Birmingham!

Reportedly, the word "birmingham" means home of the people of the tribal leader. Which is a really long way of saying "The Tribe's Digs". Did you even know we had an office in Birmingham? That's really something, no? Birmingham! Sometime home to the author J.R.R Tolkien, centre of Europe's industrial revolution, home to more canals than Venice (it's true!)...

Oh, wait...

My fact-checkers are telling me that our office is actually in Birmingham, Alabama. Not England. This is a bit awkward as I didn't bother to learn a single thing about Birmingham, Alabama. In my defense, you can see why I'd be confused. I mean, look at this:

That's in the Alabama Birmingham! Why is there a castle in Alabama? Alright, anyway, here we go, here's everything I've ever known about the city (this will be brief), plus the stuff I convinced Shelley Meacham, from our Birmingham office, to tell me about her home town.

First, and this is really surprising to me, but I guess Shelley would know, it was Meacham herself who, seeing Dallas's BeDazzler, invented the better, faster, more efficient BeDazzler - the BirmDazzler. I can't find anything about it on the web, but I'll take Shelley's word for it. Shelley also tells me that Fannie Flagg, Harper Lee (author of one of the best works of fiction ever put on paper, besides this post, To Kill A Mockingbird), Tammy Wynette, Condoleezza Rice, Courteney Cox, Emmylou Harris, Charles Barkley and Bo Jackson are all from Birmingham. So is Mary Anderson, inventor of windshield wipers.

Birmingham is referred to as The Magic City. I assume this is due to their surfeit of magicians, but can't confirm that. Also, I know that way down south, in Birmingham, I mean south, in Alabam', there's a place where people go to dance the night away. That's according to composer Erskine Hawkins (also from Birmingham). From what I can tell Tuxedo Junction was a rail stop, but it's entirely possible people danced there. So, while Birmingham, England has Spaghetti Junction (right), Birmingham, Alabama has Tuxedo Junction which seems like a lot more fun.

Birmingham also has Vulcan Park, home to the world's largest iron statue. Iron was big business back in the day (1871) when the city was a major industrial center (see? It's American so it's a center, not like the Birmingham of England which was a centre - that's just how we roll here). I question their choice of iron for the statue as the U.S.'s Tribal Digs was once known as The Pittsburgh of the South and produced all manner of steel...it just seems like they should've gone with steel but whatever. Big statue. Check it out if you're ever there.

Way down south, our friends in The Magic City will be working with Alabama Youth Homes for Labor Day in May. That's Jan Collins, Neva Collins, Shelley (BirmDazzler) Meacham, Troy Elkins and Steven Phillips - all helping create a better future through the young people of Birmingham. Thanks, guys!