Memphis-Shelby County School (MSCS) teachers will not be allowed to carry handguns or weapons in school.
This announcement comes from the district, a month after the Tennessee legislature passed a law that allows school faculty and staff to carry weapons on campus “subject to certain conditions.” Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law on April 26.
The “united decision” for MSCS to not allow staff to carry weapons was made by superintendent Marie N. Feagins along with Shelby County sheriff Floyd Bonner and interim Memphis police chief Cerelyn (C.J.) Davis.
“On behalf of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, I want to thank Chief Davis and Sheriff Bonner for their ongoing partnership and support in keeping our students and families safe. Thank you also to the community for your commitment and collaboration in moving Memphis forward together,” Feagins said in a statement.
According to the district, a resolution was passed days after the announcement, which prohibited employees from carrying firearms on school grounds.
“The Board does not believe that arming school staff is the most effective approach for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. That is the expectation of the Board that school staff serve first and foremost as trained, focused, and dedicated educators, not law enforcement and/or security officers,” the resolution said.
They added this was not an “effective” solution for the district.
Feagins, Davis, and Bonner continue to emphasize that “firearms have no place in classrooms,” and they are “united on this issue.”
“Schools are for learning, and emergency situations should be handled by trained officers,” Bonner said.”
This controversial law went into effect in the aftermath of the Covenant School to address safety concerns in schools statewide.
Steve Cohen | Photo: U.S. House of Representatives
More than a few flutters of reaction have resulted from recent news of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s having flown an upside-down American flag at his residence in apparent support of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the nation’s Capitol.
And if Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen has his way, a truly stiff wind could be blowing Alito’s way via an official congressional reprimand.
Cohen has introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a resolution of censure, charging the arch-conservative Alito with bias, improper political activity, and a “breach of judicial ethics” for flying the upside-down flag, widely recognized as a symbol of the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” movement, in the aftermath of the insurrection.
The resolution would censure Alito “for knowingly violating the federal recusal statute and binding ethics standards and calling the impartiality of the Supreme Court of the United States into question by continuing to participate in cases in which his prior public conduct could be reasonably interpreted to demonstrate bias.” It also demands that Alito recuse himself from all litigation related to the 2020 election or the January insurrection.
Accusing Justice Alito of “poor judgment,” Cohen, a member of the house Judiciary Committee, said, “There must be accountability to protect the integrity and impartiality of the High Court. We must protect the Constitutional rights to fair and impartial proceedings.”
Responding to the high volume of criticism he has received, Alito has attempted to blame his wife for flying the upside-down flag in reaction to a neighbor’s yard signs criticizing the justice.
Among the many favorable reactions to the Cohen resolution was this one from Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability: “We commend Representative Cohen for introducing this resolution censuring Justice Alito and calling for his recusal. It is good to see members of the House Judiciary Committee taking a leadership role in holding out-of-control Supreme Court justices accountable, and this resolution is an excellent first step.”
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Memphis in May
The Shed BBQ from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, took home top honors at Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest last weekend. Teams also took wins in contests away from the smokers, like Miss Piggy Idol and barbecue sauce wrestling matches (above).
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Smokemasters BBQ took SmokeSlam’s top prize during its inaugural contest. Music, fireworks, a Ferris wheel, and more entertained the crowds at Tom Lee Park, like rapper Tone Loc (above).
News You Can Use
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Kontji Anthony wants to help you find a job. Among the many resources you’ll find at her website, kontji.com, is a massive list of Memphis-area jobs updated each week. The current list includes an airport shuttle driver, lawn care specialist, a tour guide, stylist, lots of jobs at Bass Pro and Graceland, and tons more. Let’s get to work, y’all!
“I’ve been walking in this park since the late 1980s. I grew up in Memphis, so I know every trail. When I was young, my first dog got swept down Lick Creek into the zoo. I have so many memories. But all of us who work here at the park have a passion for connecting people with nature … Oh, a white-eyed vireo! … Listen. Chick-breeyou-chick. They’re my favorites. They are such comedians!”
Fields Falcone is the rare person who can carry on a human conversation, identify an avian song and mimic it, and then return to speaking English without missing a beat. Her title is stewardship manager for the Overton Park Conservancy, but she is a scientist/avian biologist who’s conducted field and lab work as far away as the Marianas Islands and as near as the Memphis Zoo. Today, she is taking an amateur bird-lover — namely me — on a bird walk in the park’s Old Forest.
“There are only three urban old-growth forests in the country,” says Falcone. “We manage the habitat here mostly by invasive species removal and by trying to control how many trails there are. Beyond that, it’s so ancient that it’s a perfect habitat for many interior forest birds. During the spring and fall migrations many species stop in for a snack, then move on after a few days to bigger wooded areas like the Wolf River or Hatchie River or T.O. Fuller — or further north to their breeding grounds. … Oh, that’s an eastern wood peewee. … Its song is so plaintive.”
In addition to its migratory visitors, which offer “some of the best birding in Memphis,” Overton Park has a healthy population of resident and migratory breeding species, and Falcone appears acutely aware of all of them. “We do a lot of birding by ear,” she says. “And really, when we’re doing a survey, vocals tend to be more valuable, especially song versus call. It’s of higher value than even a perfect picture because it is the true genetic imprint of the bird.”
We both have our Merlin bird-identification phone apps turned on as we walk, careful to keep our footsteps as quiet as possible. It’s a necessary tool for me, and probably of more use as a backup identifier for Falcone.
“Merlin is great, and accessible for everyone,” she says. I’m reassured, and chance a guess at a song echoing through the treetops.
“Isn’t that a robin?”
“No, that’s a red-eyed vireo,” Falcone says. “It sounds like a robin on helium.” Well, sure. I knew that.
“And that’s a great crested flycatcher,” she says, head turned to the lower branches. “Breeep, breep. It’s pretty birdy today, even though most of the spring migration period is over. I wasn’t sure it would be.”
There will soon be some new territory between the zoo and the forest opening up for Old Forest trail walkers, thanks to a land-use compromise that finally ends occasional zoo parking on the park’s Greensward.
“We’re going to have some lovely new trails,” says Falcone. “Bob’s Trees and Trails has already mapped the area. We got a federal grant with the help of Congressman Cohen to help settle the final plans on the Greensward. The zoo got a chunk, the city got a chunk, and Overton Park got a chunk. We’re designing a loop trail around the Greensward and there will finally be no parking there. We have a great relationship with Matt Thompson, the zoo CEO.”
A young couple, each carrying binoculars, approaches. They are smiling, and say something to Falcone but I don’t catch it. “Ooh,” she says, “They heard a black-throated green warbler. They make this insane, brilliant, lovely song — gee, geegeegee — but they’re only here for migration.”
And I’m only here for this awesome bird walk (and my daily dog walks), but I urge you to check Overton Park’s calendar for nature programs, tai chi, science cafe, and other activities. It’s a great respite from the city’s heat and hustle. And if you’re lucky, you might even run into the remarkable Fields Falcone. If you do, tell her Bruce says, “breeep.”
Flying Tigers by John Lee (Photo: Courtesy John Lee)
When SunAh Laybourn founded Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Memphis in 2023, she knew an art show would always be a part of the annual activities. After all, the 2022 removal, and eventual reinstallation, of photographer Tommy Kha’s Elvis-inspired portrait in the Memphis International Airport was just one of the events that got the University of Memphis professor thinking about Asian-American representation, and, sadly, anti-Asian hate, in Memphis.
For that first AAPI Heritage Month art show, Laybourn chose the title “Asian American in the South.” “That approach for me last year,” she says, “was really just making the statement that Asian Americans are in the shadows, but we’re part of the South, and so I love to be able to see all of the creativity from all the artists. It was really a lot about identity-making.”
This year’s show — “Between Heaven and Earth, We Build Our Home” — is an expansion of that. “The theme of the exhibition is about family and home and ancestry, kind of like how we communicate and pass down knowledge and wisdom and lessons from generation to generation,” says Neena Wang, the show’s curator. “The theme really just came out of the pieces that I [was sent]. Everybody was sending in work about family, about their relatives, about ancestry.”
Participating are Thandi Cai, Sai Clayton, Sharon Havelka, Vivian Havelka, John Lee, Christine Yerie Lee, Huifu Ma, Susan Mah, Lili Nacht, Yangbin Park, Neena Wang, and Yidan Zeng. All are AAPI individuals from Memphis or living in the South, whose art showcases a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, textile, photography, video, and performance.
Wang and Laybourn also point out that “Between Heaven and Earth” marks UrbanArt Commission’s first show by an outside organization. “I think what’s great about having this partnership with UrbanArt is that the show will be on view for a few weeks [through June 19th],” Laybourn says. “Last year was just one night only.”
“Between Heaven and Earth” opens on Saturday, May 25th, with a reception featuring a special performance by the MengCheng Collective (Cai, Nacht, Wang, and Zeng). Nacht and Zeng will also lead a free Raise Your Flag workshop on Sunday, May 26th, 2 to 5 p.m. “They’re going to do a cyanotype flag-making workshop,” Wang says. “The idea is making a flag as a representation of place because the theme of the show is very much about building your own place as an immigrant or as an outsider.” Participants can register in advance at bit.ly/mcraiseflag.
Anyone who has been paying attention to hot-button issues in law enforcement is aware that the matter of incarcerated inmates with mental illnesses is one of them — and one of the most complex as well.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ ongoing proposal to build an expansive new facility to house and treat those prisoners is one response — and the mayor has come in for much praise for it, especially since he intends to proceed without asking for a tax increase, by accessing federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds received by the county at the height of the Covid epidemic.
And Sheriff Floyd Bonner had indicated lately that he was on the verge of issuing an RFP (request for proposal) to local medical facilities for establishing an inpatient treatment program for the most severely impaired, those inmates who have been formally adjudged by the courts to be incompetent to stand trial.
It is such inmates, languishing in jail as a de facto permanent population, who have been the source of numerous disturbances and highly publicized unsanitary behavior noted by the news media and would-be reformers alike. And they are a primary reason for Bonner’s recent decision to back away from supervising youthful offenders to focus on hard-core issues among adult offenders.
As it happens, Bonner is the custodian not only of such issues but of some $2.7 million in allocated and unspent funds for dealing with them, and in testimony last week at the county commission’s committee sessions had floated the idea of the aforementioned RFP.
That money, largely derived from a settlement from drug companies and manufacturers involved in the proliferation of opioids, was set aside by the county as a replacement of sorts for a similar sum originally budgeted in 2022 at the behest of former County Commissioner Van Turner for treatment of those inmates deemed incompetent to stand trial by reason of their impairment.
Much of that original outlay ended up, however, being routed into the coffers of the county’s specialty courts (tribunals focused on drugs, veterans, and, in the most general sense, those with mental health conditions). Some of it was destined for CAAP (Cocaine and Alcohol Awareness Program), where it could be put to useful ends, but not for the original purpose of inpatient treatment of the most seriously incapacitated inmates.
Meanwhile County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon sponsored a resolution that became a core part of the agenda at this commission’s regular public meeting Monday night. She apparently proposed routing another $500,000 to CAAP from the currently available funding stock of $2,700,000.
David Upton, a spokesperson for the original funding plan, which envisioned an inpatient program, made an impassioned plea to retain the $500,000 in the sheriff’s budget.
At one point in the commission’s discussion of the resolution, Commissioner Mick Wright allowed as how he was doing his best to comprehend the overriding issue but was having trouble understanding what funds were available and for what purpose.
He doubtless spoke for many who had difficulty following the money and the competing claimants for it. Ultimately the commission deferred voting on the resolution and will try to unravel the complications of the matter at its next meeting.
Jamila Wignot was nervous. It was Friday night, May 17, 2024, at Crosstown Theater in Midtown Memphis, and she was about to premiere the first episode of her latest HBO documentary series Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. to a hometown crowd. The sold-out house was full of Memphis music royalty: David Porter, Al Bell, Deanie Parker, Eddie Floyd, the list goes on.
“It’s like somebody was just saying to me, ‘Didn’t Janis Joplin get booed in Memphis?’ And I was like, ‘Exactly!’ That’s why I was nervous,” Wignot says on a Zoom interview a few days later.
Turns out, she needn’t have worried. The crowd responded to “Chapter One: ’Cause I Love You” with a Cannes-level standing ovation. During the Q&A after the screening, Deanie Parker, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music’s first CEO, seemed taken aback. “This really has been an emotional experience for me,” she says. “I think it’s because, while we achieved a lot, we did it in about a decade — which is astounding! We made a mark globally.”
Booker T. Jones, Donald “Duck” Dunn, David Porter, Al Jackson Jr., Bonnie Bramlett, Delaney Bramlett, Isaac Hayes, and Steve Cropper (Photo: Courtesy Don Nix Collection/OKPOP)
Wignot says her involvement with the Stax story started as she was finishing up her last documentary, a portrait of modern dance pioneer Alvin Ailey. “I’ve been working in documentary filmmaking, particularly historical documentary filmmaking, for a long time. But I came out of a kind of PBS model of documentaries that were narrated by a kind of ‘Voice of God’ narrator. They used archival [film and stills], but there were very specific ways that you had to use it at that time. With Ailey, I finally got to do the kind of documentary filmmaking that I like to do, which is first-person, kind of witness-driven documentary filmmaking. As a kid, I saw Eyes on the Prize and thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’ When you are hearing from somebody who was there on the front lines, and then you’re seeing them in the archival footage, it all just feels very immersive and alive and urgent.
“On the heels of that, I was then approached first by Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow who made O.J.: Made in America. We’d all been friends for a very long time. Ezra said, ‘I’m working with this company, White Horse Pictures, and we’re looking for somebody who wants to direct a series on Stax Records, and do you think you’d be into it?’ And I was just immediately like, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’”
Bruce Talamon and Isaac Hayes at the 1972 Wattstax concert (Photo: Howard Bingham)
Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. skillfully blends interviews with the surviving players and extensively researched archival footage from the label’s heyday. “I don’t bother to interview RZA, who’s a diehard fan of the label. There’s no Justin Timberlake, there’s no Elton John, there’s no Paul McCartney. I was not interested in having the kind of secondary fan in there, just appreciating it. I wanted to understand how the label came together, the experiences of the people on the ground, and then let the music do the work of generating enthusiasm.”
The story is one of triumphant highs, stunning reversals of fortune, and missed opportunities, such as the time The Beatles tried and failed to schedule a recording session at the Stax studio on McLemore Avenue. (“Had that happened, for sure Ringo and Paul would’ve been up in this documentary!” says Wignot.)
Wignot’s approach is immediate and visceral. In one priceless take, shot in Booker T. Jones’ Nevada home, the Stax organist and arranger walks us through the creation of the timeless instrumental “Green Onions,” explaining how the song works from a music theory standpoint. It’s a little like watching Albert Einstein sketch out the equations for general relativity on a cocktail napkin.
“The thing that’s so incredible about Booker T. Jones is, he’s quite a quiet guy. Put him in front of a crowd and he’s like, ‘I’m ready!’ But then put him in a more intimate setting, and that’s not his milieu, which I love about performers. So he walked in and he said, ‘Oh, I’m feeling a little bit nervous and shy.’ He looked amazing, that blue suit and the hat, everything styled to perfection. And he said, ‘I’m going to sit at the piano and just start playing. It helps me settle down.’ As we were finishing up our setup, Booker T. Jones — Booker T. Jones! — is giving us a private concert. You’re trying to act like it’s very normal and not to go full fan-girl on him, just like, ‘How is this happening?’ The cameraman is like, ‘The light’s going to go here?’ And we’re like, ‘The guy is doing his thing RIGHT NOW.’
“Finally, I said, ‘[‘Green Onions’], it’s such a classic, that song. Since the process of working in Stax was so spontaneous, it could feel like things just kind of emerged out of nothing, give it to me. What’s the thought process? How do you get to this song?’ He was already at the piano, and he just started explaining it. It’s hands down one of my favorite scenes in the whole series. … Once you understand how ‘Green Onions’ came about, do you really need a famous person to talk about how much they love that song?”
The fact that Stax soul was chronically underappreciated by both the music industry and music press is a recurring theme in the series. In the intro, Parker promises to tell uncomfortable truths about how the powers-that-be never really wanted the company to succeed. The racial discrimination of the Jim Crow-era South is never far from the surface of the story, such as the time the label’s first breakout star, Carla Thomas, had to ride the service elevator to get to a meeting with the head of Atlantic Records.
It wasn’t until the Stax/Volt Revue toured Europe in the spring of 1967 that the Black musicians realized what it was like to be respected for their music, and not judged for the color of their skin. The segment of “’Cause I Love You” documenting the tour is powerful, says David Porter. “You could see a little bit of it, as an artist looking at the film, but to be there and to see that energy and that spirit was all over that space. There were people who were enjoying that music just breaking down and crying, getting tremendously emotional when they looked at Otis Redding, or Sam & Dave, or Eddie Floyd. It was something to see.”
Sam Moore acts as an informal narrator for the story of the tour, as you see his younger version hyping up a crowd of Norwegian teens. “There’s so many different films that have been able to make use of this material,” says Wignot. “Thank God it exists, but I was thinking, how do you take something that’s been often seen and give it a new life, a new kind of vitality? … When Sam Moore started talking about his love of the church, I wanted to get that in there, but not the way it is often told, up front. That’s the story of how R&B came together, in a way. It’s so central to what moves him as an artist. We have him talking about the power of the preacher to communicate. I just love in documentaries when you see somebody thinking. Then he says, ‘I would do anything to get that crowd to do a show with me.’ And that is so powerful because he’s not just trying to ‘turn them on.’ Even there, there’s a collective exchange, ‘Come with me, let’s do this together. …’
“The challenge of scenes like that, is how do you do it so that the music gets to live, so that we experience it as viewers as if we were there in the concert? But you’re adding just enough commentary that you’re not speaking on top of the scene, and you’re communicating what was going on emotionally for the performer. So there’s a real balance of too much dialogue versus too little dialogue, and understanding that the material is incredible in and of itself.”
“Chapter One” ends on the high note of the tour, says Wignot. “Episode one builds the way that ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ builds as a song. It was informed by Jim Stewart saying he thinks that that’s the song that best sums up the kind of spirit of Stax. It’s collaboration. It starts with one thing and then another thing gets laid on top and another. It just kind of builds over time and then becomes this big, explosive powerhouse climax of a song.”
“As you go forward with each of these segments, you’re gonna find that it is gonna get heavy. It’s gonna get fun, it’s gonna get powerful because it is alive,” says Porter. “The camaraderie that was between us, enjoying it, was shown in this film. It was a different time, and not a sweet time. We applauded what Jim [Stewart] was doing, giving us the freedom to go into the studio and do that. Everybody worked together in such a cohesive way, and there was a love and magic that happened in a continual way from day to day, hour to hour, all the way to the midnight hour. All that we would do, we’d have fun doing it. Because music is never good unless you can feel the joy inside of doing it.”
When TaKeisha Berry Brooks set out on her career path, she had no idea where it would lead. A love for styling hair grew into much more, something that would ultimately empower her — and her community.
The South Memphis native has cemented herself as a natural hair stylist and pioneer. She’s the CEO and founder of A Natural Affair hair salon, with locations in Memphis and Cordova, which specializes in natural hair care transitioning and maintenance for locs. Brooks and her husband also own the hair care brand De•Fine Natural Hair.
This year marks a special one for Brooks, as she’s celebrating 15 years of having an “established salon.” “It’s a celebration within itself,” she says. “Business is hard. Business is very hard to not only get up and running, but also to maintain and keep a running engine.”
Along with commemoration, there’s reflection and introspection, as Brooks’ story goes beyond the walls of her business.
Beauty Shop Youth
Growing up in the historic Glenview community, Brooks was raised by her mom, Shirley Pruitt, and her grandmother, Mable Washington Ivory. Brooks’ mother would later get married, and through this union, she learned the value of entrepreneurship, as her parents ran a successful real estate company, A Mortgage Link.
While business was always “her foundation,” one of the most influential players in Brooks’ upbringing was the hair salon. From an early age, she saw the salon wasn’t just a business. It served as a way for her and her mother to spend time with one another — Saturday at the beauty salon was their time. Getting their hair styled together gave Brooks and her mother the opportunity to bond, but it also gave Brooks the chance to see the inner workings of the shop, and how it came to life.
“I remember running around during the early part of my years and my mom used to take us every week, or every two weeks. It was a big part of my life,” Brooks says. “Just getting my hair done and experiencing different stylists in the salon — and we stayed at these salons for years. It wasn’t one of these things where we were jumping all over the place — we had established relationships with these stylists. They were always making everybody pretty and they were always making money.”
This gave her glimpse into a world in which she’d later make a name for herself. For Brooks, there is a life before and after realizing the magic within the salon. At first, she saw stylists as simply professionals providing services to clientele in need of primping. But when she was around 12 or 13 years old, she started to take interest in it as an art. “I would walk up to them and watch them do hair,” Brooks says. “Some of them would let me and some would be like ‘why am I staring at them’ as if it was a bad thing. What they didn’t know is I was so inspired and amazed by what they were doing.”
While uncovering that magic would be essential to her dream, the concept of community found within would forever be at the center of her vision.
Style, Naturally
After becoming a licensed cosmetologist in 1998, Brooks realized natural hair wasn’t in the mainstream like other Black hair services. “It was a very small community of clients, and it was a very small community of stylists at the time that were offering natural hair and braiding services,” she explains.
Brooks is candid about how she didn’t always embrace her own natural hair, and natural hair wasn’t even what she originally sought out to do. She was initially driven by the trendy styles of the time such as weaves and relaxers. Brooks felt that catering to popular culture was crucial to her success, but she soon found her calling would pull her in the opposite direction.
These were the wild west days of natural hair licensing, and while she had a full cosmetology license, she found herself only serving the small percentage of women who had decided to wear their hair chemically unaltered. This was also when Brooks began to perfect her craft with the help of her fellow stylist, Donna Bookman.
“She was one of my salon mates and was the one who really taught me a lot of the natural hair [techniques] like partings and things of that nature. I already had a sense of doing it, but she helped fine-tune it more for me,” Brooks says.
This would be the start of her journey toward mastering the art. Brooks soon saw an opportunity to fill a much-needed gap in the industry, and she took the next step in becoming a natural hair specialist by offering Sisterlocks services in the area. The styling method, created by JoAnne Cornwell, from San Diego, California, in 1992, uses a locking tool to install micro-thin dreadlocks with a locking pattern.
“My mom is the one who invested in me. She had Sisterlocks before people were getting Sisterlocks. She sent me to Atlanta, and I took the class and I came back and started establishing Sisterlocks [here],” Brooks says. “I was the second person in the state of Tennessee to actually take the training and be certified.”
At the time, Brooks saw that being able to offer “a trademarked system” to her clients was a big deal. But she didn’t realize how impactful it would be. Natural hair wasn’t just a hairstyle, but a lifestyle — and, in some cases, a form of liberation.
From there, Brooks delved further into natural hair care. “My path and my journey began to take me on something different,” she says. “That was number-one starting out with Lisa Akbari. For a brief time I worked for her, and one of the things I learned [about] was that she has a trichology facility.”
Akbari serviced clients who were experiencing hair loss and suffering from conditions such as alopecia. The harmful effects of chemical relaxers weren’t widely understood at this time, but Brooks’ exposure to this side of hair care made her rethink her role in the industry. “We didn’t have the knowledge that we have now that chemicals and chemical relaxers were very damaging,” she says. “I just knew that I didn’t want my people [losing hair and] trying to get their hair back.”
She began to build a dedicated clientele requesting braids (which she mastered with the help of Fatou Jangum), micro braids, locs, and more. And while Brooks’ work spoke for itself, her clients began to question her true commitment to natural hair.
“A few clients who were committed to me were like, ‘Okay, when are you going to practice what you preach?’ Like, you can’t be doing natural hair and you have relaxed hair,” Brooks recalls.
She took her clients’ remarks to heart. In order to inspire and teach, she needed to become an expert in her own hair.
“People got to be able to visually see me become and be what I was selling,” she says. “At the end of they day they were in a space where they were wanting information. There wasn’t a whole lot of us out here giving the information, or who could even translate the information because we didn’t know what was happening in this community that was being built.”
Brooks grew her natural hair out and “embraced what she was transitioning to become. … I haven’t had a relaxer since 1999,” she says.
As natural hair became a mainstay in both Brooks’ life and the Black community, it beckoned to be celebrated. Brooks notes when more people saw the versatility of their hair in its natural state it called them to try different updos and styles. The movement had come a long way culturally, but societally it still faced obstacles. While women and men have celebrated their manes for years, systemic inequities halted progress in the world at large.
Be Who You Are
Brooks calls the early reception of natural hair in the workplace “very discriminatory.” She remembers having clients coming in to get their natural hair styled but opting to throw on a wig because they had a job interview to prepare for. “For a long time that was a big thing, and I realized that was something I had to learn how to help these women become comfortable with — being who they are,” Brooks says.
Her salon became a source of empowerment as she helped women take on a world that had misconstrued ideas about what professionalism looked like. But these charges weren’t germane to her salon, nor her clientele.
One of the stories crucial to understanding Brooks’ legacy as a changemaker is told with the help of her oldest daughter, Destini Berry (25).
Growing up in a salon provided Berry the opportunity to not only be in a space where she was surrounded by women that looked like her, but where they were praised for their individuality. Without these experiences, she says, she may have had an “identity crisis.”
Berry recounts her childhood, saying she “had a lot of problems with her hair.” She was enrolled in a predominantly white school as a child, which impacted her concept of beauty. She was suffocated by the celebration of Eurocentric beauty standards and recalls believing that features such as “long, blond hair” were the desirable aesthetics — a stark contrast to her locs. “I didn’t see anybody that looked like me in the school.”
These comparisons followed her into her extracurriculars, as Berry was also enrolled in ballet. Ballet was something she adored, but it was always associated with the word “neat.” It seemed to be an aspirational word to describe movement, technique, and, of course, appearance.
Her instructor didn’t deem Berry’s locs appropriate for a recital and told her she wouldn’t be allowed to dance unless her hair was changed. Berry remembers crying, thinking she would have to cut her hair off in order to adhere to the ballet school’s standards. However, through this, her mother was at her side and fought for her to dance with her locs in place. Ultimately, Berry was allowed to do just that.
“My mom was awesome in that situation,” Berry says. “She fought for me and she really explained discrimination to me at a young age, being profiled that young and not understanding the magnitude of that situation. Now that I am an adult, I appreciate how my mom handled it.”
While Brooks believes Berry’s story is her own to tell (she even wrote a book about it, titled I Just Kept Spinning), it marks a moment in which she stood her ground. This tale is symbolic of Brooks’ role as a mother, but it also shows her passion for change and fighting for people. Berry’s right to dance sparked a conversation, and it served as an opportunity for the community to reassess what was deemed “professional” and “neat.”
“That created a sense of respect, for me, as an impactful leader in the community,” Brooks says. “Not only taking up for my daughter, but exposing people to the fact that my daughter has natural hair, someone just tried to stop my daughter from being who she was naturally, and basically telling her. ‘It’s something wrong with you.’ How dare you tell someone that? Especially a child?”
Through advocating for her daughter, Brooks gained the wherewithal and knowledge to teach her clients about what discrimination looked like.
“I’m telling these Black women, ‘Hey this is what’s happening.’ This [was] me educating Black women about what discrimination is against natural hair, especially in the workplace.”
In an effort to further advocate for the community at large, in 2012 Brooks founded the Naturals In The City Hair and Wellness Expo in Memphis. “It was a community awareness event for the then-growing natural hair movement, educating and celebrating natural hair and wellness enthusiasts,” Brooks says. “It included classes, a vendor market, positive pageants, fashion, brunches, and more. It introduced and exposed small businesses that served a need and local and national experts who educated attendees on proper hair care, product knowledge, mental health practices, and healthy food and wellness options.”
Brooks often receives requests to revive the expo. She says it served its purpose then, but she has ideas about how it can serve those in the future.
Change and Growth
A lot has changed in the way society reveres and respects natural hair since then. The CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act was passed in Tennessee in 2022, which prohibits companies from discriminating against their employees based on their hairstyles. “I think that has helped with taming the discrimination against natural hair and how we wear our hair,” Brooks says.
Brooks’ career is also marked by change — and milestones of her contributions toward natural hair acceptance. But that journey has been more than hers alone.
“[It’s] not just the people whose hair I’ve done, but also all the people I have encountered and all the people who come in and have worked under me, who have learned and grown in their own ways, which shows I’ve done what I’m supposed to do as a leader.”
The opening of A Natural Affair 15 years ago was Brooks’ transition into business ownership, and even with the remarkable success of her salon thus far, she knows there’s more work to be done.
“I really haven’t talked about the space where I am now,” Brooks says. “I say it all the time, ‘Yes I’m retired from behind the chair, but I’m still working’ — it’s not one of those things where I’m sitting back with my feet kicked up.”
Brooks received her educator’s training from Empire Beauty School in 2016, which allowed her to help “mold emerging students to professional and knowledgeable natural hair professionals.” In 2017 Brooks became an educator for Design Essentials Haircare after being recommended by Emmitt Bracey, Mid-South regional distributor for the brand. She later worked in educator roles at the Natural Hair Industry Convention under leader Susan Peterkin, and recently at the Bronner Bros. International Beauty Show, the largest gathering of multicultural beauty professionals in the U.S.
In 2022, A Natural Affair became the first salon to be a signature partner with Memphis Shelby County Schools’ College, Career, and Technical Education cosmetology program, through which students gain career training and experience via work study while also attending school during the day. Students are able to earn their cosmetology license in high school.
Today, Brooks continues mentoring and teaching the stylists at her salon, and through her work, inspires new generations of aspiring cosmetologists and hair enthusiasts.
Brooks lists a number of key players in her success, including her family, clients, and Mae Smith, owner of Essentials Beauty Supply, who gave her her first set of supplies when she was 20 years old. “She told me to come back and pay her when I start making money. I did just that, and I make sure I support her beauty supply to this day.”
“What I’ve gained from having A Natural Affair is that the more I have had it, the more it reveals to me and what I’m supposed to be doing, and how I’m supposed to be helping,” Brooks says. “It went from just being me to now having over 15 people working for me.”
And there’s no telling how many children come through the salon and are inspired in the same way she was in her youth.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, you will experience uncomfortable weirdness if you do the following: 1. Meander without focus or purpose; 2. Give yourself permission to postpone, procrastinate, and engage in avoidance behavior; 3. Ignore the interesting, though challenging, truths that are right in front of you; 4. Hang out with people with mediocre ambitions. But you will experience healthy, uplifting oddness if you do the following: 1. Trust your instincts and intuitions; 2. Authorize your spontaneity to invigorate and guide you; 3. Take the straightforward path that gets you to the destination most efficiently; 4. Be crisp and nimble.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Mysterious energies will soon begin healing at least some of the wounds in your financial genius. As a result, I predict new powers of attraction will awaken in you, making it likely you will add to your wealth in the coming months. To synergize these happy developments, I recommend you give yourself permission to have joyous fun as you lust for more cash. More good news: I will supplement your good fortune by casting a benevolent spell to boost the flow of riches into your bank account.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When I first got my job writing a horoscope column, I wasn’t looking for it. It found me. My bike had been stolen, and I was looking for a new one in the classified ads of the Good Times, the local Santa Cruz newspaper. There I serendipitously spied a “Help Wanted” ad. The publisher of the Good Times was hiring a new astrology writer to replace Robert Cole, who had just quit. I quickly applied for the gig and got it. Ever since, Robert Cole has been a symbol for me of an accidental and unexpected opportunity appearing out of nowhere. I mention this, Gemini, because when I meditate on you lately, I see the face of Robert Cole.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In myths and legends, the consummate spiritual goal has various names: the Holy Grail, philosopher’s stone, pearl of great price, nirvana, alchemical gold, key of life, and many others. I appreciate this profusion of sacred symbols. It encourages us to not be too literal about identifying the highest reward. The old fables are equally equivocal about where the prize can be found. Is it in an empty desert or a dark forest? In the deepest abyss, on a mountaintop, or in the backyard? I bring these thoughts to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming months will be an excellent time to conduct a quest for the marvelous treasure. What do you need most right now? What’s the best way to begin your search?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I have good news for any Leos who are devoted to pragmatism and rational analysis. Just this once, my horoscope will offer no lyrical teasers or mystical riddles. Your pressing need for no-nonsense grit has moved me to offer straightforward, unembellished counsel. Here it is, dear: Cultivate connections that will serve your passionate ambitions. Make vigorous use of your network and community to gather information that will serve your passionate ambitions. Meditate on what course corrections might be necessary to serve your passionate ambitions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): For many of you Virgos, your health seems chronically unsettled. You may be constantly hyper-vigilant about the next glitch that could possibly affect your well-being. There’s a problem with that approach: It may intensify your fear of frailty, which in turn saps your vigor. But I’m happy to report that in the coming months, you will have an enhanced power to break out of this pattern. To get started, try this: Every morning for four minutes, picture yourself overflowing with vitality. Visualize every part of your body working with joyful heartiness. Send streams of love and gratitude to all your organs. Do this for the next 21 days.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Many people regard the word “faith” as referring to delusional hope or wishful thinking. But I ask you to rethink its meaning — and consider the possibility that it could be an empowering force in the coming months. How? Imagine a faith that’s earthy and robust. You actually feel it vibrating in your heart and gut. It literally alters your brain chemistry, fortifying your natural talents and attracting needed resources. It liberates you to feel pragmatically excited as you pursue your goal of fulfilling your soul’s code.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When I was born, my parents gave me the name “Robert.” It’s derived from an Old North French word meaning “shining” and “bright with glory.” In Middle English, though, “robert” was a designation for “a wastrel, a marauder, a good-for-nothing.” I use this dichotomy as a reminder that my own nature is a mix of brightness and darkness. A lot of me is shining and inspirational, but there’s also a part that’s ignorant and confused. And what’s true about me is true about everyone else, including you: We are blends of the best and the not-so-best. Now is a good time to draw strength and wisdom from meditating on this reality. Your shadowy aspects have important and interesting truths to reveal to your brilliant aspects — and vice versa.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Here are some meditations on emotions. They are as key to our intelligence as our thoughts! But it’s crucial that we distinguish between emotions generated by delusions and emotions that are responses to true perceptions. Let’s say I get angry because I imagine a friend stole money from my room while visiting, but then later I put on my vest and find the supposedly stolen cash in the vest pocket. That is a delusional emotion. But if I am sad because my friend’s beloved dog is sick, that is emotion based on an accurate perception. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius because I believe it is essential that in the coming weeks you discern between the two types.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): As an adjunct to the Ten Commandments, I have formulated the Ten Suggestions. Here’s Suggestion #1: Wash your own brain at least three times a year. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course. What I mean is that like me and everyone else, you are always accumulating junky thoughts and useless feelings. Some are generated by our old, conditioned responses, and some pour into us from the media and entertainment industries. And it’s best to be proactive about the toxic build-up — not allow it to become monumental. In my astrological opinion, now is an excellent time for a regular mind cleanse.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): So many writers have said terrible things about our existence on planet Earth. “Life is a disease,” wrote George Bernard Shaw. “Life is a bad dream,” declared Eugene O’Neill. Life is “a vast cold junkpile,” according to Stephen King. There are thousands more of these unnuanced disparagements. Why? Here are the facts, as I see them: As tough as it can be to navigate through problems and pain, being alive in our miraculous bodies with our dazzling awareness is a sublime gift. We are all blessed with a mysterious and fascinating destiny. In accordance with the astrological omens, Aquarius, I invite you to celebrate being alive with extra gratitude and ebullience. Begin the jubilee by feeling amazement and awe for your mysterious and fascinating destiny. Second step: Identify five sublime gifts in your life.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the coming weeks, I ask you to refrain from indulging in extreme nostalgia. On the other hand, I encourage you to explore the past and sift through memories with the intention of clarifying what really happened back then. Pluck new lessons from the old days that will help you forge smart decisions in the near future. Use your history as a resource while you redefine the meanings of pivotal events. For extra credit, create a new title for the book you may someday write about your life story.
Protection work is the bread and butter for most spiritual practitioners. It is something that can and probably should be done on a regular basis along with cleansing work, and it never hurts to do. You can do it whenever you feel like you need to, or you can make it a part of your regular routine.
Cleansing and protection go hand in hand. When you do a cleansing, you are removing unwanted energies from your property and purifying your space. In an ideal situation, you may want to perform a thorough cleansing before doing your protection work. However, you do not have to cleanse before asking for protection. Yes, cleansing is often considered the first step, but it is not required and sometimes it’s not feasible.
If you add cleansing your space and doing protection work as part of your routine, this will keep your home or space purified and protected and doing it regularly will increase the potency of your work over time.
Many people don’t think of doing protection work until we need it. And in these situations, taking the time to cleanse may not be realistic. Although cleansing on a regular basis is good spiritual hygiene, it is not necessarily required before you do any protection work, even if you have the time and means to cleanse beforehand.
Because protection is so important, there are many ways you can energetically and spiritually protect yourself. Placing gemstones around your home is an easy way of adding protection. Gemstones that are dark in color are typically used for this purpose, although amethyst breaks the color rule and is great for everything. You can also create herbal amulets, also known as gris-gris bags or mojo bags, with protective herbs and gemstones to place around your space.
Some of the best protection workings you can do, though, are ones that no one knows about and that no one can see. Creating energetic wards or shields around your home is one way to add some invisible protection. Another way is to bless or charge items in your home to be protective.
You can use any item that already exists in your home and charge it with the intention that this item is now protecting your home. Many people use door wreaths or other décor near their entryways for this. You can also create something new for this purpose. Break out the arts and crafts and create a special piece to be hung where you feel like you need protection the most. While you are working on it, remember why you are creating the piece (for protection) and put that energy into whatever it is you are making.
You can also create an energetic ward around your home. We don’t have the space to get into energy work, which is the foundation of creating wards, but that is something you can look up online or come ask us about at The Broom Closet.
Energetic wards are a type of protection work used to guard against negative energies. To create a ward on your home, you will want to visualize a sphere encircling your home. It needs to go all around, over it, and underneath it. Once you see this sphere in your mind’s eye, you will want to infuse it with protective energy. Think about the kinds of protection you need from the ward while you are visualizing it.
All protection workings will need to be revisited at some point and refreshed. In my experience, wards and other energetic-based workings may need a little more maintenance than other types of workings. If you are not yet an experienced energy worker, you may want to check in on your wards more often. The more experience you have working with energy, the stronger your skills will be and the less maintenance you will have to do.
As you go about your summer and work on your to-do list, don’t forget to add protecting your home to your list. It’s always better to be proactive than reactive.
Emily Guenther is a co-owner of The Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.
