Thursday, April 9, 2015

When I Met Bimingham

Recently I started listening to a fairly new podcast called "Birmingham Life" that was done by the people from Discover Birmingham. The hosts of the show, Antwon and Matt(shoutout to them), talk about everything going on around the city. These things can include events they went to during the weekend, new restaurants that are opening up, or big news about the city.

In one of their episodes, they were talking about how they met Birmingham. Now let me start off by saying that both of them are from Birmingham. You might think that if you are from here, you have already been introduce to the city. In a way you are correct but that doesn't mean you MET the city. Everyone has different ways of how they officially met this wonderful town. Like most things in life, some experiences were good and others not as good. Check out the podcast to see how Antwon and Matt were introduce to The Magic City.

This got me to to think about something, "When was the time that I first really met Birmingham?" I mean, I have lived here all my life. I've lived in Downtown, East Lake, Tarrant, Roebuck, Huffman, Center Point, and Trussville(yea, I've been all over the place). I could remember going to the mall with my mom or just different places with family. Even though I have been around the city, I never really just experienced the city for real.

As I grew older, I would continue to do the same things and go the same places. Not having a car of my own made it even harder for me because I would always have to depend on friends or family to give me a ride around.

I still did not have a car by the time I went to UAB. Luckily the campus was very walkable, so I didn't need a ride to too many things(unless it was a party outside of campus). I can remember living on campus and during the evening time just walking around with my headphones on. I would just walk and listen to my music as I explored around the campus. This is when I really met her. I was actually introduce to Birmingham.

If you don't know much about UAB, it takes up pretty much most of the southside of Birmingham. With that being said, I would do some long walks around the undergrad and graduate areas. I wouldn't go into the building, but I would try to see different things. These time walking and listening to music made me experience the city in a new way. I would almost make the city like my canvas and I was the painter. Listening to different songs would give me a different picture I would want to paint. I would also see things I would see if I didn't have my music on.

After my time at UAB, I would then want to explore different store or restaurants that I never been to. This really opened my eyes to what Birmingham had to offer. I notice how we had some great restaurants around. I saw some great concerts at places like Zydeco and Bottletree. The more I got to see Birmingham, the more I noticed how special the place was. Even today, I am noticing all the amazing changes that are going around.

Now I don't think I will ever quit learning new things about the city, but I really don't want to stop. Birmingham has grown so much, and it's awesome to see how much life is coming from it. Birmingham, keep changing but don't change who you truly are.



When was the first time you met Birmingham? Was it a good or bad experience?

3 comments:

  1. I love the Birmingham Life Podcast and how Birmingham is so special to so many :)

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  2. Awesome piece, Ralph! I love your stories about the Magic City. They are always refreshing and paint a wonderful picture of the city.

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    1. Many thanks!!! I try my best to let people see the city how I see it. Glad the picture is pretty clear and not too blurry.

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