Month: May 2024

Categories
At Large Opinion

Information Overload

“Covid met January 6th. They slept together and gave birth to the anti-Christ of anger, fear, distrust, disinformation, and trauma that plagues America to this day.”

That was an X/Tweet on my timeline last week. I hope it was written by a human and not a bot because it reflects a very human feeling I’ve been trying to get my head around. I think we’re in the midst of one of the most disordered eras in the history of this country, comparable to our great wars, our Great Depression, our presidential assassinations.

We are riding a chaotic chariot of change with no idea of where or when it stops. We have come to a place where we can’t even agree that the sky is above us, that day follows night. Facts are fungible. Everyone is entitled to their own facts because you can “prove” anything. Politics and religion have become intertwined and irresolutely tribal. Disinformation is the currency of the realm, a bloated ratatouille of content — true, false, and irrelevant — that overloads our brains. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X, Truth Social, even such presumably benign sites as Nextdoor have become infiltrated with the madness of our political discourse. Every commenter is a pundit or a cynic or an expert … on everything. Crime is everywhere. Democrats are pedophiles. Trump shits his pants. Biden can’t walk. Trump has dementia. Be very afraid. Be very confused.

Former President Trump’s rally in New Jersey last Saturday provides a perfect template for what I’m talking about. Prior to the event, Trump touted that there would be 80,000 people there, so that number became the focal point. When Trump began speaking, pictures from Trump supporters, mostly taken from the stage area or from the crowd, were cited as evidence that Trump had drawn at least 100,000 people. “Let’s see Biden draw a crowd like this!” they said.

Then photos from anti-Trumpers appeared that purported to show a much smaller crowd. Next came photos of a full Michigan football stadium and of a Taylor Swift concert. “This is what 100,000 people looks like,” said these posters. “Compare this to photos of Trump’s pathetic rally. Hah!”

Not to be outdone, an aerial photo of 400,000 people appeared under the headline: “Trump Draws Massive Crowd to New Jersey Rally.” Roger Stone and lots of other Trump supporters retweeted it. But the picture turned out to be an aerial shot of a 1994 Rod Stewart concert in Brazil. Boo! Fake news! Then video appeared of Trump speaking to a small crowd, possibly near the end of his speech. No way, said his supporters. It was “AI-generated and put out by Antifa.” Or something.

So how many people came to hear Trump speak? Pick a number. There’s “proof” of everything, so everything is meaningless. And maybe that’s the point: Flood the zone with so much conflicting information that none of it can be trusted, that it all can be discounted.

How did we go from a country that elected a centrist African American 12 years ago to one that actually appears capable of reelecting an amoral, foul-mouthed, self-absorbed misogynist who took away women’s bodily autonomy, stole federal classified documents (and probably sold them), slept with porn stars, botched the handling of a pandemic that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, and, oh yeah, tried to overturn a presidential election?

What. The. Hell?

Normally when a time of upheaval is over, a country will celebrate. There are parades, a coming-together, a time of kumbaya. Americans have had no downtime in the past eight years, no room to reflect — just unrelenting chaos. The Covid pandemic continued implacably, even as the 2020 political campaign unfolded. People were still dying by the thousands, while two major party candidates debated and campaigned in the midst of it. Remember the masked appearances and debates? Even masks and vaccines became political. So exhausting.

Then the election happened and Trump lost (really), and as most predicted, he claimed it was all rigged. Phony Venezuelan voting machines! Mule teams! Crooked election workers! A minute later and it was January 6th, and we all watched an attempted insurrection in real time. It’s all been too much. Too many bad actors, too many alternate facts that created an information overload, one that allowed a man with no moral core to attain the highest office in the land. And to possibly do it again.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

A Tale of Two Barbecue Joints

Pollard’s Bar-B-Que owner Tarrance Pollard first started his own restaurant in 1996. (Photos: Michael Donahue)

Tony Pollard preferred throwing the pigskin to selling the pig skin.

Pollard, a running back with the Tennessee Titans, is the son of Tarrance Pollard, owner of Pollard’s Bar-B-Que at 4560 Elvis Presley Boulevard. He worked at Pollard’s one summer, but he preferred playing football to working in a restaurant, says his aunt, Denise Plunkett, who was working behind the counter the afternoon I visited. It was my first visit to Pollard’s, although I’ve driven by it many times.

Tony was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2019 National Football League draft. Recalling a statement he made when he was in the third grade, Plunkett says, “He told his mom he was going to be in the NFL one day.”

A poster featuring a picture of Tony clutching a football and the words “Home of Tony Pollard” hangs on the wall near another poster that reads, “Featured on Food Network.” The restaurant was featured on Restaurant: Impossible, Plunkett says.

Tarrance tells me he worked at other barbecue restaurants, including Gridley’s Bar-B-Q and A&R Bar-B-Que, before opening his own place in 1996.

When I ask Plunkett what sets their barbecue apart from other places, she says, “It’s absolutely amazing. It’s tasty. It’s tender. You have to be careful not to bite your finger off.”

She’s noticed children who usually don’t like barbecue “really eat this.”

They give her “two thumbs-up.”

I sit at the counter, which has a countertop covered with sheet music that has been enclosed. Songs include “Walking in Memphis” and “Love Me Tender.” The latter could apply to my jumbo Pollard’s barbecue sandwich.

Like the kids, I’ll also give the two-thumbs-up recommendation for this delicious sandwich. I could have bitten off my finger or one of my thumbs.

I also ask Terrance what sets his barbecue apart. “Love and time,” he says.

Next, I travel to a barbecue restaurant I’ve also passed many times, but never stopped to go inside.

Jimbo’s Brickhouse BBQ in Byhalia, Mississippi, features pitmasters Brandy McNeese, Jimbo Dalton, and Toni Whitt.

That changes when I walk in the door to order a jumbo barbecue sandwich at Jimbo’s Brickhouse BBQ at 8600 MS-178 in Byhalia, Mississippi.

First of all, a Jimbo’s jumbo is just gigantic.

“Knock a dent in it and tell me what you think,” says owner Jimbo Dalton.

It is fabulous. As are the wet ribs Dalton brings to the table for me to try. They are delectable. Some of the best ribs I’ve ever eaten. So tender. They also serve dry ribs.

“We just cook slow with wood the country way.”

Dalton says he’s self-taught when it comes to barbecuing. “Burning up meat till I got it right.”

This all began when he barbecued at his house when he was a teenager.

People (about 200) then began gathering at his house on weekends for his barbecue. It turned into a party. “We’d float a keg. Listen to music.”

And, he says, “I know a lot of people and a lot of people know me.”

People began ordering barbecue. They’d come to the house to pick it up.

Dalton then got a food trailer, which he operated for six years.

He and his late wife, Lisa, began their brick-and-mortar restaurant, which was the brick-and-mortar office for the old brick factory that was in Byhalia.

Dalton is constantly adding to the building. He’s built patios and just about four weeks ago built the bar on the front patio. “All built with hard work, sweat, and blood.”

He serves barbecue pork, chicken, brisket, ribs, as well as other food items, including hamburgers and salads. Dalton introduces me to his fellow pitmasters Brandy McNeese and Toni Whitt. The gigantic cooker is in a separate area.

The walls in a small room up front are covered with signatures of Brickhouse visitors from all over.

Dalton features live music and karaoke at Jimbo’s Brickhouse, which is open Wednesday through Sunday.

And, hopefully, those karaoke singers will occasionally belt out the Commodores song, “Brick House.”

Categories
News News Feature

MEMernet: Those Lights, ‘Fabulous,’ and Never-ending Elvis

Posted to X by Jason L.

Memphis on the internet.

Those Lights

Cosmic forces painted the skies around Memphis with the dazzling colors of the northern lights over the weekend.

“I actually gasped when I went outside and saw the pink hue in the sky between Arlington and Millington,” tweeted Jason L.

“Fabulous”

Posted to X by Memphis Zoo

The Memphis Zoo wished a happy Mother’s Day on X with this photo of mom Wendy and her new calf, Fitz, born last month. To all moms, the zoo said, “Keep being fabulous.”

Never-ending Elvis

Posted to X by Argo Memphis

The whole “post a picture that says you’re from Memphis” thing is still making the rounds on X. Argo Memphis wasn’t playing with the meme above, but it certainly qualifies.

Categories
Music Music Features

Puccini on Beale

Sketches for costume designs by Jennifer Gillettecapture Beale Street, circa 1915. (Illustration: Courtesy Opera Memphis)

If you’re an opera lover, you may think you know La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece about life in 19th-century Paris. After all, it’s not only one of the most-performed operas in the world, but the most popular work in the 68-year history of Opera Memphis.

Think again.

When Opera Memphis presents its latest version of La Bohème at the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center this Friday and Saturday, you’d best discard any preconceptions before the curtains rise. For, while the music will be performed as the classic score dictates, complete with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the mise-en-scène will be both unfamiliar and, for Memphians, eerily familiar. Rather than being set in bohemian Paris in the 1830s, this version unfolds on Beale Street, circa 1915.

Dennis Whitehead Darling (Photo: Andrea Zucker )

“I wish I could take credit for this inception of it,” says stage director Dennis Whitehead Darling, “but it’s actually the brainchild of [Opera Memphis general director] Ned Canty. It’s been a pet project of his for many years, and the original idea came from a book that Ned read called Beale Street Dynasty.”

Nearly anyone with an interest in our city’s history knows that book well, subtitled Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis, wherein Preston Lauterbach vividly evokes the bustling urban milieu, both creative and destructive, that made Beale Street ground zero for Black America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “Because Paris in the 1830s was a place where artists and musicians and philosophers and writers came together, it was a cultural center for its time. And the same thing was happening here in Memphis. I think that’s what sparked the idea for setting La Bohème on Beale Street,” says Darling.

Indeed, the similarities between the two cities of different eras were so profound that the original opera slotted neatly into the new setting. “Originally, we were going to write something new, or Ned was, but we moved away from that and have kept most of the original text the same,” says Darling.

Jeri Lynne Johnson (Photo: Vanessa Briceno)

As conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson points out, that maintains the integrity of Puccini’s original vision. “Audience members who are fluent in Italian may realize that a couple of things have changed,” she says, “but for the most part, we’ve done this without actually changing the text, which the singers have grown up learning for years and years in the Italian language. Of course, Puccini’s music is so tied to the language, so in order to avoid changing too many actual words, and making sure they stand with the music, there are just a couple of word changes, and some of those are simply within the subtitles.”

Meanwhile, the stage set is similarly subtle. “We’re doing something a little bit more abstract,” says Darling, “using projection screens. It’s minimal but effective. With projections, we’ve layered photos of different buildings and businesses that were part of Beale. Reimagining this in a very minimal way is always challenging, but things that are challenging also allow you to be more creative — oftentimes the things you find challenging are actually opportunities.”

And yet in one regard, there will be plenty of striking visuals, as Darling points out. “We have beautiful costume designs by Jennifer Gillette. That’s been the icing on the cake as we enter tech week because we initially created this show without seeing all of our visual elements. We didn’t have the projections, lighting, or costumes until much later. And it’s always amazing when I see these actors wear their costumes. Another level of character development happens almost immediately, where they just embody these characters, wearing these costumes that Jennifer has designed. They really transform our modern day actors and singers into these period characters.”

The impact of that visual element is deep, as Johnson points out, addressing a whole culture that’s so often rendered invisible. “I’ve done world premieres for the Santa Fe Opera and for the Chicago Opera Theater that had a predominantly African-American casts, having canonical works reimagined with African Americans in the roles. But what makes this particular production so interesting is, it isn’t just the casting, it is really transplanting that bohemian lifestyle into a uniquely Memphian historical period on Beale Street. The setting and the cast together really give you a sense of African-American life at that time. It adds an element of questioning what art is, and who makes art, where moral judgments are embedded into the aesthetic ones.”

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

War, Money, and Universities

Pro-Palestinian encampment at Tulane University (Photo: William Morgan | Dreamstime.com)

Human politics — from global to local — remain mixed with hatred, dominance, and … well, dehumanization. We’ve organized ourselves across the planet around one primary principle: the existence of an enemy. The division between “us” and “them” can be based on anything: a difference in race, language, culture — or simply opinion, which is beginning to happen on campuses across the country, as peaceful, intensely determined protesters, demanding their institutions divest from the Israeli war machine, face violent resistance from police and/or counter-protesters.

Yes, the peaceful protesters are interrupting the status quo — setting up encampments, even occupying university buildings. For instance, at Columbia University, students renamed the occupied Hamilton Hall, declaring its new name to be Hind’s Hall, after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli armed forces, along with the rest of her family (and several aid workers), as they were fleeing their home in Gaza. The point of the protests is, indeed, to change the world: to stop U.S., including university, support of the devastating “war” (i.e., carnage). They’re not trying to eliminate an enemy but, rather, illuminate the situation — putting themselves on the line to do so.

Some of the responses to the protests are definitely illuminating. A statement from UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, for instance, noted: “The life-threatening assault we face tonight is nothing less than a horrifying, despicable act of terror. For over seven hours, Zionist aggressors hurled gas canisters, sprayed pepper spray, & threw fireworks and bricks into our encampment. They broke our barriers repeatedly, clearly in an attempt to kill us.”

Furthermore, the account went on: “Campus safety left within minutes, external security the university hired for ‘backup’ watched, filmed, and laughed on the side as the immediate danger inflicted upon us escalated. Law enforcement simply stood at the edge of the lawn and refused to budge as we screamed for their help. … The university would rather see us dead than divest.”

In other words, those damn students are the enemy. Even when the response to the protests isn’t outright violence, it’s often rhetorically violent, such as GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee calling the protesters terrorists and declaring, “Any student who has promoted terrorism or engaged in terrorist acts on behalf of Hamas should be immediately added to the terrorist watch list and placed on the [Transportation Security Administration] No-Fly List.”

This is utterly linear, minimalist thinking. Critics aren’t engaging in a debate on the nature (and necessity) of war, plunging, with the protesters, into a complex discussion of global politics, military industrialism, and the morality of killing. That’s too much trouble! They’re simply calling the outraged protesters “the enemy” — just a bunch of terrorists, same as Hamas. And yeah, no doubt part of that good old axis of evil. 

This is the thinking the protesters are trying to disrupt! Alas, it’s also solidly part of the infrastructure of the status quo. Militarism is baked into the American core. When we’re not waging our own wars, we’re enabling various allies to do so.

As Heidi Peltier, writing at Brown University’s Costs of War Project, points out, regarding this country’s annual budget of nearly $2 trillion: “Almost half of the U.S. federal discretionary budget is allocated to the Department of Defense and more than half of the discretionary budget goes to ‘defense’ overall, which includes not only the DoD but also nuclear weapons programs within the Department of Energy and additional defense spending in other departments. … As a result, other elements and capacities of the U.S. government and civilian economy have been weakened, and military industries have gained political power. Decades of high levels of military spending have changed U.S. government and society — strengthening its ability to fight wars, while weakening its capacities to perform other core functions. Investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and emergency preparedness, for instance, have all suffered as military spending and industry have crowded them out.”

The campus protests around the country, at which, so far, more than 2,000 students have been arrested, primarily address the twisted irony of money. Universities have multi-billion-dollar endowments — donation money — which they then invest in the stock market, in various companies, including … well, yeah, weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and many more. Oh, the mysterious, ironic flow of money!

At New York University, a spokesman informed protesting students that the university is not divesting from such companies because it needs to maximize its investment returns in order to “help the university fulfil its research and educational mission.” You know, to bring truth and knowledge into the world — for the sake, among others, of the protesters themselves. 

American college students are facing this irony head on — at a personal cost. But the cost, as they say, is minimal, compared to the one being paid by Palestinians, and by victims of war all around the world. 

Robert Koehler (koehlercw@gmail.com), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor. He is the author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, and his newly released album of recorded poetry and art work, Soul Fragments.

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: RiverBeat Music Festival

Jackson Hendrix, Gabrielle Duffie, Nakita Spencer, Lawrence Matthews

You could call them “RiverBeatniks.” They were the more than 30,000 people who attended the inaugural RiverBeat Music Festival May 3rd, 4th, and 5th in Tom Lee Park.

Matthew Burdine and Daniel Bonds 
Russ Thompson and Katherine Terry
Emily and Will Carter

They braved periodic raindrops and often warm temps to see and hear performers, including Stax great Carla Thomas, Al Kapone, the Wilkins Sisters, Southern Avenue, Killer Mike, and Lawrence Matthews. All some music lovers needed was a blanket and a comfortable spot to kick off their shoes and experience 50 performers on five stages.

“We scanned in over 30,000 over three days,” says RiverBeat producer Jeff Bransford. “Ten-thousand a night.”

Kristin Leach and Haggard Collins
Ariyanna Beecher and Miles Robinson

How did he think RiverBeat went? “Spectacular. We couldn’t be happier. The feedback we got from both patrons and artists has been overwhelming.”

And will RiverBeat return next year? “One-hundred percent,” Bransford says. No doubt about it. “We’re already planning.”

Categories
Astrology Fun Stuff

Free Will Astrology: Week of 05/16/24

Dario Bronnimann | Unsplash

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Polish-born author Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) didn’t begin to speak English until he was 21 years old. At 25, his writing in that language was still stiff and stilted. Yet during the next 40-plus years, he employed his adopted tongue to write 19 novels, numerous short stories, and several other books. Today he is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. You may not embark on an equally spectacular growth period in the coming months, Aries. But you do have extra power to begin mastering a skill or subject that could ultimately be crucial to your life story. Be inspired by Conrad’s magnificent accomplishments.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Hypothetically, you could learn to give a stirring rendering of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 on a slide whistle. Or you could perform the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet for an audience of pigeons that aren’t even paying attention. Theoretically, you could pour out your adoration to an unattainable celebrity or give a big tip to a waiter who provided mediocre service or do your finest singing at a karaoke bar with two people in the audience. But I hope you will offer your skills and gifts with more discernment and panache, Taurus — especially these days. Don’t offer yourself carelessly. Give your blessings only to people who deeply appreciate them.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When I lived in San Francisco in 1995, thieves stole my Chevy Malibu. It was during the celebratory mayhem that swept the city following the local football team’s Super Bowl victory. Cops miraculously recovered my car, but it had been irrevocably damaged in one specific way: It could no longer drive in reverse. Since I couldn’t afford a new vehicle, I kept it for the next two years, carefully avoiding situations when I would need to go backward. It was a perfect metaphor for my life in those days. Now I’m suggesting you consider adopting it for yours. From what I can discern, there will be no turning around anytime soon. Don’t look back. Onward to the future!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian basketball coach Tara VanDerveer is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She won more games than anyone else in the sport. Here’s one aspect of her approach to coaching. She says that the greatest players “have a screw loose” — and she regards that as a very good thing. I take her to mean that the superstars are eccentric, zealous, unruly, and daring. They don’t conform to normal theories about how to succeed. They have a wild originality and a fanatical drive for excellence. If you might ever be interested in exploring the possible advantages of having a screw loose for the sake of your ambitions, the coming months will be one of the best times ever.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Am I one of your father figures, uncle figures, or brother figures? I hope so! I have worked hard to purge the toxic aspects of masculinity that I inherited from my culture. And I have diligently and gleefully cultivated the most beautiful aspects of masculinity. Plus, my feminist principles have been ripening and growing stronger for many years. With that as our background, I encourage you to spend the coming weeks upgrading your own relationship to the masculine archetype, no matter which of the 77 genders you might be. I see this as an excellent time for you to take practical measures to get the very best male influences in your life.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Now that your mind, your heart, and your world have opened wider than you imagined possible, try to anticipate how they might close down if you’re not always as bold and brave as you have been in recent months. Then sign a contract with yourself, promising that you will not permit your mind, your heart, and your world to shrink or narrow. If you proactively heal your fears before they break out, maybe they won’t break out. (PS: I will acknowledge that there may eventually be a bit of contraction you should allow to fully integrate the changes — but only a bit.)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I would love you to cultivate connections with characters who can give you shimmery secrets and scintillating stories you need to hear. In my astrological opinion, you are in a phase when you require more fascination, amazement, and intrigue than usual. If love and sex are included in the exchange, so much the better — but they are not mandatory elements in your assignment. The main thing is this: For the sake of your mental, physical, and spiritual health, you must get your limitations dissolved, your understanding of reality enriched, and your vision of the future expanded.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio writer Andrew Solomon made a very Scorpionic comment when he wrote, “We all have our darkness, and the trick is making something exalted of it.” Of all the signs of the zodiac, you have the greatest potential to accomplish this heroic transmutation — and to do it with panache, artistry, and even tenderness. I trust you are ready for another few rounds of your mysterious specialty. The people in your life would benefit from it almost as much as you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Have you been nursing the hope that someday you will retrain your loved ones? That you will change them in ways that make them act more sensibly? That you will convince them to shed qualities you don’t like and keep just the good parts? If so, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to drop this fantasy. In its place, I advise you to go through whatever mental gymnastics are necessary as you come to accept and love them exactly as they are. If you can manage that, there will be a bonus development: You will be more inclined to accept and love yourself exactly as you are.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I brazenly predict that in the next 11 months, you will get closer than ever before to doing your dream job. Because of your clear intentions, your diligent pragmatism, and the Fates’ grace, life will present you with good opportunities to earn money by doing what you love and providing an excellent service to your fellow creatures. But I’m not necessarily saying everything will unfold with perfection. And I am a bit afraid that you will fail to capitalize on your chances by being too insistent on perfection. Please assuage my doubts, Capricorn! Welcome imperfect but interesting progress.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In his book Ambivalent Zen, Lawrence Shainberg mourns that even while meditating, his mind is always fleeing from the present moment — forever “lurching towards the future or clinging to the past.” I don’t agree that this is a terrible thing. In fact, it’s a consummately human characteristic. Why demonize and deride it? But I can also see the value of spending quality time in the here and now — enjoying each new unpredictable moment without compulsively referencing it to other times and places. I bring this up, Aquarius, because I believe that in the coming weeks, you can enjoy far more free time in the rich and resonant present than is normally possible for you. Make “BE HERE NOW” your gentle, relaxing battle cry.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Two-thirds of us claim to have had a paranormal encounter. One-fourth say they can telepathically sense other people’s emotions. One-fifth have had conversations with the spirits of the dead. As you might guess, the percentage of Pisceans in each category is higher than all the rest of the zodiac signs. And I suspect that number will be even more elevated than usual in the coming weeks. I hope you love spooky fun and uncanny mysteries and semi-miraculous epiphanies! Here they come. 

Categories
Music Music Blog

Blues Music Awards: Kingfish is King

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram performing at the Blues Music Awards on May 9th (Photo: Christopher Caldwell)

Last week’s 45th Blues Music Awards (BMAs) featured many familiar faces in the spotlight, but none so familiar as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, from just down the road apiece in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

He came away with a win in the “Album of the Year” category for his Live In London record, which was also named the best Contemporary Blues Album. The BMAs also recognized Ingram as this year’s best Instrumentalist – Guitar and the best Contemporary Blues Male Artist.

Ingram, featured prominently in the Memphis Flyer‘s 2022 survey of the regional blues scene, has become somewhat of a ringer at the BMAs, having first won in all four of the above categories in 2020, then garnering awards in every subsequent year since.

His talent and success are partly a testament to the power of educational programs like those he attended at Clarksdale’s Delta Blues Museum as a young man. As he told the Flyer in 2022, “My instructors were actual bluesmen, Bill ‘Howl-n-Mad’ Perry and Richard ‘Daddy Rich’ Crisman. They were my teachers and my mentors of the blues, from the time when I played bass through when I got into guitar. And when they found out I had a little voice, they even pushed me to sing. There were even times when we would do readings. It was a full-on educational class, for sure. And it still goes on today.”

Another local favorite who won big was living legend Bobby Rush, who was not only named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year but also snagged the best Soul Blues Album award for his All My Love for You. And transplanted Memphian John Németh, fresh off a riveting performance with the Bo-Keys at this year’s RiverBeat Music Festival, also excelled in the soul blues category, winning the Soul Blues Male Artist award.

Other top titles went to Keb’ Mo’ (Acoustic Blues Artist), Danielle Nicole (Contemporary Blues Female Artist), and the Nick Moss Band (Band of the Year). “What Kind Of Fool,” written by Ruthie Foster, Hadden Sayers & Scottie Miller, was named Song of the Year, and The Right Man by D.K. Harrell was named the Best Emerging Artist Album. Like Ingram and Rush, Foster, Mike Zito, and John Primer also garnered multiple awards.

Visit the Blues Foundation‘s dedicated web page for a complete list of this year’s winners.

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Q&A: Renee Parker Sekander, City Of Memphis’ Newest LGBTQ Liaison

Renee Parker Sekander Photo Credit: City of Memphis

Renee Parker Sekander is the city of Memphis’ new LGBTQ liaison.

Those duties are additional to her role as executive assistant to Memphis Mayor Paul Young. Former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland created the LGTBQ liaison position, a role filled in the past by Dabney Ring and Maria Fuhrmann.

Sekander is a native Memphian, a University of Tennessee graduate and has worked as an advocate in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and more. But they weren’t home, she said. Also, she said she’s motivated to create a Memphis that she wants to live and raise a family in.

“I’m a person who is gay and wants to have a family,” Sekander said. “I also have family that’s gay. I have family that’s trans, I have friends who are trans. I have folks who have left Memphis because they say the state is too harsh, that it’s too hard to be trans, it’s too hard to be gay in this community. So they go to Chicago, or Los Angeles, or Boston.”

Sekander went on to say when people leave the city, it’s hard for Memphis to continue to grow and reach its full potential as it’s losing important talent and voices.

Not only is Sekander dedicated to making sure the city is welcoming and inclusive for the LGBTQ community, she also plans on doing outreach work to “bring people back.” She sees this as an opportunity to “rebrand” and “re-educate” the city.

The Flyer spoke with Sekander about her intentions in her role, how her identity impacts her work and more. — Kailynn Johnson

Memphis Flyer: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Renee Parker Sekander: My name is Renee Parker Sekander, born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. I have lived in several different cities over the last six years, but my wife and I made the decision to move back home to Memphis and make this our permanent home again.

I live in the Midtown area with my fabulous but reactive dog, Fox Cleopatra Parker, and we just have an incredible life here in Memphis. A large part of the reason that I am who I am is because this city built me, and I’m excited to just pour back into it with every bit of me.

 That’s the “too long; didn’t read” summary of who I am.

Could you talk more about how your identity and background play a role in the work that you’re currently doing?

I’ll say I’ve been doing this work unofficially for a little while, just as a person who’s very passionate about inclusivity, equality, [and] making sure Memphis is really seen and branded as an inclusive and welcoming city so that we don’t lose out on talent, culture, and spirit to other cities because some people perceive us to not be an equal city, an inclusive city.

My goal is to make sure that people feel comfortable living here authentically being who they are and making sure we are all free and able to contribute to building the city the way it should be built.

I think for me it’s been very important that I continue the work that has been done over the past few years. I’m not the first LGBTQ liaison, there were two prior to me, Dabney Ring and Maria Fuhrmann… I’m excited to continue the work but also expand the work, too.

When I started my work in government, I told Mayor Young I was ready to push his vision forward. For him, his vision really prioritizes making sure that every member of our community feels valued, feels seen. So, the charge that he’s given me is to continue making strides and taking steps to making sure our city is represented as an inclusive and welcoming city.

I’m really excited to think through some creative ways but also build on the work that’s already been done and is being done by different community members across the city of Memphis and also working with them to be innovative, figuring out new ways we can keep our culture here, keep our people here, so that our city can be as safe and inclusive as possible.

How would you describe your role and responsibilities?

In quite a few different ways. I think one of the biggest roles is going to be making sure that people outside of city government understand and have closer relationships with those in it, making sure that we’re constantly present whether that be at events, at meetings, brainstorming sessions, making sure that I’m expanding the table, making sure that more people can sit at it, and more voices can be heard as decisions are being made on how to make our city more inclusive.

It’s also about making innovative ways to grow our MEI (Municipal Equality Index) score which is currently 54 out of 100, according to the Human Rights Campaign. [This is] our equality index, like how inclusive, how safe is our city? I’m thinking of ways to grow that score. So, it’s going to be a lot of ensuring our city resources are accessible to the people who use them and need them, and making sure we really rebrand the city as a space that is safe and welcoming for all.

What are some of the things in Memphis that may hinder people from having an authentic experience and how does having someone like yourself in the mayor’s office help make that experience a reality?

I think being able to come from the perspective of a woman wanting to raise a family here. What do I want my Memphis to look like for my family, for my children? Making sure that we continue to protect our community.

We see a lot of times in national news and statewide news a lot of attacks against the LGBTQ community, things that are putting obstacles in the way of folks from being able to access housing, job equity, protections against discrimination. These are things that a lot of people look at our state, and look at our country and we have to be able to say [that] Memphis is not a part of tearing people down based on who they identify as. We are actually welcoming and we embrace it and overall we want to make sure people understand they can come home to Memphis if they are trans, if they are queer. They can make an impact here.

It’s going to take all of us to fix a lot of the problems that we see in our city and we have to make sure that  there are no barriers or limits to being able to welcome the folks who want to make an impact here in Memphis to be able to do that. It’s going to take a lot of innovative ideas, a lot of ideas people have been fighting for and working on for years and years, but overall it’s going to take a collective group of voices.

What I’m excited to do in my role is creating that table, making sure that we’re constantly hearing those voices, and that everyone has an active part in the progress we’re trying to make here. It’s going to be some ‘teamwork makes the dreamwork’ for the next few years.

How do you continue the work that’s been done but also expanding so more people can have a seat at the table?

I think the first and most important thing is listening. It means meeting with the folks that have been doing the work and consistently meeting, too, and becoming intertwined in that work.

One of the things I hate the most is the duplication of efforts. I want to make sure that we know what work is already being done, what’s working, what’s helpful, and what gaps are there. Are there ways that the city can be doing more to make sure that people feel seen and heard in hard moments and in strong moments within our community?

Having a presence, too. I’m very excited because our mayor has taken the charge of being a present mayor, an active mayor of being in the community. That’s something that he’s going to continue to do and so making sure that there’s always a presence with our city officials and our city government in those spaces where it’s going to be impactful, where people’s presence might not have been there in the past. We want to make sure we’re filling in those spaces, and that we’re there and that we’re listening. 

My first couple of months as the liaison will be learning more about what organizations have been doing this work, meeting with folks and activists who have been doing this work, and making sure they’re at my table as we continue to make these charges and make these changes.

You’ve been in advocacy work for a minute. What keeps you motivated?

I think it’s a combination of “little me” and “big me.” “Little me” was a little girl growing up closeted and gay here in Memphis — scared to come out, scared to be who I am. In that, I was also scared to ever use my voice. I felt like kind of [a] shell of myself sometimes. As I became more comfortable with who I am, who I love, I became more confident in using my voice against the things that are wrong, that are unjust.

For me, I stay motivated by knowing there’s still more work to do. I want to make sure a little Black girl growing up here in Memphis who’s closeted and queer feels more comfortable, more safe, coming out sooner because we need their voice, we need their energy, we need who they are. I think it’s really important we send that message to little girls and little boys.

It’s also about “big me.” I’m not a mother yet, but I want to be a mother, and I always want to be able to look back and say [that] I did good work that’s going to benefit my children’s lives. It’s always about making “big me” proud, too. It’s about doing the work that’s going to be the most impactful, and doing it in my hometown, that really drives me.

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TN AG Fights Feds on Pronouns in Workplace

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 17 states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government over new rules that would mandate pronoun respect in the workplace. 

In September, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to approve updates to its workplace harassment rules. The new rules reflect changes in such laws, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to protect employees against discrimination because of sexuality or gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County), the #MeToo movement, and emerging issues such as virtual or online harassment.

The rules were published and given a period for public comment, and became federal law in late April. 

“Harassment, both in-person and online, remains a serious issue in America’s workplaces,” EEOC chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement at the time. “The EEOC’s updated guidance on harassment is a comprehensive resource that brings together best practices for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifies recent developments in the law.”

The EEOC said between fiscal years 2016 and 2023, more than a third of all discrimination charges received by the agency included an allegation of harassment based on race, sex, disability, or another characteristic covered by the laws enforced by the agency. Also, since fiscal year 2018, harassment has been alleged in over half of federal sector equal employment opportunity complaints. Among the 143 merits lawsuits that the commission filed last year, about 35 percent of them included an allegation of harassment.

However, Tennessee AG Skrmetti said companies should be able to use whatever pronoun they choose to use for their employees. As he has done in several such lawsuits in the past, Skrmetti claims the federal government is overreaching into powers given to states.

“In America, the Constitution gives the power to make laws to the people’s elected representatives, not to unaccountable commissioners, and this EEOC guidance is an attack on our constitutional separation of powers,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “When, as here, a federal agency engages in government over the people instead of government by the people, it undermines the legitimacy of our laws and alienates Americans from our legal system.  

“This end-run around our constitutional institutions misuses federal power to eliminate women’s private spaces and punish the use of biologically-accurate pronouns, all at the expense of Tennessee employers.”

Skrmetti also complained about EEOC’s new rule that would make an employer liable if it limits access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility, such as a shower or locker room, based on biological sex and not on gender identity, the AG said. Skrmetti claimed employers also may be liable if a customer or other non-employee fails to use an employee’s preferred pronouns or refuses to share a restroom with someone of the opposite sex.

Tennessee is joined the lawsuit with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

More broadly, the EEOC’s new rules protect an array of what the agency calls ”legally protected characteristics,” including race, skin color, religion, disability, age, and more. Workplace harassment includes saying or writing an ethnic, racial, or sex-based slur, forwarding an offensive or derogatory “joke” email, mocking a person’s accent, groping, touching, or otherwise physically assaulting a person, and more. 

If a harassment claim is filed, business owners should investigate the matter and take corrective action, EEOC said. That action can include firing the employee, but it isn’t required. The employer can also mandate informal counseling, give a written warning, mandate harassment training, suspend the employee without pay, reassign them, or demote them to a non-supervisory position.