As the controversial bill requiring gun safety courses to be taught in Tennessee schools moves through the legislature, local voices are voicing their support.
Earlier this month Republican legislation, HB 2882, was introduced and would require gun safety curriculum to be added to the existing Tennessee Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act. Parents would not be able to opt their child out of training, and students could begin learning in grades as early as pre-K.
When the bill was announced, many opposed the proposal as it “accepts gun violence as school as a new normal,” while others believe it addresses the reality of how many children are actually exposed to guns.
Gun safety advocate Bennie Cobb said a lot has changed in terms of gun exposure from when he was growing up. As a child, Cobb said he knew of people who had guns, but they weren’t “as readily available” as they are now.
“I had very limited exposure to guns until I got into law enforcement,” Cobb said. “I was commander of the SWAT team, I taught training academy, and I had the honor of attending the FBI National Academy in Quantico. In my law enforcement experience I never saw guns being displayed or possessed to the extent that they are now.”
Cobb says this exposure has led to a lot of gun violence in the city; however, he believes guns themselves are not the issue, but the lack of education and “respect for the gun” is.
“We passed the permitless carry process in Tennessee several years ago and people are walking around with guns who don’t have any understanding, knowledge, and education about the safe handling of guns,” said Cobb. “Law enforcement is doing the best that they can with the resources that they have as far as violent crimes.”
After retiring from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Bennie Cobb opened Eagle Eye Security and Training Services, where he focuses on handgun training, self defense, and more. Through his business, Cobb has trained police officers and other members of law enforcement as well as local citizens.
“We also train young people in gun safety,” Cobb said. “We emphasize safe storage which is gun locks and safes to keep young people from getting their hands on guns. What we do is we try to educate as many people as we can, starting with the children.”
Cobb’s involvement with gun organizations such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) led him to finding out about the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA). This resulted in Cobb founding 901 Brothers And Sisters Keepers, the NAAGA chapter in Memphis, who are supporters of HB 2882.
Photo: Bennie Cobb
Prior to founding the NAAGA chapter in Memphis, Cobb’s business focused on teaching young people about gun safety, which he funded out of his own pocket, as he had a vested interest as a father and a grandfather that future generations would have increased knowledge and education about gun safety and the dangers guns pose.
While Cobb emphasizes the importance of teaching gun safety to children, he also offers the same training to adults, as their involvement plays a large role as well. He said since kids can’t buy guns, they are often exposed to a gun that was left unattended by a family member.
“Most of them in [our training] had no knowledge about guns,” said Cobb. “This is more important now than ever before. We’re permitless carry, walking around with semi-automatic rifles. The weapon of choice is an AR-15 or AK-47 when the rap music used to be about glocks.”
Cobb said gun education is crucial due to the different “variables” that are available now. He said gun safety curriculum in schools should not be a “one-time deal” but a continuing thing from grade to grade.
“If you’re educating and introducing all these young people in the city and school system to gun education, gun safety, respecting the gun, not shooting anybody, it’s going to have an effect on those young people as they get older, and continuing education will help reduce the same gun violence that we’re seeing in the streets now.”
Ford BlueOval City, photographed while under construction in April 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)
A high-stakes battle over the future of Tennessee’s wetlands has been playing out behind closed doors in recent weeks, with developers and environmental groups furiously lobbying on opposite sides of a bill to drastically roll back regulations.
The bill by Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R-Collierville) would limit state oversight over more than 430,000 acres of Tennessee wetlands. That’s more than half of the state’s critical ecosystems, which serve as a bulwark against floods and droughts, replenish aquifers and are prized by hunters, anglers and nature lovers.
Environmental groups warn that the proposed bill, if enacted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, could inflict irreparable harm on future generations.
“The proposed legislation favors the interests of developers over the safety of future flood victims and pocketbooks of Tennessee taxpayers,” said George Nolan, senior attorney and director of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Tennessee.
“Once a developer fills and paves over a wetland, it is gone forever. This is no time to repeal laws that have protected our wetlands for the last 50 years,” he said.
Vaughan called the measure an overdue check on red tape that costs developers time and money; he has denied weakened wetland regulation could lead to increased flooding.
The proposed legislation favors the interests of developers over the safety of future flood victims and pocketbooks of Tennessee taxpayers.
– George Nolan, Southern Environmental Law Center
He has accused state environmental regulators of “bureaucratic overreach” and “unnecessary inflation on the cost of construction” and pointed to the urgent need for relief from regulation given a building boom in the region he represents, where a new Ford plant is going up in Stanton just 40 miles from the offices of Township Properties, Vaughan’s real estate and development company.
“My district is one that is different from a lot of other people’s districts. We’re in the path of growth,” Vaughan told lawmakers.
Lee’s office did not respond to a question about whether he supports the bill.
West Tennessee Where Wetlands Abound.
There is perhaps nowhere else in the state where tensions between fast-tracking development and protecting wetlands are higher than West Tennessee.
BlueOval City, Ford Motor Co.’s $5.6 billion electric truck plant, has spurred a land rush in the region, with developers buying up properties, designing subdivisions and erecting apartment complexes at a fast clip ahead of its 2025 planned opening.
Restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores are springing up to accommodate an expected 11 percent increase in population by 2045 in the 21-county region surrounding the plant — making it the fastest-growing area in Tennessee.
West Tennessee counties also have some of the largest shares of wetlands that would lose protections under Vaughan’s bill.
The bill targets so-called “isolated wetlands” that have no obvious surface connection to a river or lake. Wetlands, however, rarely stand alone, often containing hidden underground connections to aquifers or waterways.
The 10 Tennessee counties with the largest share of at-risk “isolated” wetlands are located in West Tennessee, within commuting distance of the Ford plant.
Haywood County, where the plant is located, has more than 57,319 acres of wetlands that could lose protections under Vaughan’s bill — nearly 17 percent of all land area in the county, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory compiled by the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The region also lies atop the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the primary water supply for urban and rural communities, and farmers in west Tennessee. Wetlands serve to recharge and filter water that supplies the aquifer.
“This is such a unique moment in west Tennessee history,” said Sarah Houston, executive director of the Memphis advocacy group Protect Our Aquifers, noting projected growth data that shows population increases of 200,000 or more in the next two decades.
“But when you’re removing protections for wetlands, you’re cutting out that deep recharge potential for all the water supply West Tennessee relies on,” she said.
Vaughn’s business among those to profit from building boom.
Developers who wish to fill in, build on or otherwise disturb wetlands must first apply for a permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or TDEC, which can approve or reject the plans.
The process can prove costly; companies must hire lawyers, hydrologists and other experts before filing a permit. And if they get one, TDEC can require developers to pay expensive mitigation fees for disturbing wetlands — potentially adding tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to construction costs. The fees are used to preserve wetlands elsewhere, balancing out what is lost by a single project. The process can add months, or more, to construction timelines.
Vaughan has spoken openly about ongoing frustrations in his own business to comply with the state rules, describing TDEC regulators as overzealous in defining marshy or muddy lands that are created by tractor ruts or runoff as wetlands.
State records show that Vaughan as recently as December received state notice that a project he is spearheading contains two wetlands: one at 1.42 acres and another at 1.51 acres.
Given the presence of wetlands, “any alterations to jurisdictional streams, wetlands, or open water features may only be performed under coverage of, and conformance to, a valid aquatic resource alteration permit,” the Dec. 8 letter from TDEC to Vaughan said.
The project, a 130-acre site of the proposed new headquarters for Thompson Machinery, Vaughan’s client, will have to incur costly remediation fees should its permit to build atop wetlands be approved by TDEC.
It’s one of multiple development projects that Vaughan has been affiliated with that have butted into TDEC wetland regulations in recent years.
PAC money flows in from west Tennessee.
Vaughan also represented Memphis-based Crews Development in 2019 when the company received a notice of violation for draining and filling in a wetland without permission.
Vaughan did not respond to questions from the Lookout, including whether his sponsorship of the bill presents a conflict of interest.
He is not alone among developers in the region who are seeking favorable legislation during a period of rapid growth.
West Tennessee construction companies and real estate firms have spent big on a new political action committee formed in 2022 to influence legislative policy. The little-known Build Tennessee PAC spent $186,000 in the six months before the start of this year’s legislative session, the fourth largest spender over that period, according to campaign finance records analyzed by the Lookout.
Keith Grant, a prominent Collierville developer listed as Build Tennessee’s contact, did not respond to a request for comment.
The measure also has gained the backing of influential statewide groups, including the Tennessee Farm Bureau, the Home Builders Association of Tennessee, Associated Builders and Contractors and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.
Bradley Jackson, president and CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, said last week the legislation — which Vaughan recently amended to make distinctions between different types of wetlands — represents a fair and balanced approach.
Jackson said the chamber convened a working group of five trade organizations last summer that concluded Tennessee’s wetland regulations need adjustment. “We feel this deal strikes a really good middle group. It provides the business community with consistency and certainty. We can ensure we’re being compliant,” Jackson said.
Vaughan offers ‘compromise’ amendment; environmental groups say it leaves wetlands unprotected.
The legislation is scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, with an amendendment that makes distinctions between wetlands.
The amendment would allow developers to build on “low-quality” wetlands and up to four acres of “moderate” isolated wetlands without seeking state permission.
Environmental groups say the proposal continues to place large pieces of Tennessee wetlands at risk.
Rep. Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“Vaughan’s current amendment is not a compromise as it requires no mitigation for low-quality wetlands regardless of size and no mitigation for large swaths of moderate-quality wetlands,” Grace Stranch, chief executive officer of the Harpeth Conservancy said. “The development resulting from those huge carveouts will likely cause increased flooding, a decline in water quality, higher water bills, and aquifer recharge problems.”
The measure has also drawn pushback from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
“We at TDEC fear the proposal could result in greater back-end costs,” Gregory Young, the agency’s deputy commissioner, told lawmakers earlier this month.
Alex Pellom, chief of staff for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, cautioned the bill could lead to more flooding; the state has already suffered its wettest years in history since 2019, leading to devastating floods, billions of dollars in property damage and loss of life.
“We continue to work with the sponsor to discuss potential solutions,” Eric Ward, a TDEC spokesperson, said last week.
A Supreme Court decision limits federal oversight.
Vaughan’s bill was introduced on the heels of a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that narrowed federal protections of wetlands, leaving it up to states to set their own rules.
The court concluded that only wetlands that have a surface water connection to rivers, lakes and oceans fall under federal oversight and are subject to Clean Water Act regulations.
There is little debate in the stormwater community about the value of wetlands as key instruments of maintaining water quality and mitigating damaging flooding.
– Aaron Rogge, Tennessee Storm Water Association
The majority of Tennessee’s wetlands — 432,850 out of the state’s 787,000 acres of wetlands in the state — do not have a surface connection to a water source, according to TDEC. It is these wetlands Vaughan is seeking to remove from state oversight and protection.
“This is going to be a major change to the way that the state manages its water resources, and likely one that we’ll look back on as a product of our current political climate,” said Aaron Rogge, a Nashville-based civil engineer who is also the current president of the Tennessee Stormwater Association.
“There is little debate in the stormwater community about the value of wetlands as key instruments of maintaining water quality and mitigating damaging flooding; in fact, many cities and counties choose to actively construct wetlands to manage their runoff,” he said.
Tennessee is not alone in targeting wetland regulation after the high court’s decision, according to Jim Murphy, director of legal advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation.
Legislatures in Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado are considering expanding wetland protections in light of the court’s decision while Indiana is among states considering a developer-backed bill similar to Vaughan’s.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” Murphy said. “In a lot of ways, it mirrors the politics of a state. But as you get down to state-level realities of what’s being lost, people are seeing what unregulated development means and often that means that their special places get paved over.”
Reporter Adam Friedman contributed to this story.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
Jaren Jackson Jr drives to the basket against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Credit: NBAE/Getty Images
It’s become a predictable pattern for the Memphis Grizzlies: two to three quarters of effective, winning basketball in a four-quarter game. When your starting lineup consists largely of second-string caliber players, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that your team is struggling against top-tier teams, and for anyone following the Grizzlies this year, Wednesday night’s 110-101 loss to the Timberwolves was no surprise.
The first half saw the Grizzlies out in front by a slim margin and taking a three-point lead into the second half. Going by the box score, there are two improvements over the last few games that stand out: getting more shot attempts than their opponent and grabbing more offensive rebounds.
Memphis went into halftime with 14 more field goal attempts than Minnesota, and with 12 offensive rebounds to their opponent’s zero. This is the opposite of what we saw from the Grizzlies in the first half of their recent game against the Brooklyn Nets, where the Nets took a 16-point lead into halftime while having 16 more field goal attempts and 5 offensive rebounds to the Grizzlies zero.
Fourteen was the magic number for the Grizzlies, as they ended the night with 14 more field goal attempts. They also gave up a 14-point lead, allowing the Timberwolves to begin their surge in the third quarter and finish it in the fourth, led by Anthony Edwards, who put up 25 of his 34 points in the second half.
Despite getting off more shot attempts overall and from three-point range, Memphis was outshot by Minnesota in field goal percentage (49.4% to 38.7%) and from beyond the arc (40% to 29.7%).
Jaren Jackson Jr led the Grizzlies with 33 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block.
Jackson amassed 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.
Ziaire Williams who put up 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. Vince Williams Jr finished the night with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Santi Aldama closed out with 11 points as well as 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
Jordan Goodwin, who came to the Grizzlies on a 10-day contract in mid-February and was recently signed to a two-way contract, contributed 5 points, 8 rebounds, a game-high 8 assists, and 2 steals.
GG Jackson: youngest player in the league and a straight up bucket getter.
From the second unit, GG Jackson put up 14 points and 3 rebounds on 5 of 7 shooting overall and 2 of 4 from three-point range.
Who Got Next?
The boys in Beale Street Blue are returning to their home court to take on the Portland Trail Blazers in back-to-back games on Friday, March 1st, and Saturday, March 2nd. Tip-off is at 7 PM CST for both games.
Dwayne Thompson. Photo: Tennessee General Assembly
Dwayne Thompson, the Democratic legislator whose upset victory in a suburban state House District in 2016 ousted a Republican incumbent and gave local Democrats something to cheer about in that Trump year, is taking his leave.
He will not be seeking reelection in District 96.
“I’ve seen the General Assembly become ever more unresponsive and spiteful under the current Republican supermajority leadership. I’ve served 4 terms. This has one of the honors of my life to have my community allowed to represent them in the Tennessee State House. However, I need to spend more time with family and other priorities.,” said Thompson, who expressed confidence that he would be succeeded by a Democrat in the forthcoming 2024 election.
Thompson’s defeat of the GOP’s Steve McManus, who had served several terms in District 96, was unexpected, but it was only the first of four successive wins for Thompson — including victories over Republicans Scott McCormick and Patricia Possel.
In the course of Thompson’s four terms, the district, which bridged East Memphis with sections of Germantown, changed demographically, and by the time it was gerrymandered by the Republican supermajority in 2022 to run east-west across the northern rim of Memphis, it has clearly shifted from Republican to Democratic dominance.
The district’s new configuration, making it even more solidly Democratic, was a de facto concession to that fact.
Thompson, whose boyish appearance and energetic conduct of his office belies his 73 years, said he was confident that he would be succeeded by a younger, aggressive Democrat. At the time of his election, Thompson was a retired Human Resources administrator.
Local Democrats are currently hoping that Democratic businessman Jesse Huseth, who is targeting GOP incumbent John Gillespie this year, can inaugurate a new Democratic tenure in the adjacent district 97.
We’ve all seen the restaurant notices about automatic gratuities added for parties of more than six or eight people. A 10-person group in South Bend, Indiana, thought they would beat the system at the Wild Crab restaurant by splitting into two groups of five, WSBT-TV reported. A manager said the group was informed that they’d be subject to the 18 percent gratuity, even though they were seated in different sections of the restaurant. As the party left the restaurant, someone threw crayons at the manager and pepper-sprayed them. Firefighters responded to help the victim of the pepper spray, and a police report was filed. [WSBT, 1/2/2024]
Oops
Someone missed the “Please secure all loose clothing” safety message. On Jan. 5, on the DC Rivals HyperCoaster at Movie World in Oxenford, Australia, the Mirror reported that a scarf became entangled around the wheel of one of the trains, which caused it to stop at the top of a hill. Dozens of riders were stranded, and each was given a harness and told to walk down the stairs to the load station. “All the guests on-board are safe with the ride vehicle stopped in a designated zone,” Warner Bros. Movie World said in a statement. [Mirror, 1/5/2024]
Unconventional Weaponry
The Laconia (New Hampshire) Daily Sun reported on Jan. 5 that police were called to the Market Basket supermarket in Tilton the day before after a “fruity fracas” broke out in the produce section. Social media posts indicated that a watermelon had been used in an assault, and Sgt. Andrew Salmon of the Tilton Police Department confirmed that his department is investigating. Salmon said one person went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries “from being struck by a produce item.” A worker who answered the phone at the Market Basket said, “We have been instructed not to say anything.” [Laconia Daily Sun, 1/5/2024]
Awesome!
• King, a rescue dog at the Lost Our Home Pet Rescue in Tempe, Arizona, enjoyed a brief reign among his shelter buddies, Fox10-TV reported on Jan. 11. Sometime around midnight, King managed to break out of his kennel at the shelter and busted out several other dogs. He also found a stash of food and enjoyed a little feast. In the meantime, alarms were triggered; Jodi Polanski, the shelter’s founder, looked at video from the scene and saw the mess. “The police actually came because he set the alarm off,” Polanski said. The unnamed responding officer cleaned up after King’s free-for-all and got the dog settled back in bed. “I was just like, wow, amazing man that he did that,” Polanski said. The rescue’s website indicates that King is no longer looking for a home. [Fox10, 1/8/2024]
• Rodney Holbrook, a 75-year-old retired postman from Wales, had been noticing for a couple of months that small messes in his shed were being mysteriously tidied overnight, the BBC reported. So he set up a camera and caught a little mouse picking up pegs, corks, nuts, bolts, and bird food. Holbrook aptly named the rodent Welsh Tidy Mouse. “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the mouse will tidy up throughout the night,” Holbrook said. “I don’t bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by morning. I’ve added different things to the desk to see if they can lift it,” he said. [BBC, 1/7/2024]
Goals
LuLu Lotus of Mississauga, Ontario, has earned a Guinness World Record for an impressive, if dubious, skill: She blew a 44.1-decibel whistle through her nose. United Press International reported on Jan. 9 that Lotus visited Aercoustics Engineering Ltd. to have her whistle measured in a special room. She said her 5-year-old son has recently discovered he, too, has a nose-whistling ability: “It would be a dream come true if he beat my record one day,” Lotus said. [UPI, 1/9/2024]
Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In my astrological estimation, the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to declare amnesty, negotiate truces, and shed long-simmering resentments. Other recommended activities: Find ways to joke about embarrassing memories, break a bad habit just because it’s fun to do so, and throw away outdated stuff you no longer need. Just do the best you can as you carry out these challenging assignments; you don’t have to be perfect. For inspiration, read these wise words from poet David Whyte: “When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Many of you Tauruses have a robust capacity for doing diligent, effective work. Many of you also have a robust capacity for pursuing sensual delights and cultivating healing beauty. When your mental health is functioning at peak levels, these two drives to enjoy life are complementary; they don’t get in each other’s way. If you ever fall out of your healthy rhythm, these two drives may conflict. My wish for you in the coming months is that they will be in synergistic harmony, humming along with grace. That’s also my prediction: I foresee you will do just that.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Many people choose wealthy entertainers and celebrity athletes for their heroes. It doesn’t bother me if they do. Why should it? But the superstars who provoke my adoration are more likely to be artists and activists. Author Rebecca Solnit is one. Potawatomi biologist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer. The four musicians in the Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha. Poet Rita Dove and novelist Haruki Murakami. My capacity to be inspired by these maestros seems inexhaustible. What about you, Gemini? Who are the heroes who move you and shake you in all the best ways? Now is a time to be extra proactive in learning from your heroes — and rounding up new heroes to be influenced by.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your homework assignment is to work on coordinating two issues that are key to your life’s purpose. The first of these issues is your fervent longing to make your distinctive mark on this crazy, chaotic world. The second issue is your need to cultivate sweet privacy and protective self-care. These themes may sometimes seem to be opposed. But with even just a little ingenious effort, you can get them to weave together beautifully. Now is a good time to cultivate this healing magic.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you don’t recognize the face in the mirror right now, that’s a good thing. If you feel unfamiliar feelings rising up in you or find yourself entertaining unusual longings, those are also good things. The voice of reason may say you should be worried about such phenomena. But as the voice of mischievous sagacity, I urge you to be curious and receptive. You are being invited to explore fertile possibilities that have previously been unavailable or off-limits. Fate is offering you the chance to discover more about your future potentials. At least for now, power can come from being unpredictable and investigating taboos.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I invite you to study the fine art of sacred intimacy in the coming weeks. Life’s rhythms will redound in your favor as you enjoy playing tenderly and freely with the special people you care for. To aid you in your efforts, here are three questions to ponder: 1. What aspects of togetherness might flourish if you approach them with less solemnity and more fun? 2. Could you give more of yourself to your relationships in ways that are purely enjoyable, not done mostly out of duty? 3. Would you be willing to explore the possibility that the two of you could educate and ripen each other’s dark sides?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Creativity teacher Roger von Oech tells how bandleader Count Basie asked a club owner to fix his piano. It was always out of tune. A few weeks later, the owner called Basie to say everything was good. But when Basie arrived to play, the piano still had sour notes. “I thought you said you fixed it!” Basie complained. The owner said, “I did. I painted it.” The moral of the story for the rest of us, concludes von Oech, is that we’ve got to solve the right problems. I want you Libras to do that in the coming weeks. Make sure you identify what really needs changing, not some distracting minor glitch.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Most of us have received an inadequate or downright poor education about love and intimate togetherness. Given how much misinformation and trivializing propaganda we have absorbed, it’s amazing any of us have figured out how to create healthy, vigorous relationships. That’s the bad news, Scorpio. The good news is that you are cruising through a sustained phase of your astrological cycle when you’re far more likely than usual to acquire vibrant teachings about this essential part of your life. I urge you to draw up a plan for how to take maximum advantage of the cosmic opportunity. For inspiration, here’s poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test, and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” (Translation by Stephen Mitchell.)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The myths and legends of many cultures postulate the existence of spirits who are mischievous but not malevolent. They play harmless pranks. Their main purpose may be to remind us that another world, a less material realm, overlaps with ours. And sometimes, the intention of these ethereal tricksters seems to be downright benevolent. They nudge us out of our staid rhythms, mystifying us with freaky phenomena that suggest reality is not as solid and predictable as we might imagine. I suspect you may soon have encounters with some of these characters: friendly poltergeists, fairies, ghosts, sprites, or elves. My sense is that they will bring you odd but genuine blessings.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some studies suggest that less than half of us have best friends. Men are even less likely to have beloved buddies than the other genders do. If you are one of these people, the coming weeks and months will be an excellent time to remedy the deficiency. Your ability to attract and bond with interesting allies will be higher than usual. If you do have best friends, I suggest you intensify your appreciation for and devotion to them. You need and deserve companions who respect you deeply, know you intimately, and listen well. But you’ve got to remember that relationships like these require deep thought, hard work, and honest expressions of feelings!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Among all the zodiac signs, you Aquarians are among the best at enjoying a bird’s-eye perspective on the world. Soaring high above the mad chatter and clatter is your birthright and specialty. I love that about you, which is why I hardly ever shout up in your direction, “Get your ass back down to earth!” However, I now suspect you are overdue to spend some quality time here on the ground level. At least temporarily, I advise you to trade the bird’s-eye view for a worm’s-eye view. Don’t fret. It’s only for a short time. You’ll be aloft again soon.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In old Hawaii, the people loved their deities but also demanded productive results. If a god stopped providing worshipers with what they wanted, they might dismiss him and adopt a replacement. I love that! And I invite you to experiment with a similar approach in the coming weeks. Are your divine helpers doing a good job? Are they supplying you with steady streams of inspiration, love, and fulfillment? If not, fire them and scout around for substitutes. If they are performing well, pour out your soul in gratitude.
Use the phases of
the moon to work your magic. (Photo: Alexandra Barbu | Dreamstime.com)
Each phase of the moon has its own vibrations and types of spell work that it supports. But that does not mean that you can’t do manifestation work when the moon is waning. If you have an urgent need, no one is going to want to wait for the appropriate day during the appropriate moon phase to do a spell.
If you have a big goal in mind, you can use all the phases of the moon to work your magic for an entire month with one objective in mind. I call this whole moon magic.
The waxing moon phase, which is from the point of the new moon until the moon is full, is a good time to do manifestation work. As the moon appears to grow bigger in the sky each night, your magic and intention is growing along with it. The waning moon phase, when the moon is past full until the time of the new moon, is a good time to do banishing work. The full moon is the perfect time to do any workings, as the full moon lends its potency to your magic. Then there is the new moon. The new moon is when the moon either cannot be seen in the sky or can just be barely glimpsed as a crescent. The new moon phase comes after the waning moon and before the waxing moon. The new moon phase is a time to plan and prepare for your spell work, planting those metaphorical seeds. The new moon is also a time to do shadow work and take stock of ourselves.
You can work with each moon phase individually, but you can also use all of them to really tackle a situation from all sides. To do this, you want to really define what your goal is. It is always good to be specific in your spiritual workings. Let’s use prosperity for this example. Besides, who doesn’t need a little prosperity in their life?
You do not have to wait until the new moon phase to begin; you can start whenever you are ready. For this explanation, we’re going to start at the beginning. During the time of the new moon, you begin defining your goal and making sure you have all the items you’ll need to get started. If we’re working on prosperity, this is when you really figure out what you need. Is it a certain amount of money or an opportunity or a lifestyle you’re trying to create? Once the moon moves out of the new moon phase into the waxing moon phase, you begin to work on manifesting that need. Burn your candles, say your affirmations, wear your lucky socks. Do this as often as you want to for the waxing moon phase. Each phase is around two weeks long.
The full moon adds extra umph to your magic. When the moon is full, you might want to do one last, big manifestation spell for prosperity. Finish burning your money candle, spend some extra time chanting your affirmations, or spend some time in meditation to see if the universe has any guidance for you on your way to prosperity.
From the new moon to the full moon, we’ve been focusing on attracting and manifesting our desires. As the moon moves into the waning phase, we shift from attracting what we want to banishing what we do not want. Keeping our goal of prosperity in mind, when the moon is waning you can focus on banishing debt or getting rid of bad habits that cost you money. This is the time to remove things in your life that are blocking you from your goals.
Working a whole moon cycle allows you to address your needs from all sides. It is also a longer process, which means you are spending more energy on it. Giving all this energy to one goal is one of the best ways to manifest something. It makes sure the universe hears you and lets the universe know you are serious about your intentions. The new moon is coming: Are you ready to work some whole moon magic with me?
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.
For years, a Bigfoot statue welcomed Cooper-Young folks from stairs close to a sidewalk. Sassy wore seasonal costumes, like the University of Memphis jersey above.
Someone stole Sassy last Monday, Jennifer Jordan posted on Nextdoor. “Please keep an eye out!” she wrote.
Heartache, Window break
Posted to Nextdoor by Alex Singh
“If anybody lives on Autumn or near High Point and you just heard a hysterical female screaming for over an hour, I am very sorry, and everybody is okay, and to anybody reading just remember they’re an ex for a reason! And they won’t change!” Alex Singh posted on Nextdoor last weekend. “Anybody fix windows?”
Back to the Pyramid
Posted to Facebook by Clark Bennett
“I visited [the Pyramid] in my 1981 DeLorean when it was being built,” Clark Bennett wrote on Facebook. “I didn’t know until I went ‘Back to the Future’ it was destined to be a Bass Pro Shop.”
Eddie Pao no longer directs motion pictures like he did in Taiwan. Instead, Pao, the owner of Mosa Asian Bistro, directs his kitchen staff.
Pao — aka “Mr. Eddie” — has been synonymous with Asian cuisine in Memphis for almost half a century. This includes his famous hot and sour soup as well as his wonton and pad thai dishes.
Pao, 79, who still comes to work every day at his restaurant at 850 South White Station Road in Eastgate Shopping Center, has manned five other restaurant locations since he opened his first Memphis spot in the late ’70s.
In addition to serving lunch and dinner, Mosa caters events almost daily. The restaurant prepares meals for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and for sports teams, including the University of Memphis Tigers.
If he’s not in the office, Pao is helping out in the kitchen making sure his fresh menu items are properly prepared.
“I have known Mr. Eddie since I was a kid,” says Jonathan Mah, owner of SideStreet Burgers in Olive Branch, Mississippi. “He has the best hot and sour soup in the city.”
The soup is “the perfect blend of sweet and spicy and sour.”
Mah, who had “the spicy dumplings and Eddie’s favorite noodles” on his last visit to Mosa, says, “I love the spice in the dumplings.”
Photo: Michael Donahue
Eddie’s Way
Born in Hunan province in China, Pao and his family moved to Taiwan when he was 5 years old.
Pao was a rebel growing up; he wanted to do things his way. “When I was little, to tell you the truth, I didn’t follow after my mother and father too much because they were very old-tradition people,” he says.
His parents showed him their way of doing things. They “wanted to go this way,” Pao says, but he thought, “Maybe I can go this way faster.”
Pao’s father worked as an accountant for the government, which was under Chiang Kai-shek, but Pao’s family wasn’t wealthy.
They had “very little money,” Pao says. Their extended family of 40 people lived in one house. Some of them had to sleep on the floor, he recalls.
Pao didn’t like to study. “I go to school, but I don’t follow the teacher too much. Just like I don’t follow my daddy and momma too much.”
He played basketball, and he loved comic books, including ones about Tang Sanzang, a 16th-century Buddhist monk.
Pao’s grandfather remarried after his wife died. Shing Tai Tai, which means “new grandma,” was the cook in the family. “She liked to cook soup for us. Tofu with yellow sprouts.”
Though he serves them in dishes at Mosa, Pao stays away from sprouts. “I don’t eat that any more. Ten years I eat that every day. I miss her cooking, but I don’t eat that.”
“He’ll take out the sprouts,” adds Pao’s daughter, Michelle Pao Levine, who along with her brother, Alex Pao, helps run Mosa.
Another great cook in Eddie’s life was his mother-in-law. She made dishes Pao later would serve in his restaurants: Szechuan chicken, Kung Pao chicken, and General Tso’s chicken.
Eddie didn’t do any of the cooking back then: “I watched and I helped clean up.”
But, he says, “She showed me how to make recipes. How to cook.”
Which came in handy later. “My sauce is different from every other restaurant ’cause my sauce is homemade and the recipe came from her.”
Photo: Courtesy Eddie Pao
Lights, Camera, Action!
Following high school, Eddie enrolled in the motion picture department at an art college because he wanted to learn to make movies. “I always had an imagination from reading comic books.”
After he graduated, Eddie got a job at a privately owned motion picture studio in Taiwan.
He followed the director around at first. “One month and a half later, the director said, ‘Hmmm. How come you know that much?’”
The director was so impressed he said, “You can be my assistant director on my next movie.”
In one movie Eddie worked on as assistant director, the main director, who was from Hong Kong, only spoke Cantonese. But the actor in the movie only spoke Mandarin. So, Eddie became the translator. “The actor and the director cannot understand each other. I’m very lucky. My grandmother is Cantonese, so I can speak it. And I speak Mandarin well; that’s my own language. A lot of things depended on me to finish the movie.”
Eddie eventually moved up to become a director. He believes what he learned directing movies helped him later on in the restaurant business: how to prepare for what you want to make. And then after you make it, check to make sure you did it right, he says.
Photo: Courtesy Eddie Pao
When he was 29, Eddie directed a kung fu movie about a 19th-century judge named Pao Ching Tien, or “Pao Kung,” which was his nickname.
Eddie, who isn’t a kung fu artist, says someone else on the set taught the actors how to “hit and kick.”
He also directed a movie with Charlie Chin, who was a heartthrob at the time. “He was a very handsome man.”
The film with Chin, a “very, very famous star” in Taiwan, was the last film Pao directed. He says Chin, who was “very nice” to him, told him he’d never cried before when he made a movie, but he couldn’t stop crying on the movie Eddie was directing. Eddie believes the plot rekindled memories from Chin’s own life.
Eddie also got in front of the camera. In one movie, he played the part of a student learning from a kung fu master, but he didn’t have to do any kung fu moves in the film.
From Movies to Memphis
In 1977, Eddie, his wife, and daughter, moved to Memphis, where his sister lived. He wanted to pursue the movie business in the United States, but he had a “language problem,” Eddie says. “I have to give it up. I have to make a living.”
It didn’t take him long to figure out what to do. “At that time I thought about my mother-in-law. I learned a lot from her.”
He thought, “Okay, I’ll open a restaurant.’’ Eddie began with “a very small restaurant” and “very little money” when he was 33 years old.
His first restaurant, which he bought from some friends who were anxious to sell it, was on Summer Avenue near Holmes Street.
He kept the previous restaurant’s name, which was “Formosa,” he says. “I didn’t need to change the name. I don’t need to spend more money.”
Eddie wouldn’t open the restaurant until he was satisfied with the food he was making. “I was testing until I was happy. And then I opened.”
“Prior to him opening, most of the other restaurants were serving Cantonese-style food,” Pao Levine says. “That food tends to not be spicy.”
“He brought spicy Chinese food to Memphis,” Alex says.
Eddie’s restaurant was an instant hit. “Many customers waited for almost an hour and a half, two hours. It was a small, nine-table restaurant.”
He stayed at that location for two years. In addition to enjoying the food, his customers taught him how to speak better English.
One customer, who worked for a bank, told Eddie he should open a bigger restaurant. Later, he told Eddie, “Hey, I found some place not too far from here. It’s bigger. Go get it.”
The man also told Eddie his bank would be happy to help him.
The new location on Summer Avenue near Highland Street had 24 tables and a bigger kitchen. People were waiting outside the first day when he opened the doors for business, Eddie says. All the tables filled up, and more people were “waiting for a table” a half hour later.
Over the years, Eddie opened other Formosa locations. One, which he later sold, is still on Quince Road. In 1995, he opened a Formosa in Germantown, but he later closed it because there wasn’t enough parking.
Photo: Michael Donahue
Making Mosa
In 2004, Eddie opened his first Mosa Asian Bistro on Poplar Avenue at Kirby Parkway. Pao Levine, who began working at Mosa after she graduated from college, says Mosa “kept the greatest hits from Formosa” and added the “best hits” of other styles of Asian cuisine. They served “Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean” as well as Mandarin food.
Mosa was “more relaxed, more casual, and also a family atmosphere,” Alex says. “Formosa was a little more formal.”
The first Mosa didn’t start off with a bang. “Kirby was a tough location,” Pao Levine says. People were saying, “What is this Asian fusion? Pan Asian?”
But, she adds, “Within two months, we were a full house.”
Chinese restaurants were changing. The “tradition of an old-style sit-down full-service” Asian restaurant was dying out, Alex says.
Eddie never had a buffet at any of his restaurants. “He was always about fresh, made to order,” says Pao Levine. “Always. And still is.”
The Pao family (Photo: Michael Donahue)
In 2008, Eddie opened his current Mosa location. It was in a better building with better parking and better visibility.
They still featured some items that Eddie sold at his first restaurant location, like hot and sour soup, spring rolls, sesame chicken, fried rice, and Szechuan chicken.
They also added new items, including a range of pad thai dishes, the “most well-known noodle dish in Thailand,” Pao Levine says. Thin rice noodles stir fried and sautéed in a soy peanut sauce.
Eddie learned a basic pad thai recipe, but he made his own version, which was spicier with bolder flavors.
Mosa also began serving pho. Their head chef, A-Ton, is from Vietnam.
Asian beef sliders made with mini challah buns from nearby Ricki’s Cookie Corner & Bakery is their newest item.
When they first opened the new Mosa location, Eddie’s wife Charleen made desserts, including blueberry tortes, cheesecake, and cupcakes. They even put in a commercial bakery for her.
“Most Asian mothers do not bake American-style desserts,” Pao Levine says. “Asian desserts tend to not be as sweet.”
Charleen “just taught herself” to bake, Pao Levine says. Their mother, who is “Dad times 10,” is “such a perfectionist. No one can pipe the cream the way she wants it.”
Mosa stopped selling desserts after Charleen stopped baking for the restaurant years ago. She says she’s too busy with the grandchildren.
In October 2013, Mosa was featured on the Cooking Channel’s Cheap Eats. Eddie made his Thai Rainbow Panang Curry with Chicken.
They closed the restaurant during the shoot. “My dad, you could tell he was in his element because he loved being on camera,” Pao Levine says.
The director was a bit standoffish, but that didn’t stop Eddie. “In between takes he would just walk up to the director’s chair and say, ‘Excuse me. Can I take a quick peek at what you’ve done?’ He was really curious about what kind of angle she took a shot. He was wondering what she was trying to capture.
“Half an hour later, they were best friends. She found out talking to Eddie that he was a film director. Between every take she’d ask him, ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘What do you think about that?’ He has such a great eye.”
Kim Justis and Taylor Roberts star
in The Sound Inside. (Photo: Courtesy Tony Isbell)
On Friday, March 1st, Quark Theatre will stage Adam Rapp’s Tony-nominated The Sound Inside,directed by Tony Isbell.
The play, starring Kim Justis and Taylor Roberts, revolves around two characters, an isolated creative writing professor and her enigmatic student. “The play is about how the two of them get entwined in each other’s lives,” says Isbell. “They develop a relationship, not a romantic relationship, and — this is the part I can’t give away — Bella [the professor] makes a request of the young man, and we don’t know if he’ll be able to do it or not. And at the same time the young man is telling her the story of the novel he’s writing, and the audience is not sure whether what he’s telling is just a novel he’s writing, or if this actually happened to him. And there is some mystery about it and a little bit of suspense about it.”
Isbell continues, “It’s the kind of play that I love. It has some real emotion in it, but it also has some comedy. In fact, it has one of the funniest monologues I’ve ever heard in a play. Some of it is amusing. Some of it is, like I said, mysterious, and it’s something that people will be trying to figure out exactly if what you’re seeing is true or not. You could say that both of these characters are unreliable narrators.”
This will be the regional premiere of The Sound Inside. “We look for plays that are newer, that haven’t been done in Memphis, that are unique in some way or another,” Isbell says of Quark. “We tend to like small casts and shows that don’t require a lot in the way of set or special costumes because that’s just our aesthetic, a kind of minimalist aesthetic.”
This season, the theater company has already put on the American premiere of The Wasp to a sold-out run, and they’ll also be putting on another regional premiere with Constellations by Nick Payne in May. As of right now, Isbell says, opening night of The Sound Inside only has eight tickets left.
Tickets for the 90-minute-long show with no intermission can be purchased at quarktheatre.com. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. through March 17th. A pay-what-you-can performance will be on Monday, March 11th, at 8 p.m.
The Sound Inside, TheatreSouth, First Congo Church, 1000 S. Cooper, Performances March 1-March 17, $20.
