Somew(HERE) South of Sam Cooper

“My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”

-John Lennon

        This summer the Caritas Village has its very first Student Artist-In-Residence, Michael Joiner. Michael is a native Memphian, pursuing his B.F.A. in Theatre at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. While many collegestudents may jump at the chance to spend a summer on the beach or to just take a break from life’s everyday chaos, Michael is determined to spend every moment with purpose. He has returned to the city he calls home, moved to Binghampton, and has set out to create a documentary that tells the stories of the neighborhood and its people.

​I have only known Michael for a little over a year, but am blessed to call him an artistic collaborator and a friend. I know this to be true – he has an abounding love for yesterday and an even greater passion for tomorrow. When I first met Michael I noticed the faded bumper sticker on the back of his Jeep announcing, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” I quickly discovered that I had met a fellow artist, listener, true Memphian, and dreamer. He is the product of family, Beatles’ records, beat poetry, handwritten letters, classic novels, independent films, and the soul that only comes from Memphis.Right now, he is becoming a product of Binghampton. He is gathering the stories of the people that live and work within the walls of this neighborhood. Michael aims to tell their stories well – with truth and clarity and love. He would probably tell you that he aims to stay out of the way (as good storytellers do) and let the stories speak for themselves. He would also say that this project is not about his perspective. However, I would like to spend a few moments sharing his very inspiring perspective. Currently, his days are spent interviewing others and asking them the questions that open up real dialogue. I am going to attempt to follow his lead and step out of the way, so that his voice can be heard clearly. I urge you to stop for a moment, maybe grab a glass of tea, put a record on, and look through his lens.

Describe the project that you will be working on as the Caritas Village Artist-In-Residence.

I’m shooting a documentary called Somew(HERE) South of Sam Cooper. It’s a film about stories, about life as the people inBinghampton know it…how they see the world and how they see themselves and the importance of all the very intricate dynamics of their community that most people don’t realize is there. It’s a film that is meant to personalize statistics and news reports and negative connotations and stereotypes.

Hopefully, when it’s done, the people of Binghampton will say, “Yeah – I made that.”

Hopefully, something beautiful will come from it.

You are in the middle of gathering the stories of others. Could you share some of your thoughts on story?

Good writers are very, very good at writing without any knowledge that their words are even there…at capturing what it is that they are talking about. The words never get in the way.

Could you describe yourself as an artist?

As an artist I consider myself to be a kid in a creative candy store. I’m interested, intrigued, and fascinated by everything and only get disappointed when it’s time for me to go.

What are some of the questions that you ask during interviews?

The questions are basic, super simple. Questions like:

What does Binghampton mean to you?

What are your hopes for the people that live here?

Where do you see the neighborhood ten years from now?

How does art influence the neighborhood? How can it?

What do the words service, love, and community mean to you?

What is your favorite word?

It’s not about what I think the neighborhood is. I just want to give people the opportunity and the platform to say exactly how they see it in their own words. If you get all of those perspectives and they are varied enough, you’ll probably find some commonality between all of the people that live there. It’s my theory that those similarities will be very shocking.

What is your favorite word?

Revelry – To me “revelry”means that you find personalized pleasure in something that is otherwise seemingly mundane…something that could be universally great or universally ugly, but you still find something about it that is absolutely captivating or worthwhile.

How has growing up in Memphis influenced you?

I could talk about that for hours…Something that Memphis has,that is so influential in the medium of art, is soul. It’s that quality that everyone possesses here. It’s sort of gritty, rough-edged, tough, no-nonsense – It’s just a Memphis thing. You can’t really quantify it. I think that a city that is steeped in so much history – the Civil Rights Movement, the birth place of rock and roll, all the artists the artists that have come through. Elvis, the trolley line, the Peabody, high rise buildings– everything in this city has influenced me, from the smallest, seemingly insignificant detail to the Memphis bridge or the pyramid or something iconic. It’s all important and it’s something that I take pride in.

I said when I graduated high school and moved off to Nashville, when I was much younger and more foolish, that I would never come back to Memphis. I didn’t want to. I had bad memories from growing up. But I tell you, after I said that I was never coming back, the first time that I saw the city again, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

What do you find most exciting about this documentary?

The most exciting thing is that it is not about me or any one individual. It’s about everybody. Everyone is on an equal playing field.

In short, we want this film to be a conversation starter. There’s this feeling that I’ve got something big to say. These people have something big to say and together, as a group, we have something really, really big to say, but no one has heard us say it yet. The anticipation of the response is the biggest inspiration – Are people going to get angry about it? Are they going to love it? Are they going to do something because of it?

If you are interested in supporting this project or sharing your story with Michael, you can find him every afternoon at the Caritas Village. Please join us in August for the screening of the documentary. We look forward to sharing 

stories with you.

By Leslie Barker