Theboxman's Blog

(Memphis) The celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis this weekend attracted a diverse range of media from around the world. The most unexpected is Vancouver based, Agent Wood, a “reporter” for the Memphis base website Street-people.com. Agent Wood has been attending many of the activities associated with the MLK celebration, visiting the city’s tourist attractions, and filing reports on Memphis’ panhandling street people. “It is interesting to have an outsider report on how they see our city” commented one of the founders of Street-people.com .

The outsider looking in reports come just as the Center City Commission begins paid security patrols targeting aggressive panhandlers. Even with these new sweeps the reporter from Vancouver has been able to file a report daily, sometimes hourly, in her tour of Memphis. The first report featured the visitor’s first impressions of the city which included spotting several panhandlers that aggressively followed people into buildings seeking change while walking along the Main Street Mall and Beale Street. Successive days have included tours of the Mid-town, The National Civil Rights museum which was defined as inspiring, and a trip to the Memphis Zoo where the reporter was panhandled by an Orangutan. “I guess the primates are just mimicking what they see around them.” added the founders of the site. The reports have brought new readers to the site as the daily series has captured reader’s attention. “I think people want to know how an outsider might experience our city.”

 Agent Wood has never visited Memphis but felt the MLK events made a perfect opportunity. While researching her trip she discovered many of the blogs about the bluff city and was intrigued by the Mayor’s half resignation and the site which featured rambling stories about the variety of street people in the city. “She contacted us about how much she enjoyed the site and expressed how she would be coming to Memphis.” added the site’s creators. ‘We wanted someone who could validate that our jaded view of the street people in this city and others might actually have a point. Agent Wood has provided us with several insights into how tourists see the city.” Her reports will continue through Saturday, April 5, 2008.

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