It’s 3:00 on a cold and rainy February afternoon — two days before Valentine’s Day, to be exact. The rain is incessant, and parking is sparse on North Liberty Street in Downtown Jackson.
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If you've spent any time in downtown Jackson, or had a drink at The Downtown Tavern, you’re probably familiar with Moore Studio — and more importantly, Mr. Carter. I first met Mitch Carter when I had just moved to West Tennessee. I was young and impressionable and Mr. Carter most definitely made an impression on me. He could charm the venom out of a copperhead, entice the stoic to giggle and cut up, and make the most trepidatious about having photos done feel presidential when he was finished making their portrait.
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At the end of every school year, I have my students create a portfolio of different types of original poetry. I’d like to think I do it in order to foster their creativity, but it’s really because I’m too lazy to grade eighty-four final exams. Either way, it’s a win/win for all of us: they get to write sonnets and pretend that they’re actually writing their first rap hit, and I get to sit back and not grade bubbled-in answer documents. One poem they always struggle with is an elegy.
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My dad had a Jeep when I was very young. Riding in it was one of my earliest memories. I don’t remember the model or the color (it could have been brown) or if there was a lift on it. I only remember that it didn’t have a top and that the wind would blow in my face as he drove. The sky was over my head, the clouds directly above me. I knew that I liked the feeling of having nothing blocking my senses. Light poured in. The breeze slapped us silly. We could see everything above and around us.
Read MoreLet’s suspend our thought for the next ten to fifteen minutes and imagine what could be. Let’s not think about dollars and cents or logistical structure. While those things are necessary, they’re not for us right now. What we need are open minds and unencumbered ideas about what our downtown might possibly be if we could just think a little bit beyond what we’ve always thought. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen beyond. I’ve seen what downtown Jackson could be if we could just all get on board.
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