Conceptual Memo # 3 Commerce on the Move

Conceptual Memo #3 Commerce on the Move

I just finished taking and typing field notes on the articles that Ivory Moore wrote from Jan-march 1993 in The Commerce Journal. The title of these articles is “Commerce on the Move.” There are a total of twelve articles, 4 in January, 3 in Feb, and 4 in March. Each of the months according to a comment by Moore in the 3-Jan-1993 article will focus on different themes, “Education will be the focus for the month of February, and in March we will focus on togetherness.” For this memo I think it would be best to give each month its own space and an overview of what areas that Moore focuses on in each month.

January begins with an article that discusses the various grant money that will distributed throughout the community. This article ties in well with the article about Moore getting the Norris Award. The Commerce on the Move article helps show why Moore received the award. In the Jan-03-1993 article a vast majority of the money from federal grants is allotted to housing in the Norris Community. The other articles in the January batch highlight various businesses around commerce. Each of the articles has a slightly different type of business to highlight, but all have in common a description of the business’ history, products and clientele. January covers retail business, insurance agencies and both locally owned businesses and franchises.

True to Moore’s description in his first January article, February focuses on education in Commerce. Moore begins the Feb-14-1993 article focusing on East Texas State University (ETSU) and divides the article between the Gee library and statistics of the university itself. In the following weeks Moore visits the Commerce Public Library and the Commerce Independent School district then rounds out the month visiting four childhood learning centers.

The March articles follow the layout of the January articles and focus on businesses in Commerce. I am not sure though that the articles follow the theme of togetherness that Moore articulated in January. Following suit from the format he used in the January articles, Moore travels throughout the city visiting with local merchants and describing their businesses.

Although many of the articles is focused on describing particular businesses, I think that theses articles will be helpful in showing Moore’s dedication to his community. One area that really sticks out to me is the facts that Moore doesn’t discriminate between local business of franchise…CD hut or Barbeque joint…he tries to get them all. There are also some comments by Moore describing his delight in visiting each place that will be helpful in establishing Moore’s character. If I had more time it would be interesting to look at the other articles in the series.