Toby Sells – Page 2 – Memphis Flyer

One thing was certain; I was not coming down.

My knees quivered. My stomach flipped. Fear rose in my throat. Did they have some kind of bucket truck that could lower me safely and comfortably to the forest floor? Nope. Even though I wanted to, I was not coming down, not like that.

Friday was media day at the brand new Go Ape Zip Line & Treetop Adventure course at Shelby Farms Park. It’s a beautiful overhead ropes course that blends perfectly into the forest around Pine Lake. I willingly signed up for media day and I was representing The Memphis Flyer. But, no, I was not coming down.

I’d climbed a wet rope ladder and stood on a wet, wooden platform that ringed the tree trunk. My job, then, was to unhook two safety ropes (tipped with heavy, red and blue carabiners) that attached me to the rope ladder and hook them to a red safety line that attached me to the tree. My hands shook, clacking the carabiners loudly, embarrassingly. I wasn’t that high up, but I knew taller trees were coming, and I have a bad track record with heights.

To calm myself, I listened to the rain patter softly on the canopy. Then I looked down and remembered Texas. A decade ago, I collapsed while high inside the dome of the Texas State Capitol building. I got close to the fourth-floor overlook and my legs quivered, stopped working, and I just sat down.

Then I came back to the present and looked down at the grinning faces of Go Ape staffers and other media types. Suddenly, the native machismo of my rural Southern upbringing took over. No, I was not coming down, by god, not like that. I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and wobbled across a one-foot beam suspended between two trees. Then I attached myself to the zip line, and sailed about 20 feet, scooting to a stop on a ramp of soft mulch. Alright, that was fun.

Station two (there are six) required climbing a 40-foot ladder up a tree. At that height, remembering to attach my safety lines came easy. I waddled around another treetop platform, clipped on to a dangling rope, lowered the weight of my beer-and-fried-chicken-loving body onto it, and swung Tarzan-style to a net ladder 40 feet away. As I climbed the ladder up and over to the next tree, I wished I had done more push-ups in the past two years. Or one.

I stared at the path of the next zip line — right over the smooth waters of Pine Lake. I clipped in, now trusting myself and the equipment, and let fly. Cool air whipped around my face. The cable buzzed and whined as I sailed across the quiet lake.

From somewhere deep inside came a long and involuntarily whoop of joy. At the ramp, I spurred the mulch landing strip and came to rest with a thud. Breathing heavily, the only words I could think of were “holy shit.”

The only way to make sense out of change is plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. — Alan Watts

A few weeks back, staff writer Hannah Sayle left the Flyer to take a managing editor position at Minneapolis City Pages. Hannah had been with us for four years. She was a good reporter, and we miss her humor and enthusiastic profanity at staff meetings.

A week or so after Hannah announced her departure, our film and music editor, Chris Herrington, accepted a job as entertainment editor at The Commercial Appeal. Chris was with the Flyer for 13 years, winning several national awards for music and film criticism, and in his spare time creating the best local Grizzlies blog, “Beyond the Arc.” He was a hard-working triple threat, and left us with some big shoes to fill. Literally.

Now, in this issue, senior editor and City Beat columnist John Branston bids farewell, succumbing at last to the lure of big bucks on the professional squash circuit. I kid. He’s just changing gears, trying other directions. Read his final column on page 10 to get the straight dope. John had hundreds of connections and sources, a “no bullshit” attitude, and an old-fashioned reporter’s dogged persistence. We’ll miss the hell out of him.

So what are we going to do? Keep dancing, that’s what.

We’ve hired SBNation Grizzlies blogger Kevin Lipe to handle our Grizzlies coverage. Kevin’s a gifted writer with a droll sense of humor. You can find him at BeyondtheArc, starting this week.

Greg Akers, who reviews films for us while not editing our sister business publication, MBQ, takes over this week as Flyer film and television editor. He’s wicked smart and funny and knows a lot more about movies and TV than you do.

Joe Boone, who’s written about music for the Flyer and other publications for years, moves into the music editor slot, bringing a couple decades of hands-on experience as a Memphis musician and studio hand. He will, he will rock you.

We’ve also hired a couple of new columnists, who will alternate weeks. They are former “I Love Memphis” blogger Kerry Crawford and Fox 13 newsman Les Smith. Les’ first column will run next week; Kerry’s, the week after. I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with.

Finally, we have hired Toby Sells as our newest staff reporter. Toby’s been reporting for The Commercial Appeal for the past four years. Prior to that, he wrote for the Memphis Business Journal. He is an excellent writer with deep sources in city and county government, and he likes beer. Should be a good fit.

So, yeah. We’re plunging into change here at the Flyer, saying farewell to former colleagues and friends, and welcoming some fresh voices and new energy. As the great poet Sonny Bono once wrote, “the beat goes on.”

Care to dance?

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com