Look who I found. There might not be anything more exciting to a ten year old then an inflated bounce house. The laughter from the Grizzlies’ play place competed to drown the sound of the event’s music. On this overcast day I was assisting the Memphis Grizzlies “Claw
Trunk full of groceries. It took me six days of volunteering and driving to new parts of the city on my odyssey, but the Memphis roads finally got the better of me. Despite getting turned around, I entered my destination only a few minutes late. I felt concerned
Burrito's eye view Bikes, tattoos and Mexican-style food are all effects I associate with my former home of Austin, Texas, much more than I do with Memphis. To the contrary, the kitchen I worked in tonight might have given ATX a run for their money in these regards
Making new friends I welcomed the sounds of nature that accompanied leaving the city of Memphis behind; arriving at my destination I heard birds chirping along with the ever-present hum of the South’s cicadas. All of the murmurs of the city had vanished, and I welcomed the relative
Driving around the city this week I’ve utilize the new satellite radio in my car, today I didn’t have much time to enjoy it during the five minutes trip to the community garden. I arrived excited to get to work in the empty lot turned Community Table Garden. Upon exiting
When I think of “volunteering” I first think of a soup kitchen, I imagine an industrial scene where an assembly line of men and women in drab uniforms, ladle cups of soup to a procession of hungry people in a line wrapped around the block. However, what I experienced was
The famous waiting room. Image was cropped to conceal the identity of Yusuf. I couldn’t put my finger on the exotic smell that filled the house of the newly transported Memphis family I met today. I previously lived in a melting pot of an apartment in the culturally
Growing up charity and volunteering were always synonymous with church service and resume builders in my mind. It was not until I met a young women who had overcome many disadvantages only to decide to give back to low income communities instead of pursuing a more typical American dream that
Never before have I purchased something as useful from a religious institution as the blue pompom-and-feathered fly swatter I purchased from Catholic Charities of West Tennessee. Myself and my new blue pompom best friend Let’s backtrack. This was my third day in Memphis and I woke up bright
Times like this one make me regret being the (seemingly) only person on the planet who never learned how to properly ride a bike. (“Properly” as defined by spending more time on the bike than on the ground). For years it has been only a point of embarrassment, but when