memphis' own manner of confronting its past: proud of the Southern heritage but also painfully and admirably willing to lay bare the grotesque scars and the ghastliness.

The pyramid would be an ideal space for an exploration of the Southern gothic sensibility. The ancient Egyptians had their own bizarre and often grotesque mythology, and pyramids signify opulence, tombs, and death. What better place to unearth the ghosts of the South and celebrate the region's sublime cultural singularity?

If nothing else, it would surely be a better use of public funds than a new stadium...

posted by fearlessvk

From: Fertile Ground

Advertising

I've been seeing this ad featuring someone's belly all around town. An initial drive-by had me thinking it was a Nike ad featuring a pregnant woman since the media seems obsessed with pregnant women.

Then I thought maybe it was just a regular old post-partum body and that the ad was showing that one can be athletic and stretchy at the same time. Cool, I thought. Way to show an accurate picture of women's bodies and make it look 'sexy'.

Before I could google Nike and get to the bottom of the campaign, I noticed the billboard on my lunch time stroll down Main Street. I got close enough to read the very fine print and discovered that the picture is of a man! It's a part of the Ad Council's new anti-obesity campaign.

That's cool too, I guess. I was just really excited about the potential sexy-ification of stretch marks.



posted by Stacey Greenberg

From: Jen-sized.

Huh.

Sometimes I log in to my Movable Type and start typing away at an entry, only to get sidetracked by something on the television or elsewhere on the net, or I decide that a) I've already talked about this too much, b) nobody cares or c) there is no cohesive idea behind what I'm rambling about. This time I'm going to go all the way and if it doesn't make any sense, OH WELL.

I got my new MacBook yesterday and I love it. I love the built-in iSight and the remote and all the neat features that my PowerBook doesn't have - oh, and the glossy screen is just spectacular. Reminds me of watching television in HD. I love not being restrained by my AC adapter, which has become a breathing tube for my PowerBook. I've even found a couple of neat new apps, like this Flock browser and Transmission, the BitTorrent client. Still need to get Adobe CS/CS2 and see how it performs, but that can wait.

But... my wireless router and the new Mac -- which I've named Reggie, go ahead and laugh -- don't seem to want to get along. I can connect to our home network, which was handy when I transferred my music and photos over, but not the Internet. I tried everything I could think of, which wasn't much. Although I know my way around a Mac better than I know my way around my house but I'm no network administrator. I jumped on one of the neighbor's networks (y'all really need to secure your network), so I know I can connect SOMEHOW.

I even called Apple, which is like the Ultimate Last Resort™ and they couldn't help me. I realize that the issue is between my computer and the router, as our other Macs connect wirelessly with no trouble, but I was really hoping that they would say "Do this, this and this, set this to this, and you should be fine." I don't think the lady was qualified. I think her qualifications ended at the power button. I hung up on her. And I've been attached to the wall all day. I don't really mind it, because it's kind of nice to see our "office" actually put to use, but Saturdays Bravo shows Six Feet Under marathons, and they were at Season 4 today, and I really wanted to watch, but I wanted to play with my new toy at the same time. Waah.

Anyway, any kind of advice would be appreciated.

Here is a cool picture I took at the Vending Machine CD release party last Saturday.

Out of all the times I've seen them, that was probably the best. They had two drummers. I have only listened to the new album a little bit (as a certain person has been keeping a pretty tight grip on it) but it's as good as I expected. It's about the only local music I keep up with anymore. Nothing's really impressed me lately. I did like Castle Poster when they played at the Bucc a few weeks ago.

Tonight I think I'm going to the Hi-Tone again for the MRD Birthday Party. Maybe it will motivate me to grow a pair and start skating again. Who knows. We'll see about that.

-jen

From: The Gates of Memphis

Dixie Homes from outer space and auld lang syne

I was scrolling around Google Earth and saw this very interesting street layout not far from Downtown:


After a few minutes I ciphered it was Dixie Homes, the housing project at Pauline and Poplar.

The architect of Dixie Homes was J. Frazer Smith, who was profiled in an article last June by Frederick Koeppel (I believe the CA has already Berlin Walled the article). I also came upon the essay The Art of Architecture: Modernism In Memphis 1890 - 1980 by architectural historian Judith Johnson. Turns out Smith was not only an architect but an early historical preservationist.

A complex person, he wrote a history of the early nineteenth-century plantation architecture of the Middle South, White Pillars, and simultaneously designed housing projects sensitive to recent international developments in housing design. During the Depression, Smith was also the regional chief of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). Ironically, he would order the city’s original nineteenth century building stock located in the Market square slums surveyed by HABS before he demolished it for the construction of Lauderdale Courts.

The irony continues -- they've begun demolition of the Dixie Homes.

Karmic backlash 50 years after Smith's death.

By the way, below's an illustration of the Dixie Homes grounds from the final presentation [a very interesting pdf!] of last summer's Winchester Park/Intown Charette.

This might mean Smith's layout will live, if not his buildings.

posted by gatesofmemphis