Tonight might be a good time to check out the skating rink and the Zoo Lights at the Memphis Zoo.
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Month: November 2011
I like Christopher Durang’s early work and love The Marriage of Bette and Boo. His later plays haven’t always done very much for me and I’ve got to admit, this one— Mrs. Bob Crachit’s Wild Christmas Binge— isn’t really calling my name either.
Reserving judgment. The cast is top notch so it could be outstanding.
Memphis Police officer Tramaine Johnson learned a valuable lesson the hard way on Saturday: Smoking pot inside a moving vehicle is probably not a good idea … especially when you’re a police officer.
Johnson was in Nashville when a Tennessee State University campus cop pulled over the 1998 Ford van he was riding in with several other passengers. Upon approaching the vehicle, the officer smelled marijuana. After calling for back-up, the police found 9.2 grams of marijuana inside the vehicle. Johnson was also carrying his MPD-issued gun. All occupants of the van were arrested.
Johnson has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. He’s been relieved of duty from the MPD pending an investigation. Johnson has worked at Midtown’s Union Station since 2009.
One of the best things I’ve ever read was this account of making prison wine using tube socks, moldy bread, and ketchup. So, when I was offered a Spike Your Juice kit, I, of course, accepted.
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Thanksgiving Dilemma
What’s a young couple to do when both sets of parents are horrible to visit? Jack Waggon has some thoughts.
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Both Families are Turkeys
Dear Jack,
Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in the same city as my parents and my fiancé’s parents. When parents live in different cities, you only have to visit one of them on Thanksgiving. My fiancé and I have been engaged for a year and dating for three, so we’ve been through this a few times, but it doesn’t get any easier. In fact, it seems to be getting worse.
My parents and my fiancé’s parents hate each other. The fact that they are different races and political and social castes plays a big part. When it comes to Thanksgiving, they make no effort to time their dinners so we can attend both of them. They seem to try their best to schedule at the same time.
What makes things worse is that neither of us even wants to go. It’s always tense, there’s always an argument. His family is easier to get along with than mine, as they seem to like me if not my parents, but my family is just short of openly hostile towards him. After four years, you would think they would come to accept him and appreciate his many charms. The first time he met my mother she asked me if I was pregnant. Apparently that was the only way she could imagine I would bring home someone like him.
So here we are, once more trying to decide who we are going to offend, only this time we are arguing about it. I want to go to his house, he wants to try one more time to reconcile our families before the wedding.
—Sick of Pumpkin Pie
Dear Pumpkin,
So why not go away?
Seriously, hear me out. Why don’t you and your fiancé go out of town for Thanksgiving? Take a trip somewhere and just be together and pretend it isn’t a holiday of traditional family obligations. Have some fun for a change. When your parents file their inevitable objections, state that you’ve decided not to ruin their holidays again with your presence.
It has been one of my long-standing rules that past the age of majority you are under no obligation to attend family functions. Your presence should be a blessing to the event, a welcome addition to the table, like whipped topping on the pumpkin pie. If you treat it like an obligation, that’s exactly what it will become. If you don’t put your foot down now, these miseries will themselves become a part of the tradition.
However, if you can’t be counted on to attend, then both sets of parents will be induced to provide enticements for you to join them, rather than reasons to dread the day. You just need to realize that you hold the power in this situation. They will try to guilt you, but you have no reason to feel guilt. Instead, as an adult, you have the right to start your own holiday traditions. And when you do, they will be forced to schedule around you.
Got a problem? Let Jack Waggon set you straight: jack.wagg@gmail.com
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Memphis Cop Busted for Pot
Memphis Police officer Tramaine Johnson was arrested in Nashville on Saturday when Tennessee State University police smelled pot during a traffic stop. Bianca Phillips has more.
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Off to Antarctica
Pink Palace employee Alex Eilers will travel to Antartica soon to study Weddell seals like these two.
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Memphis Bounced by Michigan, 73-61
The Memphis Tigers hopes of winning the Maui Invitational were dashed by Michigan Monday, 73-61. Frank Murtaugh has the story.
VIDEO: Mulroy Explains His Reasons for Joiining Occupy Memphis
Shelby County Commissoner Steve Mulroy has become the first well-known public official to enlist in the service of Occupy Memphis, the local version of the Occupy Wall Street movement which has become a national phenomenon.
In several cities — New York, Oakland, and even nearby Nashville among them — local authorities have attempted to uproot Occupy encampments, sometimes violently.
The Memphis encampment on the downtown mall between the buildings housing city, county, federal, and state government has been more tranquil. So far. The commissioner joined that encampment Monday night and intended to stay overnight.
In an interview at an East Memphis restaurant on Sunday night, Mulroy, a Democrat, explained his reasons:
“I want to dramatize my support for the Occupy Memphis movement and the Wall Street movement more nationally.…I think it’s an extremely important cause, and we need to be sure we drum up attention to it.”
And what is that cause?
“I think it’s to dramatize the growing and gross inequality of wealth in this country and undue corporate influence and a lack of attention to the problems of poor folks. These are serious issues everywhere in America, including Memphis, which is one of the poorest metropolitan areas in th3e country and recently revealed to have one of the widest gaps between rich and poor.”
How would his presence serve this cause?
I don’t know. Maybe it won’t. But my hope is it’ll draw attention to the legitimacy of the cause.