Month: September 2020

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Where’s the Pilot

Did you hear that FedEx successfully flew and landed a pilotless small plane last week? The system used was created by a company called Reliable Robotics, whose CEO said, “By bringing automation to aviation, we will deliver higher safety, reliability, and convenience for cargo operators and eventually for passengers.”

Hmm. A passenger plane with no pilot? Really? Who’s going to point out that the Grand Canyon is just off the starboard side or explain that we might feel a few bumps because of some rough air? Can you imagine a robotic voice droning, “Please return to your seats we are experiencing a bit of turbulence nothing to worry about flight attendants please be seated”? I’d like to see a robot make an emergency landing in the Hudson River.

Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse

It’s almost like the state of Tennessee, where we also have no pilot, at least not one with any sense. The federal government gave Tennessee access to more than $100 million in EBT cards last spring to help children of families in financial distress due to COVID-19 to each receive $250 worth of benefits. Most states mailed the money out quickly, realizing that the pandemic was putting children of families without adequate income in peril — and realizing that that money would quickly get put into circulation and infuse $100 million into the state economy.

Tennessee? Ehhh, not so much. The Nashville numbskulls were too worried that some shysters would take that $250 card and, uh, buy baby food and diapers and groceries and sell it on the black market? Or something? Who knows? So they set up a system whereby the parents of needy children had to apply for the benefits rather than receive them automatically from the feds. Now, with a September 30th deadline to use the funds approaching, 56 percent of the children targeted by the federal aid haven’t gotten it, meaning Tennessee could forfeit $54 million in funds meant for its poorest children. Because we know those lazy welfare recipients can’t be trusted. Because racism.

It’s a lot like how Tennessee has left literally billions in federal healthcare funds on the table because the legislature refuses to take part in something they still call “Obamacare.” Their stupidity and spitefulness has caused the deaths of thousands of Tennesseans over the past eight years by denying them access to healthcare, and in the process, defunding and causing the closure of eleven rural hospitals around the state. Their ideology and racism is killing Tennesseans.

Likewise, anyone who thinks our president isn’t doing all he can to induce more racial strife before November 3rd isn’t paying attention. At the Republican National Convention, speaker after speaker raged about how Joe Biden would “destroy the suburbs.” They kept trying to frighten white people with the specter of “low-income housing,” of poor people coming to their neighborhoods, of Black people moving in. Your property values will fall, they warned. “Marxist mobs,” whatever the hell they are, are going to take over America.

“Marxist mobs will burn your cities” is this year’s “caravans of Mexicans will steal your jobs,” this year’s “Obama will take your guns!” “Black people are coming to the suburbs” is just the latest iteration of the “other” the GOP wants you to fear, because fear is all they have. Fear is the point.

It’s why President Trump is approvingly tweeting videos of white people (Vanilla ISIS?) in a caravan of pickup trucks shooting paint guns and tear gas at people on the streets of Portland. It’s why he’s retweeting a white supremacist video of a Black man pushing down a white woman in a subway. It’s why he wanted to go to Kenosha — where a young white supremacist from another state came to town and shot three people, killing two of them: to stir the pot, to get Americans to fight each other, to fear each other, to hate each other. It’s why he will be pushing to divide America by race and party every single day from now until the election.

Here’s a simple truth: If you’re supporting caravans of militias and vigilantes shooting at people in the streets, if you’re instigating racial animus and demonizing entire groups of Americans, you are not for “law and order.” You are fomenting lawlessness and disorder. The Republicans tell us over and over again that this strife-ridden, racially divided country is what we’ll get if we elect Joe Biden. No. It’s what we have now. Under this president. It’s the flight we’re on, folks, and the pilot is no robot. He’s alive, but not well. And he can’t land this plane.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Jake’s Cakes: Bundt Cakes Rule at Bundt Appetite

Jakenesia “Jake” Winder inherited her “chef’s ear” from her mother, grandmother, and aunt.

“It’s when you’re cooking, you don’t use a recipe,” Winder says. “You keep seasoning and adding until you hear the chef call, ‘Stop. That’s enough.'”

That’s “chef” as in “the chef gods — people like Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsay, Alejandro Sánchez.”

Winder has the ear as well as the eye when she makes her often elaborate bundt cakes for her business, Bundt Appetite.

Jakenesia Winder

“Sweets caught my attention. And the funniest thing is I don’t like sweets for myself. I do not eat candy. I don’t like a lot of sugar. But it just came naturally. I’m really good at making cakes from scratch, for somebody who doesn’t like sweets.”

Growing up in Hollandale, Mississippi, Winder made up her mind as a child to cook for a living. “My grandma had a peach tree in her backyard. I was picking fresh peaches, picking peas. I’d wake up early in the morning and pick a bunch, and she would cook and I would watch, and I fell in love with it.”

Winder preferred the kitchen to the backyard. “A lot of kids were always outside playing. And I never wanted to go outside and get dirty,” she says.

Her grandmother’s caramel cake particularly made an impression on her. “It wasn’t too thick. It wasn’t too thin. It was just right. Fluffy.”

In high school, a motivational speaker told her, “College is an investment for your life. So if you’re going to spend money and spend time, make sure it’s something you love to do.”

“I thought to myself, ‘I love to cook. I should do that.'”

Winder graduated from Southwest Tennessee Community College with a degree in culinary arts. Chef Steven Leake, culinary and hospitality management instructor, was another inspiration. “He believed in me,” she says.

Winder’s first job out of school was “cold prep” at Methodist University Hospital. “Just putting Jell-O in a tray and sending it to patients.” Within three years, she worked her way up to become one of the lead cooks.

Winder then went to work at Next Door American Eatery in Crosstown Concourse. She was hired as “a salad person” and rose to kitchen supervisor in less than a year.

After taking a job at French Truck Coffee, Winder and her best friend began a short-lived cake business. They saw a photo of a pound cake and said, “We can make this.”

Winder eventually moved to the Hu. Hotel, where she was the lead morning cook, but she lost her job after the restaurant was sold and the pandemic began. She moved to Comeback Coffee, where she now is line chef.

She got the idea for her bundt cake business last May. “I love bundt cakes because you can go so many different directions with them.”

Winder began Bundt Appetite less than a month ago. “I did a tasting with my close friends and family and took some pictures of the cakes and got their opinion on the batter and icing and what I could do differently,” she says. “They all gave me the green light. That’s when I posted my Facebook page and said I’d be taking orders. We’ve been doing great. More than I expected. In my first four days I did roughly 30 cakes.”

As for future plans, Winder says, “I want a pastry food truck.” She also would like to branch out and make Rice Krispies treats in several flavors.

But, for now, she’s sticking to her bundt cakes, which come in 4-, 8-, and 10-inch sizes. “I have four flavors: vanilla, honey bun, and strawberry, and a new one — cookies and cream.”

A “vegan cake,” which is “animal-product-free, plant based,” is in the works, Winder says.

But don’t rely on your “chef’s ear,” nose, or mouth to figure out how to make one of Winder’s Bundt Appetite cakes. “Each cake has a secret ingredient that makes the flavor pop more.”

For information on Bundt Appetite, go to facebook.com/keepitbundt or search for Bundt Appetite on Facebook.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Airport Looks Ahead to More Traffic, New Concourse

CREDIT: Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority

With coronavirus vaccine hopes high, next year holds a golden promise for the world and doubly so for Memphis International Airport (MEM).

Not only will air traffic (probably) rise, airport officials here hope 2021 will cut the ribbon on a concourse modernizations project they launched in 2014.

In March, air traffic at MEM dropped by around 50 percent. This came as officials expected the annual spring break traffic bump. Traffic slumped enough that the airport closed the C security screening checkpoint. Maggie O’Shea’s and Moe’s closed temporarily.

Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority

Memphis International Airport may see concourse modernizations.

In April, the airport said traffic had dropped by as much as 95 percent, which was consistent with the national average. Airlines reduced flight schedules at MEM, and airport officials called schedules “very fluid” and urged passengers to check with airlines before departures.

But more than $24.6 million landed at MEM in April, thanks to federal CARES Act funding. The money was to help offset some of the revenue lost to lower passenger counts. At the time, Scott Brockman, president and CEO of the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA), said the money would provide “short-term relief” to the airport finances, which were “significantly impacted” by the pandemic.

“While we expect a gradual recovery of the airline industry, the timing is uncertain at this point, and moving forward, MEM is significantly reducing expenditures and non-essential capital projects in order to address the new budget reality,” Brockman said at the time.

But air traffic is slowly taking off again at MEM. On Monday, June 29th, the Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2,880 passengers and employees, the most since March 16th. Airlines resumed some suspended routes. Total available seats for MEM increased from 81,571 in June to 122,836 in July. Even more flights are expected to resume.

American Airlines flights to Charlotte, Dallas, and Chicago are set to resume next week (Tuesday, September 8th). Delta Air Lines flights to Atlanta, Detroit, and Los Angeles are expected to resume in October. Southwest Airlines flights to Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas are expected to resume in November.

MSCAA chairman Pace Cooper said “it’s very encouraging to see passenger numbers and air service rebound at MEM and elsewhere in the U.S.” But MEM officials noted that total passenger counts were down 73 percent in June compared to June 2019. However, a recent MEM passenger survey found that 90 percent of respondents said they plan to fly within the next 12 months.

Construction on the airport’s massive, $245-million modernization project has continued throughout the pandemic. Construction began to transform Concourse B in 2018. That transformation will ultimately consolidate all airline gates in a single concourse with higher ceilings, more natural light, wider corridors, moving walkways, children play areas, a stage for live music, and more.

Last week, officials said the exterior work was nearly finished. In June the MSCAA picked five public art pieces, in a process led by the UrbanArt Commission. The board also picked new gates seats, which will all come with a drink holder and electrical connection.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Laura’s Lightning, No More Noodles, and Pancho’s Search

Laura’s Lightning

Amazing images of Hurricane Laura in Memphis were posted last week.

Posted to Reddit by u/tacojohn48

Posted to Instagram by Choose 901

Lucky Cat

In an Instagram post, Lucky Cat Ramen announced it would close.

“No more noodles for awhile,” Lucky Cat said in the post. “This pandemic has been brutal and it looks like we’re another casualty. We [love] you so much and hope to be back soon. #loveyou.”

Pancho Search

Pancho’s Cheese Dip created auto-filled search results in an Instagram post last week.

The search for “Pancho’s” yielded results like “Pancho’s where buy at 1 a.m.,” and the best one, “Pancho’s baby name legal?”

Categories
Cover Feature News

His Team, His Time: Brady White Leads Memphis Into 2020

CREDIT: Photographs by Larry Kuzniewski

Long ago, in the year 2019, the Memphis Tigers enjoyed an epic football season. You may remember it. The U of M won 11 of 12 regular-season games, including an upset of 15th-ranked SMU a few hours after ESPN’s GameDay crew made its debut on Beale Street. The Tigers beat Cincinnati for the program’s first outright American Athletic Conference championship, right here in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl. Even with a season-ending loss to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl — the Cotton Bowl — Memphis finished the campaign ranked 17th in the final AP poll (the third time in six seasons a once-mocked program has finished in the Top 25).

Brady White saw it all. In his fifth season of college football — a foot injury and White’s transfer from Arizona State have extended his career — White became only the second Memphis quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, throwing three times as many touchdown passes (33) as interceptions (11). Once tagged with the tired euphemism, “game manager,” White became a star quarterback in 2019. In its 2020 football preview, Sports Illustrated included the California native — and Ph.D. candidate, in case you hadn’t heard — among five long shots for the Heisman Trophy. (Yes, that trophy.)

Photographs by Larry Kuzniewski

Memphis Tigers quarterback and Ph.D. candidate Brady White

With coronavirus and quarantine still operative words across the United States, White and the Memphis Tigers have September 5th circled on their calendars. The opening game of the 2020 season (when Arkansas State visits the Liberty Bowl) will be among a precious few across the country, four FBS conferences — including the mighty Big Ten and Pac 12 — having at least postponed their fall season. Two Memphis opponents — Purdue on September 12th and UT-Martin on November 21st — have already canceled their scheduled clash, leaving the Tigers with a 10-game regular season. Should Memphis manage to defend its AAC championship, rest assured it will happen in front of much smaller crowds.

Football in a season unlike any other.

Black athletes make up the majority of college football rosters, particularly at the FBS level. If you’re remotely close to such a program today, ignoring the Black Lives Matter movement would be like ignoring the oxygen entering your lungs. Shortly after the murder of George Floyd in May — with the country under quarantine to fight the coronavirus — the Tiger football team gathered to walk as a group in protest of racial injustice. However the upcoming season plays out — if it plays out — count on similar unified, visible acts to keep awareness and activism alive. White recognizes this as a responsibility of his generation, whether or not you happen to wear shoulder pads on fall Saturdays.

Star tailback Kenneth Gainwell has opted out of the 2020 season.

“We’ll always be united,” says White. “And we’ll stand for what we believe in, what’s right. It’s a true brotherhood. We’re bonded together, and we have each other’s backs. We’re not just football players. We’re human beings and we’re going to use our voices and our platforms for things like this. For me, it’s about loving one another and treating everyone the way we would want to be treated. It’s a principle we’re taught at a young age. I was created in God’s image, a person who’s imperfect. I know He created everyone else the same. That’s common sense and natural to me.”

If anything, the summer of protest accentuated bonds between White and his teammates that each knew already existed. The bonds just added a few layers of meaning. “Some people speak out a little more than others,” he explains, “but just because someone doesn’t post on Twitter, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion. To be able to talk with one another, to connect … we’re united. Everyone has their own mind and thoughts. We use our own experiences and knowledge to stand with one another and support one another. How can we be better as individuals, as a country, and be leaders for change?”

Brady White is only the second Tiger to pass for 4,000 yards in a season.

The doctor will see you now.

White completed his undergraduate studies (business) shortly after his 2016 foot injury at Arizona State. He’s earned a master’s degree (sports and leisure science) since arriving on the Memphis campus and now finds himself in rarefied air: a student-athlete as interested in completing his doctoral dissertation as helping his team to another prestigious bowl game.

“I’ve been working my butt off for a while in the classroom,” says White in speaking the obvious. “I’ve always prided myself on that, pushing myself in all areas. There’s always room to learn, but especially in college.”

White’s Ph.D. program is classified under “liberal studies,” which has some margin for focus. He hopes to work in sports when football is over and intends to concentrate his dissertation on this track. “I can communicate with my advisors to get classes that will help me with what I want to do in the future,” he says. “I’m not just picking random classes, but I’m able to find classes or even tweak classes due to the flexibility of the program. I don’t know if it’s coaching or more on the business side [of sports], but I know I want to be involved in that.”

Brady White prepares to throw a pass under pressure.

In elite company.

Memphis just missed a spot in the AP’s preseason Top 25, finishing tops among “others receiving votes.” But nine of the ranked teams are from the Big Ten or Pac 12 (and won’t play this fall), so consider Memphis among the country’s elite programs. Again. And based on what we saw in 2019, the Tigers earned it.

“That was probably the best season in Memphis football history,” says White. “When you’re directly involved, you look back and see areas that could have been better. The leader in me always wants to keep improving. But it was special, and it was so much fun. Everyone involved had a great mindset the entire season. It was a no-flinch mentality. Competing for championships and getting those big bowl-game berths are the standard for our program.”

White bristles at a suggestion that the 2019 Tigers enjoyed a season in which practically everything went right. (One exception, of course, being a late no-catch ruling on a White pass in the Temple game that may have cost Memphis an undefeated regular season.) He notes the considerable amount of work that went into making sure “everything went right.” Film room. Weight room. Practice field. Places even the most devoted fans don’t get to see on a regular basis.

“There are so many things that are out of your control,” notes White, “and I’ve been a part of teams that were hit by the injury bug. So we were blessed. But when you focus on your job, the 11 guys on each side of the ball, special teams … when they’re together and focusing on executing and playing hard, you get the results. The work we put in, the preparation from week to week … if we take care of our job, we perform really well. And it can be replicated in the near future.”

With a third healthy season, White could topple a pair of longstanding Memphis records. He needs 2,906 yards to break Danny Wimprine’s mark of 10,215 (set over four seasons, from 2001 to 2004). And 23 touchdown passes would break Wimprine’s record of 81. Like it or not, White has become a star quarterback.

“I know who I am,” says White. “I’m a genuine human being. With that comes belief and confidence. I’m a man of faith. I know who my creator is, and I know who he created me to be. I play for an audience of one. I love my family, my friends, and all of Tiger Nation, but I look to play for my audience of one, and that’s my lord and savior. It frees me up, because I have that peace and comfort as a player. I’m able to maximize the abilities I’ve been blessed with. I’m not perfect, but I’m my own unique and special player and quarterback. I know what value I have. At the end of the day, I’m an uber-competitor, and I just want to win ballgames. Whatever the coaches ask of me, I will get done, as long as we win the game.”

A star among stars.

College football’s annual “watch lists” are seriously overrated. There are no fewer than 90 players on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, given to the country’s finest player at season’s end. (Yes, it’s a poor man’s Heisman, and not the only one.) Nonetheless, Memphis had three players on the list and is one of only four programs that can count as many (along with Indiana of the Big Ten, Louisville, and, ahem, Alabama). White’s favorite target, senior wide receiver Damonte Coxie, made the cut, having caught 76 passes for 1,276 yards as a junior. Alas, the Tigers’ third selection, sophomore running back Kenneth Gainwell (1,459 rushing yards and 610 receiving yards in 2019) announced last Sunday that he’s opting out of the upcoming season.

With Coxie riding shotgun and even minus Gainwell, White will have the keys to one of the most powerful machines in college football. The Tigers averaged 40.8 points per game last season (eighth among 130 FBS programs) and it was no spike on the timeline. Memphis has averaged 40.7 points per game over the last six seasons, the 2017 squad putting up an astounding 45.5 per game (second in the country). Few scoreboards have been exercised like that at the Liberty Bowl, where Memphis has gone 35-5 since the start of the 2014 season. The Tigers win. And they score lots of points. Even with a second coaching change during this period — Ryan Silverfield takes over for Mike Norvell, who departed for Florida State — the Memphis program should be capable of winning shootouts, and regularly.

“Damonte and I love one another and we want what’s best [for the program],” says White. “We’re at it each day, trying to get better and make the most out of this last opportunity. It’s nice to have guys around you who share the same goals. I’m super thankful to have that guy by my side. He’s got great ability, but I love the dude’s mentality. It’s unique, extremely driven, competitive. He’s a special human being.”

Who will be taking handoffs out of the Tiger backfield in Gainwell’s absence? Junior Kylan Watkins — pride of Whitehaven High School — is the top returning ground-gainer, having rushed for 325 yards (on 5.2 yards per carry) a year ago. Also in the mix will be sophomore Rodrigues Clark. Look for a committee, of sorts, to fill the void left by Gainwell, who last season became the first player in 22 years to finish a game with 100 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards (against Tulane).

In addition to Coxie and Gainwell, junior guard Dylan Parham and senior kicker Riley Patterson (134 points in 2019) have received preseason all-conference recognition. On the defensive side of the ball, senior cornerback T.J. Carter has an NFL career in his sights. Three others seniors on defense — linemen O’Bryan Goodson and Joseph Dorceus and linebacker J.J. Russell — will make game days rough for Tiger opponents.

As for the new man in charge, Silverfield spent four years at Norvell’s side, most recently as the team’s deputy head coach. He knows what’s worked over the last four seasons and, with offense in his bloodstream, would seem the right man to keep this machine’s engine roaring. “I actually worked with Coach Silverfield briefly at Arizona State, before he left for the NFL,” notes White. “We’re really tight. I feel like we have an understanding of one another. Everyone’s confident in him as a coach. He’s the man for the job and deserves it. We love him. This team rallies behind him. There hasn’t been a lot of change. He’s his own coach, so there are little things he does differently, but it’s been an easy transition. There’s been no awkward feeling-out period.”

Reason to play.

Back to that AP poll. The defending AAC champions are not ranked to start the season, but two of their conference brethren are: Cincinnati (20) and UCF (21). If pandemic football proves manageable, the Tigers will face both the Bearcats and Knights in October, and they won’t need 40,000 fans in the stands for motivation.

“I’m my teammates’ biggest fan,” says White. “I want to see them do well so that they can achieve all their dreams and aspirations, take care of their families, and do everything they want in life. It’s a lot bigger than scoring touchdowns.”

The new normal.

Masks and 12 feet of space between fan groups will be part of college football in 2020. Tailgating, for now, is a thing of what seems like a distant past. But few sports are as structured as big-time college football, practice sessions broken down to the precise minute, position groups meeting for strategy and tactics within the larger context of a weekly team venture. Perhaps health protocols can be adopted into such structure, and perhaps college programs — particularly those in the southeastern United States — will prove to be the morale- and budget-boosters they’ve been for generations.

“Everything’s gonna be a lot different this year,” acknowledges White. “But I’ve been working out pretty intensely, studying film. You need to have a different approach, be safe and make sure you stay healthy. But [the pandemic] hasn’t changed my routine a whole lot. I’m still attacking it as if it’s a normal season.

“We recognize [the uncertain conditions], and we accept it. You’d rather over-prepare and be ready to go than sit on your hands and find yourself behind the eight ball. I love the way we’re doing it. The biggest thing is getting your mindset to go-mode, getting it cranked up. It’s been different, a ton of time off. That mindset has to change. Physically, guys should be feeling better than ever. We should be locked and loaded, ready to roll.”

Attending a Tiger game at the Liberty Bowl this fall will be significantly different than in previous seasons, allowing for social distancing and other protective measures against the spread of the coronavirus. For details, visit GoTigersGo.com/feature/2020football.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Exploring Art: Clough-Hanson Gallery Hosts Webinar Series

CREDIT: Courtesy of Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College

Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College is hosting a new series of webinar lectures, “Closer Than We Appear: Art and Sharing Space in a Time of Social Distance.” This series will look to art and artists to help us think in new ways about sharing space in communities large and small, distant and close.

First in the series is a look at the ways that Native artists have engaged with these issues for generations. Historian and co-founder of Native Rites, Amanda Lee Savage, will talk remotely about art and anticolonialism in the context of the exhibition “Native Voices, 1950s to Now: Art for a New Understanding,” on view through September 26th at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Courtesy of Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College

Amanda Lee Savage will discuss anticolonialism and art — remotely.

The origin story for the United States requires remembering and unremembering during a contentious time in our history, says Savage. “This selective remembering and forgetting of indigenous people is critical to how the United States imagined itself in the 19th century.”

Savage challenges that origin story. To hear her lecture, a link to this webinar will be emailed to registrants prior to the event and posted on the Clough-Hanson Gallery Facebook page.

In October, the conversation will continue with Cannupa Hanska Luger, whose Mirror Shield Project is on view in the “Native Voices” exhibition and has been used in resistance movements across the country, including Water Protectors in Standing Rock.

More details will be announced soon. Be sure to check the gallery’s Facebook page for the most up-to-date information, or email parsonsj@rhodes.edu.

Thursday, September 3, 6 p.m., rhodes.edu/gallery, Visit the Clough-Hanson Facebook page for more information and registration, Free.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Southern Reins’ Jockeys & Juleps Fundraiser Goes Virtual

CREDIT: Facebook/Southern Reins Center for Equine Therapy

The Kentucky Derby was rescheduled from May 2nd to September 5th. The annual Jockeys & Juleps Derby Party benefiting Southern Reins Center for Equine Therapy has followed the lead with a virtual celebration.

Derby enthusiasts have come to expect big hats and minty bourbon drinks from Southern Reins’ annual premier fundraiser. This year, the organization was inspired by the people they serve at the center who face much greater challenges. Southern Reins approached obstacles head-on and explored them as opportunities that can kindle amazing achievement.

Facebook/Southern Reins Center for Equine Therapy

The Southern Reins Center for Equine Therapy adapts the Jockeys & Juleps fundraiser to fit a unique time.

The result is an online silent and live auction, as well as a wine and bourbon pull. There is also an opportunity to purchase a Watch Party Package for the Kentucky Derby, which will provide a celebration box to enjoy for the running of the last two races of the Triple Crown from the comfort of home.

The Southern Reins Center started in 2015, and Sara Beth Raab, the center’s development and communications manager, is able to track the growth. “We started with 12 participants, have grown to 250 participants, and trained 836 volunteers.”

Thanks to generous sponsors, this event normally raises over half the funding for the center to help people with disabilities and hardships. The goal for this year is to raise $250,000, which will directly fund the essential services that center participants look forward to and benefit greatly from with each visit to the Collierville center or Lynch Farms in DeSoto County.

Jockeys & Juleps, Saturday, September 5, 3-7 p.m., southernreins.org, $100.

Categories
News News Feature

What is the Cost of COVID for Working Women?

I was a panelist on a recent webinar discussing the navigation of COVID-19 for business owners. One of the final questions in the Q&A segment was, “What is the long-term impact you foresee for women in the workplace? I’m seeing more and more cases of professional women stepping away from the workforce after juggling just got to be too much. What could this look like in five to 10 years?”

The first panelist to answer commented that it was a depressing question and that working women could slide back into a workplace that looks like it did 20 to 25 years ago. I surmise her perspective as an employment attorney having conversations with employers and employees navigating the corporate complexities of COVID-19 framed her answer. A quick Google search for “working mothers in 2020” does tell a sorrowful tale, with headlines such as “Pandemic Could Scar a Generation of Working Mothers” and “2020 Will Be the Death of the Working Mother.”

Teresa Bailey

Conversely, the response that flew out of my mouth as the next panelist to respond was that I was inspired to imagine how women will react over time, despite the challenges they face this year. Top of mind for me was the “10 years from now” part of the question. The day before, I’d pored through a McKinsey Consulting Group study released in July titled “Women as the next wave of growth in U.S. wealth management.” The study highlighted that the amount of wealth U.S. women control now ($10 trillion) will almost triple over the next decade. That massive transfer of resources also means that more women than ever before will become investors, and they will choose the companies deserving of their investment.

This August, coincidentally, we also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. The country held socially distanced celebrations, erected statues, and the city of Philadelphia even declared themselves the “City of Sisterly Love” for all of 2020. This tribute not only recognized women’s suffrage in 1920 but also that women of color waited until 1965 for the same right to vote.

One hundred years after their first represented vote, women now make up 7.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, as CNN reported in May. During those years from 1920 to 2020, millions of women climbed the ladder in corporate America, despite steep challenges. Some also opted out of the climb altogether and started their own business. In fact, as of 2019, 42 percent of U.S. businesses were owned by women, according to the annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. By 110 years after that first vote, McKinsey Consulting projects women will control the majority of financial assets that baby boomers currently possess.

Putting those pieces together gives me an optimistic outlook for working women in America. Although working mothers may lose footing in the workforce due to the pressures of this pandemic, with more seats in company boardrooms and, over the next decade, more votes as company shareholders, women stand to gain substantial influence in corporate America.

When the likely wave of women returns to the workforce once this pandemic passes, what new problem-solving and juggling skills will they bring with them? Which companies will see the unique skill set of women as desirable and focus their resources on finding innovative ways for women to balance their family and business goals? Perhaps 10 years from now, the price that COVID-19 working women paid today will be recognized as the cost required to inspire women to invest in women.

Teresa Bailey, CFP, CDFA, is Director of Development and Wealth Strategist at Waddell & Associates. She can be reached at tbailey@waddellandassociates.com.

Categories
Music Music Features

J.D. Reager: Tales of Two Cities

J.D. Reager (Credit: Jennifer Brown Reager).

J.D. Reager, who has written extensively for the Memphis Flyer, has been making things happen in the Memphis music scene for most of his life. The founder of the Rock for Love benefit concerts for the Church Health Center over a decade ago and a key player in the Makeshift Music collective and label, he’s been an often-underrecognized presence on the scene.

But if you think that ended when he moved to Chicago in 2017, think again. Though he is fully owning his new adopted home as never before, he continues to fuel the flames of the Memphis-Chicago connection. When Chicago music fans look across the landscape for inspiration, Memphis looms large on their horizon. It’s something Reager is aware of now more than ever.

Jennifer Brown Reager

Back to the Light host J.D. Reager

“I noticed when I moved up here, a lot of my Memphis ‘credits’ that didn’t mean shit in Memphis at all, to anybody, suddenly meant something to somebody,” he notes. “One of my managers at Reckless Records told me the Pezz record I played on was one of his all-time top five favorite records. When I tell folks that I know Jeremy Scott, they think that shit’s a big deal. And most of the bands I’ve played in have had better shows in Chicago than in other places. I can’t explain the connection, but it’s definitely there.”

Reager himself is helping stoke continued interest in Memphis music through his Back to the Light podcast, produced from his Chicago basement. Scanning through the list of interviewees reads like a who’s who of Memphis music. Local stalwarts such as Graham Burks, Joshua Cosby of Star & Micey, Oxford/Memphis phenom Ben Ricketts, and Music Export Memphis founder Elizabeth Cawein are just a few examples.

“That’s who my friends are, that’s where I’m from,” explains Reager. “And that’s gonna continue. My next interview will be with Ross Johnson. Even some of my outside interviews have Memphis connections. Like Ken Stringfellow [the Posies founder who joined the latter-day Big Star]. Dave Catching [Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age], who played with [legendary ’80s rockers] the Modifiers, has Memphis connections. Everything I do comes from Memphis. It’s still in my heart, even though I’m not there. I feel, in a weird way, more connected to it now than I did when I was living there.”

But Back to the Light isn’t the only expression of Reager’s deep roots here. It’s not even the only podcast. “Back to the Light is not just gonna be a show. We’re gonna have a podcast network, with three shows: Back to the Light, The Jack Alberson SongStory podcast, and, starting in September, we’ll have the first episode of a monthly Shangri-La Records podcast.” Beyond that, his Back to the Light record label will be launching a new series of releases in November. “I need to make a list of everything I have going on,” he says, “because it’s a lot.”

The label will be similarly Memphis-centric, beginning with older recordings Reager made with his Memphis band, Two Way Radio. “We were in $5 Cover, the Craig Brewer show. And we made a record with Scott Bomar. That was 10 years ago. It never came out, but it’s coming out in November.” Look for records by Alyssa Moore and Reager himself next year on the Back to the Light label.

A life centered on Memphis music comes naturally to Reager. He sees it as having been inevitable. “My late father, John Paul Reager, was one of the many bass players of the Modifiers, and was also the soundman at the Antenna Club in the ’80s and early ’90s. He was better known as the guitar player in the Blues Alley Orchestra. He played with B.B. King and Rufus Thomas and every famous blues musician who came through Memphis in the ’80s. There was a John Paul Reager day in the city of Memphis in, like, 1984. I probably had no choice in the matter. I’m not built for much else.

“But,” adds the lifelong fan of the Modifiers, “I think of [Modifiers founder] Bob Holmes as my true spiritual father. I feel like I’m carrying on his legacy, not my dad’s.” Since Holmes’ death last fall, “something has awakened inside of me that’s been closed off for a long time. It’s lessons learned from Bob, honestly. Time’s too short. We need to get this shit out while we’re still alive.”

Visit backtothelight.net for more information and J.D. Reager’s Patreon page to contribute.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Bill & Ted Face the Music: An Antidote to Darkness

We are all time travelers. We’re not the kind that jump in a blue police box and teleport to the Aztec Empire, but the kind who go into the future one second at a time. It is what defines us. “Clearly, any real body must have extensions in four directions,” wrote H.G. Wells in The Time Machine. “It must have Length, Breadth, Thickness — and Duration.”

One thing that has had an unexpectedly long duration is Keanu Reeves’ career. At least, it would have been unexpected in 1989, if all you had seen him in was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Reeves had been acting for years, most notably as a pot-addled high schooler named Matt caught up in the murder of a classmate in 1987’s River’s Edge. Reeves used a simplified version of Matt to get laughs as Theodore “Ted” Logan in the slight, sci-fi comedy.

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are back in Bill & Ted Face the Music.

While the hit film made him a star, the role would haunt him. Reeves, in real life a serious actor who had done Shakespeare in his native Canada, was permanently associated with the airhead Southern California stoner persona. Even in 1999, when he starred in the epochal megahit The Matrix, it was hard not to hear Ted when Neo said “Woah! I know kung fu!”

In 2020, Reeves is one of the most famous people in the world, universally respected in the film community as that rarest of birds: a genuinely nice guy in Hollywood. These days, Reeves leverages his personae and immense physical talents as John Wick, the sad-eyed, retired assassin whose quest for revenge was prompted by the murder of his dog. But for years, there had been rumors and rumblings of a third Bill & Ted movie, doggedly pushed by Reeves’ co-star turned producer, Alex Winter. Now, as theaters struggle to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, Reeves and Winter return to the roles that made their careers with Bill & Ted Face the Music.

William Sadler (below, center) as Death goes solo, leaving Wyld Stallyns without their most excellent bassist.

The dirty secret of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is that, despite presenting as goofy comedies, they’re actually quite well-written. After the thinly veiled socialist allegory of Wells’ The Time Machine made time travel stories a fantasy fad, writers have gotten their kicks playing fast and loose with cause and effect. Part of the joke of Bill and Ted has always been that their wide-eyed naiveté allows them to instantly grasp the possibilities time travel offers. In the first film, they are a couple of metalheads about to crash and burn at a high school history class presentation when a guy from the future named Rufus, played by George Carlin in one of his final roles, appears to reveal their destiny: They will write a song powerful enough to unite the world in peace and harmony, ushering in a utopian new age.

When Bill & Ted Face the Music begins, it’s 30 years later, and the pair of platonic life-partners are still trying to write that song. In the 1990s, their band Wyld Stallyns scored some big hits, once they got Death (William Sadler) on bass. But the classic lineup broke up when Death tried to go solo (there were lawsuits) and now Wyld Stallyns are playing weddings. But they never gave up on their quest to fulfill their destiny. They open their wedding set with a preview of their new song, “That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical, and Biological Nature of Love, an Exploration of the Meaning of Meaning, Part 1.”

Wyld Stallyns may have progressed musically, but the world is not ready for Ted’s theremin acumen. His indefatigable spirit finally broken, Ted is ready to hang it up when they have yet another visit from the future. This time it’s Kelly (Kristen Schaal, great as usual), Rufus’ daughter, who summons them to a meeting with The Great One (Holland Taylor).

The future utopians are not pleased with Wyld Stallyns’ lack of progress, and tell them they have only a few hours left to write the perfect song that will unite humanity. Naturally, their reaction is to travel to the future, when they have already written the song, and bring it back with them — leading to a series of hilarious confrontations with different versions of their future selves. Meanwhile, the duo’s daughters Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) set off on a temporal odyssey of their own to recruit the ultimate band to play their fathers’ song.

I have great admiration for films that know exactly what they want to do and spend all their time doing it. These are dark, scary times, and all Bill & Ted Face the Music wants to do is entertain you for 92 minutes. It’s light on its feet and consistently funny. But what makes it a winner is the fundamental decency of the characters. Bill and Ted never lost their idealism. All they want to do is rock the world, but when ultimate triumph depends on putting aside their rock star egos, they don’t hesitate. We could use a lot more Wyld Stallyns in our world.
Bill & Ted Face the Music is now playing online, at the Malco Summer Drive-In, Palace Cinema, and Hollywood 20 Cinema.