Month: January 2021

Categories
News News Blog

More Than 50,000 Vaccinated in Shelby County

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

More Than 50,000 Vaccinated in Shelby County

New virus case numbers rose by 446 over the last 24 hours. The new cases put the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 81,657.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — fell again to 4,419. The number reached a record high of more than 8,000 three weeks ago. The figure had been as low as 1,299 in September and rose above 2,000 only in October. The new active case count represents 5.5 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

In Shelby County, 50,094 COVID-19 vaccines have been given, according to the latest data issued Thursday. As of that day, 12,256 had been given two doses for full vaccination and 37,838 had been given a single dose.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that 5,389 test have been given in the last 24 hours. Since March, 938,121 tests have been given here in total. This figure includes multiple tests given to some people.

As of Tuesday, acute care beds were 89 percent full in area hospitals with 263 beds available. Of the 2,100 patients in acute care beds now, 266 of them were COVID-19-positive. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds were 91 percent full with 36 beds available. Of the 377 patients in ICU beds now, 99 were COVID-19-positive.

The latest weekly positivity rate fell again for the second week in a row, down now more than five percentage points from the record-high 17.5 percent two weeks ago. The average positive of test results for the week of January 10th was 12 percent. That figure is down more than two percentage points from the 14.1 percent recorded for the week of January 3rd.

Thirteen new deaths were reported over the last 24 hours. Though, those deaths may not have all occurred within the last day. Reports come form many agencies and aren’t all reported on the day of the death. The total death toll now stands at 1,241.

The average age of those who have died in Shelby County is 74, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest person to die from the virus was 101.

Shelby County vaccine information:

COVID-19 vaccinations continue for 1a1, 1a2 groups, and individuals aged 75 and older.

The Shelby County Health Department will provide 2nd doses of the Moderna vaccine beginning Wednesday, January 27th. These vaccination sites are only open to those who received a first dose of vaccine at Lindenwood Christian Church or 1826 Sycamore View Road between December 28th and January 3rd.

Locations and appointment information are as follows:

• Appling Emissions Station, 2355 Appling City Cove, Memphis, Tennessee 38133

Wednesday, January 27–Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 30, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

• Pipkin Building, 940 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee 38104

Tuesday, February 2nd–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

• Germantown Baptist Church, 9450 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, Tennessee 38139

Tuesday, February 2nd, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 4th–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For appointments, check shelby.community.

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) has made some limited appointments available January 26th-January 30th for first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for those in priority groups listed below:

First responders and health care workers listed in Phases 1a1 and 1a2, funeral/mortuary workers, those aged 65 and older with high-risk medical conditions, and all people aged 75 and older.

COVID-19 Testing Availability

Shelby County has “plenty of testing capacity available,” according to the health department, and “anyone who thinks they need a test should get one.”

Two of the community drive-through testing sites are now available to anyone, and no appointment is needed during their regular testing hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Those sites are:

• 2355 Appling City Cove

• 1720 RKS Commercial Cove (off Lamar Avenue)

A new health directive that loosened some restrictions took effect Saturday. Check out the health department’s information right here:

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Touching the Hot Buttons: County Commission Takes on Trump, PILOTs

The public musings of the Shelby County Commission add up at times to as accurate a bellwether on issues at large as can be found in these parts, and that applies to state and national subjects as well as purely local ones. By definition, the commission represents a larger and more representative hunk of the population than does, say, the Memphis City Council, and, though the body is by no means exclusively partisan in its outlook, the fact that its membership is elected by political party gives it natural polarities on a number of matters.

Four matters taken up by the commission at Monday’s public meeting illustrate the range. The first, sponsored by Commissioner Tami Sawyer, well known as a Democrat from her party’s progressive wing, was a resolution “to prohibit the naming of any Shelby County property after U.S. President Donald John Trump, the 45th President of the United States.”

Tami Sawyer

Clearly occasioned by public outrage and confusion stemming from the catastrophic endgame of Trump’s presidency, the resolution garnered the seven votes necessary for passage, all from Democratic members: Sawyer, Van Turner, Mickell Lowery, Willie Brooks, Edmund Ford, Michael Whaley, and chairman Eddie Jones. Three Republicans — Mick Wright, David Bradford, and Brandon Morrison — and Democrat Reginald Milton abstained. Two Republicans, Amber Mills and Mark Billingsley, cast outright “no” votes.

A companion measure of sorts, coming late in the day, was a resolution “in support of preserving our Republic and condemning the insurrection that took place at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” That one, sponsored by Wright and Milton, garnered 12 “aye” votes across the board but got a single abstention from Morrison.

In between those two resolutions was a pair of hot-button votes. One was a substitute resolution for one introduced back in the summer by Sawyer designed to curtail the potential acquisition of military-grade materials from federal sources by the Sheriff’s Department. Co-sponsored by Turner and Milton, the revised version acknowledged the fact that current Sheriff Lloyd Bonner desired no such weaponry but gives the Sheriff’s Department and the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security the option, via commission approval, to acquire protective equipment such as bulletproof vests, as well as rescue vehicles in case of emergencies.

The original resolution had drawn fire from several members as being what they saw as an unwarranted attack on the character of the sheriff. On Monday, Sawyer addressed those reservations: “You know, why do we need police reform? Sheriff Bonner’s a great guy. … But in 2020, across the country, and right here in Shelby County, we recognize a pandemic of racial injustice that was almost as deadly as COVID-19 that impacts the lives of Black and brown people every day.”

The ultimate vote on that one was 10-3, with Commissioners Billingsley, Mills, and Morrison remaining unmollified.

The other resolution incurring extended debate was also sponsored by Sawyer. It proposed a 180-day moratorium on the issuance of any new PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) grants by any of the eight authorities in the county able to issue PILOTs.

These tax-abatement grants, which by definition limit property-tax revenues in the interests of industrial recruitment, have long been controversial, as Sawyer noted, denouncing “the organizations that come and promise 1,000 jobs and never offer more than 300, organizations that pay no taxes, recipients whose workforces are 75 percent temporary workers with no healthcare, and no childcare. And then they close when they’re pushed to do anything else. Why don’t these corporations have to invest in the community?”

Ultimately, the PILOT resolution was recast as a proposal to join with the city of Memphis in a task force to study the implications of PILOTs and to consider possible changes in policy. County Mayor Lee Harris supported that proposition, saying, “I am all for trying to figure out how we might reform the system. … It’s probably a good idea to not try to tee up too many questions. But instead, we try as best we can to narrow our scope to what we might be able to handle. So I would try to narrow the scope to bite-sized amounts.” With that understanding, the proposal was referred back to committee for further shaping.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Salt/Soy to Open in February

CREDIT: Camille Jones

Salt/Soy is slated to open in February in the Broad Avenue Arts District.

The goal is to get the restaurant at 2583 Broad “up and going before Valentine’s Day so we can do omakase, a Japanese tasting menu,” says owner/sushi chef Nick Scott. “Usually, the omakase chef comes up with a tasting menu on the fly. This is something we’d set; three or four courses.”

Salt/Soy was hosting pop-up omakases Thursdays through Fridays at Alchemy, which Scott also owns. The pop-up events were “mainly a preview for what’s to come,” he says. They were “a huge success. The lines couldn’t get through the door.”

Camille Jones

Alex Moseley, and Brad McCarley

When Salt/Soy opens on Broad, the menu will include vegetarian and pork ramen bowls. The restaurant’s general manager, Brad McCarley, who Scott worked with at the old City Block Salumeria, is “curing all the meat in-house. We’re fermenting our own miso, our own kimchi. We’ll let that inspire the direction we go in. He’s got a ‘fried chicken and dumpling’ dumpling. It’s incredible.”

There are talks of doing a dim sum brunch on Sundays, but offering it between noon and 6 p.m. instead of earlier in the day.

But Salt/Soy isn’t going to limit itself to serving one type of food, Scott says. “We’re not pigeonholing ourselves to only doing Japanese. It will be Asian-inspired; pulling from all cultures and melding them together.”

And, he says, “I’m also looking for some Pacific inspiration there. We might throw in some tiki stuff. We may do some riffs on classic tiki drinks. We’ve talked about that. The overall menu — the food menu, the sushi menu, and the cocktail menu — is going to be really fun, exciting, different.”

Salt/Soy began as a pop-up in 2018 at Puck Food Hall. The idea was “sushi and seafood with ceviches and different types of crudos,” Scott says. And “market-style fish and seafood by the pound.

“The next stage we started looking for brick and mortar. We looked at a lot of places. We knew Lucky Cat [Ramen] went out of business, unfortunately. And there was a lot of talk about it within the industry, a lot of people who wanted to get in there. I had some real estate contacts who lead me in the right direction, and it kind of fell in my lap.

“It was a no-brainer,” he adds. “They had everything built out and ready to go. We changed a few things, but not a lot. That happened in October.”

The concept for the new location is “less of a market concept and more of an izakaya sushi concept,” Scott says. “A Japanese drinking establishment, with Japanese tapas, serving small plates. People come in and have drinks and cocktails.”

Downstairs will be “a little more upper-scale dining,” he says. “We’ll have the patio, which will evolve over spring and summer — a massive patio. And then upstairs will be more of a late-night, rock-and-roll situation. Kind of a little more gritty than downstairs. We’ve talked about getting a Bluetooth record player up there and playing only vinyl.”

Bar manager Alex Moseley came over from Alchemy. McKenzie Nelson, who was at Lucky Cat and High Noon, also will be behind the bar. Both bartenders are “very creative,” Scott says.

The restaurant has been given an artful makeover. They repainted the interiors and brought in an artist, David Johnson, to survey the space to determine how he could bring his own creative vision into the mix.

Scott says Johnson outfitted some of the downstairs spaces with paintings that work with the restaurant’s new color scheme. “His artwork is black and white with pops of color — and [the pieces] will be for sale.”

The restaurant’s name already adorns the front door. Scott can’t wait for that door to open to the public. “It’s going to be a fun place.”

Categories
News News Blog

Report Shows Overall Crime Down But a Rise in Major Violent Crime

A new report from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission’s office shows that overall crime within the city fell during 2020, but major violent crime, specifically murder and aggravated assaults, rose at a “disturbing pace.”

Major property crime, which includes burglaries, motor vehicle thefts, and other felony thefts, dropped 8.9 percent in Memphis and 8.4 percent countywide. These drops culminate with a 35.3 percent drop of property crime in the city of Memphis and a 36.4 percent drop countywide over the last 15 years.

The Crime Commission attributes the decrease in crime to a “plummeting” burglary rate. In Memphis, reported burglaries were down 26.1 percent compared to 2019. While the report mentions that it is possible this is due to an increased number of people staying at home because of COVID-19, the burglary rate in Memphis fallen 66.1 percent citywide since 2006.

For Memphians, major violent crime remained a constant threat throughout 2020. Major violent crime, which is represented by murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults, was up 24.3 percent citywide and 23.1 percent countywide. Leading the increase were an abnormally high rate of murders, with a 49 percent increase in the number of murders throughout Memphis compared to last year. Countywide there was a 45.9 percent increase in murders.

Reported aggravated assaults were up as well. Aggravated assaults increased by 35.4 percent in the city, and 34.3 percent countywide. Despite the rise in both aggravated assaults and murders, robberies city and countywide were down 12.1 percent and 13.8 percent respectively.

One of the critical factors pointed to by the reported as a driver for the increases in crime was the amount of gun violence throughout the city. The Memphis Police Department recorded a record-breaking 332 homicides in 2020. Of the 332 homicides, 262 of them were with firearms. All in all, there were 6,454 reported violent incidents that involved a firearm, which constituted a 24.6 percent jump when compared to 2019.

The Crime Commission’s president and executive director, Bill Gibbons, said that the city will need more resources to solve the crime problem throughout Memphis.

“We’ve identified evidenced-based practices that, if implemented correctly, will work to reduce violent gun crime significantly. We have leaders committed to them, but it takes resources,” Gibbons said.

The full report can be found on the Crime Commission’s website.

Categories
News News Blog

Virus Deaths Rise by 26

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

Virus Deaths Rise by 26

New virus case numbers rose by 220 over the last 24 hours. The new cases put the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 81,211.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — fell again to 4,481. The number reached a record high of more than 8,000 three weeks ago. The figure had been as low as 1,299 in September and rose above 2,000 only in October. The new active case count represents 5.5 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

In Shelby County, 39,485 COVID-19 vaccines have been given, according to the latest data issued Saturday. As of that day, 9,099 had been given two doses for full vaccination and 30,386 had been given a single dose.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that 2,112 test have been given in the last 24 hours. Since March, 932,732 tests have been given here in total. This figure includes multiple tests given to some people.

As of Tuesday, acute care beds were 89 percent full in area hospitals with 623 beds available. Of the 2,095 patients in acute care beds now, 387 of them were COVID-19-positive. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds were 93 percent full with 31 beds available. Of the 387 patients in ICU beds now, 113 were COVID-19-positive.

The latest weekly positivity rate fell again for the second week in a row, down now more than five percentage points from the record-high 17.5 percent two weeks ago. The average positive of test results for the week of January 10th was 12 percent. That figure is down more than two percentage points from the 14.1 percent recorded for the week of January 3rd.

Twnety-six new deaths were reported over the last 24 hours. Though, those deaths may not have all occurred within the last day. Reports come form many agencies and aren’t all reported on the day of the death. The total death toll now stands at 1,228.

The average age of those who have died in Shelby County is 74, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest person to die from the virus was 101.

Shelby County vaccine information:



COVID-19 vaccinations continue for 1a1, 1a2 groups, and individuals aged 75 and older.

The Shelby County Health Department will provide 2nd doses of the Moderna vaccine beginning Wednesday, January 27th. These vaccination sites are only open to those who received a first dose of vaccine at Lindenwood Christian Church or 1826 Sycamore View Road between December 28th and January 3rd.

Locations and appointment information are as follows:

• Appling Emissions Station, 2355 Appling City Cove, Memphis, Tennessee 38133

Wednesday, January 27–Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 30, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

• Pipkin Building, 940 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee 38104

Tuesday, February 2nd–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

• Germantown Baptist Church, 9450 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, Tennessee 38139

Tuesday, February 2nd, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 4th–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For appointments, check shelby.community.

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) has made some limited appointments available January 26th-January 30th for first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for those in priority groups listed below:

First responders and health care workers listed in Phases 1a1 and 1a2, funeral/mortuary workers, those aged 65 and older with high-risk medical conditions, and all people aged 75 and older.

COVID-19 Testing Availability

Shelby County has “plenty of testing capacity available,” according to the health department, and “anyone who thinks they need a test should get one.”

Two of the community drive-through testing sites are now available to anyone, and no appointment is needed during their regular testing hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Those sites are:

• 2355 Appling City Cove

• 1720 RKS Commercial Cove (off Lamar Avenue)

A new health directive that loosened some restrictions took effect Saturday. Check out the health department’s information right here:

The health department now offers a “VaxQueue” waitlist so those interested in the vaccine may be registered and receive notification when there are openings. To be added, click here https://shelby.community/covid-19-vaccine/.


Health officials said Wednesday morning that volumes and wait times were high at the Pipkin Building vaccine site Tuesday.

“Yesterday more people than expected presented at the Pipkin Building to receive vaccine,” according to a statement. “This resulted in an increase in the number of vaccines delivered. However, there was also an unexpected increase in wait times.

“Additional staff will be scheduled to address the issue and we are exploring other alternatives to increase availability and minimize wait times.”

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

A French Village

For the past couple of weeks, my wife and I have been watching a television series called (in America) A French Village. It ran for seven years in France, more than 70 episodes, so it has been a long, and still-ongoing, binge. We started watching out of curiosity. My wife is French and I like watching shows in French with subtitles so I can practice listening to the language in hopes of improving my “Ou sont les toilettes”-level French. There was no way, we vowed, that we’re going to watch seven seasons of this thing. But we’re six seasons in and A French Village has hooked us, big time.

The show is set in the fictional town of Villeneuve during World War II. The village is controlled by the Nazis and the collaborative French government of Vichy. The driving conceit of the show, which becomes more apparent with each ensuing season, is that, sooner or later, almost everyone in Villeneuve has to make a choice: collaborate with the ruling Nazi/French-puppet regime, or resist.

Most try for a third option: living quietly, going about their lives as close to normally as possible, hoping to avoid incurring the wrath of the Nazis, and staying out of the way of the Resistance. But sooner or later, the moment of truth arrives for everyone: Do you stay safe, keep your mouth shut, walk away, and accept that you are on the side of people doing horrible, murderous, genocidal things, or do you somehow find the courage to resist — or give everything up and flee?

Businessmen sell lumber and concrete to the Nazis; restaurants serve them meals; city officials accommodate their demands; women at the bordello sleep with them; the local police cooperate in roundups and torturous interrogations; the local doctor treats their wounded. But as the “aryanization” of the village and its businesses widens, as the village’s Jewish families are rounded up, as they are pulled from their children and put on separate trains, never to return, the creeping horror of what is being accepted by most villagers becomes unavoidable. It’s a slow build.

This being a French show and something of a soap opera at heart, there are, of course, love affairs and trysts and intrigue and secrets and betrayals: Most of the usual trappings of existence sustain themselves amid the shooting and the bombings and the horrors. All Germans aren’t monsters. All French aren’t heroes. The world is complicated. As are men and women. Another insight from the show: Life can be banal, even in wartime.

But around season five, as the war begins to wind down and the Nazis leave, the town begins to split along a widening fissure: Were you a collaborator or not? It seems a simple delineation, but it turns out not to be. French cops who did the Germans’ bidding, hunting down resistance fighters and killing French civilians, are a simple call — they get the firing squad. But what about the young police conscript who served only a few weeks? And what about the mayor who convinced the Nazis to execute only 10 villagers instead of the 20 they’d planned? Did he do a good thing? Or is he irredeemably evil? What about the women who slept with Nazi soldiers? Collaborators or survivors? Coming back together as a community after so much trauma proves not to be easy. Much depends on who’s judging and who’s being judged.

And maybe there’s a lesson here for America, after the divisive trauma of the past four years. Here’s what Joe Biden said in his Inaugural address: “To restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”

Unity. Our new president speaks of it often. And so do many Republicans these days. And I think most of us would agree that some sort of unity between the country’s two major parties could be good. But here’s the thing: Unity only works if justice is done first. Unity only works if there is a mutually agreed upon set of facts, a ground from which we can begin moving forward together.

Let me suggest a few facts that should be agreed upon: Joe Biden won the presidential election; Democrats are not part of a “deep-state” secret cabal of pedophiles; QAnon is an insane conspiracy theory; the people who vandalized the Capitol and terrorized our legislators were supporters of Donald Trump, who invited them there.

People who deny any of these truths while calling for unity are collaborators. They don’t belong in the village.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Just As I Am: Novel Hosts Virtual Event with Cicely Tyson

Fashion model turned actress of stage and screen, Cicely Tyson has had a career spanning more than 70 years. She has been nominated for countless awards honoring her craft. She has won many. She even became the first Black woman to receive an honorary Oscar for her work, 45 years after her Academy Award-nominated performance in Sounder.

Now, in her ninth decade, she says, “I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.”

She has put her meaningful words to the page in Just As I Am. It seems extraordinary that the actress, lecturer, activist, and one of the most respected talents in American theater and film history has been able to encapsulate her life between the covers of the 432-page memoir.

Cicely Tyson’s Just As I Am

Tyson has laid bare her life saying, “Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside.”

Tyson will be honored on Thursday at an online event where her new autobiography will be released. Novel is among the bookstores selected to participate in the book launch. The event will begin in conversation with Cicely Tyson and Whoopi Goldberg and be presented by HarperCollins with Girls Write Now along with editorial director Tracy Sherrod, and Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim.

The ticket price includes one hardcover copy of the book and a once-in-a-lifetime virtual meeting with Tyson.

Online Event with Cicely Tyson: Just As I Am, from Novel, novelmemphis.com, Thursday, Jan. 28, 5 p.m., $32-$38.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Fenced In

CREDIT: Mati Parts | Dreamstime.com

Donald Trump’s flight to the border — six days after the Capitol insurrection — focused the nation on the foundational lie (and enduring failure) of his administration: the border wall. While extolling the virtues of the mostly imaginary wall in south Texas, an actual wall, or fence, was under emergency construction in Washington, D.C., to protect the nation’s capital from the president and his insurrectionists.

Some segments of Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” went up during his administration — maybe as much as 450 miles. He had promised to build 2,000 miles of wall and told us that Mexico would pay for it. He convinced many in his party that immigrants from the global south were terrorists, yet we found out, sadly, that the terrorists are from right here in the USA. He challenged his party to re-script the entire history of the United States: Trump’s USA was a dark, dystopian place where immigrants were dangerous criminals. Protecting America meant denouncing immigrants and separating ourselves from them both physically and psychologically.

Mati Parts | Dreamstime.com

Trump’s unfinished border wall was built on a lie, and stands as a monument to a cruel and divisive moment in U.S. history.

Trump, during his four-year rule, wrecked the asylum laws — laws and norms through which people with a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home nations could seek asylum in the USA. But Trump forced an agreement with Mexico whereby, essentially, Central American asylum seekers to the USA now must “wait” in Mexico before being offered a hearing with a U.S. judge. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all such court appearances have been canceled — stranding thousands of Central Americans in Mexico. That country, reeling from political and social violence, economic decline, and COVID-19, is not necessarily a hospitable place for Central American asylum seekers. There was a time when the USA was universally admired for its asylum laws and policies: Our current “Wait in Mexico Indefinitely” asylum policy is hardly helping our sinking standing on the world stage.

We educators, after virtually every crisis, call for “more” education. Looking at and listening to that angry mob on January 6th made me wonder what we’ve done wrong in the education community. Something we must do, immediately? Stop teaching patriotism and start teaching truth. My students — good kids at Rhodes College here in Midtown — are generally amazed to learn about the role of the USA in toppling legitimate governments in Latin America: The list is long, and U.S. actions in Brazil and Chile helped usher in cruel, violent military dictatorships in those places, in 1964 and 1973 respectfully.

Many newscasters on January 6th, so astounded at what was occurring in real time, went to the “banana republic” comparison. They didn’t name specific nations, but they were probably thinking about Guatemala. Guatemala is Guatemala because we helped make it that way. We pushed forward the overthrow of a legitimate, democratically elected government there in 1954, and the nation has never quite been the same. Our political and military leadership was involved, including President Dwight Eisenhower. So too were religious figures such as Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York. Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Honduras (some of the other “B” Republics) have all suffered under the influence of the USA.

Teaching “American exceptionalism” is another part of the problem: Like every powerful nation or society of the past, other more powerful nations will eclipse us, and we ought to have a clear, sound, historically truthful understanding of how (and why) this happens. It happens for many reasons, but a unifying characteristic of every great society’s stall involves leadership that becomes disconnected from reality. Think of France in the late 18th century or Russia in the early 20th century. Think of Trump now.

I suspect we’ll survive the current crisis, wholly manufactured in the USA. Politicians should tell the truth all the time, but they don’t. Educators must tell the truth always because what happened on January 6th suggests an existential failure, and we’ve all rushed in to blame the … Capitol Police. And of course President Trump. But we’re all to blame. The horror show of the Capitol riot represents a failure of our education system, a failure to understand who we are as a society, and a basic failure of imagination. And a failure to speak clear truth to power. It all started with an absurd lie about a wall that never got built — a wall that now surrounds our capital city and just might encroach and suffocate our nation, unless we help take it down. With the truth.

Michael J. LaRosa is a professor at Rhodes College.

Categories
Cover Feature News

20 < 30 The Class of 2021

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

This is the 12th year the Memphis Flyer has asked our readers to tell us about outstanding young people who are making the Bluff City a better place. We had a record number of nominees, so narrowing it down to 20 was more difficult than ever. We do this so Memphis can meet the leaders who will be shaping our future. Even though we live in a time of uncertainty, speaking to these talented 20 never fails to fill us with hope.

Here they are: Your 20<30 Class of 2021.

PRESENTED BY

……

Brandon Dill

Alexus Atakora

Alexus Atakora

Fashion Entrepreneur, House of Reign

“Fashion has always been my passion,” says Alexus Atakora, who first hit the modeling runway at age 8. While studying at the University of Memphis, she was inspired by Professor Peggy Quinn to make her passion a lifetime career. “I wanted to do my own thing. I started my own boutique, so I took that opportunity into my own hands.”

When she’s not working to make House of Reign a national chain, she upholds a family tradition of volunteering. “I take the time because I feel like my mom instilled that in me as a young child,” she says. “There are people less fortunate than us. And this is our community. Why not make it beautiful?”

……

Brandon Dill

Chima Onwuka

Chima Onwuka

Mental Health Professional/Entrepreneur/Speaker

Chima Onwuka’s family is from Nigeria, which gives him a unique perspective on Memphis. Bullied in school for being different, he experienced depression at age 15. “Before I went to college and got a psychology degree, I had no idea what all this stuff that I was feeling was called. I never knew there was a name for it.”

Perhaps it was inevitable that a life spent conquering fear would lead to a desire to help others. For Onwuka, that meant overcoming his fear of public speaking. “There’s a negative stigma to mental illness. For me to reach a broad amount of people, I had to start speaking. … I wanted to be an advocate for mental health. That way, if you feel touched by my speech, you will be more inclined to see a counselor, even if it’s not me.”

……

Brandon Dill

Colleen Chandler

Colleen Chandler

Grants and Initiatives Manager, ArtsMemphis

When the pandemic hit, Colleen Chandler was in a unique position to help at ArtsMemphis. “I live and breathe grants and initiatives day in, day out.”

As the country shut down around her, Chandler assessed her community’s needs and reached out to funders. Within weeks, the Artist Emergency Fund was up and running, distributing millions of dollars in grants to artists who had seen their income evaporate overnight. “The arts will be one of the last sectors to recover from all this,” says Chandler. “So we’re definitely trying to support in any way we can.”

The Junior League member has a passion for volunteering to help make her community better. “I feel like the creative community is so resilient, and I think the pandemic has just highlighted that.”

……

Brandon Dill

Sean Winfrey

Sean Winfrey

Digital Art Instructor and Filmmaker, Cloud901

“I’m teaching kids right at the brink of adulthood, and a lot of kids don’t know that you can do careers that are actually fun,” Sean Winfrey says. “I’ve learned that a lot of kids don’t have confidence in the world, and they’re scared of the future around that age. I’ve just grown more passionate about it. I’ve personally seen some long-term change and impact on some of these kids.”

The animator, who has created music videos for artists like Al Kapone, was at first apprehensive about teaching but found a supportive environment at Cloud901. “I feel like I work with a bunch of geniuses,” he says. “It is a very strange place, but I feel like, on a personal level, I relate to these kids. The reason why I got the position was because I’m a very good uncle.”

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Brandon Dill

Kady “Kadyrox” Brown

Kady “Kadyroxz” Brown

Musician, Founder of Memphis Women’s Rights Advocacy Group

The Berklee College of Music graduate has worked in London, New York, and Nashville, but Kady Brown’s decision to move home was vindicated when her single “Strawberry Feels” was embraced by Memphis radio. “I wanted to be able to do what I do from wherever I am,” she says.

Last summer, as the Black Lives Matter movement was inspiring activism all over the world, Brown started the Memphis Women’s Rights Advocacy Group to help victims of sexual assault seek justice and healing. “I think it’s this idea of impacting what you can impact and hoping to cause a chain reaction. My biggest goal is to do what is within grasp and create a work that can either be continued or inspire another.”

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Brandon Dill

Kayla Seabrook

Kayla Seabrook

Musician/Marketing Manager, IRIS Orchestra

Kayla Seabrook started playing piano at age 7, and discovered jazz while at St. Benedict high school. “I studied classical when in college, but I came back to jazz, because that’s really where my heart’s at.”

Before COVID sidelined her performances, you could find Seabrook tickling the keys for audiences large and small all over Memphis. “I am going absolutely crazy. I have only been performing in my own house in front of my cat and my husband for the past many, many months.”

She’s thankful to be able to represent IRIS’ classical music education and performance agenda. “It’s been a great outlet for me to be able to still really be part of the music scene, but in kind of a different way. It’s such a good organization. It’s one of those places where, and this is kind of a cliché to say, but it really does feel kind of like a family.”

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Brandon Dill

Torrey Harris

Torrey Harris

Tennessee State Representative, District 90

“In 2017, the representative before me stood up before an education committee and said our generation was the most ill-mannered, know-nothing, never-gonna-be-anything, immoral generation.”

That thoughtless slander motivated Torrey Harris to run for office. “But my true motivation is just that I am all about helping people.”

In 2020, on his second try, he defeated veteran legislator John DeBerry by a margin of more than 50 percent to become the youngest person in the state House of Representatives, one of only two LGBTQ members, and the first bisexual. Soon afterward, Harris hosted the first town hall meeting in his district for 15 years. “It was so impressive to see people my age are on the call being vocal about what it is that they want. As young people, we just want someone who’s gonna listen to us.”

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Brandon Dill

Gisela Guerrero

Gisela Guerrero

Immigration and Inclusivity Accountability Committee Chair, Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH)

Gisela Guerrero wants to break down the language barriers that keep the Latinx community from integrating into Memphis culture. In her day job, she helps patients access health information. “Some people may not know this, but at Church Health, about 40 percent of our patient population is Spanish speaking.”

Born in Mexico City and a citizen of Memphis since age 5, Guerrero was in a unique position to help when COVID hit the Latinx community. “While it has been tricky to put all this health information in an easy and digestible method in English, it has been even more difficult to be able to do that in Spanish, or any other language, because of the misinformation that quickly gets around.

“No one should have to be waiting for a translation. No one should have to wonder, if they call the hotline, if they’re going to be able to get somebody on the phone who understands them in the language they’re most comfortable in.”

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Brandon Dill

Jared Moses

Jared Moses

Administrative Director of Operations, Baptist Memorial Hospital

“It is a lot of responsibility, but it’s one that I appreciate,” Jared Moses says. “I think it’s fun because I am the youngest person on the team by far. But I think I bring a new perspective, new ideas, new ways of seeing things. … There are people who’ve been working here much longer than I’ve been alive.”

The pandemic saddled Moses’ healthcare team with the biggest responsibility they would ever face. “You really get to see people’s true colors, and how great of an asset they are, in times of need. Our team members stepped up and worked a ton of hours. We all started to rotate 12-hour shifts in the command center for the entire month of March and half of April. … I think I’ve always had a calm personality, a calm demeanor, but I really had to continue that level when the urgency was high.”

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Brandon Dill

Anne Ross

Anne Ross

Director of Marketing and Merchandising, Hollywood Feed

When she first applied for a job at Hollywood Feed, Anne Ross was just looking for something to do after college. “It would help me pay the bills, and I’ll figure out my life from there. And I just ended up staying and loving it.”

When she started, the Memphis-based pet store chain had 20 locations. “We have rapidly expanded over the years to the point where we have 105 locations across 14 States. So it’s been an adventure. … I think what I like the most about my job is that I don’t know what’s coming next. There’s always some new challenge, whether it’s COVID or it’s sourcing products from Brazil. It was just nothing that I could have ever dreamed up.”

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Brandon Dill

Brianna Smith-Herman

Brianna Smith-Herman

Journalist/Project Manager, Three(i) Creative Communications

“I think I wrote my first article for the new Tri-State Defender in 2015 about female violence. And right then I knew, I kind of liked journalism,” says Brianna Smith-Herman.

She was following in the footsteps of her father, Bernal Smith, who saved Memphis’ storied Black newspaper. Armed with a mass media degree from Clark Atlanta University, she produced three films, worked on the popular show Real Housewives of Atlanta, and helped create music videos for artists such as T-Pain, before seeking her fortune in Los Angeles. But after her father passed away unexpectedly, she returned to Memphis to carry on the family legacy. “God makes no mistakes, but my dad still had a lot of things that he wanted to accomplish in the city,” she says.

“I felt that here in Memphis, I had a lane that I could go into that was not there in L.A. There was a lane for journalism. There was a lane for film. There was a lane for music. There was real opportunity, and room for growth.”

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Brandon Dill

Geoffrey Morris

Geoffrey Morris

Attorney, Butler Snow

The law runs in the Morris family. Geoffrey’s father and brother are both attorneys, and he says he fell into the family business. “I love the reading and writing aspect of it, and the problem-solving aspect of it. [The law] touches just so many things in the world.”

After graduating from Vanderbilt, he could have gone anywhere, but Morris chose to return to help grow his hometown. “I’ve always seen potential in the city. I’d like to see a city that’s more modernized, more developed, but also still more equitable for everyone. You hear a lot about gentrification and things like that going on, but I think there’s kind of a middle ground where you can develop the city while also looking out for people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, different races, ethnicities, and not displacing people from their communities.”

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Brandon Dill

Spencer Beckman

Spencer Beckman

Clinical Quality Improvement Specialist, Church Health

When Spencer Beckman came to Church Health as part of Rhodes College’s Kinney community service program, he had no idea he would find himself on the front lines of a global pandemic, coordinating the Midtown healthcare facility’s COVID testing program and screening 30 to 120 people a day. “Typical to the Church Health model, we relied heavily on our volunteers,” he says. “We used to have to worry about getting ice packs on our swabbers, because they’d be overheating in the summer sun. Now we’re having to buy propane tanks to make sure that our volunteers are not getting frostbite from being outside too long on cold, rainy mornings.

“I would love for [Memphis] to be a place where, regardless of your background, regardless of your access to resources, regardless of previous experiences, everyone can have the opportunity to make their life what they want it to be.”

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Brandon Dill

Destany Story

Destany Story

Educator, Founder of Wonder Women and Wisdom

“I actually graduated from the school where I teach at now, Power Center Academy,” says Destany Story.

Inspired by the Teach For America educators who instructed her, she decided to pursue education. “That was my first experience where I had teachers who really cared more about me than just my education.”

While at Mississippi State University, she founded a support group to empower young women with ambition. “I wanted to focus it on minority students, because I did go to a predominantly white institution, and I felt like we weren’t represented enough.”

Wonder Women and Wisdom met regularly for networking brunches until Story graduated. “I kind of put it on the back burner for a while, but when I came to my high school, I just noticed a lot of girls looking up to me, just because I was more relatable.”

Wonder Women and Wisdom was reborn. “I transitioned it to a mentoring program for girls 9th through 12th grade. We do workshops based on business etiquette, mental health, body love, and support.”

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Brandon Dill

Samantha Calhoun

Samantha Calhoun

Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Memphis Loewenberg College of Nursing

“Whenever I was asked ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ the answer was always ‘a nurse,'” Samantha Calhoun says. “My mom’s attitude about taking care of people is my moral compass for approaching patient care. It’s the core of who I am as a nurse and nurse educator.”

Calhoun is one of the youngest nursing professors in the history of University of Memphis. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned from teaching nursing students is the beauty in making mistakes. You don’t always need to have all the answers.”

After almost dropping out of nursing school, she founded the nonprofit Simply Faith to help coach others through difficult times. “Simply Faith is who I am. My mother named me Samantha Faith, and I honestly believe that my gift of faith is the most significant part of my identity.”

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Brandon Dill

Leah Ford

Leah Ford

Political Campaign Manager

Leah Ford cut their political teeth as President of Rhodes College’s Voices for Planned Parenthood. Gabby Salinas was on the board of the organization, so Ford worked on her 2018 State Senate campaign. When Salinas ran again in 2020, she tapped Ford as her campaign manager. “I was really honored, and definitely had a little bit of ‘imposter syndrome’ at first. I’m just always grateful to Gabby for giving me that chance because I learned so much.

“If we’re going to ever change the way Tennessee politics works, we need people to stay here who are from here to fix it and to make things better, because it’s not going to be these national organizations swooping down and saving the South. It’s going to be people who live here, who know their communities and know what needs to happen.”

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Brandon Dill

Joy Marseille

Joy Marseille

Public Engagement Coordinator, Crosstown Arts

Joy Marseille is on a mission to make the art world more equitable. “I think Crosstown Arts is under no mistaken assumptions around how much it means to have somebody leading a program who looks like the people they’re leading.”

When the pandemic shut down her public programs, Marseille created a series of “race talks” for arts professionals. “This has created a very strange silver lining for us to be able to create the infrastructure and set some systems in place that we have been wanting to get in place for a long time. But we’re all really eager to get Crosstown Arts back up and running again, because it’s been such a positive influence on the community.”

With her friend, biologist Chandler Purity, she created Are We Terrible People?, a podcast she calls “a lighthearted take on heavy topics.”

She’s also working on a novel and expecting her first child. “I don’t know that Memphis even realizes how unique it is. In good and bad ways, I think it’s a perfect example of the truest America.”

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Brandon Dill

Emmanuel Spence

Emmanuel Spence

Prospect Development, ALSAC St. Jude

“I believe that philanthropy is something that can be used to really uplift social good,” Emmanuel Spence says. “I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, but not necessarily to be on the front end of it, but really on the back end.”

After starting his nonprofit career at Bridges, Spence is now one of the star fundraisers for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “I’d like to see the future of Memphis as a city where people come together to make change. I’m biased to say that I love philanthropy, but I really would love to see people more engaged from a philanthropic perspective, whether that means volunteering, serving, or giving, because I think Memphis has a lot of great assets. We need to figure out how to lift each other up.”

Brandon Dill

Brian Mounce

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Brian Mounce

History and Politics Professor, Christian Brothers University/Incoming Associate Attorney at Evans Petree

After studying at Rhodes College for three years, finishing his degree at the University of Tel Aviv, and traveling the world, Brian Mounce found work at an intelligence think-tank unsatisfying. “I felt like the work I was producing wasn’t really helping folks,” he says. So I changed my career trajectory to try to become somebody who could help my community in a more tangible way.”

He got a master’s degree and started teaching high school. “I absolutely loved it.”

Now he teaches students about the Constitution at CBU while finishing his law degree. “My grandfather believed in this old ideology, which translates to ‘Repair a broken world.’ I’m an ardent believer in that, and Memphis helped my family so much that I felt the need to give back to Memphis.”

Brandon Dill

Jasmine Worles

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Jasmine Worles

Strategic Planning Advisor, Shelby County Schools

Jasmine Worles had been in Washington, D.C., training candidates to run for office when she returned to Memphis two years ago to work for SCS. She was still learning the ropes when COVID hit and she was charged with empowering students for remote learning. “It went from, that February, looking at each other and saying, ‘There is a pandemic spreading across Europe, it’s coming into the United States. How are we going to cope with this?’ By August, we were procuring and employing 95,000 devices.”

In normal times, a project that size would have taken three years. “With the amount of students we have, and the fact that we were able to give devices and hotspots to students who needed internet access in a three- to four-month time period, that’s the quickest mobilization that we’ve seen across the nation for a school district.”

Worles somehow still finds time to help train candidates, and is currently expecting her first child. “I am a part of the pandemic baby boom.”

Categories
News News Feature

How Has the Pandemic Affected Divorce?

CREDIT: Ilia Burdun | Dreamstime.com

How tired are we of the COVID virus and the ensuing lockdowns, employment loss, and total disruption of our way of life? Luckily, humans are very adaptable (Zoom, masks, six feet apart, online shopping), and the rollout of vaccines (though slow) gives us a glimmer of hope that the “end” is coming this year. We will certainly be a different country at some levels, but many of the problems from the past are still there and will surely resurrect as some level of normalcy returns.

As a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, I tend to look at trends in divorce and found conflicting information on the surge or diminishment of divorce during the pandemic: New York Post: “Divorce rates skyrocket in U.S. amid COVID-19 pandemic”; Institute for Family Studies: “Divorce is down during COVID”; Web MD: “Pandemic Drives Couples to Divorce or to Seek Help”; Bloomberg.com: “Divorces and Marriages Tumbled in U.S. during COVID, Study Shows.”

Ilia Burdun | Dreamstime.com

At first glance, it would seem that divorces would spike during such a stressful time, given that money (or lack of) is a top conflict behind many marriage dissolutions. However, as with the Great Recession in 2008/2009, it might be a money issue that actually keeps a couple tied together until a recession — or pandemic — ends. Additionally, the shutdown of courthouses and law offices this spring most surely slowed many in-progress filings, so I have to believe that any trends that emerged in 2020 might be short-lived.

If you are happily married, I congratulate you! You can finish reading this article and keep it in mind when you converse with friends who might not be so happy. If you are contemplating a separation or divorce, I wanted to give you some ideas on important topics you should consider as you work through this process.

Know about your money. Know what you have (assets), know what you earn (income), and know what you need (budget). If you don’t know anything about your money, you must learn. Get copies of bank account statements, 401ks, pension benefits, etc. and become familiar with them. This allows you to begin to understand the effects of a divorce prior to actually starting the process and helps put you in a position of strength for negotiation. Knowledge is key.

Hire experts to help you. A good family law attorney can advise you on the divorce process and potential issues that might arise. A good financial advisor (CDFA) can take your information and project success or pitfalls in your current or future living objectives. Knowledge is key.

Deciding to divorce should be the most emotional part of the process for you. Once you have made the choice to pull the trigger, remember to keep your emotions in check. Anger, fear, resentment, and hostility are all valid feelings, and I encourage you to work through these issues with a trusted friend or counselor. But if you let these feelings drive your process, you will be miserable and potentially make costly mistakes. Calm is key.

Protect your children and yourself at all costs. If you are in an abusive relationship or fear for your life, leave. If you are not, be watchful during the process to make sure it doesn’t become abusive. And whatever you do, never talk bad about the other spouse to the kids that you have with that spouse. No matter the age, children will feel some sense of responsibility to protect their love for that parent. This is a position you should never put them in. Love is key.

I hope that divorce isn’t in your future, but if it is, remember to be knowledgeable, calm and protective.

Kathy Williams, CFP, CDFA, is Principal and Senior Wealth Strategist at Waddell & Associates.