photograph by anna traverse fogle
If you’ve ever looked at Memphis from above — really looked at it — you know that more than asphalt and concrete, we live in a city of trees. From an airplane window, or at the tippy-top of one of our city's taller buildings, and especially in the summer, when the leaves are lush and green, our city looks as much like forest as like some urban jungle.
The August 2021 City Guide cover, designed by Eso Tolson.
Since early 2020, I have gotten fewer sightings of my hometown from great heights; there’s not been much air travel, or work visits with people whose offices boast loftier vistas than our company’s second-story digs. Recently, though, I’ve enjoyed a few bird’s-eye views again. People talk about the value of changing your perspective when you find yourself in a rut; I find that literally changing my perspective can go a long way toward rediscovering inspiration, motivation, and energy.
“Rediscover Memphis”: the theme of this year’s City Guide is a reflection of our city’s reawakening, and an invitation to find new ways to experience Memphis, new reasons to embrace its manifold possibilities. Our dynamic cover art was designed by none other than Eso Tolson, the local artist behind the @coolurbanhippie Instagram and creator of the “Embrace Your Inner Memphis” movement.
When we went to press with last year’s August issue, we tried our best to find a balance — appreciating all the good the city has to offer, while acknowledging its ongoing struggle toward racial and socioeconomic equity. Not to mention: the pandemic. Mia Saine’s 2020 cover illustration depicted restaurant carryout bags and face masks along with protest signs. Our traditional nightlife review didn’t jibe with the times and so we skipped it. Much of what we would normally include in our August issue, when we help tell you where to go and what to do in Memphis, just didn’t make sense.
Anna Traverse Fogle
This year, we have managed to regain — and rediscover — much of what was put on hold during those early months of COVID-19. Events: back. Live music: back. Dine-in: ditto. Kids at actual school desks? Yep.
A few weeks ago, I started a sunny Saturday morning at Crosstown Concourse, where our sister publication, the Memphis Flyer, hosted its first in-person Crafts & Drafts Festival since pre-pandemic days. New Flyer editor Jesse Davis and I occupied a table for several hours, simply engaging with community members who felt like chatting with us about independent local media.
For now, I’m grateful for refreshed perspectives, for sweet unmasked moments with the people I love, and for this endlessly captivating city.
Now, over the past few years, I’ve worked booths and tables at my share of similar sorts of events. And I can tell you this: I’ve never interacted with a more eager, positive crowd than the one we had the chance to greet that morning. Maybe it was the beer that started flowing well before lunchtime. Or maybe people genuinely are that gratified to share space again, and to appreciate all that makes Memphis its distinctive, bold, scrappy self. I choose to think the latter’s closer to the truth.
If you’ve ever recovered from any devastating thing, you know that the journey back to health does not follow a straight line. The Delta variant spreading throughout the country and the world poses a significant threat to many right here in the Mississippi Delta. The truth is I don’t know — none of us can — what will follow the moments some of us have relished lately, these moments that feel so much like recovery. I happen to believe that if you’re not vaccinated, this would be an awfully good time to change that. I also get that you’re probably not inclined to take medical or public health advice from a magazine column. I do hope you’ll take a cue from your doctor: In June, the American Medical Association released a survey of practicing medical doctors that found more than 96 percent of physicians had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. A year ago, I would have been stunned to learn that by now, we would have vaccines that were even 50 percent effective, let alone vaccines that far surpass that figure. Whenever booster shots enter the market, I will be eagerly awaiting my injection.
For now, I’m grateful for refreshed perspectives, for sweet unmasked moments with the people I love, and for this endlessly captivating city.
