By: Michael Lander
 |
| Names are an important part of our lives in so many ways. Even though the Memphis Cyclist name hasn't been around for very long, the hope is that it will be among the list of many who will continue to be a part in promoting cycling and all of the other things that make the Memphis area great. |
The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, once asked the question, “What is in a name?”
For me, and for most other people, the answer is simple – It is “everything.”
Whether we think about it or not, names hold special meaning for most of us. It is what we are known by throughout our lives and it’s what we’re always remembered by long after we’re gone.
This is one reason, I think, that it was so important to me when I was notified that my trademark request for the name of “Memphis Cyclist” had been officially approved this week.
What this will mean for me is that, legally, I now have the exclusive rights for the use of that name, which I came up with back in the spring of 2012 when I created my Memphis Cyclist website and my Memphis Cyclist blog.
I established the website and blog four years ago in order to satisfy some course requirements for a journalism degree that I was pursuing at the University of Memphis.
I could have chosen any number of topics for a blog and a website, but I had really gotten interested in cycling several years before that and I knew that this would be something that I would be more than willing to keep going long after I finished my classes and received a final grade.
And this, indeed, is what ended up happening.
I had many other reasons for wanting to write about cycling in Memphis, and I continue to do so, because I could see that the Memphis area was clearly on the verge of transforming itself into becoming a place where cyclists would want to come to visit and to live with the development and proliferation of bike lanes and trails, and plans for even more in the future.
I also saw my website and my blog as an opportunity to give back to my community by helping others to become interested in cycling, themselves, and helping them out with it after they do get started.
Along with that, I also saw that I could use my website and blog to promote health and fitness, (which many of our area residents are so desperately in need of), and that it could show how cycling could help to unify and bring our community together, and to help instill pride and appreciation for all the great things that Memphis has and will have in the future.
I especially have sought to focus on the positive aspects of what cycling can be and on how great life is and can be in Memphis, instead of focusing on just the negative parts of it.
Memphis, like any other big city in the U.S., is not perfect, but I’ve always believed that if you only look at the negative, then the negative is all that you will ever see.
I, myself, have chosen to concentrate on the good and to see what I, for one, can do to make that good happen and to try to bring out the best in me and in others.
In the years ahead, I hope to continue to promote cycling and to support others who are doing the same as I am.
I will also continue to keep the focus of my website and blog the same by providing a one-stop-shop for practical information, tips, and advice for those who are interested in cycling, while featuring people who ride, places to ride, and cycling-related information in Memphis and in the surrounding areas.
Having the “Memphis Cyclist” name trademarked, will not, in and of itself, change anything for me, or for those who enjoy or who benefit in any way from my website or my blog.
It is an important and necessary step, though, in being able to continue my mission under a name that is distinctively unique and is as special to me as any of our names might be for any one of us.
I truly love cycling and I want to support it and the cycling community and it’s something that I hope to be able to continue to provide for many years to come. And, I want to be able to always do this as the “Memphis Cyclist.”
To see more from me, you can follow me on twitter or check me out on Pinterest.
No comments:
Post a Comment