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Art Exhibit M

Valerie Piraino at Crosstown Arts

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Valerie Piraino will be giving a talk at Crosstown Arts tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 20), 6 p.m.. The emerging artist, who lives and works in New York, was previously a resident artist at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and has shown work at Queen’s Sculpture Center and Chicago’s Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. Her Crosstown show, “Reconstruction” combines recent works with earlier installations.

Piraino works largely with transfer process, a method that she says is “very much embedded with photography.” Most recently she has been working with fabric transfers, though her Crosstown show contains earlier iterations of this interest: slide projection, printmaking, even embossed wax seals.

The show consists of five correlated installations: an array of small, handmade prints depicting old furniture; a row of vignette-shaped, framed mirrors; 11 wooden frames that contain projected slide images from several decades ago; and another slide image, projected into a corner at slightly below waist-height. The gallery space is bisected by a makeshift wall, giving the room a sense of front and back.

The idea of a transfer operates in “Reconstruction” in a couple different senses. There is the obvious transfer of one material to another, but there is also the thematic transfer of memory, both personal and historical. Piraino’s work attempts to reconstruct personal and family history but pays material reference to Victorian-era (read: American Reconstruction-era) furniture.

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Piraino began this work when she inherited a large collection of family slides. She says, “Much of the context [of the photographs] has been lost as family members passed away. All of that has since been folded into the work and has really become a central question for me… how to you reconcile having personal objects with very little context?”

History, in Piraino’s work, is repressed, evidenced only by its inexplicable leftover objects. Her row of vignette-shaped mirrors are marked with a centered, creme-colored wax seal. They cast ovals of light onto the gallery floor. There’s a domestic simplicity and beauty to the mirrors, but the work is frustrating. It doesn’t tell a viewer what she or he wants to know. It does so purposefully, with reference to one of the most egregious “forgetting” of civil rights for African Americans, post-Reconstruction era.

Piraino’s work elegantly conveys a sense of muted history, the artifacts of which have an undeniable coldness. Her installations are less about what were, than what could have been, were history better remembered.

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Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies at Warriors Preview: Missing Pieces

Tony Allens mastery of martial arts earned him the right to sit out tonights game at Golden State.

  • Larry Kuzniewski
  • Tony Allen’s mastery of martial arts earned him the right to sit out tonight’s game at Golden State.

Tony Allen is going to miss tonight’s road game against the Golden State Warriors while he serves his suspension for, y’know, kicking Chris Paul in the face Monday night, but he’s not the only key player who’ll be missing from action: Stephen Curry will also be out with a concussion which he suffered Monday night against the Jazz.

The absence of Allen means Quincy Pondexter will probably start in his place. Pondexter has struggled on and off all season, but has lately picked up his game a little, maybe because of his awesome black facemask.

Other fun fact about tonight’s game: the game Curry is missing due to a head injury is his own bobblehead night at Oracle Arena.

What’re the odds?

At any rate, tonight’s game gives the Grizzlies a chance to complete a 4-0 sweep of their West Coast road trip that seemed completely impossible a week ago. Four games in six nights, all of them on the road, including a game against the Clippers on the second game of a back to back? Forget about it. The discussion was about whether they’d go 1-3 on the trip or 2-2. About how if they were lucky, they probably wouldn’t lose all four games.

This Grizzlies team has come alive on this trip. I still think their success is masking future issues with the rotation—I think eventually Calathes will be the backup point guard, and eventually Ed Davis is going to have to get some playing time to reduce the load being placed on the frontcourt starters. But for now, this group is playing well, and more importantly, they’re playing with purpose. No longer are they wandering around like they’re underwater watching the other team move the ball around, feet glued to the floor. They’re playing like the Grizzlies, and that has everybody feeling better.

Whatever issues this team is going to have going forward—and I can think of a few: poor offensive play at the small forward spot, Ed Davis’ continued need to step up and play better, the fact that Bayless is much better off the ball but is still being used as a backup point guard, et cetera—it appears that motivation is no longer one of them. The decision to buy in to the Joerger Era is no longer one of them. Marc Gasol playing like a hefty Byron Mullens is no longer one of them.

So, win or lose, tonight’s Grizzlies game will feature a Grizzlies team that has started playing like a Grizzlies team (including a drop to 27th in the league in pace, of course). And this early in the season, I think that’s all anybody really wanted to see.

Game Notes

   • I expect the Grizzlies’ bigs’ dominating play to continue tonight, since the Warriors (as we saw previously when the Grizzlies beat them at FedExForum) don’t really have anyone who can guard them. David Lee gets eaten alive by Zach Randolph almost every time the two meet each other, and Marreese Speights defended so poorly the last time these two teams met that Mark Jackson had to play the Corpse Formerly Known As Jermaine O’Neal instead. Look for the Randolph/Gasol/Koufos triumvirate (The Triumvirate is a great band name) to do serious work tonight.

   • With Curry out, the Warriors’ perimeter threats are going to have to work that much harder: Klay Thompson and Andre Igoudala (and Harrison Barnes, too) have their work cut out for them. It’ll be interesting to see whether the absence of Tony Allen or the absence of Steph Curry plays a bigger part in tonight’s game.

   • I’d like to see Nick Calathes get some run against the Warriors again; he played a lot of minutes against them last time because Jerryd Bayless was out. He acquitted himself very well, and I think he’s much better as a backup ballhandler than Bayless. Bayless proved last year that he was much more effective off the ball—and that was with Keyon Dooling at the point, not Calathes, who is a much more able (if reckless) passer. “Reckless” can be fixed. The stifling effect that playing at the point has on Bayless’ game probably can’t. I’d like to see Calathes get some run tonight.

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News

GMO OMG!

Indie Memphis presents GMO OMG, a film about genetically altered food, at Malco on the Square, Wednesday. Director Jeremy Seifert will speak.

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News

Memphis Tiger Football Thoughts

Frank Murtaugh shares his weekly three thoughts on Memphis Tiger football prior to this weekend’s tussle with Louisville.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

Has Lady Luck finally winked the Tigers’ way? In the win over UT-Martin two weeks ago, two field-goal attempts by the Skyhawks’ kicker deflected off the same (left) upright. Then last Saturday at USF, a 56-yard attempt by Tiger freshman Jake Elliott kissed the crossbar before securing Memphis another three points just before halftime. These are events worth noting for a program not accustomed to breaks going its way. (See the last three minutes of the UCF game.)

The Tigers converted only two of ten third-down opportunities against the Bulls. Their quarterback did more damage as a runner (51 yards) than as a passer (59). They scored exactly one offensive touchdown. And yet, Memphis won the game . . . and by 13 points. Credit to a stout defense (particularly AAC Defensive Player of the Week Bobby McCain, he of three interceptions). But let’s measure good fortune when we can. Luck and talent have partnered for a lot of success stories on the gridiron.

• Tiger senior Tom Hornsey has now punted for almost seven miles over his four years in blue and gray. The Aussie pigskin punisher surpassed 12,000 yards in the win at USF. (No other Memphis kicker has reached 10,000.) Such a figure, of course, is an ugly statement on how dreadful the Tiger offense has been over the last four seasons. But imagine what Memphis football would have looked like the last four years without Hornsey. (Yes, folks, it could be worse.) During the USF game, we saw the prototypical Hornsey punt in the third quarter, the Tigers clinging to a 6-3 lead. Sixty yards the ball traveled . . . before being downed at the USF one. Back in August, Tiger coach Justin Fuente summarized Hornsey’s impact with words that would inspire anyone ever charged with saving fourth down: “Tom Hornsey is as versatile a punter as anyone I’ve been around. He’s a real football player.” Give this man the Ray Guy Award.

The best football game I’ve seen live — in the stadium — was the Memphis-Louisville tilt on November 4, 2004, at the Liberty Bowl. This was the height of a Tiger offense built around tailback DeAngelo Williams (200 rushing yards that night) and quarterback Danny Wimprine (361 yards passing and four touchdowns). The teams combined for 1,202 yards (Memphis with 603), 63 first downs (30 for the Tigers), and nine lead changes (the last to the Cardinals, who won the game, 56-49). It was an epic offensive display by two teams off the radar (at the time) of any national title consideration.

This Saturday’s game in Louisville won’t be anything like that game. Sadly, it may be the last time we see the Tigers and Cardinals clash on the gridiron for some time. (Louisville moves to the ACC in 2014.) The football series between these schools is nothing like the legendary basketball rivalry, but nonetheless, they’ve played 42 times (the Cardinals own a 23-19 edge). The Tigers have lost the last three meetings and seven of the last eight (Memphis won at Louisville in 2003). It’s a nothing-to-lose contest for the U of M as the 21st-ranked Cardinals hold out hopes for an American title and the automatic BCS berth that comes with it. There have been bigger upsets, right?

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News

“Devil’s Knot”Trailer

Devil’s Knot, a film based on the West Memphis Three case, has released a trailer and poster.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

SCS Board Approves Agreements with Arlington and Lakeland

SCS attorney Valerie Speakman reads terms of agreement with Lakeland as board member David Reaves, who moved to accept it, listens.

  • JB
  • SCS attorney Valerie Speakman reads terms of agreement with Lakeland as board member David Reaves, who moved to accept it, listens.

It’s official now. With the unanimous 7-0 passage Tuesday night by the unified Shelby County Schools board of template agreements with the municipalities of Arlington and Lakeland, the long-standing litigation over new school-district arrangements in Shelby County is fast on its way to conclusion.

Mayor Keith McDonald of Bartlett, who was in attendance,said categorically that his city was eager to follow the lead of his fellow mayors, Mike Wissman of Arlington and Wyatt Bunker of Lakeland, who endorsed the agreements Tuesday night on behalf of their municipalities. Millington and Collierville are also said to be ready to follow suit, and when the School Board convenes again Tuesday night, expectations are that agreements with those municipalities may be ready for a vote.

The situation is cloudier with Germantown, which still hopes to bargain for the retrieval of the three flagship schools — Germantown High School, Germantown Middle School, and Germantown Elementary — that SCS superintendent Dorsey Hopson has included in his projection for the unified district, going forward.

David Pickler, who represents Germantown on the SCS board, voted along his colleagues to support the agreements with Arlington and Lakeland, at least partly in hopes that the technical formulas put forth in them would apply as well to Germantown, forming the basis for his city’s hopes to keep the three flagship schools within the forthcoming Germantown Municipal School District.

Pickler said he would resolutely oppose any effort by SCS to impose anything other than a pro-rated arrangement with Germantown consistent with the template now established. He acknowledged that agreement between SCS and Germantown might not be an immediate thing.

For a variety of reasons, both political and legalistic, the agreements approved Tuesday night do not posit a direct sale per se of school properties by SCS to Arlington and Lakeland, but rather the free deeding over of the school properties in return for specific financial liabilities on the municipalities’ part regarding pensions and OPEBs (Other Post-Employment Benefits) accruing to SCS.

However reckoned, these costs come out to a value of ten cents or somewhat higher on every dollar’s worth of school-property value in Arlington and Lakeland. Calculated on the basis of Arlington’s four public schools and Lakeland’s one, the payments expected of Arlington are $333,333 each year annually for 12 years, or $4 million, and for Lakeland of $56,337 annually for 12 years, or $676,744.

Consistent with the formulas adopted, the board took four votes, one each for transferring school properties to both Arlington and Lakeland, and another two votes on behalf of identical agreements with the two municipalities, the thrust of which is to saddle the municipalities with responsibility to keep faith under penalty of the properties’ reversion to SCS ownership.

The agreements with Arlington and Lakeland, apparently soon to be embraced by Bartlett, Millington, and Collierville, clearly involved a good deal of bargaining.

Board member Teresa Jones, who represents an inner city district, said she began by wanting “the kitchen sink” from the suburbs but came to understand the need for compromise. David Reaves of suburban Bartlett said it was “time to end this battle” — one which began almost three years ago, when the old Memphis City Schools board voted to surrender the MCS charter, forcing the city-county school merger which the county’s six incorporated suburbs sought independence from.

There was something “bittersweet” about the pending resolution of the three-year controversy, said board chairman Kevin Woods, but the second part of that term seemed the operative one for almost everybody Tuesday night.

By prior arrangement, the Shelby County Commission, chief among remaining litigants in contention with the suburbs, will meet Thursday for its own vote on removing Arlington and Lakeland from the scope of its lawsuit.

The same process will undoubtedly be followed in turn for each suburb that accedes to the now-established template for agreement, though the status of Germantown remains uncertain and hard to predict. Pickler acknowledged that quick agreement between Germantown and SCS is “not likely.”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Oklahoma State 101, Tigers 80

With just over eight minutes played tonight at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, the 11th-ranked Tigers were tied with the 7th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.

That’s the last indication the two teams belong on the same floor.

Preseason All-America Marcus Smart outscored Memphis 24-20 over the first 12 minutes on his way to a career-high 39 points in the Cowboys’ fourth blowout victory of the season.

It was only the second game under coach Josh Pastner that the Tigers have allowed 100 points, the first being a 104-84 loss at Tennessee on January 5, 2011.

Freshman forward Nick King led the Tigers with 23 points and 8 rebounds while Shaq Goodwin added 13 and 7. The Tigers’ vaunted quartet of senior guards — Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford, Geron Johnson, and Michael Dixon — combined to score 21 points.

OSU won by 21 points despite taking nine fewer shots. Memphis missed 11 of 13 from three-point range and shot 40 percent (28 for 70) for the game.

The loss drops the Tigers (1-1) to 0-7 against Top-10 teams in five seasons under Pastner. And it rings an all-too-familiar bell for Memphis fans long accustomed to the Tigers beating up on lesser competition (Austin Peay), falling short against power teams, then licking their wounds against more weak sisters (Nicholls State this Saturday?). The Tigers’ next real test will come with three games at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando on Thanksgiving weekend. Among the teams in the field near Disney World: Oklahoma State.

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Sing All Kinds We Recommend

“Devil’s Knot” Trailer and Poster

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Devil’s Knot, Atom Egoyan’s adaptation of Mara Leveritt’s book about the West Memphis Three, has long been in development. Tonight, we finally got an official trailer and poster release.

The film stars Reese Witherspoon as Pam Dobbs, mother of murder victim Stevie Branch. Colin Firth is Ron Lax, a Memphis private investigator who assisted the defense of the West Memphis Three. (Note: the real Ron Lax died just a month ago of brain cancer.)

No release date has been set for the film.

After the jump is the trailer:

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Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Bartlett, Collierville Among Top Places To Seek Employment

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According to a recent statewide study conducted by consumer advocacy website NerdWallet, Bartlett is the best place in Tennessee to seek employment.

NerdWallet analyzed communities across the state with a working-age population (ages 16 and older) greater than 20,000 for the study, which was titled “The Best Places in Tennessee for Job Seekers.” The study was based on a city’s growth in the working-age population, median household income, monthly homeowner costs, and unemployment rates from 2009 to 2011.

The list of communities were narrowed down to the top 10 locations in Tennessee that attracted workers and exhibited a trend of upward population growth over the two-year period. The study revealed that there was a 13.9 percent increase in the working-age population in Bartlett. Furthermore, Bartlett households earned a median income of $75,988 from 2009 to 2011.

Another Shelby County town highlighted in the study was Collierville. The town was labeled the third best place to obtain employment in Tennessee. According to the study, Collierville saw a 9.1 percent increase in the working-age population, and households earned a median income of $102,298.

To check out “The Best Places in Tennessee for Job Seekers,” click here.

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