Categories
Cover Feature News

Business Unusual at MATA

MATA Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin (Photos: Courtesy MATA)

When we spoke to the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin in August, she called the state of affairs at MATA “business unusual.”

This summer, Mauldin and her team were in the process of finalizing the budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (F25). They had promised their board they would present a balanced financial plan after it was announced that the agency was in a $60 million deficit. The balanced budget, with plans for bus route suspensions and more than 200 layoffs, was unanimously passed, and would only further affirm Mauldin’s confidence in her own assessment of the current climate as “business unusual.”

“It’s not everyday that you have your whole board replaced at once,” Mauldin says now, reflecting on the most recent move made by Memphis Mayor Paul Young.“I trust Mayor Young, we’ve partnered, and he has a vision for how he wants this to go. He sent a clear message that he wants things to change — and we intend for them to change — and I support his vision,” Mauldin says.

Young made the move to replace the entire MATA Board of Commissioners in October, following a draft report from transportation consulting firm TransPro. The 117-page recommendation — which one city council member called “scathing” — summarizes recommendations for the agency and analyzes bus usage, ridership, and on-time performance, among other things. Its purpose was to highlight the pressing challenges the agency faced and call for urgent action.

TransPro conducted its analysis from August 19th to October 11th — during which time the board passed the budget without questions. This proved to be a point of concern for TransPro when evaluating MATA. “Existing MATA board fails to provide reasonable oversight,” the report said. “Just a month ago the MATA board unanimously adopted a budget with no questions … for a fiscal year that started more than 100 days prior.”

The consulting firm found only 26 percent of the community believed in the agency’s ability to efficiently handle public funds. In order to gain the public’s trust regarding management of funds, they recommended the entire board be replaced.

“The MATA board as currently constituted should be replaced with new members who will take seriously their responsibility to act as the policy and oversight entity of the agency,” the report said. “New board members should be trained on expectations and responsibilities.”

Mayor Young’s decision exemplified his intentions to start a “clean slate” at the transit authority, which had been at the center of controversy and public discourse for months.

The new MATA board members pose for a group picture following their Oath of Office ceremony at City Hall on November 15, 2024. 

In the Interim

In February, Mauldin was named interim CEO following the retirement of former MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld. Her appointment came a few months after the agency opted to nix their controversial 2023 proposed winter service changes.

These changes were proposed as a way to enhance the agency’s on-time performance and efficiency. This included stopping service after 7 p.m. as well as suspension of numerous routes. After hearing from the public at both board and public meetings, as well as from state leaders such as Justin J. Pearson, the board of commissioners opted to keep service as usual.

MATA touted these adjustments as a way to give the public more reliable
service, by addressing their shortage of mechanics and bus repair backlog. At the time, officials said they were missing 20 percent of all of their scheduled trips.

Mauldin took over as interim CEO in the aftermath, and one of the first things she did in her official capacity was retain the services of an external CFO, Hamish Davidson of J.S. Held LLC. According to Mauldin, MATA had not previously had a CFO — a crucial position in stabilizing the organization’s financials.

Shortly after publicly announcing that the agency had been operating in a deficit, officials presented their budget proposal to the Memphis City Council, who has historically been the agency’s primary source of operating funds. The council allocated more $30 million to the agency for FY25. During this time, they also said they would be more involved in MATA’s budget moving forward. Officials instantly began their process of refining the budget. Mauldin said their largest expense was wages and fringe benefits.

In the summer, Mauldin admitted that if they were still operating in the way they had been previously, they would require a budget of $85 million; instead, she proposed a draft budget of $67 million. With this draft proposal, Mauldin acknowledged there would be cuts that would impact routes, staff, and other factors. She added that these changes would “hurt,” yet they would provide the agency with a “solid sustainable foundation” to thrive.

The interim CEO said they had not been able to identify funding for their current operating system, which has caused them to make the proposed cuts. According to MATA, they would also be streamlining staffing and vendor costs, as they prepared to submit the final budget for approval. 

Days before the agency presented their balanced financials, officials announced they would be suspending trolley services, after discovering a brake issue which resulted in a “costly recommendation” from Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). MATA opted to “temporarily suspend the service as opposed to making that spend” at the time. Eighteen employees were laid off as a result. The new budget was approved by the former MATA board at a meeting that same week, which included a plan to lay off more than 200 employees and suspend several ridership routes.

While the new board of commissioners voted to delay the proposed changes until February 2025, several problems have been left unanswered.

In analyzing these problems, many commentators note that these aren’t the result of one administration. Bennett Foster, executive director of Memphis For All, says most of these problems come as a result of previous leadership and people who “lack imagination.”

“Frankly, these white men who have been running MATA and running our city for the past eight years, they not only lack imagination for what MATA could be, but they also lack political will to do anything about it because of who MATA serves,” Foster says. “Black, working-class Memphians are not getting the services they need because of the people in charge and the people those leaders were serving.”

Foster says Mauldin has the “imagination and power to bring in people — both federally and statewide — to help progress the agency forward and bring in revenue.” But barriers remain in getting past these issues. 

“Nobody wants to take blame for what happened, and politicians want to point the finger at management and management can’t really respond because [Mauldin] doesn’t know where they kept the receipts — it’s not her fault,” Foster says. “Of course as soon as a Black woman takes over it’s like, ‘Okay, now we need to hold you accountable.’”

Bacarra Mauldin hugs a MATA rider moments before a February 2024 event honoring the late MATA leader, William Hudson.

A Two-Fold Discussion

Conversations about MATA seem to fall in two different categories — evaluation of leadership and funding solutions — with many of the conversations intersecting. Groups such as the Memphis Bus Riders Union and Citizens for Better Service say these cuts sent the wrong message to riders and drivers, and that the changes sent a message that “[the board] was in favor of service cuts and layoffs.” Sammie Hunter, co-chair of the Memphis Bus Riders Union, was quoted as saying the budget was enough of a reason for Mayor Paul Young to “clean house.”

Further criticism of the administration and the board stemmed from a September city council presentation by the agency. Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said Mauldin had been “gifted an issue from her predecessors” and condemned the agency for not asking for help in their budget crisis.

Officials reported they had been operating in an unrestricted budget deficit for the last 10 years, which also caused Cooper-Sutton to call out the board of commissioners, saying they should “share in accountability for the agency’s financial burdens.” Mauldin said the board did not know the state of affairs, and when she was given full visibility over their finances, she shared the information with the board.

“I know that it’s unbelievable,” Mauldin said. “I know that it’s unacceptable, but we have done everything in our power to bring this in-line so that we could provide the service this city needs and deserves.”

But there’s another side — funding — and that doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of the agency. Much of the public discourse about MATA sheds light on the turbulence, but people like Foster say this doesn’t help procure additional funding.

“The people who are going to be impacted by these conversations are people that actually ride the bus,” Foster says. “It’s being used as an excuse to not take action and protect MATA from crumbling. Protect these riders — it should be talked about as a service, not [to talk about] these people who are in charge. Are we going to save MATA? People are thinking about the management — no, think about the riders. Are you willing to do what it takes to make sure they don’t experience an end to their bus routes?”

L. Rochelle Hubbard depends on MATA’s services for her day-to-day activities,with no part of her life that isn’t impacted by reliance on transit. Hubbard says she doesn’t feel like ridership is a priority in decision-making.

“It comes across that we’re at the bottom when decisions are made,” Hubbard says. 

She adds that she’s thankful for advocacy groups such as Better Transit for a Better Memphis who have helped amplify their voices, but she can’t help but feel that, although the agency hears their riders, “very little is done.” Still, Hubbard hopes that the new board, who she says has members that represent the voices of riders, will bring new change.

“Keep the riders at the forefront of this fight to establish a better transit for better Memphis,” Hubbard says.

Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children, says, in his advocacy work, public transit has consistently been among the top issues people have talked about, by both community members and elected officials.

“We’ve had studies that show how things could be better for people to access jobs, healthcare, food, education, workforce development — almost anything you can think of could get better if we had a better transit system,” Orrin says. “We’ve created a transit system of necessity. Only people who have to ride transit for the most part ride it, even though a lot of people we hear from would like to ride public transit, whether it be for convenience or the environment … but we can’t rely on an ill-functioning and an ill-funded system.”

Ridership has plummeted as a result of Covid-19, playing a major factor in the state of transit, Mauldin said in a previous conversation. Agencies are also in the aftermath of Covid-19 relief funds running out.“That really propelled the state of financial instability for transit agencies across the country, large and small,” Mauldin said.

Mauldin says the agency’s debt has been growing due to the increased cost of doing business, decreased ridership, and flat funding. Officials say funding also impacts on-time performance.

With the city being the agency’s primary funding source, many people such as Foster say the city shares in the responsibility to maintain transit service. Foster says the agency seems to have not been a priority in current and previous administrations.

Fuel to Move Faster

These months of turmoil reached a climax when Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he was looking to start a “clean slate” by replacing all members of MATA’s board of commissioners following the release of a draft report from TransPro.

The analysis indicated that public transportation has its share of financial challenges — which MATA officials have continuously noted, citing lack of funding contributing to their budget woes. However, TransPro said MATAs challenges “are further amplified by a lack of focus on the daily needs of customers, poor financial management and oversight, and the pursuit of major projects that are straining the limited staff and fiscal resources of the authority.”

While many people have applauded the report — as it led to a change in board leadership — it isn’t without flaws. Orrin, for example, says people have problems with public transit and where the money is going. But, he says, the report fails to provide context for how public transit is funded locally as opposed to other cities. 

“I affirm that people are concerned about having adequate public transit. I think working back from that, the cause is not necessarily what they relate there about whether [it’s funding] being put toward these bigger projects, because the challenge of making that kind of connection is that the bigger projects they list are supposed to make transit better.”

One example Orrin refers to is MATA’s Memphis Innovation Corridor, the first bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Memphis. BRT is commended as representing the future of public transit, as a bus route that operates like a rail line with 31 stops along the way. 

Mauldin says they have not made any decisions to scale back from the project at this time, as they also value the contributions from federal partners such as Congressman Steve Cohen and the Federal Transit Administration.

“The BRT project is the core of the mobility system,” Mauldin explains. “We’re continuing to work with Mayor Young and his administration to see that project through at this point.”

She adds that the report also indicates making a new operation system a priority, a recommendation they are following.

“Overall, the report didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know,” Mauldin says. “Things were already underway, so it’s good to have that report to validate some of that. We’re using that report as fuel to move us a little faster in that direction that we were going. We’re well aware of some of the problems that existed, but again, those problems didn’t start on February 1st when I became the interim. We definitely are working very hard — from the moment I took over — to try to rectify as many of those as necessary, but the fundamental issue for all of that is a lack of funding. We just don’t have the dedicated funding.”

What’s Next?

Mauldin’s recent appointment as interim CEO comes after being at the agency for three and a half years. Though this year has had its share of controversy and setbacks, Mauldin views it as a valuable step forward in elevating public conversations around transit.

“Public transportation is more of a conversation today than it was when I first got here,” Mauldin says. “People are truly giving it the time and attention that it’s really needed for quite a long time. The fact that we’re talking about it means we’re on the right path to truly fixing it because we all know this community really needs and deserves quality transit.”

Currently, MATA is working on a financial plan to bring the trolleys back, with Mauldin saying they expect to bring something to the board “very soon.” 

In evaluating the TransPro report, Mauldin says they are taking a “hard look” and working with Young on solutions, but there are a lot of things the report showed that they already knew.

Moving forward, MATA is looking to work with city, state, and federal partners to get more funding while also working with community groups and riders. And Mauldin says they’re not running from accountability.

“We’re not happy about the state of the transit authority right now and the service we provide,” she says. “We’re working every day, all day, half of the night even, trying to make service better, and I’m actually very proud of our team and what we’ve been able to accomplish so far along the journey.”

In the midst of chaos and discourse, Mauldin says she doesn’t want the work of the operators to get overlooked. While there is work to be done, she says the resilience and commitment of her team is important to address.

“The story of MATA is going to be a story of resilience,” Mauldin says. “We’re going to be the comeback kids. I believe that with all of the attention, all of the interest and development of our system, we’re going to be better on the other side because of this.”

Foster says they’re hopeful about Mauldin and her administration, saying they agree with who should take priority in decisions — the riders.

“I like her. I like the new board,” Foster says. “That’s promising, that’s giving me hope, and I do think what we saw in Nashville with the transit referendum is kind of sending a signal that people want public transit. People want that service, so I think we should prepare for something similar. We can put that on the ballot in 2026 and try to get some dedicated revenue.” 

Categories
Book Features Books

We Are All Drifters

The Continental Drifters were a band whose lineup alone would turn heads. Though members came and went over the decade or so of their existence, the personnel settled to include Peter Holsapple of the dB’s, Mark Walton of the Dream Syndicate, Vicki Peterson of the Bangles, Susan Cowsill of The Cowsills, and, most notably for Memphians, Robert Maché, the journeyman guitarist who played with Steve Wynn for years and now lives here, often seen playing with his wife Candace in Dan Montgomery’s band, or touring with Dayna Kurtz. Yet despite their collective pedigrees, they never quite “made it” in terms of sales or record deals, perhaps because all involved found the “supergroup” tag repulsive. That’s one of the few things they all could agree on, as is made clear in Sean Kelly’s new book, White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story (Cool Dog Sound), which traces the group from before they coalesced until after they’d broken up. One strength of the book is that all living former members embraced this chance to speak freely and tell their story. And Holsapple is particularly blunt about the “supergroup” tag. 

“We were hell-bent on not seeming like this purported busman’s holiday,” he tells Kelly. “We were so irked by that description that it was this sort of ‘sometime supergroup.’ It was like, ‘Fuck. You really are just not getting it, are you? This is a band.’”

That latter point also comes through loud and clear, as Kelly delves into the complex, Fleetwood Mac-level entanglements between the members that, despite making relations fraught at times, also sealed the family-like bond between them. And that bond seems to have been, in retrospect, a key to the group’s sound, a brand of roots-infused alt-rock with a strong focus on harmonies and songwriting that might today be labeled “Americana” but had no such pigeonhole in the ’90s.

Indeed, the book deftly conjures up the spirit of that era in Los Angeles, where the group began. The respected session drummer and producer Carlo Nuccio, who appropriated the band’s moniker from a group of the same name he’d played with in his native New Orleans, was a focal point, sparked by his relocation to L.A. and his talent for gathering like-minded souls around him. Eventually, he and friends Mark Walton and Gary Eaton were rooming together in what they called the “Batch Pad” (at a time when native Memphian David Catching was also in their orbit), and, sharing similar tastes, formed a band that also included guitarist Ray Ganucheau and keyboardist Dan McGough. By 1991, the newly formed Continental Drifters had taken up a Tuesday night residence at Raji’s, which soon became a scene unto itself. 

That was a bit of a paradox at the time. As Greg Allen, who went on to found Omnivore Recordings with fellow Raji’s patron Cheryl Pawelski, tells Kelly, “There was no real scene in L.A. It’s not like it was the power-pop era or the new wave era or what have you. It was just a lot of whatever. The kind of void that the Drifters filled, especially with the shows happening every week — that was its own scene.”

The Raji’s residency nevertheless became legendary to those who participated, setting the aesthetic tone for all of the Drifters’ subsequent years: keeping things loose, inspired, and very much at the service of the songs more than any identifiable “sound” that could be marketed. The many rock veterans in and out of the band preferred to do as they pleased, rather than bow to the demands of a producer or label. Ultimately, as new members like Holsapple and Cowsill (eventually wed, then divorced), Peterson, or Maché joined the group, the group’s aesthetic, impervious to fickle fashion, carried on. This held true when they migrated piecemeal to New Orleans in the mid-’90s, destined to be as celebrated there as they had been in L.A. 

Kelly’s book weaves this web of relationships into a tale driven by his love of the music. Prospective readers should revisit the group’s records before diving into this meandering tale: They are what make the vagaries of friendship, dating, marriage, divorce, and substance abuse among the members so compelling. Moreover, it was by remaining staunchly eclectic that the band defined its place in (or not in) the music industry. Being outsiders who were nonetheless revered by their fans defined the lives of all involved, as they all rejected grandstanding musicianship in favor of playing to the songs. And that approach, whether in L.A. or New Orleans, is why their records (and friendships) have endured.

A new compilation from Omnivore Recordings, White Noise & Lightning: The Best Of Continental Drifters, can be purchased here. And a new tribute album, We Are All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters, has been released as a companion to Sean Kelly’s book. Proceeds from the tribute album benefit The Wild Honey Foundation. 

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Patrick Collins Has Made A Honey of a Deal

Patrick Collins with his products and beehives (Photo: Anna Grace Palmer | Morris Marketing Group)

Patrick Collins is COO at Morris Marketing Group. That’s where he wears business casual and suits.

He’s also the owner of Ol’ Cappy’s Bee Products. That’s where he wears protective clothing, including a jacket with a hood and canvas pants.

Collins, 49, sells his locally-made honey as well as his products made from beeswax. On the weekends, he cranks up his 1985 Ford 150 and tootles down to Coldwater, Mississippi, with all his beekeeping supplies in the back.

And, yes, he’s been stung “many, many times,” Collins says, adding, “They don’t really want to sting you, but they do it for protection.”

He got into beekeeping about six years ago after he heard stories from a client who keeps bees at his RV park. “I got really interested in it,” he says.

Collins went to a meeting of the Memphis Area Beekeepers Association at Agricenter International. “It’s a half day and they teach you everything you need to know about beekeeping.”

He was amazed to find about 250 people at the meeting. “I thought it would be me and three old guys. Instead, it was an auditorium full of people.”

Collins was one of the winners in the drawing for a beehive, which was given away at the end of the meeting.

Photo: Courtesy Patrick Collins

They also gave him bees. “You get a box of bees, a small hive. It’s ready to go.”

And those bees lay eggs. “And you end up with 30,000 bees.”

Collins now owns 25 hives, which he keeps on land he owns in Coldwater. “I go down there at least once a week. Usually on weekends.”

He spent hours online “reading about bees and watching videos about how people keep bees and things.”

Collins also learned from “the bees themselves.”

“They’re doing their own thing and you’re going to learn whether you want to or not. You have to learn how to manage them or they’ll all leave.”

Collins was fascinated by the different flavor profiles of local honey. “You can almost really taste the floral notes of it. And the other thing is it changes throughout the seasons. We have a spring, summer, and fall harvest. And the color and the flavor changes with each harvest.”

Spring honey is “really light and really yellow.” Fall is “very robust.” And summer is “really floral, but it is a little more delicate than the fall.”

There is no “winter” honey per se. But bees still make honey in the winter. They remain in the hive “to keep the colony warm during the winter. No matter what the temperature is outside, inside it’s 90 degrees.”

Bees keep that temperature warm by staying in a cluster and vibrating their bodies. They won’t leave the hive until the outside temperature reaches 55 degrees.

A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, Collins wasn’t originally a fan of honey. “I did not like honey growing up. It just wasn’t good to me. It was probably a matter of a real fall honey. Or sometimes when honey is processed, some people use heat in that process and that can change the flavor.”

Collins liked honey for the first time when he tried some local honey about six years ago. Now, he says, “I eat honey three times a day. I mainly eat it as dessert. And I use it with yogurt, peanut butter, and apples. That’s what I eat twice a day for lunch and dinner. In the morning, cottage cheese, berries and honey.”

He doesn’t cook with honey, but he does make “no-bake power balls that use honey.” They’re made with honey, oats, chocolate, and peanut butter. “You can’t get better than that.”

Local honey is made from the pollen from local flora within a 50 mile area, so the honey Collins sells would be considered local honey in Memphis. “Our beehives are on the backside of Arkabutla, which is a protected forest area. So it’s wild. Lots of wild vines and flowers and trees. The bulk of the honey comes from trees. But flowers, too. Trees produce larger plants, which produce large amounts of honey.”

When his beehives grew to about 10 or 15, Collins knew he had to come up with a name for his honey because he needed to start selling it. “That’s when the honey really started flowing in. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat it or give it all away.”

He produced 55 pounds of honey at his first big harvest four years ago. “This year, I harvested over 2,000 pounds of honey.”

In addition to his regular honey, Collins sells a balm and a salve made out of beeswax. He also sells a creamy, spreadable honey.

Ol’ Cappy’s Bee Products is a family business, Collins says. He and his son Reed bottle honey, and his wife Jill bags and helps with the deliveries.

His honey products are now available at Berryhill Farm and Mrs. Hippie Eats in Hernando, Mississippi. They’re also available on his website olcappy.com. “We deliver it to your house for free,” he says. “We just drop it off at your front door like Amazon.”

Asked who is Ol’ Cappy, Collins says, “That’s me.” 

“I love nicknames. And I have given myself nicknames over the years, going back to elementary school and junior high.”

Collins loved the name of the wrestler Porkchop Cash after he became a big wrestling fan as a 6-year-old.“You can pick any kind of meat and put another stupid word with it and that can be your name. Your favorite color. The street you grew up on. So, I adopted ‘Captain Porkchop.’”

The nickname was shortened to “Captain” when Collins was a server at the old Bhan Thai restaurant.

A 16-ounce bottle of his honey sells for $14, but keeping bees and selling honey and honey-based products is a hobby, Collins says. “If you don’t want to pay the price for the products, then I’m happy to eat the product myself. I’m kind of selling you my stash.” 

Categories
News News Blog News Feature Uncategorized

Online Personality Gets 10 Years in Prison in Murder-For-Hire Plot

Credit: @itsashley_graysona via Instagram

A Dallas-based internet personality was convicted to 10 years in federal prison in late October on charges that she hired hits on three online rivals, including one in Southaven. 

Ashley Grayson gained notoriety for her online content related to credit repair. In 2021, Grayson had a falling out with a woman from Southaven who operated an online business similar to hers, according to Reagan Fondren, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Grayson suspected the Southaven woman of creating fake online profiles that criticized Grayson and her business. The pair never met in person.

In August 2022, Grayson asked a Memphis woman, with whom she had worked in the past, to fly to Dallas to discuss a “business opportunity.” The Memphis woman and her husband went to Dallas in early September 2022 and met with Grayson and her husband.

Grayson offered to pay the Memphis couple to kill three different people: the Southaven woman, Grayson’s former boyfriend, and a Texas woman who had made negative social media posts about Grayson. For each murder, Grayson offered to pay at least $20,000.

In September 2022, the Memphis woman video-recorded a call to Grayson where Grayson confirmed that she wanted the Southaven woman killed as soon as possible and offered an extra $5,000 for the murder to be carried out in the next week.  

Later, the Memphis couple sent Grayson a picture of police lights from an unrelated incident in Memphis to fake that they had attempted to carry out Grayson’s murder-for-hire but were unsuccessful.  They demanded $10,000 (half of the promised price) from Grayson for the attempt. The Memphis couple went to Dallas where they met with Grayson and her husband and received $10,000 from them for the fake attempt. 

Grayson and her husband, Joshua, were indicted for the plot in the Western District of Tennessee. After a week-long trial on March 2024, Joshua was acquitted but Ashley was found guilty. In late October, United States District Court Judge Thomas Parker sentenced Ashley Grayson to 10 years in federal prison, the maximum sentence for the crime.

“This was a 21st-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” Fondren said in a statement. “The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet.

“Fortunately, no one was physically hurt in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as the result of the defendant’s actions. The proactive response from the investigating agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

U of M Ranks First for Title IX Complaints, Despite Massive Drop

Photo Credit: University of Memphis

The University of Memphis (U of M) still has the most Title IX complaints of any state university, despite the number of complaints dropping by nearly half from last year.

Title IX bans discrimination on the basis of sex for “any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This includes admission consideration, employment, “treatment of students,” “access to programs and courses,” and more. 

For fiscal year 2024, the university reported 65 Title IX complaints, according to a new report from the Tennessee State Comptroller’s Office. Last year, the school reported 125. Other schools included in the report were Austin Peay State University (36 complaints), East Tennessee State University (24 complaints), Tennessee State University (17 complaints), and the University of Tennessee (15 complaints.)

When asked about the nature of the complaints and why the school saw such decline in reports, Jennifer Godwin, the school’s director of media and public relations, refused to give any details.

“The U of M has no additional comment on the Title IX report,” Godwin said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Education mandates that for all Title IX reporting there is written assurance, an employee-regulated investigation, efforts to make sure that applicants, students, and employees are aware of the policy, and a grievance procedure for complaints.

U of M policy holds that these complaints are handled through the school’s Office for Institutional Equity. According to the U of M, the Title Coordinator tracks and monitors incidents, makes sure the university responds to each complaint, conducts investigations where appropriate, and provides and oversees training related to sex discrimination and sexual misconduct.

They assure that every complainant “has the right to the complaint being handled as confidentially as reasonably possible.”

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Show Improvement” by R.U.D.Y.

Those of us who were at the Indie Memphis Film Festival this weekend were treated to a great bloc of music videos. R.U.D.Y. had two music videos in the mix, including the pleasingly lo-fi “Show Improvement.”

The music video is an homage to one of R.U.D.Y.’s favorite shows. “Home Improvement was one of my favorite shows growing up. It was only right we showed some love. The ’90s babies will understand lol,” he says. “In this world of madness we must always strive to Show Improvement. A lot of time it’s tempting to settle for the bare minimum. It’s not enough to show up. We MUST SHOW IMPROVEMENT.”

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports Uncategorized

Grizzlies Topple Nuggets

Jaren Jackson Jr. at the free-throw line in a game against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, November 17, 2024 (Photo by: Sharon Brown)

Jaren Jackson Jr. continues to shine for the Memphis Grizzlies, leading the team in scoring for the fifth consecutive game with 20 points, and adding six rebounds and three blocks to help secure an impressive 105-90 win over the Denver Nuggets, Sunday. Jackson Jr. finished the game with a plus-minus of +15. 

The performance was the latest in a streak of impressive games, including 32 points against the Golden State Warriors on November 15, and 29 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 13. Jackson also had a standout game against the Washington Wizards on November 8, scoring 39 points.

Rookie Jaylen Wells added 15 points and Desmond Bane recorded his fifth career double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. It was the Grizzlies’ fourth straight home victory, putting them at 5-2 on the season at FedExForum.

A pivotal 14-1 surge in the second quarter transformed a narrow Memphis lead into a double-digit advantage, with the Grizzlies outscoring Denver 27-18 in the quarter. 

The Grizzlies achieved their sixth 30-assist game this season with 31 against the Nuggets. Ranked third in league assists per game, Memphis converted 31 of its 41 field goals from assists, and showcased balanced playmaking, with five players recording at least four assists.

Denver, the league’s second-ranked team in assists, was held to a season-low-tying 23 assists. The Nuggets were without MVP Nikola Jokic for the second straight game due to personal reasons. 

What They Said

What Vince Williams Jr. had to say after the game: 

On returning to play since injury:

“It’s decent right now. I can’t really say I’m in; can’t really say I’m out, but I’m just trying to figure it out and take things day by day. I’m working with training staff, trying to see what’s going on with my body. … I’m having fun being out there on the court again.”

On his perspective of not starting: 

“Injuries happen, so I’m just trying to battle that right now. And then, it’s just about my team winning, so I’ll do whatever to help my team win.”

On passing the ball:

“I like to give my teammates the ball. I feel like they knock down shots for me. I kind of know where they want the ball at certain times. I missed Santi [Aldama] twice today, so I’ll make it up to him.”

Update on Ja Morant 

During pregame availability, Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant was still week to week due to right hip (subluxation and pelvic muscle strains). He said the 25-year-old will have imaging done soon.

However on X (formerly known as Twitter), Morant provided an update on his own. 

Up Next

The Grizzlies will take on the Nuggets again at FedExForum on Tuesday, November 19, at 7 p.m. CT, in their second Emirates NBA Cup Group Play matchup.

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

US Department of Transportation Allocates Millions to Memphis Intersection Improvement

Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)has allocated $13.1 million for improvements to one of the most dangerous intersections in the city of Memphis.

Last week the department announced its fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Safe Streets and Roads for All grants, which totaled $172 million, nationwide. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced that the city would be using its funding to redesign the intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue and Pendleton Street.

“This complex intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue, and Pendleton Street has a confusing array of signals, fading and disjointed pedestrian connectivity, and little guidance on appropriate movements,” USDOT officials said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) said this corridor faces “crippling congestion” affecting freight facilities, warehouse and distribution centers, as well. The agency applied for funding for Lamar Avenue in 2018 through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program, receiving $71.1 million for improvements.

According to USDOT, the city plans to close one of the roads at the intersection to provide a simpler design in hopes of improving safety. Other enhancements will include a public education campaign, a pilot program for a camera magnification system, and crash data analysis technology.

Another allocation was made to the MidSouth Development District for $2, 419, 870 from the FY 2024 Planning and Demonstration Grant Award to further address traffic-related injuries.through a “Comprehensive Safety action Plan.” 

USDOT officials said the grant will use data analysis, stakeholder input, and best practices to implement a plan to reduce “roadway fatalities” across the region.

“The demonstration activities will include a Safe Routes to School demonstration and EMT post-crash care training,” USDOT added.

Cohen said he was pleased to vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which has lead to the funding for these improvements.

“ I am sure that having this new investment in comprehensive safety planning will help save lives,” Cohen said in a statement.

Memphis was ranked the most dangerous metro city for pedestrians earlier this year by the nonprofit organization Smart Growth America. Their data showed that more than half of pedestrian deaths (65 percent) over the last decade happened in the last five years.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Fall to Warriors

Jaren Jackson Jr. handles the ball against the defense of Kyle Anderson. (Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)

In their first meeting of the season, and the Grizzlies’ first game of NBA Cup group play, the Golden State Warriors defeated Memphis 123-118, making the Grizzlies 1-2 on their three-game West Coast road trip.

The Emirates NBA Cup is the official name given to the in-season tournament that was added last season. Teams from each conference are split into groups of five, and the tournament games themselves are part of the regular season schedule.

The Grizzlies are part of West Group C, which also includes the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Golden State Warriors. A more in-depth breakdown of the tournament can be found here.

On to this game:

Memphis struggled mightily from beyond the arc in this matchup, going just 7 of 42 from three-point range. Jaylen Wells (2 of 6) was the only Grizzlies’ starter to hit a shot from long range, while Zach Edey (2 of 2) had the best three-point shooting percentage overall.

This game gave us the return of Desmond Bane, who had been sidelined since suffering a right oblique strain in the game against Brooklyn on October 30, as well as the season debut of Vince Williams Jr., who has been rehabbing a left tibia stress injury.

Star point guard Ja Morant remains sidelined with a posterior hip subluxation suffered in the November 6 home game against the Los Angeles Lakers. According to the Grizzlies’ medical staff, Morant’s status is listed as week to week.

Jaren Jackson Jr. remains this team’s dominant offensive player, and he scored a game-high 32 points, to got with six rebounds and two blocks against the Warriors.

Jaylen Wells was the only other starter to score in double digits, finishing the night with 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists.

From the bench:

Desmond Bane put up 18 points, six rebounds, and two assists in his return.

Zach Edey contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, one steal, and one block.

Who Got Next?

The Grizzlies return home Sunday to face off against the Denver Nuggets. Tip-off is at 5 PM CST.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Indie Memphis 2024: David Goodman on Adopting Greyhounds

Director David Goodman (Photo courtesy David Goodman)

Director David Goodman is an associate professor of film and television production at University of Memphis. His new film, Adopting Greyhounds, premieres at Indie Memphis on Sunday, November 17th, at 5 p.m. (Get tickets here.)

I spoke with Goodman about the film, dogs, and editing. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

A still from Adopting Greyhounds (Courtesy David Goodman)

Tell me how this project got started.

I always meant to catch a race over the years. I never got a chance to, and some folks that I knew had come through the area and filmed one of the races on 8mm [film]. I remember seeing that and thinking it looked neat. Then I heard it was closing, and that piqued my interest, because in making the kind of documentary films that I make, it’s hard to find an ending sometimes, to find a way for everything to feel like it comes to a conclusion. The idea of racing ending really got me. I started my whole train of thinking in terms of this being a documentary. So I reached out to some people, and it took quite a number of months to get in touch with some of the folks who ran the adoption center. I really wanted to focus on what happens to the greyhounds after they finish racing. So I wanted to look at racing from across the road, so to speak, because the adoption organization was really across the street from Southland Racing. So I reached out to them and I just started a relationship and began filming. I thought greyhounds were cool dogs. I’ve seen a lot of people with adopted greyhounds in Memphis, and it sparked my interest that this aspect of the Mid-South was going to be gone.

Do you have dogs?

I’m a dog owner. I’ve almost always had a dog, and while filming this documentary, two stray pit bull/boxer mix dogs turned up in our driveway, and we ended up keeping them. I actually was considering adopting a greyhound, but it just so happened that some other dogs showed up that ended up living with me, my wife, and family.

How long did you work on it?

I started filming in February 2022 and filmed throughout the year until January 2023. Racing was set to end in December 2022. Then I stuck around to film a little bit of the final weeks, as well. So, a year of filming, and basically a year of editing the footage down. The way that I approach documentaries, or try to, is from a more observational perspective. I go into a space, and I just film the processes and conversations that people have. I try to avoid sit-down interviews or at least I did in this documentary. What would naturally happen is people would speak to me while I was holding the camera, or they would speak to one another. And in that way, I try to capture more naturalistic scenes that happen in a space, and try to convey the story in that way, rather than creating an interview-driven narrative.

It’s kind of a Les Blank-like technique, it seems. 

Oh, yes, that’s right. Les Blank, Frederick Wiseman, and a lot of my mentors, David Appleby, who did plenty of work in interview-based documentaries, but his earlier films followed this more observational approach.

It’s a direct cinema, ’60s kind of vibe.

Yes, it’s definitely an approach that you don’t see as often these days. 

Why do you think that is?

I think it takes less time to do that. You can go in and interview someone, and you can really shape a narrative more clearly. With a more observational or direct cinema approach, I think the experience can be that there are more questions for a viewer. A lot of popular modern documentaries are constantly sort of answering questions very explicitly, with people speaking the answers. Whereas, I think it’s more fun to watch a film and kind of try to figure out a world and be dropped into it without exposition and too much set up. It’s just more of a challenge, I would say, to piece together things, and there’s more mystery to it.

Did you edit this yourself?

I did, yes.

That’s where it gets really daunting, in that phase especially, because you end up with this pile of undifferentiated footage, and you’re like, ‘Wow I could continue to put this together in different combinations until the heat death of the universe!’ It’s hard to know when you’ve got it right.

It really is. And with documentaries, the editing becomes the writing of the documentary in a lot of ways. There’s prep, and there’s consideration of structure when filming, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. New things, unexpected things, happen, and as the person out there in the field, filming, I inevitably get attached to stuff. You gotta wrestle with yourself as the editor. Definitely on this project, I felt the need to begin thinking maybe for the next one I’ll get an editor.

Let me ask you about greyhounds. I get the impression that they’re very skittish dogs.

They’re much like any other dog. They have certain different kinds of ailments than other dogs. Their skin is very delicate, and the way they’re built, they’re prone to certain injuries. All of the greyhounds I encountered were very friendly. 

What opinion did you come away with about racing? 

You know, that’s a good question. It’s one of those questions I avoid. I tried to not have an opinion, and I felt like I had the luxury of not having to form an opinion because I was really focused on the adoptions and where these dogs go from here. I remained as unbiased as I could, and I just wanted depict the things I saw and tried to avoid the politics of the issue and just look at the dogs and all the work that goes into transitioning them to the next phase of their lives.