Trek and Treat

Today was our final trek in honors inquiry. We enjoyed a hot and humid tour of Elmwood Cemetery. It was ironic that the final place that we visited in our class is the final place we all end up in life. It was a beautiful day at the cemetery and our tour was enjoyable except for the fact that I was having allergy issues and I was wearing tight blue jeans in the steamy 90 degree heat. But our trek today is not what I want to focus on, I want to talk about how much I enjoyed this class. I would not have gotten into the class in time if it were not for Doug going with me up to the admissions office on the second week of classes. That is really where my relationship with Doug began. Sure, I met him before through Professor Thad Cockrill during a group photo of the Saluqi bicycle club (which is really an amazing thing if you are into cycling. We usually ride through Shelby Farms) and at Doug’s Winter Solstice “Holidayapalooza.” But I really didn’t start to get to know Doug until we walked to and from the office. Doug, like honors inquiry, goes above and beyond expectations and continues to keep going. (Kind of like the walking today.)

I appreciate the opportunity to take inquiry this semester and get to know not only Doug, but the class. Before I took inquiry, I was obsessed with hating Memphis. I wanted to move from here in the worst way. I wanted to go back to where I belonged, to “Yankeesburg, Northsoftucky.” But after reading Wanda Rushing’s Memphis and the Paradox of Place, and the trips to all the places that the book describes and that we discussed in class-and the Peabody Ducks-I do not want to leave Memphis. I changed my hometown from Beaver, Pennsylvania to Memphis, Tennessee on my Facebook page. Why? Because when I talk to people from there I cannot relate to anything that they are talking about anymore. Now that I have been away from things, my mindset is different. I told Doug during our South Main Trolley night tour, that I was tacky in a lot of ways before I met Sarah and we moved to Memphis. I think what I was trying to say was that I was not cultured in any way. Thanks to the inquiry class and the hard work and effort that Doug puts into it, I have realized how much I do love Memphis. I am happy to be living in and hopefully will remain here long enough that I can say that I am from Memphis, Tennessee, and not think of my true roots so immediately. Thank you Doug for all the great tours this semester. I look forward to a lifelong friendship with you and the Honors Academy. Cheers to you, Doug!