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Jerry’s Sno Cones to Close Berclair Location

Jerry's Sno Cones via Facebook

Jerry’s Sno Cones will close its original location in the Berclair/Nutbush area. 

The iconic Memphis establishment announced the move on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. They gave no reason for the closing. But they said the Jerry’s location at 1601 Bonnie Lane in Cordova is open. 

Jerry’s Sno Cone’s via Facebook

“We are grateful for the past memories and are looking forward to new family memories at our Cordova location,” the owners said in the post. “We will be voting soon on a new location. God loves you and so does Jerry’s Sno Cones!”

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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.

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Transgender Lawsuit Continues After Judges’ Partial Ruling

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

A challenge of Tennessee’s law dealing with the use of public school restrooms and locker rooms by transgender students remains alive after a federal judge declined to dismiss all claims against the state education department and Williamson County Schools.

U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell denied the state’s request in to dismiss the child’s claim of a violation of rights under the Equal Protection Clause. 

The judge, however, granted a request to dismiss the child’s claim that her Title IX rights were violated. The ruling notes that because the federal law allows schools to maintain separate restrooms for “the different sexes,” requiring the child to use the restroom based on her biological sex doesn’t violate Title IX.

The judge also dismissed the child’s request to correct all records to reflect her female gender.

Tennessee lawmakers have taken steps in recent years to prevent transgender athletes from playing sports based on their sexual identity. The Legislature enacted restrictions in 2023 on transgender medical treatment and this year adopted a bill preventing adults other than parents and guardians from taking children outside the state for transgender care.

Senate passes two bills aimed at transgender athletes

Tennessee Lookout

The case against the Tennessee Department of Education and Williamson County Schools involves a 9-year-old transgender child who was male at birth but identifies as female, according to court filings. The child uses “she/her” pronouns and lives socially as a girl by wearing her hair long and dressing in a manner usually associated with girls. 

The complaint was brought by a friend and the child’s parents when the child was 8, claiming the Williamson County elementary school she attends requires her to use a single-occupancy restroom, not the multi-use girls’ restroom.

The child claims the school’s “insistence” that she use a separate restroom “isolates her and distinguishes her from her classmates and exacerbates the stress and anxiety she experiences while trying to fit in and avoid being stigmatized on the basis of her sex and gender identity.” The child also claims the restroom designated for her has problems with distance from her class, safety and cleanliness.

The Tennessee Legislature passed the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act in May 2021, requiring public schools to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to students, teachers and employees who want “greater privacy when using a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility designated for [their] sex and located within a public school building.” 

“Reasonable accommodations” include single-occupancy restrooms or changing facilities or use of an employee restroom or changing facility.

The “reasonable accommodations” don’t include restrooms or changing areas designated for use by members of the opposite sex while the opposite sex is present or could be present. They also don’t require remodeling or structurally changing a school facility, or limiting access to a restroom or changing room designated for use by members of the opposite sex if that creates a violation or state or local building codes.

The new state law defines sex as “a person’s immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.” It also provides students, parents, guardians, teachers and employees the right to sue public school systems for “psychological, emotional, and physical harm,” including monetary damages, legal fees and costs if they “encounter a member of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility located in a public school building … [and] the public school intentionally allowed a member of the opposite sex [defined as sex at birth] to enter the multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility while other persons were present.”

Campbell denied the child’s request for an injunction against the school district to stop it from enforcing the state law.

Yet the judge opted not to dismiss the child’s claims under the Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits a state from “denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” and prevents government discrimination that “either burdens a fundamental right, targets a suspect class or intentionally treats one differently than others similarly situated without any rational basis for the difference.”

The judge’s ruling points out that classifications by the government based on sex are recognized as “a quasi-suspect classification subject to intermediate scrutiny.”

DH v. Williamson Board of Education

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network 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.

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New Rules Could Change Travel from Airlines, Car “Booting,” and “Gas Station Heroin”

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

New rules will change air travel, mandating refunds for flights and eliminating hidden airline fees. In addition, new laws could come soon to limit fees for booting cars in parking lots, and restrictions on “zaza” or “gas station heroin.”

New airline rules

Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued final rules to require airlines to give passengers a prompt, automatic cash refund for canceled and significantly delayed flights, instead of travel vouchers or credits. The idea was proposed, in part, by U. S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), as a ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. 

The new rules were part of Cohen’s Cash Refunds for Flight Cancellations Act and Forbidding Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act. The legislation would also protect consumers from “ridiculous” or hidden fees on certain services, though USDOT has not yet ruled on the idea.

  “These passenger protections are long overdue,” said Congressman Cohen. “When airlines are responsible for flight delays or cancellations, or do not provide the services that their customers pay for, passengers should be made whole, not tied to airline vouchers or travel credits. I have also heard from many travelers about their frustrations with hidden fees for checked bags, seat assignments, and flight change and cancellation fees that far exceed the costs to provide these services.”

New rules for “booting” and towing cars

In Tennessee, a bill is headed for Gov. Bill Lee’s desk that would prohibit unlicensed individuals from booting vehicles and cap the fee to remove a boot at $75. The legislation was sponsored by state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin). It also proposes new rules for towing and parking.

“This legislation will protect vehicle owners in Tennessee from bad actors seeking to profit off of  immobilizing and confiscating vehicles,” said Johnson. “I’ve received complaints from many constituents who have had to go through unreasonably long and expensive processes to regain control of their vehicles which were unfairly immobilized or towed.

“Unfortunately, our current laws do not provide legal recourse to punish parking enforcers engaged in certain nefarious practices. This bill targets those bad actors and protects Tennessee vehicle owners.”

The bill would require booting be done if only a licensed parking attendant is present in a commercial parking lot. Boots would also have to be removed within 45 minutes of a driver’s call. The legislation would also ensures that vehicle owners are properly notified if their vehicle is being towed, sold or demolished by a towing company. Also, if the towing process has begun, but the vehicle hasn’t left the parking area, the bill requires towing companies to release vehicles to the owner for a fee of no more than $100. 

Getting “gas station” heroin out of gas stations

Another piece of federal legislation would ban the sale of tianeptine — sometimes called “zaza” or ”gas station heroin“ — at retail stores, like gas stations. The proposal is from Rep. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) who said the drug is causing an uptick in calls to poison control centers and emergency room visits. America’s Poison Control Centers said 391 tianeptine cases were reported nationwide last year.

Tianeptine is most commonly used for treating anxiety and depression. However, the drug has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sometimes the drug is abused to create a euphoric, opioid-like effect. A common tianeptine brand is called “Neptune’s Fix.”

“It’s clear that these harmful tianeptine-containing products pose a serious threat to consumers and are jeopardizing the health of our communities, particularly our kids,” Pallone said in a statement. “These dangerous products do not belong on store shelves, which is why I’m introducing a bill today to empower FDA to prohibit the marketing of ‘gas station heroin’ to protect consumers.”

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Major Violent and Juvenile Crimes Increased In 2023 Per Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission

Photo Credit: Kenny Eliason via Unsplash

The Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission’s (MSCCC) latest report shows that the overall crime rate, as well as major violent and property crimes and juvenile crimes, saw an overall increase in 2023 compared to 2022.

The crime commission released its 2023 Annual Report. The statistics compare crime in Memphis and in Shelby County. The rates are released in conjunction with the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute.

“The sources of the crime rates issued by the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission are data submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) Tennessee Incident-Based Reporting System (TIBRS) by individual law enforcement agencies,” MSCCC said.

MSCCC mentions that the city has “a lot of positive momentum” in terms of tourism, Tom Lee Park, the construction of the Memphis Art Museum, and more. However, they said in order to propel this “momentum” forward, the area needs to “get a handle on our unacceptably high crime rate.

“We saw some encouraging signs during the latter part of 2023,” MSCCC said. “For the entire year, though, crime rates in almost all major categories moved in the wrong direction compared to 2022.”

The report classifies major violent crimes as murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults, and major property crimes as burglaries, auto thefts, and other felony theft offenses, or larcenies.

Overall crime in both jurisdictions increased from 2022 to 2023, with the city of Memphis reporting 19,962 reported incidents in 2023, compared to 18,554 in 2022. Shelby County reported 15,380 crimes in 2023, and 14,509 in 2022.

According to the crime commission, there was a 52.3 percent increase in murders in 2023 compared to 2022. These incidents were calculated “per 100,000 population.)

Domestic violence incidents were up by 3 percent, and “gun related violent incidents” in the city of Memphis increased by 11.6 percent .

Included in the report is the “Safe Community Action Plan Status Report,” which is one of the solutions towards “reducing violence.” In terms of gun violence, the commission is on track with “vigorous federal prosecution of gun crime as a priority, and “establishing a special Memphis Police Department Unit to investigate aggravated assault incidents involving guns.”

MSCCC reported that they are “on track” with these developments, however they are “slightly behind schedule” on “expanding violence interveners” tasked with preventing “retaliatory violence.” They also said they are behind on “developing and implementing an effort to reduce thefts of vehicles and guns.”

While the city saw an increase in multiple areas, the report concluded that “serious juvenile charges” were down 13.3 percent in 2023 (569) compared to 2022 (656). This follows a trend of decreased charges starting from 2011. 

The report does not state what is considered “serious juvenile charges,” however it cited aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, and carjacking as “serious delinquent juvenile offenses.” The commission called these “especially disturbing.”

The statistics show that there was an overall increase in juvenile or charges compared to 2022. “Delinquent juvenile charges” were up by 15.9 percent.

Per the status report, the commision says it is on track with “expanding efforts” to engage with youth prior to committing any offense or “before they encounter law enforcement or the juvenile justice system.” The commission reports that it has developed a system regarding intensive supervision, rehabilitation. and treatment for  “serious juvenile offenders.” MSCCC reported it is slightly behind on a plan that helps to “break the cycle of repeat offenders.”

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TBI to Review Fatal, MPD-Involved Shooting

Memphis Police Department via X

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) will review a fatal, officer-involved shooting in North Memphis early Friday morning.

Here’s what Memphis Police Department said about the shooting in a Facebook post:

“At 3:07 a.m., officers responded to a domestic violence call in the 3000 block of Dumbarton Road.

Officers arrived and heard an active disturbance inside. Officers located a wounded adult male and were charged at by an armed suspect. One officer discharged their weapon striking
the suspect.

The suspect and the wounded male victim were transported to Regional One Hospital in critical condition. The suspect was pronounced deceased and the injured male is now listed as stable. An officer was injured on the scene unrelated to the altercation and was transported to Methodist North in non-critical condition.”

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Michael Detroit to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Michael Detroit, executive producer at Playhouse on the Square. (Photo: Carla McDonald)

Memphis’ annual Ostrander Awards honor the season’s best local theatrical productions. 

Mostly. 

But there is one category that gives a standing ovation to someone who has had an ongoing, yearslong impact on the theater scene. 

The Eugart Yerian Award for Lifetime Achievement has put the spotlight on these singular people since 1984, and this year, the distinction will go to Michael Detroit, executive producer at Playhouse on the Square, a professional resident theater company. 

Detroit started at Playhouse when he came to Memphis in 1989. And he’s done it all: actor (stage, film, television, commercials), director, singer, costumer, choreographer, professor, creator of the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA), civic activist, and more.

When Detroit took over at Playhouse from founder Jackie Nichols in 2018, he was more than ready, having been associate producer since 1998. As executive producer, he manages $15 million in capital assets, a $3.3 million annual budget, an endowment of more than $7 million, and 40 full- and part-time employees, including hundreds of contract actors, designers, and directors.

Being ready to take over also helped when the global pandemic hit, forcing arts organizations to rethink how to keep creating — and delivering — art. Detroit and Whitney Jo, managing director at Playhouse, were able to ensure that no staff or company member was laid off because of the pandemic. Further, they devised ways of creating online content to sustain interest and involvement.

Detroit will receive the award at the Ostranders ceremonies on August 26th at the Orpheum.

The Memphis Flyer asked Detroit about the highlights of his 35 years in Memphis.

Memphis Flyer: Tell us about your journey since you came to Memphis in 1989.

Michael Detroit: I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve been able to make a living in the arts, which is hard for anybody that goes into the arts. For me, it was a history of piecemealing things together — doing theater, doing video gigs, doing voiceovers, doing print work, and teaching and all the things you did to make a living as a younger artist. And I’ve been able to stay with it and make a living out of it. With that kind of vision in mind, my goal since I became executive producer was to strengthen our ability to have artists have the ability to make a living in Memphis — things like salaries and working conditions and hourly work weeks and all of those things, which is a challenge in any artistic format for sure. 

What are some of the initiatives behind your vision?

It goes back to things like UPTA, where we’ve got 1,100 people coming in over four days with 85-plus companies and 850 actors all looking for work that pays across the country. We’re also very committed to partnering with our friends at the Greater Memphis Chamber. Playhouse belongs to seven different chambers and I wanted to make sure that we were doing that so that we were civically engaged, not just an artistic company, but as a small business in Memphis. And that creates an awareness of employees, but just like the big folks out there, like FedEx and IP and Nike and AutoZone, we want to attract and retain the talent that we have here as actors and designers and technicians and admin folks. 

You have to have material that they want to work with and work on, but you’ve got to pay them a salary that’s of value to them. And that’s what UPTA was created for, to help folks find work, and certainly to help Playhouse find talent. Coming out of that too, making sure that what we’re bringing to the table is a lot more newer work, perhaps than we had done in the past, and certainly a greater diversity of work than we have been doing in the last, let’s say, couple of decades. So, we’re getting back to our roots in terms of types of shows we’re doing. 

You like to see where there’s a need and then take steps to meet it, right?

Yes, things like the Queer Youth Theater Program. We chose to do it, recognizing that as something that’s important for our community, we’ve been able to do that and do it proudly, do it unabashedly. It’s easy to identify issues. It’s challenging to find the right materials to put in front of folks that help push that needle in one direction or the other that reflects that diversity of our community. So yeah, we’re going to do the family shows because that’s part of our community, but then we’re going to do shows that talk about the politics that we’re dealing with right now.

I’ve also been helping theatrical licensing companies realize that Playhouse on the Square in Memphis is a treasure to be had because we can produce things here in the Mid-South that these licensing companies, quite frankly, can’t really license anywhere else. And they realize quickly when we produce things that perhaps they can be produced in other places. 

You were instrumental in organizing last year’s arts-centered mayoral forum. How did that go?

We worked with various other folks through the Memphis Cultural Coalition who had strong contacts into the various mayoral candidates committees. We got four of them here at Playhouse to talk to a full house of people, and it was specifically geared towards the arts. It’s something, as far as I know, that had never happened before, and it was extremely successful. We had four candidates committing to creating something or engaging the arts as a way for Memphis to move forward. We see that now in Mayor Paul Young’s messaging. We had a chamber event at the Memphis Botanic Garden last week, and he talked about it there, and he’s talking about it without being fed a line about it. He’s making it part of his platform. If you feed the arts, you feed business. Without a strong professional arts component, especially in a city, you become a tier-two city. And we want to be a tier-one city. It’s important to keep those organizations vital and thriving.

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Damaging Storm Predicted for Memphis Area

Credit: National Weather Service Memphis

Destructive winds, very large hail, and strong tornadoes are possible with a band of storms that could reach the Memphis area overnight.

The National Weather Service predicted the threat of severe storms across the area Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The storm could bring winds up to 80-plus miles per hour, and hail up to 2-plus inches. A flood watch is also in effect. 

“I urge all citizens within the Mid-South area to have multiple ways to receive weather alerts,” said Brenda Jones, director of the Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. “There are mobile applications for your phone, local news coverage, and/or a NOAA Weather Radio.”

The agency said severe weather that occurs overnight is especially dangerous when tornadoes are involved. Scattered power outages and damage to trees and structures are possible due to damaging winds and lightning. 

The National Weather Service Memphis has been tweeting about the potential for a damaging storm all day Wednesday. The agency went live on Facebook Wednesday afternoon to talk more in depth about the storm. Follow them on X for more details as the storm develops. 

The potential storm canceled the weekly test of the tornado alert system that sounds each Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. 

As of this afternoon, Memphis Light, Gas & Water had not made any public statement about preparations for the storm. However, the utility had retweeted several posts from other agencies, noting that they were aware of the potential of damaging weather.  

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RiverBeat Crowd Photo Was Altered

Photo Credit: RiverBeat Music Festival

A viral photo of the RiverBeat Musical Festival’s crowd has been confirmed to have been edited, event organizers say.

In a statement from Forward Momentum, which organized the event, a spokeswoman said it was brought to their attention that the photographer had altered the image of the crowd at the weekend’s festival.

The photo, now deleted, was posted to the event’s social media page featuring elements users speculated to be “altered with AI.”

“The entire crowd along the inside of the fence appears to be altered with AI (weird body shapes, missing arms, blurs, etc.,” Jerred Price said on a Facebook post sharing the image with the festival’s watermark.

The spokeswoman, Michele Anderson, went on to say they had been “transparent about their numbers,” and the event had 30,000 people in attendance.

“We had no knowledge that this photographer altered the image until it was brought to our attention,” she said in a statement. “We will not be working with him going forward, and the image has been removed from all our social media channels.”

Despite this, the festival organizers said they are still “excited about the potential and early success of RiverBeat.”