Jacksonville: I Thought I Knew You, But Now I See You for Who You Are
The Passive Aggressive Bold New City of the South
Cities can have personalities. And just like people, you can form relationships and have feelings towards them. Jacksonville, Florida, was the first city I lived in on my own. Procter & Gamble offered me my first professional job there after I graduated from Fisk University in Nashville. I’d been to a few cities in Florida before on basketball trips, but when I drove into Jacksonville on Interstate 10 in May of 1977, it was my new home.
I stayed in a hotel for a few days until I found an apartment. Mostly by chance, I ended up in a huge Century 21 complex with around 1,000 units. I lived alone in a 2-bedroom apartment; one bedroom was dedicated to the supplies I needed for my job in outside sales with P&G. I stayed in Jacksonville more than actually living there, as covering my territory took me on the road three days a week. I covered the southern part of Georgia, a corner of South Carolina…
