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Month: April 2010
Dear Bianca,
My husband and I have a 4-year-old son, and we live in an area of town near inner-city public schools. I love our home with its big backyard, and our neighbors are wonderful. But my husband has mentioned that we should move to DeSoto County before our kid starts school.
Some of my friends have accused him of resorting to “white flight” but I don’t think his motives are racist. He says our child will get a better education elsewhere. As an alternative, he’s suggested home-schooling or private schools. But I attended Memphis City Schools as a kid, and I received a fine education. I’d prefer that my son grow up around more diversity, and I’d really love to stay in the house we’re in.
How can I convince my husband to give the urban school system a chance? I really don’t want my kid growing up without exposure to diversity, and I certainly don’t want him to live the sheltered life of a home-schooled kid.
— Confused Parent
Dear Confused,
These are tough decisions. I’m not a parent, so I’ll simply offer my inexperienced opinion: First, you should consult with your friends or others who have kids in Memphis public schools.
I grew up in a medium-sized town in Arkansas. We had four public school districts (which sounds crazy considering that my hometown is way smaller than Memphis, but that’s how Arkansas schools are set up). I went to a school in the smaller, more rural area, based on where I lived. I got a fine education there, graduating as Valedictorian in 1998. I had good friends, but there were only a handful of non-white people enrolled in my school. I always wished I’d been able to attend the larger city school district, which had more diversity.
I’m a big proponent of public schools. Interaction with people from all classes and races is crucial to shaping how your child will view others later in life. As for Memphis versus DeSoto County, I think my advice would depend what school your child attends.
Just this week, Memphis Police were called to break up fights at Northside and East high schools. You certainly don’t want your child to attend a violent school. But there are a number of excellent schools in the Memphis system. Research your options and make your decision based on safety, test scores, and conversations with teachers, and other parents in the schools you’re considering. If the school you want is not in your area, you’ll have to sign up for early registration and wait in line. But a free, diverse, quality public education is worth it, and probably easier than moving to DeSoto County.
As for convincing your husband, ask if he’ll at least consider starting your son out at a public school. Gauge how your son is doing after a couple of years, and if you both feel his education is inferior, then you can move to another district.
Got a problem? E-mail Bianca at bphillips@memphisflyer.com.
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Broccoli Rabe
I’m pretty jazzed about the local farmers markets opening soon, so I’m celebrating by trying new (to me) veggies.
Last week, I found this beautiful broccoli rabe, which I’ve never made before because I don’t know how to pronounce it. Turns out, broccoli rabe isn’t broccoli at all, but a brassica more closely aligned with turnips and cabbage.
- Ella Carver in 1961
Memphis has always attracted our share of unusual entertainers. Some of them are born here, and some come from other places. But few have such a distinctive specialty as Ella Carver, the “World-Famous Fire Diver,” who performed here several times in the early 1960s, at Lakeland and the Mid-South Fair.
Judging from old newspaper articles that I discovered, Ella clambered to the top of a 90-foot platform wearing a special bathing suit. She somehow set herself ON FIRE, then leaped from the tower and splashed into a shallow pool below, which was also ON FIRE.
Ella, who called Miami home when she wasn’t on the road, traveled the country in an old truck (shown below) with brightly painted signs on the side that proclaimed that she was “the only high swan diver in the world ‘on fire into fire.'” Another sign said that her diving act is “the one that never fails the public.”
And what makes this even more amazing? Ella was doing this act when she was 73 years old!
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Tiger Trivia Tuesday
In 1990, Larry Porter set a single-game freshman rushing record for the Tigers, with 206 yards in a season-opening tie with Arkansas State. Whose record did he break?
- U of M Athletics
- Larry Porter during his playing days
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Craig Brewer to Remake “Footloose”
“Please, Louise, Pull me offa my knees …” We can only imagine how Craig Brewer might choreograph Kenny Loggins’ immortal tunes, but it’s going to happen.
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memphis redbirds
Variety is reporting that Craig Brewer is set to remake the classic 1984 rebellion film Footloose. Brewer replaces filmmaker Kenny Ortega (High School Musical and the Michael Jackson doc This is It) on the project.
No word on who will fill Kevin Bacon’s pert shoes in the lead role as a city boy who relocates to a small town that has banned dancing and rock-and-roll (or who will take John Lithgow’s role as the bible-thumping buzzkill), but casting will begin promptly with an eye to start filming this summer.
Brewer has rewritten the remake’s script to keep it “edgier” and more dramatic (rather than, one speculates, a musical a la High School Musical or Glee).
This apparently pushes back Brewer’s project Mother Trucker.
Brewer commented on the news on his Twitter account, @MyBrewTube, saying simply, “Wild.”
- Craig Brewer & Lindsey Roberts
If you built this kind of detail into a screenplay the critics would dismiss it as being too heavy handed. On the night when Craig Brewer’s first completed film The Poor & Hungry was named Best Digital Feature by the Hollywood Film Festival Kenny Loggins, the musician who had penned hit theme songs for movies like Top Gun and Caddyshack, was also honored for his lifetime achievement as a songwriter. Loggins entertained the crowd that night with an energetic mini-concert and brought the house down with his performance of “Your Heart Will Lead You Home.”
While some members of Brewer’s party giggled and accused Loggins of being cheesy the man of the hour protested, confessing his deep and abiding affection for Footloose.
Tonight, after Variety reported that he would be directing the long-anticipated remake of Footloose based on his own rewrite of the script, Brewer tweeted a one word acknowledgment: “Wild.” No kidding.
On Sunday, a trio of novice gardeners (one of them was me) made lasagna, and we never left the backyard.
Actually, it was Lori Greene’s backyard, or more accurately, her city farm near the University of Memphis. This weekend, Greene was at Downing Hollow Farms in Olive Hill, Tennessee, getting ready for the opening of the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market, which she is spearheading, so her sister, Sue Easley, supervised the work in town.
Now back to that lasagna …