From a Biased Memphian's Perspective...

It really bothers me when people who live in the city of Memphis constantly complain about how horrible it is. I hear it all of the time. Common phrases include...

"Memphis sucks. I can't wait to get out of here."
"Memphis is one of the worst cities in the nation."
"Memphis is the armpit of the nation."

and the list goes on. But, you know what? Nobody is forcing you to be here. Nobody has a gun to your head, fully loaded, threatening to blow your brains out if you so decide to move. So, if you do not like Memphis THEN LEAVE. Are you here because of family? Because you can call/email/visit frequently. Are you here for school? Transfer. Are you here because of your job? Find a new one.

Why would you force yourself to be in such a city that is pure torcher? Do you enjoy tormenting yourself and living a miserable life? Do you? Because that is a completely seperate issue we need to address.

I find these people really annoying. First of all, people who whine are annoying. Second, people who whine about things I enjoy are annoying. Third, people who whine about situations that they can in fact change are SUPER ANNOYING.

Now that we have established the fact that these people are creating their own doomy fate, let us move on to another issue on this situation. The fact that Memphis is a totally awesome city, and whoever cannot find joy here is truly lame. Lame. Lame. Lame. Memphis is a metropolitan city. It has everything one could want. Let us go through a list of several amazing things that Memphis has.

However, before I start, I want people to know that everything I am about to mention is not all that the city has to offer. Countless TV shows, radio shows, websites, blogs, etc. have been devoted to this topic. This is just an overview of things to do in Memphis. This is to prove a point about how awesome Memphis really is. If you want more information and things to do, please feel free to email me.

1.) Food. Memphis is a foodie town. I am a foodie and am always trying new places. We have something for every taste. Amazing local food that you cannot find anywhere else. Want Italian? Pete and Sams. Want Mexican? Guadulapana. Burgers? Hueys. Thai? Pho Hua Binh. Pizza? Memphis Pizza Cafe. Seafood? Half Shell. Let us not even discuss the endless possibilities of barbeque and soul food that are available in Memphis. That could be an entire website or blog itself. The list goes on and on and on of the amazing places one can find food.

2.) Sports. Memphis has local sports teams of all kinds. Basketball fan? Go see the Grizzlies play. Baseball? We got the Redbirds. We also have The University of Memphis with all of their teams as well. There is always athletic entertainment in the city.

3.) Music. Why do I even have to talk about this one? Really? Do I need to even give a musical history essay on Elvis, Al Green, BB King, Stax, etc? Memphis is THE BEST place to find music in this nation. Period. Any kind of music you enjoy, you can find. Blues. Jazz. Rock. Country. Indie. Hip Hop. Punk. Metal. Gospel. The list is forever long.

Not only can you find endless music venues that have live music seven days a week, but you also have all of the music museums as well. Stax. Sun Studios. Graceland anyone? The museums are amazing. And there are many of them. The music history in Memphis is vast. Did you know that Aretha Franklin was born in South Memphis? Did you know that the lead singer of Survivor ("Eye of the Tiger") used to live in Nutbush, but now resides somewhere else in the city? These little trivia facts are countless.

4.) Art. Not only does Memphis have its own art college with fantastic local works, but right across the street is the Brooks Musuem, which holds even more fabulous work. And it is also very inexpensive. If you open the Memphis Flyer, there are always several pages of art openings and listings in there. You can find art almost anywhere in the city.

5.) Festivals. um hello...Memphis in May anyone? My favorite time of year in Memphis. International fest. Music fest. Barbeque fest. Greek fest. Italian fest. etc etc etc. My second favorite time of year in Memphis? The month of September. This is when all of the crafts festivals occur. Pink Palace arts and crafts fest. Germantown fest. Cordova fest. Bartlett fest. Throughout the year there are so many other festivals as well. Catfish and jazz festival. October fest. etc.

6.) Nightlife. See, Memphis has this thing called Beale Street. Its a pretty spectacular place. Apparently it has a lot of historical value as well. Lots of live music, booze, food, and fun to be had. Other than Beale Street, there is also the Cooper Young area, Overton Square, Main Street, amongst many others. In fact, there is so much nightlife in Memphis, that many locals have a hard time choosing where to go on the weekends.

7.) Theatre. Memphis is one of (I believe) seven cities in the nation to have an Orpheum theatre that allows national touring casts of Broadway musicals to perform. One of seven. That means that Memphians get to see amazing shows that only six other cities in the nation get to experience. Not only do we have the Orpheum, we also have amazing local talent as well. We have Theatre Memphis, Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse, and Theatreworks. Along with these, Rhodes and The University of Memphis both have spectacular theatre departments. There are also many other small, local theatre companies that also perform.

Along with plays, Memphis also has three original improv troupes as well that perform monthly or bi-monthly. Memphis also has a comedy club.

8.) Outdoors. Memphis has beautiful parks and hiking trails as well. Overton Park is nice. Tom Lee Park by the river. Shelby Farms. Audubon Park. These are just main ones. There a vast number of other, smaller parks. Along with these, Memphis also has Shelby Forest, another park with beautiful scenery and many hiking/biking trails. Shelby Farms also has hiking/biking trails. There are places to fish in Memphis too. If you want a bigger, more wildlife friendly, Reelfoot, Archabutla, and many other places are not too far of a drive.

9.) Family fun. Memphis has THE NUMBER ONE ZOO IN AMERICA. The. number. one. zoo. How can you say a city that has the number one zoo in the nation sucks? Really? We have an awesome zoo. We have pandas. How many other zoos can say that? Oh wait, thats right. Only one other one. We also have super amazing exhibits as well. Cat Country. The polar bear exhibit. They are all fantastic.

(On a side note, a very not family friendly event occurs every year at the zoo called Zoo Rendezvous. Basically, it is lots of live music plus all of the food and booze you can consume from around 100 different loca restaurants. This is also in September and another reason it is my second favorite time of year to be in Memphis.)

Alongside the zoo, we also have The Pink Palace, Lichterman Nature Center, The Children's Museum, The Mud Island River Park, many family entertainment centers, and much more!

I know I sound like an add for Memphis, but I just really want to show people how awesome of a place this city is. We have our own culture. And depending on what party of the city you are in, each little district has its own culture as well. It is pretty amazing. The people are (for the most part) really friendly.

So what is to not like about this place? If you say that "Memphis sucks", are you really trying to enjoy the city? Or are you just sitting in your crappy apartment all day, watching TV, and complaining about how bored you are?