.: My Memphis :.

This photo is of the newly renamed corner in downtown Memphis.  It was renamed in honor of a former CEO, Richard C. Shadyac Sr., of a local non-profit organization…ALSAC.  Memphis is home to one of the leading treatment and research facilities for pediatric cancer and other catastrophic diseases, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  A fundraising organization, ALSAC, was created with the sole purpose of raising money to fund the research at St. Jude.

Mr. Shadyac died this past Wednesday, on September 16, 2009.

This post is in his memory.

This is the first installment of picture posts I will call .: My Memphis :. These posts will contain photographs Derek & I take of Memphis.  Yes…Memphis, TN the home of Elvis & the Blues.  A town so riddled with crime that even the cops will not live in the main part of the city.

There is a glimmer of hope for Memphis.  Not only is it deep in US history & culture, but the 16 year reign of our nightmare of a mayor is over.  Yes, you read correctly. The man was an arrogant jerk mayor for 16 years straight!  Supposedly, he started out as a decent person, but became more and more corrupt and arrogant as the years passed.  He retired last month, and now the citizens of Memphis have hope that with a newly imposed mayoral term limit and a different mayor; Memphis may have a chance to shine like the cultural beacon that it is.

This is a shot of the old Sears building I snapped with my phone driving back from lunch one day (no, I was not driving).  This was one of the many warehouses around the US back in the heyday of Sears & Roebuck.  It has been closed down for many years, and most likely plays host to dozens of violent crimes a year.

You can find this building a few miles east of downtown Memphis…just north of the intersection of  North Cleveland  and North Parkway.  I love the look of this old spooky building.  Doesn’t it just give you the willies?