"My daddy was a World War I veteran. He always told us, 'Don't scratch when ain't nothing biting, don't laugh when ain't nothing funny, look people in the eye when you're doing business, stand up and be a man, and always tell the truth.' And he said, 'Worry don't help anything. If something going on and you can't do nothing about it, give it to God and he'll take care of it.' Worry will kill you quicker than anything. I come from a family of twelve children, and when we turned 18, my daddy said, 'You still got a place to live for as long as you need it, but you won't be making any rules in this house. The only ones making the rules around here are your mama and me.' He kept us under control, kept us straight. He told us, ‘When something comes up, any kind of trouble, just get on away from it. Don’t have nothing to do with it.’ I tried to raise my children the same way my parents did, and we never had any problem out of either one of them. If I had any advice for young people, it would be: 'Obey your mother and obey your father. Obey your teachers and obey the Lord.' If you do all that, God will take care of you. He took care of us. He brought us through." Leo Whitmore is a long-time barber at the Highland Park Progressive Barber and Style Shop at 890 S. Highland Street (near the intersection of Highland and Park).
"The work in this show is a tribute to a long-time friend who passed away. She owned a yarn store, I went in one day, and that's how we met. I started showing up every week for her knitting group, and we got to know each other over a span of about ten years. She was a fascinating, dynamic person." "What drew you to her?" "I don't know. That's what I've tried to figure out, what makes a person special. She committed suicide a couple of years ago. She was only fifty. I had to ask, 'How is this person who you thought was so strong, so troubled?' I've spent a lot of time trying to work through those questions." Brian Pera's show, I Thought I Might Find You Here, runs through February 21, 2015, at the Clough-Hanson Gallery on the Rhodes College campus.
"I was laid off a while back. I was looking around for another job, any job, just to pay the bills, and my wife encouraged me to pursue photography. She said, 'Why don't you just do what makes you happy?' I've been shooting since I was a kid, just as a hobby, but I'm doing it full-time now, as of a month ago. I just got my website up. I've done quite a bit of work in film, but I'm most interested in still photography, in photojournalism, in telling stories that aren't being told." Chris Pollock, photographer:
http://www.chrispollockphotography.com "I didn't find out I was adopted until a year ago, after my parents passed. They never told me. All my life I didn't know it, and I'm 53 years old. I was adopted by a good family, the best, but when I found out, I thought, 'Why did my biological mother give me away?' It hurt me."
"How old are you?"
"Four." "And what do you want to be when you grow up?" "A clown so I can scare people. And a monster. And a doctor. They give people shots and check their heart." "I got married in Court Square Park, right in the heart of Memphis. It's open and pretty, but it was also August, so it was very hot and humid even at 7:00 in the evening. It was such an emotional day. A horse and carriage brought me there, and a horse and carriage took us away afterward. It was almost like a Cinderella story."
"We're staying with an aunt because we just moved to Memphis, but we're trying to find jobs and our own housing. We're from a little town in northwest Tennessee, so we're walking around in awe right now, just looking at everything."
"Even if the quality of education you've gotten so far hasn't been good, things can get better if you work hard. You have to know you're just as competent as anyone else. Don't let your background discourage you. I have a lot of support from my parents, but some of my friends don't, and that makes it harder."
"My family came here from Nigeria when I was 3 years old. I grew up dreaming of going to an Ivy League school and was accepted at several, but I couldn't afford the tuition. As an immigrant, I didn't have access to the same financial aid and scholarships that citizens have. Still, I'm blessed to be able to go to college at Christian Brothers University. Being in Memphis has allowed me to grow in ways I might not have otherwise. I'd like to see more happen with immigration reform though, so that kids can realize their dreams. It's not their fault they're in the situation they're in."
"I've been doing ballet for eight years, and I've been on pointe for three. It gives me a way to express my feelings---like when I'm happy, I can dance it. I was featured in a magazine when I was 9 and again when I was 11. I'm 13 now. Someday I want to be a professional ballerina."
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