Ducks, catfish, and Elvis. Is this what it means to be American?

Our trip across America began at 4am in a Belmont parking lot in Nashville, TN. Ten wonderful students, parents, and supportive friends help us lug our suitcases into the storage bays under the tricked-out tour bus that will be our home for the next 40 days. We stumble inside, find our bunks, and stash little things into cubbies and drawers here and there. The bus is pretty comfortable with two living “rooms” -- one in the front with a small fridge, sink, microwave, and two flat screen Tvs; another in back features a large U-shaped couch where we’ll hold class each day. In between these rooms are 12 bunks--6 on each side of the bus, that make me think of Asian pod hotels. Students were tired, but obviously giddy as they skip or run through the parking lot on their way to the gas station for one last late night snack purchase. Within an hour we are ready to go. First stop: Memphis, just 3.5 hours away.

In this class, we’re studying what it means to be American. What, if anything, is uniquely ours as a culture? What divides us as a country? What unites us? What makes each city that we visit distinctive? How do different cities craft their cultural identities in an effort to market themselves and lure people there? What, if anything, would Memphis tell us about what it means to be an American? After just four hours of sleep, we set out to explore some of these questions as we head to cultural landmarks including the Peabody Hotel, a rib joint/“meat and three,” Beale Street, and Graceland.

The Peabody Hotel is an “icon” of the city most known for its ornate decoration and its ducks. Yes, that’s right, its ducks. But, I’ll get to that in a minute. The hotel was re-built in 1925 for 5 million dollars. That’s a hefty sum in 2009, but a **massive** amount of money for the time. The hotel’s website says its maker wanted the Peabody “to be the finest hotel in the South, an oasis of elegance and good taste where local gentry, wheelers and dealers could congregate in comfort to wine and dine on the finest foods and rarest wines; where their ladies could meet for genteel afternoon tea in opulent, exquisite surroundings” (www.peabodymemphis.com). The lobby is filled with ornate marble columns, carved wood trim, thick oriental rugs, and massive displays of sweet smelling flowers. When our group arrived at 10:30am, it was already buzzing with hundreds of people who had arrived to see the Peabody Ducks. The “duck walk” has become a Memphis tradition over the last 50 years or so since two hunters placed the first decoy ducks in the lobby fountain as a practical joke. Today, the ducks are a different kind of decoy--they are a lure for locals and tourists alike--to get them into the hotel and the nearby mall where they can spend their money. The daily walk is a well-crafted production complete with a “Duck Master” who is somewhat akin to a circus ring leader: “Ladies and gentlemennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, may I have your attention pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I am thrilllllllllled to have you here at the historic Peabody Hotellllllllllllllllllllllllll.”

The Duck Master (DM) proceeds to tell us the history of the hotel, one that seems verbatim to the hotel’s website. In other words, he is strictly on message. One goal of the class is to consider the ways in which tourist sites craft identity and it’s clear that there’s no room for error here. The DM tells us that the ducks live in their rooftop “duck palace” and twice a day make their way across the roof and down the elevator where they will walk down a crimson (not “red”) carpet towards a large marble fountain in the center of the lobby. We wait with baited breath. Then, at last, the elevator chimes, the doors open, and the ducks waddle quickly down the carpet and plop, plop, plop, plop, plop…make their way, blissfully, into the fountain.



Granted, they are kinda cute, but, the “event” that we can see lasts for what seems no more than 10 seconds. So, why do people come to see it? Go out of their way, in fact, to see it? What does the duck walk represent that compels us to make such an effort? As we discussed in our afternoon sociology class, the Peabody’s image is clearly carefully crafted and attempts to hearken back to what some would call a more gentile time. Maybe there’s something quaint and simple in this duck walk that people want or need…an oasis for when the modern world seems too fast? Or…what? That’s something to ponder and discuss over ribs and catfish….