Sometimes Sundays feel like the eve of the first day of school. Like a kid anticipating a new semester, the nerves swirl and keep me awake before the “big day.” Working on a perpetual deadline, with a column due each week, it’s as if there’s an essay looming, to be graded — and I’m not always prepared for it. The “grade,” of course, will come from you, the readers — and my aim is to write something relatable, entertaining, or in line with current events.
But this Monday, as is occasionally is the case, I wasn’t sure where to begin. I stared at a blank document longer than I’d like to admit, pausing from that daunting task to edit stories as they traveled through our production process or to review articles awaiting publication on the website. Another distraction, albeit a necessary part of the job, is sorting through emails. Dozens come through my inbox daily, of varying degrees of importance — from promotional product pitches to local news items to (more rare) reader feedback.
One email, with the subject line “Checking In,” caught my eye. Typically if someone is checking in, it’s in relation to a previous conversation or a follow up to a prior email that I’ve not yet replied to. This, though, was something else entirely. Feedback of sorts, I guess you could say, but more just an airing of grievances on Memphis, its politicians, and crime. The note, from a person who no longer lives or works in the city, according to the sender, referred to “you” and “your” a handful of times, as if I or the Flyer has some kind of control over the issues listed within. And they were “checking in” to let me know they still can’t stand our “leftist bullshit.”
“The truth is, Memphis is a steaming, stinking, shithole caused solely by your demokrat [sic]/leftist policies,” the email reads, in part. “Amazing how you otherwise intelligent people, smart enough to write and publish, can be so stupid – or brainwashed – to think your leftist ways work. Liberalism IS a mental disorder and you are both administrators and patients of the socialist insane asylum.”
So this publication, a historically left-leaning alternative newsweekly, somehow, in this person’s mind, contributes to the problems they perceive to weigh on Memphis as a whole? Hmm.
I realized last week that it’s been nine months since I took the helm as editor-in-chief of this paper (and this was my first hate mail, a good run if you ask me). There have been growing pains, as is natural with any job, but particularly one in which you have a platform such as this. Writing something of substance in my column is top of mind, and I’d like to use my voice for good as often as possible. Anyone who has followed this space over the course of my tenure may have noticed I don’t make a habit of intentionally riling people up. I prefer not to promote division, but rather gently remind people that we’re all human, mere specks floating on a rock in space, trying to get by.
So I find myself wondering what would inspire a person to wake up one morning and think, “You know what? I’m pissed off and the editor of the Flyer needs to know this.” The message wasn’t directed at something in particular I had written or a specific piece composed by one of my many talented colleagues. There were no suggested solutions provided or any actionable critiques. Just an anger-dump, addressed to me, for reasons I can’t quite discern.
There was one thing I wanted to weave into my column last week about the congressional hearing on UAPs and the alleged discovery of “non-human biologics,” but with limited space, it didn’t make the cut. I wrote on how we simply don’t have the time to worry about that — unless UFOs land in our front yards, no big deal, who cares. But in reality, some people have a lot of time to worry about a lot of stuff — to be keyboard warriors berating others for their beliefs, to moan about “woke culture,” to bash people for their personal life choices.
I don’t venture to think I can change anyone’s mind, nor do I impose my opinions in ways that belittle others. But I do urge you to think for yourself, do your own research, and above all, be kind.
Hate is a choice. Imagine where we could be if more of us chose love.
