Living in Memphis or anywhere in west TN
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2/10/2010
I was born and raised here but my parents (also natives, as have been numerous generations)moved us out west when I was 17. While sheltered mostly, I know they wanted better for us and saw how terrible things were getting back in the mid 1970s.
I moved my family here in 2005, leaving behind much success in northern California as a scientist including a newly accepted prestigious training position at Stanford University Hospital. I will take that regret to my grave. I love our property just outside Memphis but cannot get even a job interview much less a minimum wage job. Even when trying to start my own organic produce business, it seems that nepotism and cronyism are the name of the game and newcomers like me are not welcome. Everything you read, sadly, is true about crime, corruption, having to know the right people, even to get into a graduate program here. We have been threatened with "go back to California" and even the mayor of our little town publicly refused to allow me to even volunteer for any community beautification committees. Then there is the issue of trying to teach chemistry at the high school level (I am also licensed to do this in CA, MS, and TN and have experience in CA). I recently tore up my high school diploma, with the honor society seal on it, and next is my birth certificate. We have used up all of our savings on just trying to pay the basic costs of living which are higher (utilities, food) than in northern California. My late parents never came back here while alive and now I know why. It absolutely breaks my heart to see how absolutely hateful, crime-ridden, ignorant, and low-life this area has become. It is like living on the Jerry Springer show every day. The last great museums, the zoo, all of the splendid things that once made this a mecca of good culture, are almost gone now. DO NOT MOVE HERE
Susan | Whiteville, TN