Month: November 2016

Categories
News The Fly-By

Saving York

CREDIT: Joshua Cannon

Two separate homebuyers are interested in a near-century-old Midtown house that was recently deeded to The Church of the Immaculate Conception (IC) to be razed for the expansion of a parking lot and soccer field.

“York had not been on our radar,” said one interested homebuyer who asked to remain anonymous. “We were driving through the neighborhood and saw ‘Save York’ signs. We enjoyed the possibility of what the house provided and liked what it could become.”

Those “Save York” signs represent what 40-year resident Candy Justice calls a “year-long grassroots effort” to preserve the home, located at 1722 York Avenue in the historic Central Gardens neighborhood. Though the homebuyer attempted to reach Ben Wheeler, a church member who bought and donated the property to IC, they were never contacted.

The homebuyer said he found out last week that the house had been officially transferred to the church and that they haven’t discussed the possibility of selling. IC officials said in a statement they have “been blessed with a generous gift of the property” and “view this gift as an opportunity to grow our campus for the benefit of the Parish and for the children” of the school.

Joshua Cannon

Neighbors protested the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

“To explore all of our options and possibilities, we have engaged a team of professionals first to thoroughly inspect and evaluate the current condition of the property,” the statements reads. “Once the final assessment has been made, the team will provide the results to determine the best use of the property and outline the required process. The due diligence process will span the next two or so months. Rest assured, we will comply with the various governmental regulations.”

Criticism of the church’s plans turned to protest last week. About 40 residents and members of neighboring communities stood in front of IC along Central with flashlights and signs that read “IC, love thy neighbor.”

“We don’t hate IC at all, but we hate their efforts to destroy the residential integrity of our street,” Justice said. “York is a very close street. So many of us have been part of four or five generations of families living here, and we love each other even more than the houses.”

Richard Groff moved to York almost three years ago to live behind his church. Groff attended IC as a parishioner for eight years until two weeks ago — when he stopped due to a “lack of communication.”

With a career in property development, Groff created a preliminary layout that would allow the church to expand parking and the soccer field without demolishing the house. He and a group of York residents met with IC in August to discuss the plan but were told a new bishop had been instated and no decision could be made.

“There’s a lot of investiture from the neighborhood in this church and this school,” Groff said. “Up until the middle of the summer, I didn’t understand what the fuss was. But then I heard what had happened in the past.”

The house located at 1722 York would become the fourth of three previous neighborhood homes demolished for the church’s expansion.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Shop Local, Memphis!

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Meet Your Makers

Let’s fantasize for a moment. This holiday season, wouldn’t it feel good to resist the suck of Target or a crowded shopping mall? Consider a gift not made in China or replicated by the dozens in every color and pre-wrapped so you’re done with absolutely no thought at all. Think about the heft of a lovingly made earthenware bowl or a piece of handcrafted jewelry, made by someone you might very well bump into at your local coffee shop.

Shop local, support your local artisan. This is easy enough to do in Memphis, where there are dozens of makers crafting their wares. We spoke to a few of them, and we have a few ideas …

If you have eyeballs, then you’ve seen the work of Michelle Duckworth. The Bartlett native is an illustrator/artist whose work has hung in local galleries. Duckworth also participates in 10 to 12 artists’ markets a year, selling her mounted wood prints.

Duckworth describes her work as “fairytale-ish — a snapshot from the middle of the story.” She’s inspired by fairy tales and folk tales and old illustrated books from around the world. The works call to mind Grimm’s Fairy Tales — images that are at the same time pleasing to look at but a little scary, too. “They walk the line between being kind of nice and being kind of off,” she says.

Duckworth’s work is available at Five in One Social Club on Broad and through her Etsy shop at MichelleDuckworth.

If this speaks to you, you’ll want to check out the porcelain works of babycreep — pretty baby faces shorn off for planters, a tiny spoon that tapers into a finger. Fingers figure a lot in her work. There’s jewelry, too. Also available at Five in One Social Club.

Justin Fox Burks

babycreep’s wares

“I like to make my jewelry so that you see a cohesive design first. The tickle comes from the fact that it’s food,” says Funlola Coker.

Coker is primarily known for her oh-so-tiny and stunningly detailed food jewelry. Donuts, sushi, peas, asparagus, bacon and eggs, avocados, cauliflower, and more adorn her earrings and rings.

“I like to think that it’s for everyone,” she says. “A lot of people assume it’s for quirky or alternative folk, but really you can pair a simple pair of donut earrings with a chic grey dress.”

Is it the appeal of the food or working in miniature that drives her? It’s both, she says. “I love food and food presentation. I feel like I enjoy my food a lot more with good presentation. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just visually appealing. However, I love to dive into the process of my work. Rolling out tiny peas or texturing a little piece of chicken is extremely satisfying. It’s all very time consuming, but the more I do it the faster I get, and before I realize it, I’ve iced 60 miniature donuts by the end of the day.”

Coker’s work is available at Five in One Social Club and at funlolacoker.com.

Looking for a unique set of earrings? Five in One’s popular Grit and Grind earrings are one way to show that you are a homer. Their pretty tinysaw label earrings bring to mind architecture and beehives.

After Lisa Wheeler graduated from college with a degree in ceramics, she was itching to make something … anything. But, she decided, it would have to be something she could use, something she needed. And that’s how she ended up making soap.

Her first batch involved coconut oil, olive oil, and lye. (“The lye really freaked me out,” she says.) She let the soap cure for two months, and then she tried it out. “I loved it,” Wheeler says. “I felt like a chemist.”

After experimenting with ingredients, Wheeler was ready to launch her line — LATHA. First she needed a gimmick. She’d seen cupcake soaps, cake soaps. She then hit upon drink soaps. Among her Bawdy Bars, which come in a cup, are Electric Lemonade, Sparkling Mojito, and Sex on the Beach. LATHA also sells bath bombs, including the Jager bomb, and scrubs such as On the Rocks. For the recent Crafts and Drafts event, LATHA introduced beer-inspired soaps.

Susan Ellis

LATHA soap

One drink she hasn’t been able to translate into soap is bubble tea. The color was weird. “I’m going to revisit that,” she says.

LATHA soaps are available at lathabar.com.

Need to clean up your act? Check out Gifts from Nature. Some of their bar soaps: the blue-striped Seersucker, Rehab (with charcoal), and the Mannish. Available at www.gfnsoap.com. — Susan Ellis

Naughty and Nice

Aunt Margaret would clutch her pearls if she got the “Merry Fucking Christmas” card from Five in One Social Club, but Uncle Bob would love it.

You can’t please everyone all the time, especially when it comes to holiday gifting. But you can get pretty close if you shop locally.

Small, locally owned retail shops dot the landscape from Broad to the river. In them, you can find beautiful, useful things for the nice people on your list, like Aunt Margaret, and funny, kitschy things for those on your naughty list (lookin’ at you, Uncle Bob).

The Nice List

You know that friend that is In. Love. With. Memphis? Stock and Belle on Broad offers up tons o’ tasty treats to help get them grit, ground, and Bluff-i-fied.

Look for artist Kyle Taylor‘s prints of a melty, good-enough-to-eat Pancho’s cheese dip man and Taylor’s huge prints of a matadored Marc Gasol as Big Spain. Stock and Belle also carries plenty of Memphis wearables, like the Nine Oh One trucker hat and the house-made “Embrace Your Inner Memphis” T-shirt.

For the luxe-loving jet-setter on your list, hit up 20twelve on Broad. The store focuses on high-end fashion, and, while picking out clothes for somebody else can be tricky, 20twelve has plenty of perfect gift items.

Toby Sells

20twelve

Chocolate-bacon-pretzel bites, anyone? Yes, everyone. That’s but one flavor in Sugarfina’s Vice Collection candy bento box, which also includes maple bourbon caramels and pale ale gummies.

20twelve also sells many high-end fragrance brands — and gift cards, of course.

That friend of yours who won’t stop talking about running probably loves Breakaway Running. Its Overton Square location still feels new and has everything to get your running buddy on the road — or trail.

Picking out clothes for someone else is tough (that’s double for running clothes), but you can’t go wrong with a pair of Yurbuds, the sport earphones that just won’t fall out. Ever. Or, get your runner some nighttime illumination, like a Petzl headlamp.

A sense of adventure fills you up when you open the door at Outdoors Inc., and you see all the gear you could possibly need to enjoy the, well, outdoors.

Toby Sells

Outdoors Inc. medical kit

Your pal may do that fake smile thing when she opens the Adventure Medical Kit from Bighorn, but she’ll be praising your name when she’s mending a wound on the trail. If you want to win Christmas, give someone the Yeti Hopper, the indestructible, always-cold cooler that has become a status symbol for the outdoor set.

Toby Sells

Breakaway Running headlamp

The Naughty List

Let’s get straight to the penis candles, shall we?

Tater Red’s has been a shopping mecca for Beale Street tourists (and locals alike) for more than two decades. It’s a cornucopia of the peculiar and profane.

You know you have one friend who would love one of Tater’s penis candles, (which come in red and black). Tater has vagina candles, too, but he was out of those on a recent visit. Also, look for a ton of throwback Memphis sports gear, adult coloring books, voodoo dolls, and Hangover Helper Mints.

Toby Sells

Tater Red’s mints

Okay, we’re back at Five in One, but we’re on the Naughty List and, well, the Broad Avenue shop is the only place you’re going to find that “Merry Fucking Christmas” card, which is made in-house. Five in One has tons of great, original Memphis-themed stuff, like Samantha Crespo’s new book, 100 Things to Do in Memphis Before You Die Vol. 2, T-shirts and sweaters, and Beerings — earrings made from cans of Memphis beers.

Toby Sells

Before You Die

Maggie’s Pharm is another great Nice List shopping place, but Maggie also loves the naughty snark.

That special someone in your life needs a pair of socks that read, “I hate everyone, too.” You’ve got that other friend who needs a bottle of “I Can’t Believe I Fucked That Guy” hand sanitizer. Load up on stocking stuffers like “I Love My Penis” gum, “Coffee Makes Me Poop” gum, or “Mother Fucking Girl Power” gum.

Toby Sells

Maggie’s Pharm socks

Maggie’s also has nice cards, wide selections of herbs, coffees, teas, and more. But, y’know, go for the gum and the socks.

Head on down to A. Schwab on Beale Street, and bring home a fat sack of 100 percent USDA-certified Memphis kitsch.

You want the authentic hip-swiveling Elvis clock? How about a pair of Elvis sunglasses (you know the ones)? A TCB patch legit enough to fool even the Memphis Mafia? Go to Schwab. And what says Christmas more than a pink Elvis snow globe refrigerator magnet?

There’s plenty of great non-Elvis stuff, too, like a “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go to Beale Street” coozie, an old-school collectible Memphis plate, and Beale veteran John Elkington’s kids book, The Pirates of the Gayoso Bayou. — Toby Sells

Eat, Drink, Be Merry

I’m not big on giving gifts of food for Christmas. What with all the ham, weird wedges of cheese, chemically enhanced popcorn, loads of cookies, and tins and tins of peppermint bark — erp! — it’s too much. But there are exceptions. Lots of exceptions …

You can’t go wrong with a bottle of Pyramid vodka. The general reception for this smooth delight: Hells, yeah! And, if the holiday family-together time is getting to you, we recommend you grab your friends and take a tour of the Pyramid facilities. You’ll learn something, for sure, and the tour is capped off with a taste of the product. You might want to call to make sure they’re open first, though: 576-8844.

Absolutely nobody complains about a gift certificate from Joe’s Liquor or Hammer & Ale. For the mixologist on your list, there’s the Elixir No. 01 line — simple syrup, mint julep, and orange and green chile syrup — from the Crazy Good folks.

I receive a tin of Aunt Lizzie’s cheese straws every year. If I don’t get one, there’s going to be trouble. Bad trouble. These are the perfect snack for sports-watching or Netflix-binging during that lovely stretch between Christmas and New Year’s.

For out-of-town folks, get them an order of barbecue — Corky’s, Rendezvous, Germantown Commissary, doesn’t matter — and you’ll be treated like a damn hero. Another option: a gift box from Memphis Flavor (memphisflavor.com). The Memphis Flavor Original Sampler box includes barbecue sauce from Central BBQ, a jar of Flo’s Homemade Goodness, Makeda’s Cookies, and more.

I’m a sucker for good packaging. Judy Pound Cakes’ simple brown box, tied in string and stamped with a pound sign, rings all my bells. The cakes come in all sorts of flavors — chocolate cayenne, cherry almond, plum — but the Plain Ol’ pound cake is my favorite. Makes a good hostess/host gift.

Susan Ellis

Judy Pound Cakes

Your dog has been a good, good dog. (Forget about the couch!) Treat him or her right with a bag of Farm House Santa Paws, yogurt-iced peanut butter cookies, available at Curb Market. Donuts, brownies, muffins, and cupcakes — why not? At Hollywood Feed Bakery, each treat was created specifically for your pup.

Susan Ellis

House Santa Paws

Susan Ellis

Hollywood Feed Bakery

One of my go-to gifts for Christmas, birthdays, house-warmings, whatever is Dinstuhl’s Cashew Crunch. The angels sang when they created this candy. I once gave a friend a box as a thank-you present, and she ended up breaking a tooth. After three or four visits to the dentist, she was totally fine and still eating the crunch.

Hipsters need gifts too. Scratch ’em off your list with a jar of brilliant red Koolickles from Porcellino’s. Pickles and Kool-Aid — it’s a match made in … well, we’re not sure exactly where.

Susan Ellis

Koolickles from Porcellino’s

The caramels from Shotwell Candy are a fine, fine thing indeed. Just thinking about the Craft Beer & Pretzel caramel, I’m misting up. You might want to warn the recipient that this gift is precious and should be hidden immediately in their secret snack drawer.

Susan Ellis

Shotwell Candy

GiveGood Toffee makes an excellent stocking stuffer. At $5 for a pack-of-cards-sized box, it’s a little pricey, but the company was founded to empower young adults living on the autism spectrum. Learn more at givegoodco.com.

Susan Ellis

GiveGood Toffee

For those who like to represent, there’s the Nine Oh One coffee mug, available at 387 Pantry. The stoneware beer cup by Erica Bodine Pottery is pretty special, too, and you can put it in the dishwasher. You can find one at Miss Cordelia’s.

Susan Ellis

387 Pantry coffee mug

Muddy’s Bakery has made its rep on delicious cupcakes and gnome-tastic adorableness. The “Hustle n’ Dough” T-shirt features gnomes and a tumbling stack of pies. Resistance is futile. — Susan Ellis

Susan Ellis

Muddy’s Bake Shop T-shirt

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Memphis Offers Sanctuary

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to settle in to his forthcoming status as leader of the free world, much of what he is signaling that he has in mind to do is proving unsettling to citizens in this or that locality, including our own. 

A case in point is Trump’s recent post-election reaffirmation of his intent to carry out a purge of undocumented immigrants residing within the nation’s boundaries. To be sure, Trump is now insisting that he isn’t targeting for deportation the entirety of an estimated 11 million persons in this category but only “2 or 3 million” who have committed crimes or otherwise proven themselves undesirable. But even that lesser number seems excessive and overstated as a gauge for the kind of extraordinary action the president-elect seems to have in mind.

Allow us, then, to commend Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, who, like an increasing number of local-government officials in the United States, has in effect declared his opposition to such a Draconian over-reach by the federal government. Asked last week to respond to possible anti-immigrant actions by the soon-to-be Trump administration, Strickland gave the following forthright answer:

“The Memphis Police Department is not in the business of enforcing federal immigration policy, nor do we believe that is MPD’s function or mission. It’s not something that we do, and it’s not something we intend to do. Memphis is a welcoming city that values diversity and each and every one of our citizens. And it will continue to be that way.”  

Strickland was not the only representative of Memphis to affirm the city’s reputation as a place of welcome. At least two local college presidents — John Smarrelli of Christian Brothers University and William Troutt of Rhodes College — signed a public letter this week calling for support of the federal Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program, which protects students who were brought to this country by their parents from the prospect of deportation. President Obama authorized the program four years ago by executive action after the Republican-dominated Congress blocked the so-called Dream Act, designed to achieve the same purpose.

The students covered by the program could become vulnerable if Trump should act on a campaign pledge to revoke all of Obama’s executive actions by an executive action of his own.

We think that Obama and defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton struck the right note in calling for Americans to give the new Trump administration every possible benefit of the doubt, but where there is legitimate ground for genuine doubt as to the president-elect’s good intentions — as in the present case — the aforementioned local officials have also spoken wisely and well.

The ultimate irony of President-elect Trump’s threatened overkill on the immigration issue is that we are, as has so often been stated, a nation of immigrants (as have been two of Trump’s wives), and not only have the regular infusions of newcomers over the centuries enriched our national stock, but the whole process of their coming has given the United States its essential reputation to the rest of the world as a beacon of liberty and a place of welcome.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Wellspring Politics in Memphis

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

As Scott Banbury, the indefatigable conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club, has it, the Shelby County Groundwater Quality Control Board is an honorable and capable enough group, comprised of business people, conservationists, public officials, and just plain citizens, but up until now it hasn’t wielded the clout that the county’s Land Use Control Board, in theory, an equivalently purposed and composed group, has.

The difference undoubtedly lies in the fact that the latter group is, with reasonable frequency, asked to judge on zoning matters relating to commercial or residential developments, while issues relating to groundwater control are correspondingly rare and hardly ever regarded as so momentous.

All that is due to change next Wednesday, November 30th, when the Groundwater Control Board meets at Shelby Farms [9 a.m. at the Construction Code Enforcement Office, 6465 Mullins Station Road] to hold a hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s intent to drill two new wells into the natural Memphis sand aquifier that is the source of the famously pure drinking water available to Memphis-area citizens via MLGW.

Public reaction against that intent has not yet reached the intense 24/7 focus of previous (and ongoing) Save the Greensward efforts, but, to judge by the turnout at a Protect the Aquifier meeting Sunday at the Abe Goodman Golf Clubhouse at Overton Park, one of several recent meetings to protest TVA’s plan, it’s quickly rising to that level.

Next week’s hearing with the board is the result of an appeal filed by Banbury back in August when he learned that TVA, without advance public notice and with non-existent fanfare, had issued a supplement to its existing plans for a source of water to cool the operations at a planned new natural gas power plant, one that is set to open in 2018 to replace the old TVA coal-burning plant, which is being phased out because of pollution concerns.

Jackson Baker

Dennis Lynch provides illumination as Scott Banbury reads out the names of Groundwater Control Board members.

The supplement called for a total of five wells to be drilled into the natural sand aquifier. This was an abrupt change from the TVA’s original proposal to use wastewater from the nearby Maxson Wastewater Treatment Plant as its basic coolant. Arguably, nobody would have regarded that original TVA proposal to use wastewater as constituting a problem for Shelby County.

But the TVA began to see the wastewater plan as economically problematic, given what spokespersons for the authority said would be the millions of dollars necessary to spend in detoxifying the wastewater. Accordingly, TVA reversed course after consulting what Banbury describes as a “slim document” from the U.S. Geological Survey concluding that the Memphis aquifier could without undue strain supply the same amount of water for the authority’s purposes.

For the record, that would be around 3.5 million gallons of water a day, an amount that Randy Blevins, who, with Banbury and Ward Archer, conducted Sunday’s meeting, called “preposterous” and dangerous and —  the authority’s protestations notwithstanding — a strain upon the capacity of the aquifier. At Sunday’s meeting, Archer highlighted an additional grievance — that the natural-gas plant being constructed  by TVA was being “over-built” to larger specifications than necessary, apparently for the purpose of selling electricity to geographical areas far outside the immediate service area of the plant.

And, as Banbury demonstrated at some length on Sunday, the TVA wells into the aquifier would be clustered and operating at such levels as possibly to strain the clay walls surrounding the aquifier, inviting seepage into the city’s drinking-water supply of “young” and relatively polluted water from the Mississippi River alluvial basin. (Incidentally, the alluvial basin itself has been suggested by critics of the new TVA plan as an environmentally acceptable source of water for the new plant’s coolant purposes, but, as Banbury noted Sunday, has apparently never been considered that way by TVA.)

In any case, the Shelby County Health Department — which, according to existing county policy, rules on all requests to drill wells into the aquifier — had, by the time Banbury or other citizens at large learned of it, already given approval this year to five separate requests from TVA  for permits to drill as many wells. “As far as I can tell, the approval was done by a single individual,” said Banbury.

The statutory time limit for anyone to appeal such a permit is “within 15 days of its issuance,” said Banbury, who added, “Nobody has ever appealed wells before because there was never any public notice of them.” The time limit for any public questioning had already expired for three of the wells, the permits for which were issued in May, June, and July. It is only the permits for the last two wells, issued in September, that Banbury was able to file a timely appeal against.

And it is that appeal which is to be considered next Wednesday by the Shelby County Groundwater Quality Control Board. The hope for those protesting is that a turn-down by the board not only would abort the two new wells whose permits are still hanging but might cause TVA to reconsider the idea of using the three acquifier wells that have already been drilled but are not yet in operation.

In answer to a question from one of the attendees at Sunday’s meeting, Banbury said it was the hope of the Protect the Aquifier ad hoc group that TVA might be moved to reconsider the idea of using wastewater as a coolant for the new plant, or, failing that, to use water from the Mississippi River alluvial basin.

The three organizers of the ad hoc Sunday meeting at Abe Goodman — Archer, Blevins, and Banbury — urged those attending to contact members of the Groundwater Control Board prior to next Wednesday’s hearing, and to recruit friends and neighbors to the cause. “Protect the Aquifier” T-shirts were on sale Sunday at Abe Goodman.

If that kind of preparation suggests something like a political process, it’s because it is. It’s true grass-roots politics — or perhaps “wellspring politics” is a better name for it — geared not to an election day as such but to a day of reckoning all the same. As Banbury explained, whichever way the hearing goes, the loser — be it the protesting citizens or TVA — is sure to appeal, and the case will likely move on to Chancery Court.

A further political aspect of the protest is that elected officials and public bodies are becoming actively involved in the outcome. Both the Memphis City Council and 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen have formally suggested that TVA consider alternatives to its intended aquifier drilling, and the Shelby County Commission, which has the power to alter the rules by which groundwater drilling permits are issued, has indicated it will place that matter on its agenda in the near future.

Categories
Music Music Features

Ultimate Painting at Bar DKDC

CREDIT: Juan Jose Ortiz

This Wednesday night, Ultimate Painting will return to Memphis for a performance at Bar DKDC. Attendees of Goner Fest 12 might remember Ultimate Painting as one of the more mellow acts of the three-day festival, as their music relies more on the sounds created by the Grateful Dead than GG Allin. This is the band’s sixth U.S. tour since forming in 2014, a pretty remarkable feat for a group signed to a small but formidable label like Chicago’s Trouble in Mind. Ultimate Painting is the project of Jack Cooper (Mazes) and James Hoare, who you might recognize from the band Veronica Falls. And while these projects hail from the “chill” side of garage rock, Ultimate Painting take that vibe to the next level, making Bar DKDC probably the perfect venue for this weekday gig.

Juan Jose Ortiz

Also on the bill are EZTV from New York City. Signed to indie label Captured Tracks (Mac DeMarco, DIIV, Blouse), EZTV have somewhat of an early Big Star vibe, meaning they sound about how you’d expect them to as members of the New York indie-pop revival that Captured Tracks has been at the forefront of for quite some time. The band has been on the road since releasing their sophomore album, High in Place, first touring with Jenny Lewis before a string of dates with Real Estate and a short European tour with Merchandise.

Wednesday night’s booking marks a change in what has long been a locals-only affair at Bar DKDC, save for a few touring acts like Useless Eaters, The World, and Thelma and the Sleaze. Taking that into consideration, it may be wise to inquire about advance tickets at Goner Records before the show.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

For Latinos, It’s Apathy, No Mas!

Five days after Donald Trump’s presidential victory, the cast of SNL parodied the electoral upset by toasting “the Latinos.”  Ironically, of course, the Latinos neither delivered the all-important state of Florida for Secretary Clinton nor voted enthusiastically for the Democratic candidate, when compared to other elections.  Many stayed home on Election Day. Thirty percent voted for Mr. Trump.

We’re guilty, with others over the years, of supporting a fairly simple reductionist argument and referred to Latinos as a monolithic voting bloc. The fact is the Latin American presence in the United States is complex and extraordinarily varied in terms of race, culture, history, place of origin, educational attainment, and economic status.  

For example, Puerto Ricans (U.S. citizens since 1917) who moved to New York City in the 1960s aligned traditionally with big-city, Democratic Party agendas and priorities.  The grandchildren of those early migrants and more recent arrivals to the mainland (many of whom now live in and around the Orlando, Florida, area) are no longer tied to the old-line Democratic platform. Some, in fact, vote Republican based on social issues (opposition to Roe v. Wade, discomfort with same-sex marriage), and Puerto Ricans who favor statehood for the island support Republican candidates who agree with that agenda.

Many older Cuban-Americans in Florida came out to support Donald Trump, not because they liked him but because they traditionally vote Republican.  They also loath to support Democratic candidates — some still blame President Kennedy’s failed Bay of Pigs invasion for the growth of Communism on the island. Thus, they have been hostile to President Obama’s normalization of diplomatic relations with the island nation. They were unimpressed with Obama’s March, 2016 Cuba visit, which featured a “bromance” with Raúl Castro; the two men sat together during a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays’ minor league team and the Cuban national team.   

Politics is one thing, governing another. We’re fearful that President Trump will order immigration enforcement into communities shortly after he takes office; during his first nationally televised interview since the November 8th election, the president-elect stated his intention to deport or incarcerate 2 or 3 million people.  

This is worrisome, because immigrants are entitled to due process, and deportation proceedings must be conducted fairly through a federal immigration judge of whom there are fewer than 250 nationwide, all with jam-packed dockets.  

Moreover, President Obama has already deported more immigrants than all other U.S. presidents combined. It is not clear where Trump came up with the 2 to 3 million figure he cited or how he’ll reach that deportation objective, given Obama’s deportation track record.

Trump’s “deportation force” sounds a little too 20th-century European for our sensibilities, but we’re relieved to see that many police departments around the nation have re-stated their commitment to “sanctuary city status,” i.e. local police officers will not act as federal deportation agents, because they want to preserve local public safety and harmony. 

One of the most heart-wrenching potential effects of Trump’s election involves undocumented youth who have received protection under Obama’s 2012 executive action known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This program has allowed good, hardworking young people who were brought to the USA as children by their parents to apply for “relief” from deportation proceedings.

About 750,000 young people, the so-called dreamers, have been granted protection under this program. With a stroke of Trump’s pen, though, DACA could die. Eliminating this program would represent a catastrophic setback for kids who are American in every sense of the word, except for their immigration status. We really don’t want to see the president-elect begin his administration by punishing hundreds of thousands of innocent kids.  

Those who didn’t vote for Trump — around 2 million more Americans than voted for him — are deeply concerned about this tumultuous transition and worry that the nation is turning an uncharitable, cruel gaze toward our immigrant brothers and sisters.  

Election Day anger and apathy has delivered us a Trump presidency. We can’t allow that same apathy to tear apart our communities should Trump try to enforce promises from a quixotic, cruel campaign that won at the polls but tossed the collective serenity of a nation into the sea.

Bryce Ashby is a Memphis-based attorney and board member at Latino Memphis; Michael J. LaRosa is an associate professor of history at Rhodes College.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Thanks, Trump!

As any elementary school graduate can attest, the first Thanksgiving united the Pilgrims and their “Indian” neighbors to celebrate the first successful harvest at Plymouth. According to the settlers, that is. Today, Native Americans observe Thanksgiving as a day of mourning for indigenous peoples and their cultures.

Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863 “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise” and an occasion for “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” He implored citizens to pray for national unity and healing. Because a handful of states had decided they would prefer starting their own country and going to war over giving up the right to own people. Fake unity is as deeply ingrained in the tradition of Thanksgiving as turkey and pumpkin pie. Does it continue in 2016, a year that has constantly met the challenge of proving it can always get worse?

This election has emboldened a lot of people to embrace their inner ugliness. People of color, women, non-Christians, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and disabled individuals are afraid of losing their rights and their lives. We still don’t know what “making America great” entails, except that it doesn’t include a president who uses more than three adjectives. And something about a swamp, according to a hideous billboard on I-240. Daily headlines announcing fraud settlements, conflicts of interest, and appointments of assorted alt-right fabulists do nothing to quash the dread.

As we come to grips with the fact that we live in a country where the KKK-endorsed candidate can actually win an election, here comes “the most wonderful time of the year.” Talk among friends and coworkers of holiday plans has turned strategic. Some of us are blessed with families who share their beliefs or can at least disagree respectfully. But many others, especially in this part of the country, have relatives who are downright elated to git that damned Obummer outta there. And so, the “where are you goings?” and “what dish are you bringings?” have given way for more serious concerns, such as “Do you have a backup plan in case things get too tense at your in-laws’ house in East Tennessee?” “Is your brother’s wife coming around?” “Is it safe to mix Xanax and tryptophan?”

For those who aren’t feeling particularly festive — and can you blame them? — there are three courses of action: avoid, divert, and confront.

Avoidance is the old standby for non-confrontational types. Football’s on. There are probably some leaves to rake or some dishes to rinse. Find a far-off recliner, pop in some earbuds, and enjoy a podcast or six. Invite Netflix to your family celebration. Open your mouth only to insert food, then fall asleep immediately. Another option: avoid the whole thing entirely. Fake an illness. Pick up a shift. Skip the festivities because you’re an adult and you value your time and sanity. Have a Friendsgiving with people who don’t cause your blood pressure to spike.

Establishing a politics-free zone sounds nice until it turns into a talking-free zone. Save a few topic starters, a couple of memes, and some funny dog photos in your phone. Have you been keeping up with Westworld? Can you believe the Cubs finally won the World Series? Who wants to do the Mannequin Challenge? If politics begins to bubble into the conversation, asking, “Can we talk about literally anything else right now?” is an effective kill switch.

Invoke the Southern rules of polite conversation, and remind your family members it’s just not proper to discuss President Manbaby at the table, especially when Aunt Jean worked so hard to prepare this delightful meal. Speaking of delightful meals, where did you find this sweet potato recipe? The marshmallows are browned to perfection.
Too fired up to play nice? Lay it all out on the table — and I’m not talking about the assortment of festive sides. This year, racists don’t get corn casserole. They get served in a heated argument. Show up armed. With knowledge, that is. Brush up on your fake news and come prepared for every complaint about crybaby protesters or gendered insult about the former secretary of state. The days of letting Uncle Randy get away with his Mexican “jokes” for the sake of peacekeeping are over — no matter how much the yelling upsets your grandma. Passively enabling a legion of Uncle Randys is what got us in this situation.

Then again, you can always just drink. Hand over your keys, sidle over to the nearest box of wine, and reminisce about a greater America, when the worst thing about family gatherings was the food. Cheers to the holidays!

Jen Clarke is an unapologetic Memphian and digital marketing strategist.

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Music Music Features

Operation Band-Aid

CREDIT: Don Perry

Two weeks ago, local musician Abe White was shot in the arm in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. Around 2:45 a.m., police officers found White in the Mulan Asian Bistro parking lot. He was taken to Regional Medical Center, where he was in critical condition before being announced in stable condition a day later.

As a member of the Oscars, Useless Eaters, True Sons of Thunder, and the Manateees, White has been an integral part of the Memphis punk community. He’s released records on world-renowned garage-punk labels, toured the U.S.A. countless times, and has the battle scars to prove it.

While White has a long road to recovery, the medical bills facing the Memphis musician are staggering. With no health insurance, he could easily be paying medical bills for the next decade. Thankfully, many of the Memphis musicians he has shared the stage with over the years are coming to his aid this weekend in the form of a benefit show.

I caught up with White the day before his latest surgery to find out how one of Memphis’ most-known punk musicians is holding up. — Chris Shaw

The Memphis Flyer: What have the last couple of weeks been like for you?

Abe White: Well, man, pretty surreal, to be honest. I really don’t know how to go about it. It’s been pretty cool to see people be so supportive. But, it was pretty odd seeing people I don’t even know trying to add me on Facebook and stuff. There’s been a lot of support from people I don’t know, which is cool but also kind of weird.

I think it’s kind of a rude awakening for me. It’s made me get back to the roots of people who I thought were friends of mine. I don’t think this was necessary, but it has been a pretty enlightening experience in some ways. The situation sucks, but it has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of everyone’s feedback. I guess I’m still taking it all in at this point.

What kind of surgery are you having tomorrow?

They’re going to do surgery on my forearm, which is where I was shot. I mean, I was shot point blank with a .45 caliber. The bullet went through my arm and hit the bone. I like to keep things light and make jokes, but this situation obviously could have been a lot worse.

What was your reaction when you heard that a benefit show was getting put together for you?

Honestly, I didn’t really want to publicize the medical relief fund. The first injury I had [a few years ago, White shattered his foot after trying to rescue a bandmate’s cat from a tree] set me back about 75 grand, and there’s not a chance in hell I can ever pay that back. Also, I wanted to pay the bands something. I didn’t want all these bands to play for free. But I think the benefit is going to be a lot of fun, and I think people will see the camaraderie here, and that we take care of our own.

We’re kind of a family here. The music scene is our tribe. Even though I’m a wildcard most of the time, I recognize that this is my family, and I’m glad that everyone came to my side here. I’m not just a sinister dude who writes dark music, and it was nice to see people acknowledge that.

Did the doctor give you any kind of timetable for when you’ll be able to use your arm again?

I’m not really too sure. I know that from what I ascertained last time I talked to them, they were saying I’m going to get a plate in my arm. It is an outpatient surgery, so I’ll go in tomorrow morning around 5 a.m., and I’ll pop right back out tomorrow afternoon.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to get ready for my upcoming tour in January. I was going to go on a West Coast tour with Lenguas Largas. Hopefully, I won’t have to cancel that, because I’ve already canceled more tours than I’d like to.

How do you think this experience will influence your music?

I really don’t plan on dwelling on this experience. I don’t want to shed any kind of light through my music onto this situation honestly. I see it as a breaking point for a lot of the darker aspirations I had when it comes to writing music about Memphis.

I’ve been involved in a lot of real shit, but this is kind of like the breaking point. I’m kind of sick of composing music about fear, anxiety, and frustration at this point. I’m ready to take a fucking chill pill and work from a different angle.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Prequels: What every fanboy and -girl thinks they want, until they get it. Take it from the Star Wars fans. We learned the hard way that exploring every little throwaway reference, every little nook and cranny of a fictional world may make fun online conversation but falls short when it comes to crafting an actual story around the fetishized minutiae.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them started as a throwaway reference in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. To Star Wars fans, this will seem ominously familiar. The Clone Wars started as a throwaway line 25 years before Attack of the Clones made us wish we knew less about that particular conflict.

But here’s the thing about Harry Potter: It’s responsible for more good movies than Star Wars. (And yes, I’m counting Revenge of the Sith as a good movie, which is a stretch, I know.) While George Lucas was flailing about on Naboo, Warner Bros. was cranking out one solid film of Rowling’s hit fantasy book series after another. The first two, directed by Chris Columbus, were play-it-safe adaptations elevated by the most serendipitously great casting decisions of all times: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson as the lead trio Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. These kids had instant chemistry, and by the time Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban fell into the hands of director Alfonso Cuarón in 2004, they fully inhabited their characters. Azkaban was the best of the eventual eight-film series, but even though subsequent Potter helmers Mike Newell and David Yates never equalled Cuarón’s magic touch, they never failed to deliver well-made, entertaining movies.

Carmen Ejogo as Seraphina Picquery, the President of the Magical Congress of the United States

Now, five years after director Yates brought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to its bittersweet conclusion, Warner is going back to the well. A sizable chunk of this decade’s film output has been an obsessive search on the part of producers for the Next Harry Potter, so it was inevitable that, eventually, enough capital would be mobilized to get Rowling back to the table. And that was what Hunger Games and Insurgent and all the other pretenders to the Young Adult throne lacked: Rowling’s unreproducible talent. Her magical universe, co-existing just under the surface of our own, seems almost real enough to touch. But even more importantly, the values she subtly espouses through her work — friendship over rivalry, generosity over selfishness, inclusion over exclusion — are the best representation of the Enlightenment ideals in pop culture today, which is why it is so vital and fortunate that her books and films found a wide audience of impressionable kids. Harry Potter fandom gives me hope for the future.

The fandom will not be disappointed with Fantastic Beasts — at least, not too disappointed. Yates is back at the helm, but the Big Three actors are nowhere to be found. Instead, we get Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a renegade, wizard xenozoologist who carries around his bestiary in a suitcase that is much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Scamander arrives in New York City by steamer in 1926, but the Jazz Age Big Apple is different than muggle books record. There’s an anti-witchcraft movement led by activist Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) advocating for a “Second Salem.” When some of Scamander’s precocious magical beasts escape and cause havoc in the streets, he attracts the attention of Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), a recently demoted agent of the Magical Congress of the U.S.A. (MACUSA), responsible for maintaining the strict segregation between wizards and No-Maj, as muggles are known in the states. As Newt and Tina hunt down the wayward magical animals, a more sinister plot is slowly revealed involving MACUSA agent Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) and Second Salemer Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller).

Much about Fantastic Beasts works great — the special effects have never been better in the Potterverse, Redmayne is a compelling central presence, and the story is head-and-shoulders above anything else in the blockbuster world this year. But, like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, it suffers sorely from the missing chemistry at its core, revealing just how vital Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson were to the success of the earlier films. Waterston in particular seems lost and underwritten most of the time, rendering feeble what should be a slowly budding romance with Redmayne.

Warner Bros. will get their wish of another Harry Potter series, as there are currently four more films planned for the story of the American side of the magical world. If Fantastic Beasts accomplishes nothing else than killing off all of the insultingly pathetic Young Adult fiction adaptations, then it was money well spent.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Cupcakes, Cocktails, and Cursing on Wednesday

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Cassi Conyers has a great idea for all those times when life gives you lemons. Because, in spite of what you’ve heard, you can’t make lemonade from life-lemons because life-lemons are a metaphor for shit, and nobody thinks shit-ade sounds like a good idea. So when life covers you in crap, there’s no need to curl up in a lonely ball of anxiety. Thanks to Conyers, there’s a safe space filled with like-minded friends, where you can swill booze, load up on cupcakes, and cuss till your heart’s content. Well, unless you’re a dude. Cupcakes, Cocktails, and Cursing — a female-only event — was created to give women a place to deal with life’s shit by saying shit as often as they need to say it while swilling booze and munching down.

Conyers suspects there may be more cursing than usual at this C3 summit, but she always aims for a healthy balance. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had one of these, and it’s the holidays, so everybody’s under a lot of stress,” she says. As hostess, she sets the room in a circle so nobody’s excluded and stresses two rules only — “No gossip” and “What happens in the circle stays in the circle.”

Bianca Phillips

Cassi Conyers

“Cocktails,” is something of a misnomer, but there will be wine to loosen tongues and wash down treats. “The cupcakes I make are usually based on my mood,” she says. “I might make anything. It could be a new flavor. It might be a mutt flavor where I put things together just to see what happens.

“Everybody leaves feeling better than they did when they arrived,” Conyers says. “It really is uplifting.”