Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Local 390G on the picket line in June. (Credit: BCTGM Local 390G via Facebook)
After nearly five months of organizing, about 140 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Local 390G are still striking in Memphis and recently took their fight for better wages and benefits to New York City, rallying outside the International Food and Flavors (IFF) headquarters.
The members of BCTGM have been on strike since June 4, at which time the union said in a press statement they hoped to negotiate a fair contract with the strikers’ employer. Prior to the strike, workers had been subject to the terms of an expired contract for more than a year.
At IFF, employees manufacture soy protein products used by Nestle and Abbott Nutrition in baby formula, pet food, and other food and beverage products. Members have been utilizing a strike fund to help pay bills, and some have taken temporary jobs to make ends meet in the meantime.
Cedric Wilson, Local 390G president and IFF worker, said about 40 people attended the NYC rally on Oct. 19 — including workers from United Auto Workers Local 3039 and the AFL-CIO.
Cedric Wilson, president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Local 390G of Memphis, in front of International Food and Flavors’ offices in New York. (Photo: Cedric Wilson)
Wilson said IFF leadership has not been negotiating in good faith, calling their attempts “surface bargaining,” in which a company goes through the motions without real intention to offer a fair contract. He also said BCTGM has sent letters to leadership and asked them to return to the bargaining table. While the corporation has been non-responsive and Wilson has seen scabs cross picket lines to continue working, there has been little push back from the community and local police officers.
Workers must organize if they ever hope to achieve a better future, he said. “It’s necessary,” Wilson said. “If you keep a man down, you’re going to keep losing. We decided this time, we’re not going to lay down.”
In an email statement, IFF said it has made every effort to reach a fair agreement and has presented BCTGM members with multiple offers. IFF did not respond to requests for documents proving BCTGM has declined contracts or negotiations.
“We have implemented our proposal, offering overtime pay … and have not made any changes to benefits in the 2023 plan year,” an IFF representative said in the statement.
Jacob Morrison, Valley Labor Report co-host and secretary-treasurer of the North Alabama Area Labor Council, recently spoke with Wilson on air and said the narrative about working class Southern organizers in the media is often presented in an oversimplified manner.
Organizing at a company like IFF — which doesn’t have the same name recognition Nestle and other giants do — could stand in the way of garnering additional attention and support, according to Morrison.
“Every day, workers across the South are fighting David and Goliath battles and we want to try to do what we can to raise awareness of that and help educate people about how they can do the same things in their own workplaces,” Morrison said. “These are not crazy unreachable things. This is something that normal people do and other normal people do, if they’re willing to take the time.”
Despite the challenges, Morrison said union organizing and support for labor issues are on the rise. That may be due to hearing corporate leaders publicize record profits as inflation increases, as well as working class Americans seeing results from pandemic-era programs like the expanded child tax credit that reduced child poverty to new lows.
Every day, workers across the South are fighting David and Goliath battles and we want to try to do what we can to raise awareness of that and help educate people about how they can do the same things in their own workplaces.
– Jacob Morrison, North Alabama Area Labor Council
While previously willing to accept concessions, Morrison said workers are now in a better position to demand fair wages, better conditions and overall results.
“We’ve seen there’s so much money sloshing around,” Morrison said. “We get wins. The UAW and the Teamsters have been some of the biggest consistent labor stories. The tide and public opinion has begun to turn.”
“People are believing less and less that unions are a corrupt special interest and seeing more and more than unions are basically one of the only institutions that the working class has to level the playing field against corporate greed.”
Wilson said that despite the hardship of being on strike, including not currently having healthcare for himself, workers will continue to organize until IFF is willing to negotiate.
“My biggest personal issues are … making sure everyone stays afloat, but we’re not quitting,” Wilson said. “I’m these guys’ leader. If I’m not prepared to strike, how can I tell someone else to?”
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
Magic portals, sexy aliens, and sci-fi romance — these are just some of the things you’ll find in the graphic novel Mariko Between Worlds, written by Matthew Erman and illustrated by Liana Kangas. Set in the year 2099, Mariko and Rem are breaking up, their interdimensional relationship proving to be far too complicated, but they agree to make the most of their last night together in the Mall of Portals, “an interdimensional consumerist heaven full of unending vice.” What ensues, as Kangas says, is an exploration of communication, boundaries, and lots of aliens.
The inspiration for the story came from writer Erman’s pandemic-induced binge of 90 Day Fiancé with his wife and comic book artist Lisa Sterle. “They really wanted to tell a story about this girl who doesn’t get a visa to essentially go be with her boyfriend,” Kangas says. “They brought, I think, the first three chapters to me and the editor, and Matt finished writing the rest of the book.”
Memphis-based Kangas’ playful and psychedelic illustrations flesh out the many worlds in the novel, adding to its “fun and bizarre” atmosphere and plot. “I watched movies like Paprika and really weird old anime to get inspiration for integrating the sci-fi elements but make it fun,” Kangas says, adding that they also read “corny romance novels to get in the right headspace.”
“Matt and I had poured a lot of our personal selves into the book as well, you know,” Kangas says. “We’ve all been in that angsty teen/early 20s break-up phases and stuff like that. So it’s been fun to do. I mean, it’s the first romance book, I think, I’ve really ever worked on.”
Previously, Kangas has worked with IPs, like Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stranger Things, and in addition to most recently releasing Mariko Between Worlds, she’s had two other books come out this past month: Know Your Station, a space horror book, and Trve Kvlt, a supernatural horror book.
“All three [of those books] across the board are totally different,” Kangas says. “But I think being in a space and a city like this has allowed me to pursue that, by being connected with my peers. Like, I go to a lot of conventions and stuff, so I get to see them and feel refueled because there’s a small community of comics in Memphis. … The city is very vibrant in terms of diversity and how much they care about the arts and stuff. And so I really think having that sort of supportive community allowed me even during the pandemic to continue my freelancing and continue telling stories.”
And Memphis, Kangas says, has slipped its way into her illustrations. “The book that I just did — Trve Kvlt — it’s a fast food heist, it’s a very bizarre, very fun, dark comedy,” they say. “I would say a lot of my inspiration came from Memphis. It feels a lot like the energy and the vibe of the city, which is very hardworking, very work hard, play hard. … But it’s hard not to see some of that in some of my work, but I definitely think that is the book that shows it the most. But otherwise, I would say, mostly because I’ve been complimented a lot on my diverse characters that I make, I do attribute that to living here.”
This Friday, November 3rd, at 6 p.m., Kangas will celebrate the launch of Mariko Between Worlds at Novel. They will also sign Trve Kvlt and Know Your Station. All three books are available at Novel or on Novel’s website.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Our bodies sometimes serve as the symbolic ground where order and disorder fight for supremacy,” writes storyteller Caroline Kettlewell. Here’s good news, Aries: For you, order will triumph over disorder in the coming weeks. In part through your willpower and in part through life’s grace, you will tame the forces of chaos and enjoy a phase when most everything makes sense. I don’t mean you will have zero problems, but I suspect you will have an enhanced power to solve problems. Your mind and heart will coordinate their efforts with exceptional flair.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I recently endured a three-hour root canal. Terrible and unfortunate, right? No! Because it brought profound joy. The endodontist gave me nitrous oxide, and the resulting euphoria unleashed a wild epiphany. For the duration of the surgery, I had vivid visions of all the people in my life who love me. I felt their care. I was overwhelmed with the kindness they felt for me. Never before had I been blessed with such a blissful gift. Now, in accordance with your astrological omens, I invite you to induce a similar experience — no nitrous oxide needed. It’s a perfect time to meditate on how well you are appreciated and needed and cherished.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Unless you are very unusual, you don’t sew your clothes or grow your food. You didn’t build your house, make your furniture, or forge your cooking utensils. Like most of us, you know little about how water and electricity arrive for your use. Do you have any notion of what your grandparents were doing when they were your age? Have you said a prayer of gratitude recently for the people who have given you so much? I don’t mean to put you on the spot with my questions, Gemini. I’m merely hoping to inspire you to get into closer connection with everything that nourishes and sustains you. Honor the sources of your energy. Pay homage to your foundations.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has had a modest but sustained career. With nine albums, she has sold over three million records, but is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has said, “I always thought that if I were popular, I must be doing something wrong.” I interpret that to mean she has sought to remain faithful to her idiosyncratic creativity and not pay homage to formulaic success. But here’s the good news for you in the coming months, fellow Cancerian: You can be more appreciated than ever before simply by being true to your soul’s inclinations and urges.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Everything in the world has a hidden meaning,” wrote Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. Did he really mean everything? Your dream last night, your taste in shoes, your favorite TV show, the way you laugh? As a fun experiment, let’s say that yes, everything has a hidden meaning. Let’s also hypothesize that the current astrological omens suggest you now have a special talent for discerning veiled and camouflaged truths. We will further propose that you have an extraordinary power to penetrate beyond surface appearances and home in on previously unknown and invisible realities. Do you have the courage and determination to go deeper than you have ever dared? I believe you do.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): How many glowworms would have to gather in one location to make a light as bright as the sun? Probably over a trillion. And how many ants would be required to carry away a 15-pound basket of food? I’m guessing over 90,000. Luckily for you, the cumulative small efforts you need to perform so as to accomplish big breakthroughs won’t be nearly that high a number. For instance, you may be able to take a quantum leap after just six baby steps.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the 17th century, John Milton wrote a long narrative poem titled Paradise Lost. I’ve never read it and am conflicted about the prospect of doing so. On one hand, I feel I should engage with a work that has had such a potent influence on Western philosophy and literature. On the other hand, I’m barely interested in Milton’s story, which includes boring conversations between God and Satan and the dreary tale of how God cruelly exiled humans from paradise because the first man, Adam, was mildly rebellious. So what should I do? I’ve decided to read the Cliffs Notes study guide about Paradise Lost, a brief summary of the story. In accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you call on similar shortcuts, Libra. Here’s your motto: if you can’t do the completely right thing, try the partially right thing.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Who would have guessed that elephants can play the drums really well? On a trip to Thailand, Scorpio musician Dave Soldier discovered that if given sticks and drums, some elephants kept a steadier beat than humans. A few were so talented that Soldier recorded their rhythms and played them for a music critic who couldn’t tell they were created by animals. In accordance with astrological omens, I propose that you Scorpios seek out comparable amazements. You now have the potential to make unprecedented discoveries.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian novelist Shirley Jackson wrote, “No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids dream.” Since she wrote that, scientists have gathered evidence that almost all animals dream and that dreaming originated at least 300 million years ago. With that as our inspiration and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to enjoy an intense period of tapping into your dreams. To do so will help you escape from absolute reality. It will also improve your physical and mental health and give you unexpected clues about how to solve problems.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn writer Kahlil Gibran believed an essential human longing is to be revealed. We all want the light in us to be taken out of its hiding place and shown. If his idea is true about you, you will experience major cascades of gratification in the coming months. I believe you will be extra expressive. And you will encounter more people than ever before who are interested in knowing what you have to express. To prepare for the probable breakthroughs, investigate whether you harbor any fears or inhibitions about being revealed — and dissolve them.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): November is Build Up Your Confidence Month. In the coming weeks, you are authorized to snag easy victories as you steadily bolster your courage to seek bigger, bolder triumphs. As much as possible, put yourself in the vicinity of people who respect you and like you. If you suspect you have secret admirers, encourage them to be less secretive. Do you have plaques, medals, or trophies? Display them prominently. Or visit a trophy store and have new awards made for you to commemorate your unique skills — like thinking wild thoughts, pulling off one-of-a-kind adventures, and inspiring your friends to rebel against their habits.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m glad we have an abundance of teachers helping us learn how to be here now — to focus on the present moment with gratitude and grace. I love the fact that books on the art of mindfulness are now almost as common as books about cats and cooking. Yay! But I also want to advocate for the importance of letting our minds wander freely. We need to celebrate the value and power of NOT always being narrowly zeroed in on the here and now. We can’t make intelligent decisions unless we ruminate about what has happened in the past and what might occur in the future. Meandering around in fantasyland is key to discovering new insights. Imaginative ruminating is central to the creative process. Now please give your mind the privilege of wandering far and wide in the coming weeks, Pisces.
This wall facing the Gaza border reads the words “Path to Peace.” (Photo: Cole Keister | Unsplash)
As the October 7th war rages on — and despair grows — I can understand why some might think it naïve to highlight the work of Israelis and Palestinians who don’t just talk about peace but are making it. My heart is broken open, both for the victims and survivors in Israel, and the victims and survivors in Gaza. How to carry the pain?
In the wake of the brutal, unconscionable Hamas attack against Israeli Jews, and the decades of deadly oppression the Israeli government has perpetrated against Palestinians, could I ever recognize a sliver of hope? Yes. My broken heart may mend knowing there are Israeli and Palestinian groups looking beyond the decades of bloodshed, to a society based on understanding, respect, and equality. More than a cease fire, may their work, described below, ignite a peace fire.
Jewish and Palestinian volunteers in Israel created Standing Together to bring aid to victims of violence. Standing Together is one of the largest Arab-Jewish grassroots groups in Israel. It mobilizes Jewish and Palestinian citizens to pursue “peace, equality, and social and climate justice.” Their vision: “ … peace and independence for Israelis and Palestinians, full equality for all citizens.”
The ex-combatants who founded Combatants for Peace, the joint Israeli-Palestinian organization, were once part of the cycle of violence that plagues the region. Choosing to put down their weapons to promote peace, CP speaks out, supporting a two-state solution within the 1967 lines, “or any other solution reached through mutual agreement which would allow Israelis and Palestinians to lead free, safe, and democratic lives from a place of dignity in their homeland.”
Launched in 1995, the Parents Circle is another joint Israeli-Palestinian organization bringing together more than 600 families, who all have lost someone to the ongoing conflict. Managed by a joint Israeli-Palestinian board, they use educational resources, public meetings, and the media to spread ideas of reconciliation to achieve a just settlement based on empathy and understanding.
Israel-based Women Wage Peace (WWP) and its Palestinian sister, Women of the Sun, empower women on both sides to build trust and bolster support for peace in their communities and beyond. Founded after the 2014 Gaza War, WWP has 45,000 Israeli members, reportedly making it the largest grassroots peace movement in Israel. WWP looks at the Israeli-Palestinian struggle through a gendered lens, believing women should be at the heart of peace negotiations.
A growing number of integrated schools have been bringing Jewish and Palestinian children together to learn under one roof. Hand in Hand co-founder Lee Gordon says they “are creating a model of what Israel can and should look like.” Hand in Hand has six integrated Jewish-Arab schools in Israel. All students learn Hebrew and Arabic. They help parents get to know each other, run dialogue groups, organize picnics, sports teams, and community gardens.
Jerusalem Peacebuilders (JPB) brings together Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans to mentor future peace leaders. Sheltering after the recent attacks, founding director Rev. Canon Nicholas Porter described the “deadly futility” of warfare. “War begets only war; hatred begets only hatred. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze do not wish to live like this.” Convinced that a new generation of leadership is required for a peaceful future, JPB trains teachers, women, and youth.
Road to Recovery is an Israeli volunteer association transporting Palestinian patients, primarily children, from checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza to lifesaving treatments in Israeli hospitals. Its members assist with purchasing medical equipment and organize outings for patients and families. With 1200-plus Israeli and Palestinian volunteers, their mission is straightforward: healing through driving.
The B’Tselem: Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories works “for a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty, and equality are ensured for all people — Palestinian and Jewish alike — living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.” B’Tselem believes that such a future “will only be possible when the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime end.” B’Tselem expresses the universal — and Jewish — moral edict to respect and uphold the human rights of all people.
Many of these groups have been at it for years, embodying Camus’ belief that “Peace is the only battle worth waging.” Still, I worry that their collective message of cooperation and collaboration will now be stifled instead of amplified. I worry that those of us who don’t want to see “grief weaponized” will be marginalized.
Many spiritual traditions believe that positive qualities, such as a good heart, reflect human beings’ true nature. They teach that even amid intense suffering there can be dignity and beauty. Even in the face of destruction and persecution there can be hope. Consider these Israeli and Palestinian groups. If they can hold onto possibility, retain their inner strength, and keep going in the face of suffering, so must I. So must we all.
Rob Okun (rob@voicemalemagazine.org) syndicated by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of Voice Male magazine, chronicling the antisexist men’s movement for more than 30 years. This article draws on research by journalist Gavin Haynes of Positive News.
When it came to recreating cuisine from the recent Indie Memphis Film Festival showing of The Taste of Things, Dan Kopera was a perfect fit.
Or, as they say in the movies, he was typecast.
In addition to being a chef, Kopera, 49, is an actor, who has appeared on stage in local productions.
He put his take on dishes shown in the movie for a tasting October 28th at the old Pantà restaurant after the movie aired at Playhouse on the Square.
Growing up in Michigan, Kopera liked to sing and draw, but he also was intrigued with cooking. “Both my parents were home cooks, but my grandmother was a classically trained chef. She was the home editor for The Detroit News. Kay Kopera.
“One of my earliest memories was standing on the step stool cooking bacon for her when I was about 6.”
His grandmother made cooking fun. “She would explain where things came from. Some of the science behind cooking. And how to taste things along the way while you’re in the midst of making a dish.”
Kopera decided to become a chef. “When I was about 10, 12, that’s what I wanted to do. But my life took a change of direction. I ended up going into college for theater.”
Kopera played Alfred P. Doolittle in Northern Michigan University’s production of My Fair Lady. “But shortly after that, I switched over to the technical side and became a technical director and designer.”
Kopera moved to Memphis in 2001 for graduate school at University of Memphis. “That didn’t work out. I dropped out and got my job at Theatre Memphis.”
He continued to work in the technical side at Theatre Memphis for 14 years. He also spent five years at Germantown Community Theatre.
“I still did some acting here and there throughout the years. In 2019, I won an Ostrander Award for ‘Best Featured Performer in a Musical.’”
He won for his portrayal of Caiaphas, the head priest in Jesus Christ Superstar at The Harrell Performing Arts Theatre in Collierville.
Kopera was working at Germantown when Covid hit. “They kept me on salary until the end of August that year, at which time they furloughed me.”
During Covid, his wife, costume designer Ashley Whitten, began creating and sewing novelty pandemic masks.
In 2021, Kopera got a job as line cook and later rose to kitchen manager at Cafe Ole. He then got a call from Germantown Community Theatre’s executive producer. “He told me, ‘The job is still yours if you want it, but it sounds like you found a new career path.’”
Kopera began working at Pantà in November 2021. “I went with Kelly [English] to Restaurant Iris when it opened [in Laurelwood] for about nine months. And then I moved back to Pantà and became a chef over there in June.
“When they decided it was time to shut down Pantà, I just moved over to The Second Line.”
The old Pantà site is now being used as an event rental space, but Kopera and chef Derk Meitzler currently are “working on a new menu for that place. It will be under the umbrella of The Second Line: The Swamp Bar.”
“It’ll be part of Second Line, but Derk and I are kind of tag-teaming the chef responsibilities of both. Derk is the one that came up with most of the menu for both sides other than Kelly English classics like we’ll always have. I’m working on specials. And I’m working on a lot of the rentals, wine dinners, and those menus.”
Kopera can’t reveal much about The Swamp Bar, but, he says, “We are keeping the David Quarles interior design. That will remain the same.”
Kopera, who originally interviewed with New York grad schools, is glad he chose Memphis. “You can go out and do something any time of the day or night pretty much.”
And, he says, “The theater community is amazing here. The food scene is so good. There are influences from around the world here I can experience without having the stress of living in a city like New York.”
An aerial view of the Central Station Hotel, where the City of New Orleans train makes a stop (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)
Three hours separate Bluff City and Music City on an I-40 straight shot Memphis drivers know all too well.
“Oh, Jackson is bigger than I remember! Look kids, the Tennessee River! Ha, Bucksnort! There’s the Batman Building!”
Any Memphian who has routinely made that drive will have at one point wished for (a Buc-ee’s, of course, but also) a rail line to connect the two cities. This is especially true for any Memphian who has ever boarded the City of New Orleans train for a hands-off-the-wheel trip to another city up or down the rails.
But those choo-choo wishes here fade into the same place as win-the-lottery daydreams. Passenger rail is for those East Coast types or some European travel show on PBS. This is Tennessee. We won’t even expand Medicaid to save lives, let alone build a statewide train set so the fancies can swan around like they’re Rick Steves. So, I-40 drivers’ dreams go poof, they sigh, turn off the cruise control, and wait to pass a Big G Express truck in the left lane.
But a few things have happened recently to give those rail dreams a flicker of hope.
In 2021, Congress passed President Joe Biden’s massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It promised $1.2 trillion in transportation and infrastructure projects with $550 billion for new projects. That pot of money opened the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development program. Flush with $1.8 billion, it will help cities and states pick new routes for intercity passenger rail service.
In 2022, the Tennessee General Assembly publicly but quietly directed a state-housed group of experts called the Tennessee Advisory Commission for Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR, pronounced TASS-err) to study the feasibility of passenger rail here.
The bipartisan bill was sponsored by the unlikely duo of Sen. Ken Yager, a Republican from the far-east corner of Tennessee (Bristol), and Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Democrat from the far-west corner (Memphis). But they had one thing in common — rail could help their cities. For Yager, Bristol could connect to Virginia’s ever-growing rail system. Memphis could connect to Nashville and beyond, and all of it could bring in people and their money.
“I have all the faith and confidence that [TACIR is] going to bring us back something completely comprehensive, whether it shows that rail is feasible or not,” Parkinson said when he introduced the bill. “It might not even be feasible, but whatever alternatives are available for us, we just need something to connect all of our people and all the tourists that come into our state.”
But as Parkinson introduced the bill to just even study the idea, GOP members quickly questioned the cost of rail. Many thought the idea was a good one (if not at least a pretty one), and no one voted against the study. But some knew already the Feds would not pay for the lines, nor the equipment, nor the resources it would take to maintain it. Hawk mode, it seemed, was already engaged.
In March 2023, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly announced on X that “it’s time to bring the Choo Choo back to Chattanooga! This week, I submitted an application for federal funds in partnership with [the mayors of Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis] to begin planning for a new Amtrak route through our cities.”
It’s unclear just where in line that application is now. But if the project is picked, the cities will get $500,000 to earnestly study routes and crunch numbers.
While rail in Tennessee has seen a flurry of activity over the last couple of years, Parkinson said it could take up to 15 years for a new passenger train to leave a station here. TACIR said if the process gets started and leaders remain committed to it, a train line could be operational in a hasty seven years.
Rail action could likely see the floors of the Tennessee state House and Senate in its next session this winter. Parkinson added that any rail ideas would need buy-in, also, from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and Gov. Bill Lee’s office.
For now, lawmakers are likely mulling the TACIR study and, maybe, gauging where the political winds blow on it. Also for now, it still takes three hours of hands-on-the-wheel, going-the-speed-limit driving for an I-40 nonstop trip between Memphis and Nashville.
Central Station Hotel seen from South Main Street (Photo: Calvin L. Leake | Dreamstime.com)
A Rail Assessment
Rail travel shriveled across the U.S. over the last few decades. While Tennessee was never famous for its great passenger systems, the state certainly had more lines than it does today.
For example, ever wonder why Nashville’s beautiful Union Station luxury hotel is called a “station,” sits on train tracks, but has no trains? Well, it used to. It was once a major stop on Amtrak’s Floridian line, a 1,400-mile route that ran from Chicago, through Nashville, to Miami. But Amtrak stopped the service in 1979.
So, what does Tennessee have now as far as real, people-moving rail service, not meant as nostalgia machines? Very little.
Amtrak stations at Memphis and Newbern to the north are the only two such stations in the state. It’s another sort of feather in West Tennessee’s cap. It seems glitzy, but ridership figures dull the story. Ridership was still below pre-pandemic levels last year when about 40,000 boarded the train here. That’s roughly 3 percent of the Memphis MSA population. That ridership figure is down from a recent high of about 72,000 in 2017, or about 6 percent of the population. The station was on a shortlist for closure with looming budget cuts in 2017, but it was saved with the stroke of a Congressional pen.
Amtrak’s only train running through Tennessee, the City of New Orleans, runs between Chicago and New Orleans. The route through Tennessee follows the Mississippi River along the western border of the state, making only two stops, one in Newbern (close to Dyersburg) and another in Memphis at Central Station on South Main Street. Memphis is the state’s busiest station. While ridership here may have ducked during and after the pandemic, numbers climbed through the aughts, growing 15 percent between 2010 and 2018.
Nashville’s WeGo Star (formerly known as the Music City Star) began operations in 2006 and remains the state’s lone commuter rail line. The train runs east from Downtown Nashville to nearby Lebanon with several stops along the way on a 32-mile line. It was heralded as a helping hand to remove some congestion from the city’s famously jammed interstates. Ridership figures there haven’t bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, either, down by about 67 percent in fiscal year 2022. A WPLN story in July said that number rose to 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels this year, and now about 400 people ride the WeGo Star each day.
Trolleys move people in Memphis, but mostly tourists. Even though they run regularly enough (and usually on time), when was the last time you heard someone talk about their commute to work and say, “You won’t believe what happened on the trolley this morning”? However, sharp-eyed Memphians may have glimpsed sleek, modern streetcars on the Madison Line last year. The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is testing the new cars that could, one day, regularly carry commuters. The rail trolley system here is the only one in the state.
That’s really it. Other Tennessee trains do carry passengers, but do so for pleasure’s sake, not efficiency. That is, unless you count Lookout Mountain workers taking the Incline Railway.
Proposed rail infrastructure could connect Memphis to the rest of Tennessee and to states like Virginia and Georgia. (Photo: TACIR)
What’s Proposed
Parkinson said when he proposed a transportation study from TACIR, it wasn’t only about rail. It was about moving people across the state and beyond, and about economic opportunities.
“I wanted to keep it broad enough for us to look at everything — not just rail — but any alternatives,” he said. “I wanted to know what those alternatives were, whatever the future of transport is. And if not rail, then what’s the future of transportation so we can be on the front end of it?”
The legislation he sponsored wanted a top-to-bottom review of the idea. That review had to look at physical train tracks in Tennessee, show what an intercity rail network would look like, and find alternatives to rail that might get the same job done. Lawmakers also wanted to see what kinds of projects like these have been done over the last decade. They wanted to hear from three other states about their rail projects. They wanted to know about possible stakeholders, costs, ridership estimates, operations, equipment, and more.
Two recommendations from the study made headlines when it was released in July. One, an intercity passenger rail system could “improve mobility and the state’s economy,” meaning it could work. Two, the group recommended five routes built in five phases.
The first would connect Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. To this, many Memphians likely sighed a unanimous “well, of course, Nashville ….” But the decision was based on moving the most people, connecting larger swathes of the country via rail, and existing infrastructure, like rail lines at airports in Chattanooga and Atlanta.
The next proposed route would connect Memphis and Nashville. The route was mentioned in 2020’s massive Southern Rail Plan from the Feds but was given a lower priority, though details on why were not given. That plan, however, saw the route as best suited as a link from the East to Midwest cities served by the City of New Orleans.
Well before TACIR recommended the Memphis-Nashville line, mayors of Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, and Chattanooga had done one better and applied to the FRA’s Corridor ID Program. That application seeks to get rail done quickly with minimal investment.
Letters of support for the application flowed from every corner of every state involved right into the mailboxes of Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation, and Amit Bose, administrator of the FRA. Many of those letters refer to the proposed route as the Sunbelt-Atlantic Connector Corridor, even though that name does not yet even appear in any Google search.
“Each of our four cities are leading transportation and tourism hubs in their own right, and such a service would connect many millions of residents from beyond our municipal and state borders to reliable and frequent rail travel opportunities,” wrote Dennis Newman, executive vice president of strategy and planning for Amtrak.
Many of the letters read the same, including mentions of how the route could expand the economy and mobility, drive higher workforce participation and equity, advance “our international climate commitments,” and push tourism and leisure travel.
But letters from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) mention one Memphis-specific need of the proposed route: BlueOval City. Work is underway now on the massive, Haywood County campus that will house Ford’s production line for its electric F-Series pickup trucks and batteries.
“The Memphis region will most benefit from the opportunity to help connect the 5,800 new workers needed to power the coming BlueOval City,” Strickland and Cohen wrote in their letters. “This mega-campus is envisioned to be a sustainable automotive manufacturing ecosystem. The $5.6 billion battery and vehicle manufacturing campus just outside of Memphis will be the largest in the Ford Motor Co. world.”
TDOT studied BlueOval City’s transportation needs, but only a passing mention of it made TACIR’s final report. TDOT aimed to figure out ways to move what it said could be between 5,800 to 7,000 employees from Memphis, Jackson, and nearby areas to the site, “and to try to avoid a surge in congestion along the I‐40 corridor.”
They came up with three ideas. Two of them are mixtures of buses and vanpools with start-up price tags ranging from $8.6 million to $14.6 million. Another option included a passenger rail system with a price tag between $490 million and $600 million. All of these transit options “would be used only by BlueOval workers,” according to TACIR documents.
While the 234-mile Memphis-Nashville route came in second, it does have a few things going for it, adding to its feasibility. For one, freight tracks already exist between the cities. Also, the TACIR study found lower freight volume between them, causing fewer supply-chain disruptions. The route is mostly flat, making it easier to build. While the population it would serve is smaller than the route to Atlanta, it would still connect a collective 3.4 million people in both cities and the roughly 171,000 folks who live in the 29 cities between them. Finally, other transportation infrastructure already exists in both cities.
Another Memphis route recommended by the TACIR study would enhance service from here to Chicago. Amtrak now runs this route once a day. But the study suggested connecting two other train routes — the Illini and Saluki routes — to increase daily frequency and mobility between the states.
Photo: Iandewarphotography | Dreamstime.com
The Money Barrier
Money will easily be the biggest barrier to making any Tennessee passenger rail dreams come true. They’re not cheap to build, they’re not cheap to run, and the state will likely have to pay for most, if not all, of it.
“The experience of other states suggests that costs can range from the hundreds of millions of dollars for more straightforward passenger rail projects to billions of dollars for more intensive projects,” reads the TACIR report. ”For example, Virginia estimates spending $4.1 billion on capital projects over 10 years.”
For costs to run a rail network, TACIR looked to North Carolina, another state making major investments in passenger rail. State-supported Amtrak routes there between 2015 and 2019 ranged from about $14 million to $17 million each year.
But as the study pointed out, Tennessee has, for years, committed millions upon millions of dollars, and staff, and other resources, to roads.
“As a result, [Tennessee] has a first-class road network,” the study said. “The experience of other states demonstrates that a similar approach can be used to overcome the barriers to establishing passenger rail.”
When asked about costs as a barrier, Parkinson was quick to say that, “operationally, they lose money.”
“But when you think about the indirect impact to the cities, to those towns, and those rural areas that are going to benefit from it, it would prove profitable from the rippling effect,” he said.
Others agree. The Southern Rail Plan said the Nashville-to-Atlanta route could produce a total economic output of $18.2 billion and support over 17,000 construction jobs. For travelers, the route could save $1.8 million every year.
Tennessee state numbers say 141 million tourists spent $29 billion here last year. Most of those originated from nearby states, all of which could be connected to Tennessee by rail. How could that impact tourism spending here? The closest analogue is a 2020 study from the Southern Rail Commission. It found that if rail brought even 1 percent more tourists to Alabama, it would generate an additional $11.8 million each year.
But For Now …
Where Tennessee will land on passenger rail is anyone’s guess. It will take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. That’s even if the idea gets off the ground, and getting there is promising to be a fist fight in the state capitol.
Now, however, most Memphians will do what we’ve always done: fill up the tank, buckle up, hit the gas, and, maybe, dream of a rail system one day. But we’ll definitely dream of a Buc-ee’s, preferably near Bucksnort.
As pumpkin-spiced lattes turn to eggnog and falling leaves turn to falling snow, it’s once again time to check in on your finances to ensure you’re on track to meet your goals moving forward. Following are 11 important financial steps to take before 2023 turns to 2024.
1. Review your financial plan.
Consider how any changes in your life or goals over the last year may impact your plan. Work with your wealth manager to make any necessary adjustments.
2. Maximize your retirement contributions.
If you’re in a position to do so, consider maxing out your 401k and IRA contributions prior to year-end. The 2023 401k contribution limit is $22,500 (plus a $7,500 catch-up contribution for those age 50 and older), and the IRA contribution limit is $6,500 (plus a $1,000 catch-up contribution for those age 50 and older).
As a reminder, contributions to employer-sponsored plans must be made by December 31st, and contributions to an IRA must be made by April 15, 2024.
3. Take steps to lower your tax liabilities.
Your wealth manager can help you identify opportunities to lower your tax bill by taking advantage of year-end tax-loss harvesting, asset location strategies, charitable giving, and more.
4. Rebalance your investment portfolio.
If you haven’t done so in a while, now may be the time to rebalance your investments to your original (or an updated) asset allocation. This can help lock in investment gains from top sectors and ensure your portfolio remains in line with your objectives and risk tolerance.
5.Finalize year-end charitable donations.
A great way to lower your taxable income in a given year is through charitable donations. If your 2023 income was higher than normal, it may make sense to initiate a donor-advised fund (DAF). A DAF allows you to receive an immediate charitable tax deduction in the current year (by filing an itemized return) while having the flexibility to make donations from the DAF to your favorite charities at a later date.
6. Review your existing insurance coverage and risk management needs.
Consider any changes in your life and financial situation that may warrant additional insurance coverage. Did you have a baby? Get married? Start a business? Get divorced? Your wealth manager can help you determine whether it makes sense to enhance your current level of coverage.
7. Reevaluate your healthcare coverage.
Have any changes occurred in your life or health that may necessitate a change in your healthcare coverage? If so, take advantage of your employer’s open enrollment period to make any necessary adjustments to your healthcare coverage.
Now’s also the time to elect any contributions you’d like to make to a health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA).
Speaking of FSAs, if you have any unused funds in your FSA, make a plan to spend them on qualified medical expenses before year-end, or you risk losing them.
8. Check in on your emergency fund.
If you dipped into your emergency savings in 2023, now’s the time to rebuild it. We recommend maintaining three to six months of expenses in a liquid account to help cover any unexpected expenses.
9. Review estate planning documents.
If you haven’t yet implemented estate planning documents, it’s important to do so immediately, regardless of your age. If it’s been a while since you reviewed your existing estate plan, schedule a call with your wealth manager and estate planning attorney to revisit your documents and ensure they remain aligned with your wishes.
10. Review beneficiary designations.
Remember that beneficiary designations can supersede your will and trust directives, which is why it’s important to regularly review all designations to ensure they remain in line with your estate planning objectives.
11. Check your credit report.
Each of the major credit bureaus allows consumers to access one free report each year. Use this opportunity to double check your credit score and identify any unexpected errors.
Gene Gard, CFA, CFP®, CFT-I™, is a Private Wealth Manager and Partner with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest registered investment advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.
October was a grim month for Memphis music, and lovers of the arts will have a few more souls to mourn on this Thursday’s Día de los Muertos. Case in point: the passing of one of the brightest beacons in the classical guitar tradition, Lily Afshar, who succumbed to cancer last week at her home in Tonekabon, Iran, on the Caspian Sea. Having led the classical guitar program at the University of Memphis since 1989, she was deeply woven into the fabric of Memphis life. Yet her kudos, including a Board of Visitors Eminent Faculty Award and a Distinguished Teaching Award at the university, barely convey the depth of her artistry and the degree to which she touched those who heard her play.
Ward Archer was a fan the minute he first heard her, and soon thereafter he would begin releasing the bulk of her recorded work. Indeed, it was Afshar who inspired him to launch Archer Records. I spoke with him last Friday about Afshar’s commitment to her art and her lasting legacy.
Memphis Flyer: You’ve been recording and releasing Lily Afshar albums for over 20 years now. How did you first encounter her work?
Ward Archer: I first met Lily at the Botanic Garden. I was playing in a band outside and she was playing inside at some function. I walked in and listened to her and we started talking. I was just starting to get back into recording after having gotten out of it, and we decided, “Let’s see what we can do with the classical guitar.” There was no Archer Records at that point. We just started recording and we both really liked what we were doing. I didn’t know much about classical guitar recording, but, being a Memphis guy, we like the microphones close, right? She talked me into releasing it and really talked me into starting the label. Later, I started getting calls to produce other classical guitar artists. Which I smartly declined, having barely survived the recording of Lily!
“Barely survived” in what sense?
It was challenging to make her happy with her own performance. She was really demanding about making sure there was no buzzing [from fretting notes] and would want to do a whole new take if there was the slightest buzz on any single note. She was the most demanding recording artist I’ve ever worked with, and very determined. I mean, she was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in classical guitar performance.
How would you characterize her repertoire?
She was a big fan of [Cuban guitarist and composer] Leo Brouwer. And it wasn’t all solo guitar. On the album Musica da Camera, some of the tracks had eight or nine instruments on it. And it’s really interesting stuff, based on Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. Hemispheres, which was the second album that we did, had some pretty good originals — not stuff that she wrote, but stuff that was written for her. And she was mostly her doing her own arrangements. On her last album, Bach on Fire, she arranged all of that. It’s 25 or 30 pieces — it’s huge. Later in her career, she became a pioneer in arranging Persian folk songs for the classical guitar. No one could really touch her in playing Persian music, or anything in that genre.
Her Iranian heritage was very dear to her, wasn’t it?
I don’t think she had any immediate family left there, but her family had a place on the Caspian Sea, north of Tehran. I’ve seen pictures and it was really beautiful. She had six dogs there that she would go visit every year. She loved her dogs and was often doing benefits for the Humane Society. When she found out she had the cancer, she retired from the university and went back home to Iran to recuperate from the chemotherapy, but the cancer came back so aggressively. Yet she wanted to come back to Memphis one last time. The doctor [in Iran] told her, “Don’t get on that airplane because you won’t make it back.” But she came here anyway, and when I saw her she asked me if I thought she could make it back home. I said yes — I wouldn’t have said that to anyone else. She was always so determined, you know? And she did get back home in the end.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Photo: United States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
After three weeks of turmoil, the Republicans in Congress finally picked a speaker of the house last week. His name is Mike Johnson. He’s from Shreveport, Louisiana, and you could be forgiven if you’d never heard of him. He’s only been in Congress seven years, and his political views are, well, concerning. When asked how he would approach the issues of the day, Johnson responded, “Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it.”
At first, I took this as possible good news. After all, the Bible commands that we love our neighbor, care for the poor, welcome refugees, judge not lest ye be judged, and treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated — all good ideas. Looks like there might be some changes in the GOP platform, I thought.
Turns out, not so much. Johnson’s Bible is nothing if not flexible. When asked about last week’s mass shooting in Maine, for example, Johnson’s governing philosophy was put to an immediate test, since, you know, nobody was packing heat in Biblical times.
Johnson said it was not the right time to consider legislation. “The problem is the human heart,” he said. “It’s not guns, it’s not the weapons. We have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves.” In other words, forget that Jesus-y “turn the other cheek” stuff. Lock ’n load, pilgrims.
On climate change, Johnson will likely be the most vocal climate-change denier to ever hold the speakership. He received a 100 percent rating from the pro-fossil fuel American Energy Alliance in 2022. As, no doubt, Jesus would have.
Johnson worked for years as an attorney for the Christian nationalist organization, Alliance Defense Fund, fighting to ban abortion and gay rights. He called the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade a “great, joyous occasion,” and favors a nationwide ban on abortion. As for LGBTQ rights? “States have many legitimate grounds to proscribe same-sex deviate sexual intercourse,” Johnson says, “including concerns for public health, safety, morals, and the promotion of healthy marriages.”
At this point, it won’t surprise you to learn that Johnson was one of the principal congressional leaders in Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, and an enthusiastic promoter of the absurd legal theories used by Trump’s “legal team.”
In sum, Johnson is a boiler-plate, right-wing Republican who checks all the boxes: evangelical nationalist, anti-abortion, anti-climate change, anti-LGBTQ rights, anti-gun reform, pro-cutting Social Security and Medicare, and a pro-Trump election denier. The vote to elevate him to the speakership, a position two heartbeats from the presidency, was unanimous among his fellow GOP congressmen. So much for the myth of “moderate” Republicans.
The guy is a loon. And I haven’t even gotten to the weird stuff yet.
When asked why his wife, Kelly, didn’t come to Washington, D.C., to witness his swearing-in, Johnson said, and I quote: “She’s spent the last couple of weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord. And, um, she’s a little worn out.”
I can’t even begin to parse that. Why would she pray for two weeks prior to Johnson’s election, which took less than one day? What kind of Jeebus weirdness is this? Even Monica Lewinsky couldn’t figure it out, tweeting in response (and I’m not making this up): “Not touching this.”
Johnson and his wife are in a “covenant marriage,” a Christian construct which makes divorce exceedingly difficult. It’s an institution beloved by misogynists, er, evangelical men, because it makes it nearly impossible for a woman to leave a marriage if she’s not financially independent.
And Johnson’s finances are yet another point of intrigue. From Vanity Fair: “In financial disclosures dating back to 2016, the year he joined Congress, Johnson never reported having a savings or checking account in his name, his spouse’s name, or in the name of any of his children. In his latest filing, which covers last year, he doesn’t list a single asset.” So how is that even possible? How does he pay bills?
And it gets weirder. In the late 1990s, when Johnson was in his mid-twenties, he “took custody” of a 11-year-old Black kid. When he and his wife got married in 1999, they claim to have “taken in” the teen as their own child. The teen doesn’t appear in any of the wedding pictures or current Johnson family pictures that have been released to the media. He is said to be living in California with children of his own. It’s undeniably strange. Johnson has likened the relationship to the one in the movie, The Blind Side. Okay. More to come, I suspect.
Johnson and his wife deleted the 69 (heh) episodes of their fundamentalist podcast within 24 hours of his winning the speakership, but they’ve been archived by an activist group and are reported to be very controversial. I’m not in the prediction business (well, maybe I am), but I’m guessing Mike Johnson will come to rue the day when the national media began to take his personal history off the shelf and read it.
This weekend, artists Robby Johnston, the late Anthony Biggers, and John Ruskey will present “Delta Chique” at Off the Walls Arts. “All three of us are inspired by living around the Delta,” says Johnston. “[The show] gives you three different perspectives, three different mediums, one subject, one night of fun.”
The longtime friends, who met “probably drinking beer,” as Johnston says, had always talked about doing a show together before Biggers passed away in 2020. “We just never got around to it,” Johnston says. “So this is just a way of paying respect to him now that he’s gone.”
Color pencil drawing by Anthony Biggers, courtesy the artist.
Biggers, who made his living as a graphic artist and later a graphic arts professor, never exhibited his work publicly, though he did design WEVL’s Blues on the Bluff posters. “His personal work kind of took backstage,” Johnston says. “When he passed away, we got with the family and found volumes of these incredible color pencil sketches. So we’re going to be showing his work in kind of a retrospective.”
The late artist was born legally blind, Johnston adds. “When he would draw, his face would be about three inches from the paper, sketching from memory. If you get to see his work, they look like photographs. It is amazing.”
While Biggers gravitated towards the people of the Delta for his drawings, Johnston is more interested in the landscapes of the Delta. “I’ve always been a Delta artist,” he says. “It’s a land of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, history, pain and suffering, but also, it’s a hotbed for creativity.”
Johnston works mostly with acrylics, having picked up his first paintbrush some 12 years ago. “It was a little bit of a midlife crisis, really just trying to find my voice, and, I don’t know, I just started painting. … I’m really coming into the realization that it’s something I want to try to transition into full-time.”
Like Johnston, Ruskey is a self-taught artist. He builds dugout canoes in Clarksdale and owns Quapaw Canoe Company, which offers voyages on the Mississippi River. Ruskey, Johnston says, “started taking sketchbooks on his trips [for note-taking], and then he started taking watercolors. And then they started evolving into paintings. The river taught him how to paint, that’s what he says.”
“Delta Chique” will be on view through November 17th at Off the Walls Arts.
