Crime in Memphis, TN

61 Years old and on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee… one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. She stands just a hair over 4 feet tall, skin and bones.

The violent crime scale in Memphis rings in at 93 on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the highest. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The U.S. average is only at 31.1

FBI Crime Data shows that Memphis was rated as being the highest crime ridden city in America, according to their 2016 statistics.

“No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family.” - J. Edgar Hoover

Listen to the winds...

He spent 8 years in the U.S. Army and served during the Iraq conflict. He is originally from Dyersburg, TN, but decided to move to Memphis where he was homeless for quite some time while searching for his life, who he was and who he is...

He is now in his own place and doing much better today. He is also looking into his past... He is part Indian and wants to learn more about his family heritage.

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows." ~Native American proverb

Living on the dirty streets of Memphis, Tennessee

“My grandfather was born in 1902, I was born in 1963,” he told me while gazing into the distance. His eyes were fogged over as if he had cataracts. “You’re good with dates,” I told him. “Yea, my mom was born in 1932… My dad was 1922,” he continued as if he wanted to show me he remembered more dates that were floating through his head.

I handed him a new coat as the nights had been dropping into the sixties and he quickly placed it under his legs as if to hide it from passerby’s. “Thank you, thank you sir,” he responded.

The coat, along with his new pants and shirts, were given to me by a friend named Amy Morris. I always love handing out items like that, which are new, as I know most never give those who live on the streets brand new clothes. They always cherish them knowing that the coat, pants or whatever it maybe are theirs from the start - it was meant for them. 

I asked, “What were your best times growing up in Memphis?” He sat quietly and then said, “Best times were 18, 18 and younger when with mom.” I asked if his mother was still alive and he said, “Think so, think so – I not seen her.” His mother is Ms. Remell Williams and he knew her exact age, “She 85.”

Darrell was on medication for Schizophrenia, but he ran out. He has been off the medication for a number of days if not weeks. “I’m gonna meet Mr. (mumbled name) at the mission. He’s a good man. He's off today, he is with his family on Saturday and Sunday – he gonna help me,” suggesting that Monday he would see this helper at the mission.

“I went to 12th grade, I was in high school,” he proudly stated. I asked if he graduated high school and he said, “Yea, I done 12th grade.”

Darrell attended Central High School in Midtown. The school was built in 1911 and he attended the school from 1977 to 1981. It is the same school that was once attended by the late Kemmons Wilson who founded the Holiday Inn in 1952. Mr. Kemmons built the first hotel at 4925 Summer Avenue in Memphis and now a plaque remains in its location as it was torn down in the late 1990s. The chain now has 1,145 locations.

“My own success was attended by quite a few failures along the way. But, I refused to make the biggest mistake of all: worrying too much about making mistakes.” - Kemmons Wilson (1913-2003)

Send Isaiah Davis birthday cards today

Let's all send Isaiah a birthday card for his third birthday on October 22, 2017-address below

(Scroll Down for Interview) Two year old Isaiah Davis will celebrate his third birthday at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville on Sunday, October 22, 2017 and not at his Christiana home. Isaiah was recently diagnosed with Leukemia.

Isaiah’s mother Jessica stays by his side 24/7 as he goes through his treatments.  However, it is sometimes hard for Jessica to muster up the energy to hold her son’s hand as she too is struggling.

Of course, any mother watching their child go through Leukemia treatment would suffer emotionally, but for Jessica it is completely draining.

Both mom and Isaiah have similar feeding tubes and both find themselves sleeping most of the day away due to a lack of energy because of their medical circumstances.  

While Isaiah has Leukemia, Jessica has Cystic Fibrosis. She was diagnosed with the disease at age twelve and she too went through extensive treatments at Vanderbilt. Today, Jessica is in need of a double lung transplant, but that is the last thing on her mind. Instead, she is focusing her energy on making sure that Isiah has a room filled with birthday cards. The soon to be three year old loves to look up at his wall as he falls asleep and see all of the brightly colored cards that arrive in the mail from time to time.

Jessica is asking people both locally and around the world, to send Isaiah a birthday card… if you are able to.

Birthday Card Address for Isaiah Davis s:

Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
6th Floor Isaiah Davis
2200 Children's Way
Nashville, TN 37232

Below you can hear a brief interview with Jessica and her son: 

More ways to help: 

https://www.youcaring.com/jessica-brandon-616748

The Heart is Lonely

Lonely is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a state of being without company, cut off from others or producing a feeling of bleakness or desolation.

Emotions are not always easy to spot, but when you see lonely you know it. It is interesting, lonely is one of those feelings that you can feel while surrounded by hundreds, thousands or perhaps even millions.

In prisons, some wardens utilize solitary confinement as a form of punishment leaving an inmate alone in a small chamber for 22 to 24 hours at a time. Some prisons call it “Segregation” while others use the term “Restrictive Housing.”

In 2006, a study by Stuart Grassian led to a report on the “Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement.” The report was released by Washington University Journal of Law & Policy. The research showed that such confinement can cause severe psychiatric harm with long term consequences.

While those in prison who are forced into a tiny cell for hours upon hours face some of the most severe outcomes psychologically speaking, the report listed other major groups that have the same negative outcomes without being held in a 6 by 9 foot cell. Those groups included patients with spinal cord problems that are not mobile, patients who are held in intensive care units for extended periods and patients required to wear ear and eye patches for weeks to months at a time, just to name a few.

That being said… would it be fair to say that many outside the walls of restriction isolate themselves within their own mind for years if not centuries without meaning to? The self-isolation equates to a sea of loneliness or depression which can equal a feeling of not being loved by anyone.

One man felt so deprived of loving human contact that he invented or founded the “Free Hugs” movement. His name, Juan Mann.

The movement of free hugs was started by Mann in Australia in 2004. He started the movement after an ongoing feeling of loneliness, depression and isolation. He quickly found that giving and receiving hugs to complete strangers felt good and actually cheered him up. It also helped others and the movement grew rapidly around the world.

Isolation leads loneliness which leads to depression which turns into feelings that you cannot be loved. It threatens our well-being in hundreds of ways. Be it isolation within ourselves, in the prison system or within medical settings, isolation is more dangerous than it was once thought to be.

“Loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I'm most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me.” - Anne Hathaway

His step father called him retarded over and over

They sat quietly in their small motel room rolling their own cigarettes to save money. Everything they own was inside the small 12 X 17 foot room that was coated in a smoke filled purple. Lamps lit the space occupied by the couple and their small dog.

Daniel told me the most painful thing he grew up with was his adopted father calling him retarded time and time again due to his learning disability. He said that his step father, who is actually his uncle that adopted him at age two, told him that he would amount to nothing.

Cassie said the most painful memory she has was that her father would tell her that she should not love her mother. Of course, she lived with her mother and three siblings. It was her mother that raised her, fought for her and held down a job while living in a motel so that Cassie and the others would have a place to sleep. 

Once you are down, it is hard to get back up. Cassie explained that not too many months back, she had to stay at the motel where her mother lives for two weeks while her mom was hospitalized. She stayed in her mother’s room to look after her two younger siblings that had to be in school each day while her mother clung to life with her kidneys and even heart slowly shutting down. 

Like Cassie, her mother is a fighter. She survived. But, it is one thing after another when you are at the bottom. A $20 bill can feel like a $4,000 bill. A $600 motel room is likely equivalent to a $5,000 house payment when you can barely afford food. Help for depression, it is almost nonexistent, as explained by Cassie while sitting in her dimly lit room.

Hear the entire story below (8MIN and 41SEC):

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up." - Vince Lombardi

He plays the French Harp

Rick is from Syracuse N.Y., but later moved to Kentucky for the local university in Richmond where he says he taught up until computers were brought in as teaching devices.

“How old do you think I am,” he asked me. I did not know where to start guessing, which he could obviously tell as he blurted out, “71, No one believes me.”

He told me about his love for music and said, “I play the French Harp.” Surprised I asked, “You have a harp… Like a giant gold leafed harp?” He smiled and laughed… “They call the harmonica the French Harp. It is a name that dates well before your time.”

“How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?” ― Jane Swan, former Professor of History at West Chester University in Pennsylvania (1925-2010)

Off to the Races

Race horses are bred for one thing… to run. 

If you have ever been to the races, have you taken the time to watch the muscular horses make their way to and from their stalls? They fight their handler all the way in. They show their teeth, they pull away, they strut the opposite direction, and they sometimes rare back onto their hind feet. 

The Thoroughbred race horse resembles its historic Arabian descendants. It is a horse that is stout and quick to jump, run or escape the rider in some cases. 

The American Quarter horse is a popular breed in races as well. The smaller, muscular horses have sometimes been clocked at speeds of 55 miles per hour. The life expectancy is usually around 27 to 30-years of both Quarter horses and Thoroughbred’s, assuming no serious injuries end that life early. 

When I think of race horses, I think of that old school jazz infused big band style of music. I think of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Betty Grable. 

“Gal is like a racehorse, I play her to win
But if I should lose her, another may come in
Love can be like heaven, love can be a joke
But it's worth a gamble so, hey, I go for broke”
- Dean Martin, “Who’s Got the Action”

Love is all you need

Nashville: Some pictures of “LOVE” need not be explained.

“There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy…

Nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved. Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy…

All you need is love”

-Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney in 1967. Producers of a television program called "Our World" asked the Beetles to come up with a song that contained a message that could easily be understood by everyone. The band took on the project and later released, "All you need is love."

Street Photography

No flash, no special production. Just me and a camera at night in Nashville, TN.

When doing street photography I may look odd or like some type of weirdo - but, if people only knew what I was seeing in that small glass behind my camera... the beauty, the romance, the life, the time standing still, the passing people or cars, the businesses - I think they would understand.

No, it is not just the person in the photo, it is the entire surrounding that makes the picture in street photography. It is everything.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt, Street Photographer

The name of my home planet

He held up the small partially painted rock in his right hand and looked at it as he stated, “This is a rock from my home planet.”

He then explained what planet he happened to be from. I could not fully understand the name, but he definitely did not say earth… it was the name of someone or something. I guess that mysterious name would be his mysterious home planet.

After the click of my shutter he disappeared into the dense crowd of downtown Nashville and into the night.

Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort, September 12, 1962:

U.S. President John F. Kennedy said in a speech about space exploration, “There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.”

What are you looking for?

Some people who seem lost, also seem to be in amazement by so little and so much...

“You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down” ― Charlie Chaplin

The Drifter

He was sitting on his bike outside of a bar in downtown Nashville. "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed to his fingers... He looked like the type who drifted into town with the thought of one night, but likely turned into two and later three.

By ten that evening, he was laying down on his ride with his feet hanging over the rear tire – his head on his handlebars. It was as if he owned the street and if he was told to move on, with a spit he’d say no and sit tight.

The type most would not approach in fear of not being able to walk away, he sat alone as the traffic around him blurred past.

"Got no strings to tie me down
Got no cause to hang around
What difference does it make which way I go
Got an empty feelin' down inside
Still I need to stay alive
Who can tell what waits beyond this road
I'm a drifter, lonesome drifter"

- Johnny Cash, “I'm A Drifter” (Version 2)

The melting pot of the universe

A cellphone shot...

Perhaps it is the crossroads of society or the melting pot of the universe - - the diversity of customers at a Waffle House is always unique.

In the crowded parking lot sits a newer model Mercedes, an older 1990’s Ford F-150, a minivan, two Harley Davidsons… just to name a few of the vehicles.

Inside you see some customers wearing ripped up jeans as if they are attempting to make a fashion statement. You see people wearing ties and dressed in their Sunday best. You see those who look to be construction workers taking a short break while enjoying some good cooking. All backgrounds, all colors and all walks of life uniting for one reason. Food.

At the cash register is an expectant mother with her son who looks to be about 5. An older couple sitting at the counter look down at the little boy as if to remember when they were where she is today. “Are you going to be a big brother to a sister or a brother,” they ask the child. Mom chimes in with a smile and says, “He will be a big brother.” The stranger, in his slow drawn out country slur then explains the importance of protecting his future sister to the little boy.

In the kitchen area, I see a man working whom I recognize that lives in one of the nearby motels. He is making conversation with customers about the football game he watched on TV last night. “How did Virginia do,” he asked a customer wearing a West Virginia ball cap. The customer responds, “They pulled it off against Kansas.” The employee then says, “I grew up in Nashville – I’m always pulling for Vandy.” It was nice to see this man, who I met when he was at his lowest point 3 years ago living in the nearby weekly rental, in his element of people. He was smiling, living and working with others in a way that looked to give him that one little word that so few experience… joy.

By a window seat, two women who appear to be a couple sit quietly. They are enjoying overcooked and crunchy bacon, just as they requested. They later make their way to the cash register telling their waitress, "Thank you." The waitress lights up as if no one has told her those two words of praise since her shift started at 4 in the morning.

An older gentleman who looks to be in his eighties sits by himself and orders a waffle. “Make it overdone – burn it,” he says. I can only imagine why? Perhaps his late wife once cooked breakfast for him before he hit the tractor each day. Maybe she burned the waffles daily on accident and he wanted to remember her and the lifetime they cherished?

Burned waffles… An entire study was once conducted on taste memories and how there is a factual link between the brain and the fork. Well okay, perhaps not a link between the brain and the fork, but an area of the brain that can encode a specific taste and tie it to a time and place of where it was previously experienced. It is called “Food Memory.” The study was done at the University of Haifa in Israel.

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.” - Cesar Chavez, American Civil Rights Activist (1927-1993)

The relax after the ride

“A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere” - Easy Rider

Life is that quick

Life in the Click of a Shutter...

It was a breezy April 2014 night in Nashville. His guitar was strapped to his back while walking behind the Frist Center. It was as if time stood still during this photo - capturing his hair and beard floating...

The night will never be the same again for him and I don't even know his name, his age or where he is from. But, I do know that the second is etched in the past.

What if you only have 100 years or perhaps less? That's it - frozen in a moment only for what feels like a second when you look back, later in life - like the snap of a shutter.

"I'm fifteen for a moment
Caught in between ten and twenty
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
I'm twenty two for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got hundred years to live
I'm thirty three for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm of age
A kid on the way
A family on my mind
I'm forty five for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy, time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
Fifteen I'm all right with you
Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got hundred years to live
Half time goes by
Suddenly you're wise
Another blink of an eye
Sixty seven is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on
I'm ninety nine for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
Fifteen there's still time for you
Twenty two I feel her too
Thirty three you're on your way
Every day's a new day
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got hundred years to live"

- Song by Vladimir John Ondrasik III, better known as Five For Fighting - Titled "100 Years"

Enjoy life, no matter what

Some people say that if you don’t enjoy your job, perhaps you are in the wrong field. I say, if you can’t enjoy life, perhaps you’re in the wrong field.

“Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don't get so worked up about things.”
-  Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor, director

His mother called him Vernon

“My name is Vern and only my mom called me Vernon… God Rest her Soul,” he said when I accidentally called him Vernon misunderstanding his quiet whispers when he introduced himself.

He lives in a small apartment located in Nashville that looks more like a former motel. He talked about how crack dealers knew the hours of management and sold only certain times of the day.

“If I were asked to define Motherhood. I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional Love.” -Revathi Sankaran

Are local squares in communities known for diversity?

It is amazing to look back at history and see the variety of events that have taken place on the square in Murfreesboro, TN. While the history is not always pretty, it is still intriguing to consider the magnitude of events that literally touch every race, background, religion or belief.

The first documented execution on the local square took place in 1813, according to research dug up by County Historian Greg Tucker. The deceased was described as a black male known only as “Jess.” The Sheriff at the time conducted the execution.

During the Civil War the Union Army took control of Murfreesboro and used the courthouse as an observation and signaling tower in 1862.

Many stories still circulate about a young stranger who happened upon Murfreesboro where he told a crowd that he would climb the courthouse. The man who came to be known as “The Human Fly” did indeed climb the courthouse in 1923 and made it to the top where he slipped and fell to his death while waving. By the way, his body was never identified.

Men draped in white robes, better known as the notorious Ku Klux Klan, marched around the square in 1987.

Uncle Dave Macon Days started on the lawn of the courthouse with banjo pickin’ fun in 1978 and continued on the square until 1989. At that point the event moved to Cannonsbugh.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, go cart races happened around the courthouse. When curbs and islands of concrete were installed it killed the racing idea all together.

For years, the square has been the ending point for the annual Murfreesboro Christmas Parade.

Last year, Muslim Youth met on the square and handed out flowers and cards of encouragement to those passing by.

And now for the second year, the square has been the home to Boro Pride, celebrating the LGBT community - which is where this photo was taken this past Saturday.

Astonishing really to look back and simply observe the variety of groups and individuals that would normally clash.

In closing, a little diversity...

"Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walk like a woman but talk like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola"

"Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola"

-The Kinks, "LOLA" 1970

Looking Back: Life was a bit different then

Florence Browder was born in Smyrna, TN some 88 years ago in about 1929. Her life was positive and she raised two children… one of whom went on to graduate from college and become a teacher and another who retired from the U.S. Air Force.

Ms. Browder only made it to the 8th grade, which was very common in those days. Despite her lack of book education, she was smart and had dreams for her children, just as she still does today for her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In 1929, the population of Rutherford County, Tennessee was just under 33,000 residents. Today it has grown considerably with approximately 300,000 residents. If you were to put that into percentages, Rutherford County has grown by 800% since 1929.

Silver Springs School is where Browder received her education and it is also where she went to church as a child. The building served two purposes in the 1930’s and 40’s. “It’s gone, it’s been gone,” she told me when describing where the school was once located on Florence Road. At the time, the school was in the rural country between Smyrna and Murfreesboro.

Silver Springs once boasted an attendance of 88 children in the 1940’s. When 1959 hit, the school saw a jump in students with 185 because another school called the Rosenwald School merged with Silver Springs.

The Rosenwald School was an African-American educational facility that was started in 1927 and eventually closed in 1960.

Looking back to her childhood she told me, “I always tell my great grandchildren that I wish I could swap with them and let them be raised when I was raised, they would’ve been raised better – I mean I’m trying to raise them, but they don’t understand – they don’t pay me no tention.” I told her, “I don’t think it’s you, I think it is everyone around them – society is quite different compared to when you were younger.”

Ms. Browder went on to explain her days as a child, “When the old people spoke you just did what they told you to do and no back talk. But now, the children just back talk and do whatever they want to.” 

In 1930, things were a little cheaper when compared to 2017…

• 1930 Average New Home $7,145… (2017 Average is $406,400 nationwide - 6/23/17)
• 1930 Average Annual Income $1,970… (2017 Average is $46,409 nationwide)
• 1930 Gallon of Fuel $0.10 Cents… (2017 Average is $2.38)
• 1930 New Car Average $640… (2017 Average is $34,968)
• 1930 One pound steak $0.20 Cents… (2017 Average is $5.20 per lb)
• 1930 Refrigerator (Electrolux gas) $144… (2017 there are hundreds from $350 to $5,000)
• 1930 Minimum Wage $0.25 Cents… (2017 Tennessee Min. Wage is $7.25)

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ― Sophia Loren