Graceland

On my last day of the conference, we heard an awesome talk about the diaspora to Chicago.  To summarize:  mechanization of cotton picking destroyed sharecropping jobs --> mechanization created jobs in Chicago --> sharecroppers (ex-slaves) took the opportunity to get out of what one can assume was a living nightmare and move to better pay and what they hoped would be better treatment (it wasn’t.  See:  American history and what passes for current day Republican humor)--> they took their culture with them --> their culture (food music) changed urban America --> urban culture trickled down to rural America -->American culture is the way it is because of this fundamental shift in population -->America today (BAM).

We also made mojos of our trip.  A mojo is supposed to provide a power, and our mojos gave us the power of memory.  It was a really fun ritual and I realized that most vacationers harbor this tradition—collecting souvenirs or pictures to have and remember.  My sands of the world collection is a simple mojo.

 

But this was just the beginning of the trip for Natan and me.  We spent several days driving up the blues highway (61) to Chicago, enacting our own northward journey out of Mississippi.  We stopped along the way in Memphis so I could see Graceland (a dream of mine that originated when I was in 8^th grade and read a biography of Elvis).  Natan and the baby did not go with me because it was a crazy hot day and cost $35 dollars to get in!  When it has been a life goal, one does not question prices, but I understand his reluctance.  I ended up getting super mad towards the end of the experience when I walked up to the Lisa Marie (his plane), excited to get a glimpse inside and was told that I needed to drop even more dough for a separate ticket for the plane.  What kind of crap is that?  Also, every road led to a gift shop, which I’d heard about and was prepared for, but really bothered me in practice.  So let me save you 35 clams, and show you some pictures of Elvis’ home.  

15 foot white couch.

 His dear mother's room.

He had three TVs because he heard that Lyndon Johnson did that to watch all three network news broadcasts.

 The jungle room (green shag carpet ceiling).