Category: Opinion

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Opinion The Last Word

Let’s Do Something About Youth Overdoses

Overdoses in Shelby County almost tripled between 2017 and 2022. (Photo: Tloventures | Dreamstime.com)

Overdoses have been the third leading cause of death in youth under age 20 since 2020, and a vast majority of youth overdose deaths are unintentional. Over 60 percent of youth aged 10 to 19 who overdose do so at home, more than two-thirds of the time a bystander is present, and less than one-third of the time someone gives the overdosing teen the life-saving overdose reversal medication naloxone. Overdose deaths have increased rapidly, not only among 15- to 24-year-olds but also 10- to 14-year-olds across the United States. Concerning amounts of fentanyl in the drug supply make even experimenting with one pill deadly. 

Here in Memphis, overdoses have taken the lives of many of our friends, colleagues, patients, and loved ones. Overdoses in Shelby County almost tripled from a rate of 22 per 100,000 in 2017 to 65 per 100,000 in 2022, and Shelby County suffered the highest number of fatal overdoses across Tennessee counties between 2020 and 2022. But we have decided to do something about the overdose epidemic in our backyard.

We are the Youth Overdose/Opioid Taskforce (YOOT), a group of Shelby County residents made up of clinicians, social workers, educators, students, behavioral health professionals, and other concerned citizens from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan, and other religious backgrounds. Some of us work in harm reduction, and some with the justice system. About 8 percent of us are high school students under 18. Around two-thirds of us have tried some kind of illicit drug (including cannabis) at some point in our lives, and more than a fourth of us have lived experience using opioids illicitly. About 80 percent of us have seen a loved one, friend, or ourselves struggle with substance abuse, about a quarter of us have witnessed someone overdose, and about half of us have a family member or friend who has experienced an overdose. About one in six of us have experienced an overdose ourselves. 

All of us want to make a difference in this space. 

We have been coming together every few months since January 2024, sharing space, mutual respect, and understanding with one another and putting our superpowers together. Using our diverse expertise to reflect on national, Tennessee, and Shelby County data, we discussed the root causes behind this overdose epidemic, and 48 of us voted on a list of priorities to address among the root causes. We have broken into subgroups to move forward in developing and implementing evidence-based strategies to reduce the amount of young people who die from unintentional overdose in this community. 

Our current top priorities to address are:

• Insufficient youth-focused, accurate education about drugs

• Self-medicating untreated mental illness 

• A lack of supervised, fun, safe spaces for youth

We encourage you to take up the call to action to address any of these priorities, whether in partnership with us or on your own. We must not, as a community, turn a blind eye to this epidemic. Join us in the fight today to save the lives of young people we love. 

Connect with us for future updates about meetings and events: TikTok @yootmemphis; Facebook @YOOT Memphis; Instagram @yootmemphis; Remind: text @yoot901 to 81010; email yootmemphis@gmail.com; text (901) 860-4589.

Resources:

• If you or your adolescent are experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988

• Tennessee Naloxone Program (provides confidentially mailed naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses opioid overdose)

• Regional Overdose Prevention Specialists (provide naloxone as well as education on how to administer)

• David Fuller: david@memphisprevention.org | (901) 484-2852; Tony Hampton: tony@memphisprevention.org | (901) 484-1649

• TN Statewide Crisis Line: (885) CRISIS-1

• TN Redline (provides referrals to addiction treatment for substance use disorder, can help you figure out where to go, including treatment information for people 18+ years old): (800) 889-9789

Substance use treatment options for youth under 18 years old:

• Outpatient Treatment — Young person sleeps in their own bed at home and goes to treatment during 1 or more days of the week. Some *with asterisks* offer evidence-based substance use medication management (e.g. buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid use disorder), some do not. Ages accepted by facilities vary but all accept some patients under 18.

○ IAC Associates*: (901) 746-9438

○ Le Bonheur Adolescent Health Clinic*: (901) 287-7337 [Starting 4/1/25]

○ Recovery Associates*: (901) 590-4106

○ Urban Family Ministries: (901) 323-8400

○ Charlie Health Intensive Outpatient (all online)*: (866) 805-2001

○ Bradford Intensive Outpatient (all online): (866) 805-2001

● Inpatient/Residential Treatment — Young person sleeps at the facility (some offer evidence-based substance use medication management (e.g. buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid use disorder)*, some do not)

○ Memphis Recovery Center: (901) 272-7751

○ Parkwood: (662) 895-4900

○ Compass: (901) 758-2002

○ Lakeside: (901) 370-1324 *(case-by case-basis, depends on the psychiatrist)

Categories
At Large Opinion

March Madness

It’s all madness. (Photo: Evgeniya Leonova | Dreamstime.com)

Every year I play in an online pool to predict the outcome of the NCAA basketball tournament, aka March Madness. It’s made up of longtime friends who are scattered all over the country and who communicate for the most part via social media. It’s become a rite of spring for a lot of us, with good-natured smack talk being the main attraction. 

We use a CBS Sports platform, and for some of us the hardest part is remembering our password every 12 months. Well, that and trying to guess who’s going to take that pivotal first-round game between, say, Siena and Northeast Idaho. And for me, there’s also the dilemma of predicting how far the Memphis Tigers will go — a delicate balancing act that pits my hometown rooting interest against years of painful experience. A Penny (Hardaway) for my thoughts. 

The tournament is a particularly timely distraction this year. That’s because the daily news is just delivering one plop-load of angst after another. I went online Sunday morning and read the following headlines: “Arlington Cemetery Website Scrubs Links About Black and Female Veterans”; “Trump’s FCC Chief Orders Investigation into NPR and PBS Sponsorships”; “Trump Signs Order to Gut Staff at Voice of America and Other U.S.-funded Media Organizations”; “Trump’s NIH Cuts Threaten Scientific and Medical Research at U.S. Universities.”

So yeah, just let me ponder that crucial West Bracket matchup between Maryland and Grand Canyon for a while. Maryland’s pretty good, but Grand Canyon is deep, heh, and it’s tough to beat a national park. Or it used to be until they got defunded. Sorry, I’m just trying not to go crazy thinking about the frightening idiocracy that’s now dismantling our government piece by piece. 

This administration’s credo appears to be “Knowledge Is the Enemy of the People.” Or maybe it’s “They Can’t Handle the Truth.” In many areas of the world, Voice of America is the only news that isn’t controlled by autocratic governments. NPR and PBS news services have long been considered the gold standard for fact-based, in-depth reporting. The U.S. government shouldn’t be in the business of suppressing its own media. The First Amendment still means something. Or at least, it did until a month ago, when this administration decided that it would begin hand-selecting the reporters allowed in the press pool to ask questions of the president. 

If knowledge is power, then power is being taken away from us at an alarming pace. And, let’s be blunt, we’re all being put in danger by the reductions in funding and personnel at agencies that provide air traffic control, weather prognostication and warnings, and medical and scientific research. Not to mention the emotional stress being imposed on millions of Americans who depend on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and their 401(k) funds. 

It’s important to understand that all of these decisions are being made by executive orders that are mostly being carried out by an unsupervised, unrestrained, and unelected creep with billions of dollars in conflicts of interest between his own businesses and federal subsidies. It’s unconstitutional, and none of it is being opposed by Congress, which is constitutionally designated to restrain the excesses of the executive branch.

It goes without saying that the Republicans in Washington are all in the tank for Trump, but the fact that the Democrats are so numbingly compliant is really troubling. They appear to be as vested in accommodating this autocratic insanity as the Vichy French collaborators were in World War II. It makes you wonder just how much kompromat Putin has. Is everyone in Washington compromised except Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Liz Cheney? Where is the damn anger?

I’m no James Carville, but I play one in this column and I have a message for the Democratic Party: Get your shit together. My suggestion would be to set up a daily evening press conference in which a rotating cast of the party’s stalwarts (not Schumer, Jeffries, or Pelosi) addresses the news of the day, takes on the latest lunacy enacted by the White House, explains the real-life consequences of it for everyday Americans, and yes, expresses the outrage that millions of us are feeling right now. It’s time for the opposing party to get in the game — and take some shots. 

Categories
At Large Opinion

Social Insecurity

Photo: Pojoslaw | Dreamstime.com

On the fourth Wednesday of each month, a four-figure amount from the U.S. government gets deposited into my bank account. I wouldn’t want to try to subsist solely on my Social Security check, but it’s an invaluable source of income for me in my semi-retirement, and it’s a fund I’ve contributed to since I was in high school, working as a pharmacy stock boy. 

President-Select Elon Musk said on Joe Rogan’s podcast recently that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and spouted several statistics that were quickly debunked. “We’ll make mistakes,” Musk said, when asked about it. That didn’t stop President Trump from repeating Musk’s statistical lies in his address to Congress last week. Trump added that Social Security suffered from “shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud.”

Let’s look at their claims: A Ponzi scheme is a system in which the con artist tricks a lot of people into investing in a scam. If investors want to withdraw their money, the scammer pays back the early investors with money he’s gotten from more recent investors.

In a broad sense, that is the case with Social Security; the people paying into it now are covering the checks of those who are retired or disabled. If, as is happening now, the birth-rate goes down and people are living longer, there can be a funding problem. But, as many economists have pointed out, the solution is simple: Americans contribute to Social Security up to an annual income of $176,000. Raising the top salary level for paying into Social Security to $200,000 would fix the issue for years to come. Another Social Security Administration (SSA) analysis says that an “increase in the combined payroll tax rate from 12.4 percent to 14.4 percent” would make the program sustainable for the next 75 years. That’s not a Ponzi scheme or a crisis. It’s an amendable budget line-item that Congress could address tomorrow.

Regarding Trump’s statements about incompetence and fraud? As hard as it is to believe, he’s lying. Trump told Congress and the American public that 16 million people over the age of 100 received Social Security payments, including 130,000 supposedly over 160 years old. As several media outlets reported after Musk first made these allegations, the SSA’s beneficiaries chart shows that just 89,106 people over age 99 are receiving retirement funds. That number (which includes my own dear mother) is a long way from 16 million. As for fraud, the SSA inspector general reported in 2024 that .84 percent of benefits paid between 2015 and 2022 were improper.

So why are the two most powerful men in the country spewing disinformation about the SSA? Simple. They are attempting to soften up the public for cuts in services. DOGE, Musk’s stealthy pseudo-government agency, is cutting 7,000 SSA workers for starters, and the number of regional SSA offices has been trimmed from 10 to four. Will that mean those of us who receive SS checks should worry? I’m going to go with “yes.”

Here’s what former SSA chief Michael O’Malley told CNN: “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. … I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.”

This is speculation, of course, and O’Malley is a Democrat, but here’s what Leland Dudek, the man Trump appointed to head SSA, said in a recent meeting, according to The Washington Post: “DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA. I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.” Reassuring, eh? 

Here’s the bottom line on all this: The “DOGE people” have access to the personal and financial information of every American citizen — living or dead — who has paid into Social Security. What they will do with that private intel is anybody’s guess because they sure aren’t going to tell us. I do know this much: If DOGE screws up with the SSA as badly as they’ve screwed up with some of the other government agencies they’ve defenestrated, our social security benefits could very well be interrupted. If that happens, it will be torch-and-pitchfork time among the citizenry. And it won’t be pretty.  

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

An Efficiency Problem

James Madison (Photo: John Vanderlyn | Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

On January 20th, President Trump reorganized the United States Digital Service into the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and ordered it to begin “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize efficiency and productivity.” The task list soon became much larger to include, in the president’s words, “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal agencies.” 

DOGE has quickly gone to work, holding up millions of dollars of federal contracts and firing tens of thousands of government employees. Elon Musk, who is somehow involved in the department but not its head, claims the goal is to save up to $2 trillion by radically slashing the federal budget.

Efficiency is a tricky value. It’s hard to be against it. Why wouldn’t you want something to be efficient — meaning, fast, cheap, and accessible? But it’s not always obvious that efficiency is not the only, or the best, standard to have in all important matters. Fast food is efficiently delivered and relatively inexpensive, but no one pretends that it’s nutritious or even really that tasty. I doubt many people would choose a McDonald’s meal for Thanksgiving over a carefully cooked home meal, prepared with love and attention. 

Efficiency is about means-to-end thinking — what’s the cheapest, fastest, easiest way to get from here to goal X. Yet it appears that with DOGE efficiency has become an end in itself now. Efficiency for efficiency’s sake. What goals are we achieving by making government “more efficient”? Musk has floated the idea that the DOGE slashing might result in a savings dividend of $5,000 to eligible households. This sounds exciting to many, but at what expense? What services might no longer be accessible? What kind of government and society do we really want? An efficient one — but to accomplish what kinds of values?

It’s not clear that government efficiency was that high of a concern for the Founding Fathers. They were more concerned that government protect the liberty of its citizens. For that reason, James Madison, the fourth U.S. president, argued that our federal government ought to be organized in a way so as to work in a slow and complicated manner. 

The Founders were worried about groups of people seizing government offices to push their own agendas. So they built a federal republic — a government with multiple independent branches that check each other, splitting the legislative body in two to give public opinion different weight in consideration. All of this was to make government business gradual and deliberative, not necessarily efficient, in order to make sure that individual life, liberty, and property were not unduly infringed upon by the government.

There are some worrying signs about the operations of DOGE. Who exactly is directing it? President Trump has said it is not Musk; he is a “special senior advisor” directly to the president and therefore does not have to be vetted by other branches. The members of DOGE are “special government employees,” meaning they are not subject to ethical rules and conflict of interest regulations like other federal employees. DOGE records are also now classified as presidential records, meaning the public cannot have access to them until after 2034. 

If anything is clear, it seems that any possible “government efficiency” is being balanced against transparency and public oversight. Is getting a one-time check (that may or may not raise inflation, which is rising by itself already) worth a government that blocks insight into how it makes its major decisions about public welfare? 

This kind of power is even more worrisome when there is increasing evidence that these savings are not going to materialize in any significant way. All these developments seem like something that would have raised Madison’s suspicions. 

As he wrote in Federalist Letter 51: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” 

Jose-Antonio Orosco, Ph.D., is the author of several books and a professor at Oregon State University.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Memphis Is My Boyfriend: Spring Break Survival 

Ice cream — and food in general — keep the tweens and teens happy. (Photos: Patricia Lockhart)

Soon, flowers will bloom, painting the landscape with vibrant colors. The sun will shine for more hours, casting a glow over the freshly repaired potholes. Birds will sing cheerful melodies, and people will cruise through the city blasting GloRilla. But something else is stirring: spring break!

I’m a mother of four wonderful teens/tweens — an 11-year-old girl, twin 13-year-old boys, and a 16-year-old boy. And nothing is more exciting than the arrival of spring break. A full week with nothing pressing to do! But with tweens and teens, it hits differently. If you plan too much, they’ll complain. If you plan nothing, they’ll complain. Making sure your teens enjoy their break is a delicate balancing act. So, here’s a Teen Spring Break Survival Guide that will help you stay sane while keeping your teens (mostly) happy! Follow this foolproof (okay, semi-foolproof) plan:

• Limit your fun activities to one per day. 

Don’t overfill your teen’s schedule. While they may enjoy what you plan, let’s be real, teens love one thing above all else: being left alone. Pick activities carefully. We’re heading to Monster Mini Golf in Cordova, where they can enjoy glow-in-the-dark minigolf. And if they’re feeling extra adventurous, they might choose to play laser tag, too. (Keyword: choose — forcing extra fun is a crime in Teen Law.) More than one activity is overwhelming; less is boringggg.

• Involve lots of food.

At least one activity should involve food. My kids love to activate their “summer stomachs” during breaks. They have first breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinner, dessert, and a late-night snack. We are currently vibing on Jay’s Coffee & Cuisine in Millington. Everything on their menu is delicious. We’ve tried their shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, french toast, pancakes, and fries. Jay’s fries are out of this world! They are the BEST FRIES IN MEMPHIS. Period! Jay’s also serves lattes, syrups, and teas. I’m currently loving their lavender matcha latte.

• Leave them alone.

Arrange at least one day where you don’t call their name. Yeah, I said it! Need a glass of water? You’re going to have to get it yourself. Can’t find the remote? Try looking under the couch cushions or in the refrigerator. Who knows where they put it. For a full 24-hour period, require nothing of your teen. Nada. Zilch! Just like you get tired of hearing Mom, Mama, Bruh, they also get tired of being called to do tasks. Trust me: It’s peaceful on both sides.

• Let them sleep.

Do not wake them before noon. My teens stay up all night watching ’90s sitcoms and playing video games. Waking them up before noon is like poking a hormonal grizzly bear — only do it if you want a moody teen stomping through the house. Plus, the later they sleep, the fewer hours you have to entertain them. So while they rest, I’ll head to Hopson’s Espresso Print Coffee Shop in Bartlett. They’re a new coffee shop with the best butter cookies this side of the Mississippi. My go-to is the English toffee latte — just the right temp and taste. During spring break, I’ll be there playing my Nintendo Switch.

• Find something for you to do.

While they’re gaming, sleeping, eating, or doing anything but taking a shower, find something for you to do. Catch up on your favorite shows. Take that nap. Or get that project done you’ve been putting off. I plan on remodeling our backyard. I might even add a couple of chickens. Better yet, I’ll just go to the library. The Raleigh Library in, of course, Raleigh has an attached walking track. The outside area also has a huge, shaded seating area. 

• Ice cream is still magical.

No matter how old they get, my kids will always cheer when I say Sugar Ghost Ice Cream and Bubble Tea. Located on Broad, they have the only ice cream I eat religiously. And naturally, my kids love it, too. Ice cream has a way of melting the hard edges off teenagers. It’s really just magical how a sweetened dairy product can bring their inner child out. 

Spring break with tweens/teens is all about balance — just enough plans to keep them entertained, plenty of food to keep them happy, and the freedom to sleep and do their thing. Whether we’re mini-golfing, eating at Jay’s, or simply enjoying some well-earned quiet at Hopson’s, the key is embracing the frenzy and the calm. And while they’re living their best lives, I’ll be sipping lattes, playing my Switch, and maybe even getting those backyard chickens. 

Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. By day, she’s an assistant principal and writer, but by night … she’s asleep.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Investing in Memphis Wisely 

201 Poplar (Photo:Thomas R Machnitzki | Wikimedia Commons)

Our city and county face a difficult yet pivotal decision: how to allocate our limited resources in a manner that not only meets urgent needs but also sets the stage for long-term prosperity and safety. With mounting pressure to build both a new jail and a new hospital, it is imperative that we evaluate every option to maximize public benefit without burdening taxpayers or risking unnecessary expenditures.

At the heart of the hospital debate is the existence of a private, not-for-profit facility — Methodist University Hospital — which currently operates under capacity. Meanwhile, plans for the new community trauma center, Regional One Health Medical Center, call for development on the site of the former Commercial Appeal building. This site is also a potential toxic waste dump that would require extensive and expensive environmental remediation. With these realities in mind, one must ask: Is constructing an entirely new hospital the wisest use of public funds, or is there a more strategic, fiscally responsible alternative available?

Memphis City Council member Jeffrey Warren (Photo: memphistn.gov)

A promising and forward-thinking solution is to merge the proposed Regional One Medical Center with Methodist University Hospital to create a single, robust University Medical Center. This unified entity would leverage the significant strengths of each institution. The UT Health Science Center — our largest state medical school — already plays a vital role in the operation of both hospitals. By consolidating these institutions, we can enhance medical training, streamline services, and ultimately ensure that residents receive the highest standard of care. A unified system would facilitate better coordination of specialized services, reduce redundant administrative overhead, and eliminate unnecessary duplication of costly infrastructure.

Adding to the strength of this proposal is the fact that I have received an overwhelming number of supportive comments from multiple medical administrators and physicians. These experts, with firsthand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in our healthcare system, have commended the wisdom of merging our resources. Their endorsements underline a shared vision for a more efficient, responsive, and innovative healthcare delivery model that can better serve our community’s needs.

Moreover, this strategic merger would free up funds by avoiding the exorbitant costs associated with building a new hospital on a contaminated site. The savings could then be redirected to another critical area: modernizing our county jail at 201 Poplar Avenue. The current jail facility is not only outdated but also fails to meet the operational requirements of both law enforcement agencies and the broader justice system. A modern, secure, and efficient jail would not only bolster public safety but also facilitate improved rehabilitation and support programs, benefiting both inmates and the community as a whole.

Relocating the jail would also bring significant economic and developmental advantages to Downtown Memphis. The existing facility, along with its aging adjacent structures, has long stifled the potential of our central business district. By moving the jail to a more suitable location, we would unlock new avenues for economic growth and revitalization. This move could attract fresh investments, stimulate local businesses, and create a more vibrant and welcoming urban environment for residents and visitors alike.

Before any irreversible decisions or costly demolitions — such as tearing down the old newspaper office — are made, it is crucial that a thorough investigation is conducted. To that end, I urge the County Commission, the hospitals involved, and the university administration to form a dedicated committee. This committee would be tasked with a comprehensive review of the merger proposal, weighing the benefits against potential risks, and ensuring that every aspect is carefully considered. Such a measured approach would prevent hasty expenditures and safeguard our community’s financial health while ensuring that we are investing in solutions that offer the greatest long-term returns.

In addition, this proposed committee would serve as a platform for ongoing dialogue between policymakers, medical experts, and community stakeholders. By fostering collaboration and transparent discussion, we can refine our strategy to ensure that the unified medical center not only meets current healthcare demands but is also well-positioned to adapt to future challenges. It is essential that every step of this process be guided by evidence-based insights and a clear understanding of the fiscal and societal impacts involved.

Ultimately, the merger of Methodist University Hospital with the proposed Regional One Medical Center is not merely a consolidation of facilities; it is an investment in a visionary approach to healthcare and public safety. It represents a commitment to fiscal prudence, operational efficiency, and the well-being of our community. By thoughtfully balancing the immediate need for improved medical and correctional facilities with long-term strategic planning, we can create a model of integrated public service that benefits everyone.

Now is the time to think strategically, collaborate extensively, and invest wisely in a future that strengthens our healthcare system, revitalizes our Downtown, and secures a safer environment for all citizens — without imposing new tax burdens. Let us move forward with a plan that reflects both our immediate needs and our commitment to sustainable growth. 

Jeffery Warren is a member of the Memphis City Council, representing Super District 9 Position 3.

Categories
At Large Opinion

Dullards

A return to Seinfeld and a step away from cable news. (Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment)

On November 7, 2024, I cut the cord on cable punditry. I used to sit in front of the television every night, clicking back and forth between CNN and MSNBC, with occasional painful forays to Fox. But I’m done with it. No more Rachel or Chris or Anderson or Brett feeding my outrage. It was unhealthy to spend my evenings that way, so I stopped. No more going to bed with my head filled with dread and anger.

Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m totally wired into the news of the day (as horrific as it may be). I subscribe to digital editions of AP, The New York Times, Reuters, The Washington Post (still, though I’m wavering), The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and even The Wall Street Journal, and I get alerts from most of them throughout the day. And I read the local newspapers.

In the evening, well, lately I’ve been watching Seinfeld reruns. Every season of the show is on Netflix and I’ve found that viewing a couple of episodes is the perfect palate cleanser to accompany dinner on the couch. No more cable news, baby, as George Costanza might say. I am once again the master of my domain. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

After an hour of Jerry, I read — mostly fiction, and mostly stuff I first read years ago, just to see how it holds up. Much of it doesn’t. J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey? Eh, mostly smoking and self-involved inner monologues. The Sun Also Rises? Off-putting racism, classism, and misogyny. John Cheever? The tribulations of wealthy New Yorkers. Meh. James Salter’s work sustains, particularly A Sport and a Pastime and Solo Faces. But don’t get me started on Robert Heinlein. (Looking at my bookshelves, it’s become obvious to me that I used to read a lot of manly fiction — Jim Harrison, Richard Ford, Thomas McGuane — so I’m trying to work in some more female writers.)

This past week, though, in tribute to the recent death of Tom Robbins, I spent several nights re-reading Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Hoo boy. What I’d remembered from my salad days as a sassy and clever riff on womanhood and sexuality was this time around an overwrought, never-ending slog, loaded with misogynist bilge, creepy sex scenes, hippie philosophizing, and self-referential smugness.

But just when I was about to give up on Cowgirls, I came across this passage deep in the book: “The enemy of the Black is not the white. The enemy of capitalist is not communist, the enemy of homosexual is not heterosexual, the enemy of Jew is not Arab, the enemy of the young is not the old, the enemy of hip is not redneck, the enemy of Chicano is not gringo, and the enemy of women is not men. … We all have the same enemy. The enemy is the tyranny of the dull mind.”

That hit home, and it struck me that the current great divide in this country is a result of the ascension of dull minds, or dullards, more precisely. A dullard fears books that challenge their worldview, art they don’t understand, and any sexual or gender deviation from the “norm.” A dullard fears people with different skin, people who speak different languages, people who practice a different religion, people from another country. A dullard thinks Fox News is, well, news.

A dullard spends his days chasing money and power and never has enough of either. A dullard doesn’t want to travel and see the world. A dullard doesn’t think of the needs of others but is intent only on preserving his status quo. Dullards are conformists, threatened by new ideas. It’s why they react with meanness toward those who don’t conform and with cruelty toward the vulnerable.

Dullards want to control what schools can teach. Dullards don’t believe in science. Dullards let their kids get measles. Dullards think Kid Rock is an artist. Dullards think the song “Y.M.C.A.” is a patriotic anthem, not an ode to casual gay sex.

And dullards are suckers for mendacity if it comes from another dullard: When they’re told, for example, that the murderous thug Vladimir Putin is our friend and that Ukraine started a war with Russia, they’re all in. It reminds me of something George Costanza said: “Jerry, just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.” 

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

I Need To Write Something

There’s no knowing where we’re rowing … (Photo: Movieclips | Youtube)

I need to write something. 

It should flow from fingers to keyboard automatically, no long pauses to consider the next thought or word. It’s all there, just below the surface, beginning to bubble up. That’s how it usually works. I’ll attach to an idea, a line of poetry, an encounter, or a moment, and after a few days of simmering in the recesses of my mind, somehow unknowingly, on its own, everything comes together and spills onto the page almost effortlessly. But not lately. 

There are too many pots boiling over at once. Especially, of course, in the political landscape. Every day a new executive order, a new hit to marginalized people, another bash to the face of democracy. The shifts are coming fast and hard, whether we like it or not. It’s too much to keep up with, let alone make sense of. The president of the United States is Willy Wonka and we’re all aboard The Wondrous Boat Ride. [*Flash *flicker *horrifying imagery *wild man at the helm] (He’s even offering $5 million “golden tickets” for wealthy immigrants!) I envision the man-child and his sidekick (who is who can go either way) skulking in a darkened room, “Is this frightening enough yet? Have we confused them enough to do whatever we want?” 

“There’s no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going! There’s no knowing where we’re rowing, or which way the river’s flowing!” 

The stage is set for major bamboozling, with waves of stunned, newly unemployed federal workers, swift cuts to crucial programs, and, surely, impending lengthy legal battles over the many unconstitutional and immoral moves being made by this administration, seemingly to obfuscate the masses. We’re fighting one another in comment sections online, pulled apart between “Making America Great Again” and genuine empathy for our neighbors. Do we not care for the poor? The hungry? Humanity in general? Unfortunately, the leader of this nation is a reality TV host and we’re the forced cast, pitted against each other in a battle to … a battle to … Well, I’m not entirely sure the desired outcome beyond the rich getting richer while the rest of us find side hustles to fill our fridges and gas our cars for the work commute. While we argue each other into the ground. They don’t want us to know their desired outcome. We’re fighting the wrong people. 

So sometimes, with all of those thoughts roiling the pots in my brain, nothing sticks. There isn’t a particular thing to cling to for clear direction or inspiration. Too many things; so much noise. But I need to write something. Put it all in one place, outside of my mind. Maybe I’m not there yet. 

Maybe I’ll hold onto these words from Charles Bukowski for now. 

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you

in spite of everything,

don’t do it.

unless it comes unasked out of your

heart and your mind and your mouth  

… don’t do it.

…

if you have to wait for it to roar out of

you, then wait patiently.

…

unless it comes out of

your soul like a rocket,

unless being still would

drive you to madness …

don’t do it.

unless the sun inside you is

burning your gut,

don’t do it.

There is a red-hot glowing now, a warm pit in my stomach. I’ll see you back here when it burns.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The Doll and the Don: Contrasting Two American Icons

Dolly Parton (Photo: Laurence Agron | Dreamstime.com)

Like many of this fantastic publication’s erudite and discerning readers, I consider myself a Memphian, not a Tennessean. That is, at least, until Dolly Parton enters the chat. Famed country music singer/songwriter, businesswoman, film star, and philanthropist, Parton’s list of accolades is longer than a country mile, and they’re the rare sort of achievements that have crossover appeal. 

I mention Our Lady of the Wildflowers because I have just signed my newborn son up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program funded primarily by the Dollywood Foundation (with some funding from community partners), which provides free books for children from birth to age 5. If that sounds like nothing more than a tax write-off, consider that Parton has said the program was inspired by her father’s struggles reading and that she credits her mother’s songs and stories as an inspiration for her own eventual creative career. Consider also that 21 percent of adults in the United States are illiterate, and a whopping 54 percent of Americans read below a sixth-grade level. According to the National Literacy Institute, low levels of literacy cost the U.S. up to $2.2 trillion per year.

As I write these words, the Imagination Library’s funding is under attack in Indiana. The state’s (Republican) governor, Mike Braun, is looking to defund the program, likely in an attempt to curry favor with President Donald Trump and his gang of cost-cutting cronies. 

“We are hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state’s funding match for local Imagination Library programs,” Parton said in a statement released online. “The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all — regardless of politics — because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.”

It’s hard to argue with that kind of logic, right? 

Wrong. That seemingly American-as-apple-pie statement couldn’t be more out of step with today’s values. Enough of us decided this November that a quick buck and cost-cutting are preferable to an investment in our future. With the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, USAID, NASA, and other critical programs on the chopping block, who has tears to spare for the Imagination Library? 

The current moment seems to me to be summed up thusly: America says it wants Dolly Parton, but it keeps choosing Donald Trump. Though Parton is surely too intelligent ever to descend into politics — and she doesn’t have to, since she’s not desperately avoiding a lengthy stint in prison — she does seem to be the actual best version of everything Trump pretends to be. 

Where Trump claims to be a self-made success, along with his siblings, he inherited a portion of his father’s estate, then valued between $250 and $300 million. Parton, on the other hand, is a real person of the people, one of 12 children raised in a single-room cabin in Pittman Center, Tennessee — her “Tennessee Mountain Home.” She wrote and sang her way to success. Trump’s populist shtick only works if one can suspend disbelief long enough to forget about his gold-plated toilet, his hush payments to porn stars, and his failed for-profit “education center.” As a businessman, his career pales in comparison to Parton’s. Through her Dollywood Foundation, she spends money by the bucketload, investing in poverty relief, in the Imagination Library, in building a cancer treatment center, in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and in preservation efforts for the bald eagle — our national bird. She has that money to invest because she’s actually good at business.

Trump’s businesses, on the other hand, have filed for bankruptcy six times. In 2011, the Gold-plated Grifter was quoted by Newsweek as saying, “I do play with the bankruptcy laws — they’re very good for me.” 

Both celebrities — don’t kid yourself; Trump isn’t a politician or a businessman, he just plays one on TV — have augmented their natural appearance (and there’s no reason to judge them for that choice). Trump is famously prickly about himself, though, and completely devoid of a sense of humor. Parton, however, maneuvers through interviews like a dancer on stage, disarming reporters with comments like, “It costs a lot to look this cheap.” She’s funny, and she has a sense of humor about herself. I know who I would rather drink a beer with, and not just because “9 to 5” is one of the best songs ever written. 

There do seem to be strange similarities between the two figures. Is the devil just an angel seen through a scanner, darkly? More than anything else, Parton believes in investing in what she values, while Trump and the sociopaths holding his leash seem intent in strip-mining the once-proud American government and economy for personal gain. 

The moment to choose our hero has already passed. America chose self-interest over sacrifice, cruelty over compassion, petty small-mindedness over creativity. I pray that we get a chance to correct our course, and that we haven’t lost too much when that moment comes. 

Jesse Davis is a former Flyer staffer; he writes a monthly Books feature for Memphis Magazine. His opinions, such as they are, were formed in his early years spent tucked away in the library stacks.

Categories
At Large Opinion

Big Boss Man

Elon Musk (Photo: Frédéric Legrand | Dreamstime.com)

I’ve been the editor of several publications in my career. I managed teams of writers and editors — and did my best to empower them, motivate them, and get them to work together to produce newspapers and magazines we could all be proud of. I was, to use the term loosely, a “boss.” I made my share of mistakes, but I always tried to treat my employees with respect and compassion.

I’ve also been an employee for most of my career, working for publishers in Missouri; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; and Memphis. Almost all of my bosses were great people, but I’ve had a couple of stinkers, and they had something in common: They had no idea what their employees did to create the product and didn’t really care to learn. They’d never written, edited, interviewed, researched, reported, or had to meet a printer’s immoveable deadline. They were bottom-line guys who treated their employees as though they were working in a widget factory. 

One of them (in a city that shall remain nameless) called a staff meeting in the conference room on his first day. (This, I should mention, was after we’d watched for a week as the publisher’s office underwent a massive redo: plush Oriental carpet, gleaming teak desk, sleek lamps, cushy couch and chairs.) Anyway, our new boss looked around at the 15 or so writers, art directors, and editors gathered in front of him and said: “You’re probably asking yourselves, ‘What does this dude know about magazines? He’s a real estate guy.’ Well, let me tell you, folks, I read lots of magazines and I know a good one when I see one. And we’re going to put out a great magazine and we’re going to add 25 percent to the bottom line. And if you’re not ready for some big changes, you should leave this room right now.”

Nobody left the room, but everybody knew one thing: We were now working for an asshole. His first directive was to have everyone write down what they did each week and how many hours it took. (If you think anyone’s response didn’t add up to 40 or more hours, you’re pretty naive.) A month later, he called me into his office and told me he was firing our popular food writer, the senior copy editor, and an associate art director. We didn’t need them, he said. The remaining staff could pick up the slack. He didn’t bother to ask how I thought we might be able to save some money on editorial costs; he just made an arbitrary decision.

Any of us who has had to deal with that kind of capricious overlord should be able to relate to what hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been going through recently, as Elon Musk, a man with little understanding of (or respect for) what any of them do, runs a chain saw through their agencies, eliminating people who inspect and direct our airplanes, protect our food from contamination, provide disaster relief, run our national parks, and administer Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid funds. 

Most horrifying of all, Musk has fired 6,700 people at IRS and is seeking access to the financial information of every taxpayer, business, and nonprofit in the country. Giving that kind of power to anyone, let alone an erratic South African billionaire with no official government title, is incredibly foolish. 

Speaking of which: On Saturday, Musk sent the following email to more than a million federal employees at the F.B.I., State Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs Department, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager.”

Sound familiar? This kind of directive is so utterly stupid. Who thinks any employee would be unable to come up with five things that they did at their job? And who’s going to review the hundreds of thousands of responses? It’s pointless busy work, meant only to intimidate and induce fear. It’s the tactic of a weak man, someone who thinks he’s running a widget factory, someone with no idea of how to be a real leader. Unfortunately, the Democratic party hasn’t found the courage to call out this reckless deconstruction of our public agencies in any organized or meaningful way. That window is rapidly closing, and it’s time to stand tall. Like a boss.