Reflections of potential: Legacy of Elvis an inspiration for many

Mar. 9—TUPELO — What do the pilgrims who come seeking the echoes of Elvis hope to find? Developers on the hallowed grounds in East Tupelo hope visitors see the potential reflected in themselves.

When Elvis was a boy, he was a Tupelo boy — a child of the town and the country and the hills. He had a musical spirit and an everyman's dream. He traveled the places he was supposed to go, as well as many he was not, just as any young man will. Before he and his family decamped to Memphis when he was almost 14, the experiences these destinations wrought became the foundation of who he would become. He would not only be the first modern pop culture icon to shake up the world, but he'd become the lens through which so many international citizens still crystalize their own versions of the American dream.

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Kevin is the weekend edition editor for the Daily Journal. Contact him at kevin.tate@journalinc.com.