Memphis, Tennessee, March 1

Why no entries the past past month? Perhaps because it didn't occur to me to write? Because I was distracted or preoccupied or dysthmic? All of the above?

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel next to the fountain where the famous duck promenade will take place in 90 minutes, drinking coffee. We (Mary Lou, Jenny, and Amy M) drove up from Jackson, Mississippi yesterday afternoon after ML and Amy participated in parts of the Blues Marathon races. We toured the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum after the races, a sobering experience. 

Last night, we stayed at ARRIVE, a charming boutique hotel. Today, we toured the National Civil Rights Museum located in the former Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while standing on the balcony outside Room 306 where he was staying. He was only 39 years old. The museum makes a powerful statement about the ongoing struggle for peace,  opportunity, and justice of people if color in the USA. 

After a delightful lunch at Four Ways soul food restaurant, we visited the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. This is the equally powerful flip side of the Civil Rights Museum, paying tribute to the near Utopian world of Stax Records, where black and white artists and business people worked as a family to produce a rich stream of vibrant,  life-affirming Memphis soul music.