As we ready ourselves for Thanksgiving feasts with family and friends, gift-giving season creeps closer. You may be one of those who got an early start, and have already made your lists and checked them twice (good on ya!). Or you might be like me, a serial procrastinator who has a list of giftees faintly scribbled in my brain, but only a vague idea (or none at all) of what to get for them (whomp whomp!). Lucky for you, dear readers, the Flyer staff has a few things in mind that may kick-start your shopping inspiration here within our annual “alternative Black Friday” gift guide. While it’s tempting to click around the web and “add to cart” to your heart’s content, we hope you’ll consider shopping local and supporting Memphis makers, artists, retailers, institutions, and small businesses this season (and all year round).
Just a little food for thought: According to Amazon Investor Relations, the online shopping giant’s net sales increased 13 percent to $143.1 billion in the third quarter of 2023, compared to $127.1 billion in the third quarter of 2022. The popular Temu app, which claims you can “shop like a billionaire” from its selection of low-cost offerings, has drawn enormous success since its September 2022 launch. According to data from statista.com, “in May 2023, Temu generated approximately $635 million [U.S. dollars] in gross merchandise volume [GMV], a drastic increase over its September 2022 GMV of only $3 million.” The fashion-forward app, Shein, headquartered in Singapore, has expanded its marketplace beyond clothing and apparel, and as reported by CNBC this summer, its “Executive Vice Chairman Donald Tang told investors the company reached record profitability in the first half of 2023, driven by U.S. sales momentum. … The company brought in $23 billion in sales in 2022 and is now worth $66 billion, according to a May report from The Wall Street Journal.”
Wouldn’t it be nice to use some of our gift-buying budget this year to focus on driving more of that sales momentum right here in Memphis? Beyond those highlighted in our “Gift Local 2023” feature, there are so many local retailers who’d appreciate your business. Your hard-earned dollars can be used to support the economy here at home, rather than line the pockets of foreign organizations and multibillion-dollar companies. We’d also like to encourage you to browse these pages and consider purchasing from our advertisers, who help to keep the Flyer free — on newsstands and online.
Tickets to concerts, stage performances, and other events at venues like the Orpheum Theatre, Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, GPAC, Lafayette’s Music Room, MoSH, Playhouse on the Square, Theatre Memphis, Crosstown Arts, Halloran Centre, or Graceland Soundstage would make great gifts — and lasting memories — for just about anyone on your list. If a trip to Vegas isn’t in the cards, a planned night or weekend at one of our regional casinos — Gold Strike Casino & Resort, Southland Casino, 1st Jackpot Casino Tunica, Hollywood Casino Tunica, to name a few — could be a big win for your giftee. A trip to Sheffield Antiques Mall, A Moment in Time Antiques & Collectibles, aquaTreasures Estate Center, or one of the city’s many eclectic secondhand shops could uncover the perfect one-of-a-kind find for a one-of-a-kind loved one. Get in tune with the music-lovers in your life with a gift from rEvolve Guitar & Music Shop or Goner Records. Or spice things up in the bedroom with lovely lingerie for yourself or your partner from Coco & Lola’s.
If you want to peruse a variety of booths and vendors in one place, mark your calendars for one of the many local gift markets happening around town in the coming weeks. The Memphis Arts Collective Holiday Artist Market runs November 24th through December 24th at 5847 Poplar Avenue #110. This year’s WinterArts will be open daily at 870 S. White Station Road November 25th through December 24th. And there’s the Choose901 Holiday Market at Crosstown Concourse Thursday, November 30th, through Saturday, December 2nd. Find additional info on these events and more like them at events.memphisflyer.com.
Speaking of the Flyer, we’ve got merch available at grindcitydesigns.com/memphisflyer for any Flyer fans you might know. If you’re a fan yourself, you could support our work with a one-time or monthly donation by becoming a Frequent Flyer (look for the “Support Us” widget on memphisflyer.com or email frequentflyer@memphisflyer.com to find out more).
We hope you’ll put Memphis at the forefront of your holiday shopping sprees this year. Buying local supports the people — not only business owners, but also their employees and families — who make our city so special. And we think that’s pretty darn important.
As we shop around to find the perfect gift for family, friends, and loved ones, resist the impulse to scroll over to Amazon and let Jeff Bezos fix all your problems. Local businesses are the bedrock of any city, and there are plenty of well-known shops and hidden gems that can provide the perfect present, no matter the festivity. From art to socks to whiskey, our alternative Black Friday guide has Memphis shoppers covered, helping create a cheery holiday spirit for both Bluff City customers and entrepreneurs.
The much-beloved Holiday Bazaar continued the Memphis College of Art’s (MCA) 69-year tradition when it opened last week at Arrow Creative. For all of those years, Memphians were well used to finding MCA’s Rust Hall in Overton Park, where the public was welcomed into creative spaces to find the work of the school’s students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The school closed in 2020.
That’s when Arrow picked up the mantle to continue the Holiday Bazaar tradition. But Arrow leaders changed the weekend event into a month-long affair with a ticketed First Dibs Party (last week), private shopping experiences, and creative classes throughout the month.
Local artists and creatives remain the focus of the bazaar — a free shopping event — now in its third year at the Cooper-Young-area Arrow. The bazaar will feature one-of-a-kind gifts including art, jewelry, home goods, accessories, apparel, and more from more than 80 local artists. Shoppers will find sculpture, ceramics, painting, fine art, fashion design, fiber arts, photography, woodworking, the Memphis Flyer coloring book (just sayin’), and more.
“The excitement is contagious,” said Arrow artist Terri Scott, describing the event. “With a cup of wine, you weave through the crowd. You have a mental note of the tables you want to visit first. A table of carefully crafted jewelry beckons you forward and you can’t resist gazing upon colorful paintings and sculptures inspired by sea life. “Everyone is lively, carrying their treasures to check-out, and feeling a little drunk on wine and holiday cheer.” — Toby Sells
Bazaar runs through December 23rd, 653 Philadelphia St., 213-6320, arrowcreative.org
Launch a budding artist’s career at Art Center on Union. (Photo: D’Angelo Connell)
Unlock Your Inner Artist at Art Center
Inside Art Center, everyone has a chance to be an artist. Conveniently placed on Union Street, the Art Center offers a plentiful selection of well-known and quality products for any art project. Their shelves are always stocked with the best and most popular supplies — Golden Acrylic, Gamblin Oil, Princeton Brush, Fredrix Canvas, Copic Markers, Montana Spray Paint, a dozen sketchbook brands in multiple sizes, a fully stocked drawing supply section, a children’s art supply section, decorative papers, and much more. Aside from the quality and quantity of products offered, the staff is eager to help you plan your next project. Whether you’re an art teacher, an aspiring designer, or just looking for a new hobby, each staff member will welcome you with open arms. If this isn’t enough, the windowed storefront invites you to enter and explore.
The Art Center, for nearly 50 years, has never ceased making connections with the Memphis community. While browsing inside, find their decorated bulletin board of local artists’ business cards and information. These artists range from photographers, graphic designers, calligraphy artists, to influencers all in the Memphis area. While inspiring local artists to accomplish their goals, the Art Center also celebrates everyone’s potential to create a more colorful world. With discounted products and new sales every day, find your new favorite art supplies on every visit. — Izzy Wollfarth
Ornament at Cotton Row Uniques (Photo: Cotton Row Uniques)
Cotton Row Uniques
Nestled among the storefronts at the Poplar Collection strip mall, Cotton Row Uniques offers a carefully curated shopping experience. “We try to have something for everyone,” owner Shane Waldroup says. “We have everything from furniture to Turkish rugs to a gourmet food section to perfumes and colognes. It’s kind of that one-stop shop for your unique gift.”
Unique is a keyword in this store’s operation. Waldroup, along with co-owner Scott Barnes, sources items that extend outside the run-of-the-mill to appeal to the store’s eclectic customer base. “We love seeing mothers buying gifts for their kids, and then kids coming in and buying for their parents and grandparents,” Waldroup adds.
For this holiday season, Waldroup points to a few popular sellers, first among which is the HeARTfully Yours Christmas Ornaments by Christopher Radko. The charming ornaments are hand-blown in Europe, with proceeds benefiting causes including heart disease, breast cancer, AIDS research, and food insecurity. Another popular item this season, Waldroup says, is the “Walking in Memphis” down-filled pillow, with a design of the Memphis skyline and other Memphis references.
And, of course, there’s Cotton Row’s brand of candles, including the Memphis Creed, #901 Bond, Citrus Grove, Southern Garden, and Cotton Row. Of the candles, Waldroup says, “We’ve made sure that the fragrance would last until the candle is completely finished. They’ll burn for about a hundred hours.” — Abigail Morici
Jared McStay at Shangri-La Records (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)
Pick Up Some Vinyl at Local Record Stores
“Give the gift of music,” went the old promotional slogan, back when that could only mean purchasing an album or single on vinyl or CD. Streaming changed all that, of course … or did it? With vinyl’s share of the music market on the rise, record stores in Memphis are not only thriving, they’re multiplying. Shangri-La is the granddaddy of them all, and Goner has followed their example (and then some).
But don’t sleep on the Memphis Music shop on Beale Street, stocked with an impressive array of albums by Memphis artists past and present. And just a stone’s throw away is the relatively new River City Records, also doing brisk business. Finally, there are pockets of vinyl in stores focused on other products, such as the second floor of A. Schwab and, believe it or not, Urban Outfitters.
Note that the dedicated record stores above also feature oodles of other music-related delights, including CDs, cassettes, and books galore. It turns out you can give the gift of music. River City Records’ Chris Braswell notes, “The people that are really driving the increases [in record sales] are teenagers, 20-year-olds, and 30-year-olds. They’re becoming avid vinyl collectors. A lot of people think streaming services like Spotify hurt physical sales, but I think it’s the exact opposite. This most recent generation has started looking for a way to physically possess their music, and vinyl is just the coolest medium there is. You get liner notes and the cover art!” — Alex Greene
Hand-dressed candles at Broom Closet (Photo: Shara Clark)
The Broom Closet
This metaphysical shop on South Main has everything for the witchy giftees on your list. And you certainly won’t find these items in big-box stores. Herbs, essential oils, an extensive selection of crystals, candles, books, boxes, incense, goblets and chalices, and so much more. You can also book a personalized tarot reading, an aura and chakra analysis, or purchase a gift card so your special someone can choose for themselves.
Does your gift recipient wish to ward off the evil eye? Perhaps they could use a little money luck? The shop’s knowledgeable staff has prepared a variety of intentional smudge kits ($18) — for protection, love drawing, money drawing, and home cleansing and blessing — that include tools like sage bundles, incense cones, selenite sticks, gemstones, and chime candles for ritual assistance.
For manifestation work, they offer candles ($12), hand-dressed with oils, herbs, and gemstone sand, and blessed in-store for their purpose — cleansing, drawing money or love, protection, and more.
These are just a few of the unique goods you’ll find at the Broom Closet. Stop in, stock up, and give the gift of magic this season! — Shara Clark
Necklace by Penny Preville (Photo: Mednikow Jewelers)
Mednikow Jewelers
If you like your gifts to twinkle and sparkle, then you should go directly to Mednikow, the jewelry store that’s been bringing the best, the brightest, and the most shimmering stones to Memphis since 1891. With five generations of dedication to the art of jewelry, you’ll find gems in a wide range of styles and prices.
The store carries pieces by top designers, including David Yurman, Mikimoto, Elizabeth Locke, Penny Preville, Roberto Coin, John Hardy, Gurhan, Monica Rich Kosann, Charles Krypell, and Michael Bondanza. Pictured is one of Penny Preville’s striking creations, a diamond charm necklace with a toggle clasp and several charms. Mednikow not only prides itself on providing gorgeous, top-quality jewelry, but it also loves to work with you to help you come to a decision — after all, it has to be perfect, right? The experts there have decades of knowledge of what’s exceptional and they want you to be exceptionally happy. In fact, you may not know precisely what you want until you go inside, look around, and then see the exact engagement ring that catches your eye. Or bracelet, or earrings, or locket, or necklace, or — well, you get the idea. Whatever you decide, you or someone you love will be wearing a work of art. — Jon W. Sparks
Straight Tennessee Whiskey (Photo: Old Dominick Distillery)
Straight Tennessee Whiskey from Old Dominick Distillery
The holidays are a time for joy and cheer. But they’re also a time for family, which could go either way for many of you out there. If your “straight shooter” old uncle is going to be there at the end of the table, hogging all the Thanksgiving turkey and spouting alternative facts, then you’ll need some straight shootin’ of your own. To make sure the whole table is covered and to be supportive of local businesses at the same time, pick up a strong bottle of liquor from Old Dominick Distillery.
We’ve all had the staples: the Formula No. 10 Gin, the Huling Station Straight Bourbon, the Honeybell Citrus Vodka. But this holiday season, focus on the distillery’s major new milestone. Released November 1st, Old Dominick officially launched its Straight Tennessee Whiskey ($35.99 a bottle, $69.99 for the bottled-in-bond variation), the first distilled, barreled, matured, and bottled whiskey in Memphis since Prohibition.
“As a Kentucky native, I did not think I would ever make a Tennessee whiskey,” says Alex Castle, master distiller at Old Dominick, “and yet, here we are.”
The whiskey is aged for a minimum of four years in West Tennessee White Oak barrels. “Straight Tennessee Whiskey opens with vanilla, tobacco, anise, and caramel on the nose. Sugar Maple Charcoal filtering delivers a mellow, medium-bodied whiskey, lightly sweet with caramel and crème brûlée with a hint of oak and vanilla for a silky finish.” Drink up, whiskey connoisseurs! — Samuel X. Cicci
Old Dominick Distillery, 305 S. Front St., 260-1250, olddominick.com
Allpa Del Día travel bag (Photo: Outdoors Inc.)
Allpa Del Día Travel Surprise Pack at Outdoors Inc.
Want a travel item that stands out? Each of these Allpa Del Día innovative travel bags are unique. Since they are made with repurposed remnant fabric of various colors, no two look exactly alike. But, looks aside, this well-constructed 35-liter travel essential is full of nifty features, including a low-profile harness suspension system, contoured shoulder straps, air-mesh back panel, adjustable sternum strap, and padded hip belt.
The bag also features a suitcase-style, full-wrap zipper opening on the main compartment that opens into a large, zippered mesh compartment.
It’s perfectly sized for carry-on, and its padded laptop and tablet sleeves are accessible via an exterior zipper. A subdivided compartment on the top is designed with passports and other small essentials in mind. As a security measure, all external zippers feature theft-proof webbing sewn across the openings. Additionally, four reinforced grab handles provide multiple carry points when the shoulder straps are tucked away. There’s even a high-visibility rain cover that stows into the pack.
Solidly designed and uniquely colorful, for $200, what’s not to like? — Bruce VanWyngarden
Outdoors Inc., multiple locations in Memphis, outdoorsinc.com
Rock Ya Sox (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Custom Socks at Rock Ya Sox
Jeff Farmer is quick to say he’s known for his socks. “At one point I had over 200 pairs of colorful designs,” he says. That was just his personal collection. So, it’s only natural Farmer is owner of Rock Ya Sox, which features more than 100 unisex sock designs, many of which Farmer created.
A native Memphian, Farmer decided to start his own sock business after he visited a store in Portland, Oregon, that just sold socks. A friend then told him where he could get socks in bulk and another place that created sock designs.
Farmer decided to design socks as well. Baptist Memorial Hospital reached out to him and asked him to “create something for a good cause.” So, he came up with a sock with “polka dots, contrasting colors.”
People tell him what they want. “If they want to get them in bulk, it’s $100 minimum.” But, he says, “If they want me to make the socks, it can be as little as one pair. I make socks at home.” A single pair of socks sells for $13. “If someone calls and wants me to put a picture of their face or dog on the sock, I can create those socks.”
Want something unusual? Farmer also carries “3D socks. They may have a nose on them or ears hanging on them. Or Superman socks with a cape on the back.” — Michael Donahue
Thistle and Bee Gratitude Box (Photo: Thistle and Bee)
Thistle and Bee Gift Boxes
Sweet treats are always popular as stocking stuffers, but this year, why not do some good at the same time? “Thistle and Bee is a nonprofit organization that helps women survivors of sex trafficking and addiction get back into society again and thrive,” says Bridgette House, social justice enterprise manager at Thistle and Bee.
Based out of Second Baptist Church on Walnut Grove, Thistle and Bee’s name refers to their means of production. “We have 40-plus hives that we use to harvest our own honey, and we make our products from the honey that we harvest. All of our products are made by survivors, and they’re packaged with a lot of love and a lot of care.”
Currently, Thistle and Bee supports a residency facility for 11 survivors; next year, they hope to double that capacity. Their premium wildflower honey is also available in a hot, pepper-infused flavor and whipped cinnamon. They also make their own custom blend of tea and granola. “We have the premium brand and then we have a lovely chunky and we have a seasonal apricot and pumpkin spice,” says House. “For the holidays, we have all types of soaps and stocking stuffers, like lip balm.”
Thistle and Bee gift box options include a sampler with all three honeys ($30) and the Gratitude Box ($38), which includes honey, granola, tea, and a beeswax candle. — Chris McCoy
Jackeli Bryant’s tufted rug company was born out of a new wave of artistry during the Covid-19 pandemic. Bryant would see the art form on TikTok, and this inspired him to purchase a tufted rug starter kit consisting of a yarn threader, a tufting frame, and other materials needed to get started.
While Bryant only started selling rugs about four months ago and received his first commission from a sneaker cleaning company in Memphis, he’s been able to make a number of tufted masterpieces featuring Kobe Bryant, Nipsey Hussle, and even a recreation of Brent Faiyaz’s EP, A.M. Paradox. Bryant considers his rugs a unique gift for the holiday season as they are extremely customizable, and he says that he can work with different types of images and “give that gift that no one else is going to have.”
Bryant said that everything that he does is “one of one,” as everything is personalized and handmade with high-quality materials. “Art never loses value. It’s something that you’ll be able to take to another house with you. It’ll be something that you didn’t go to the store and buy. You put in the order, found the image, and then I created it and brought it to life.” — Kailynn Johnson
I am so filled with holiday spirit and good cheer I could just explode. I so love the Christmas holidays. I particularly love shopping malls and big-box stores. I love the thought of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and all of the other opportunities to get great deals on things that neither I nor anyone else really needs. But it’s the game that counts. It’s that thrill of putting down the turkey drumstick and racing immediately after Thanksgiving dinner to one of the malls or big stores to shop. Camping out for a day or two in the parking lot of said retailers? Even better. I LOVE that! I love the lines of people and the stampedes that take place when they blow the horn to let shoppers know that it’s time to fight each other for the newest Xbox or Star Wars-themed merchandise of varying kinds. It is so thrilling and heartwarming.
Oh, and I just can’t get enough of Christmas music and television commercials. I live for that. I love the sounds of bells jingling and crooners crooning and whistling the holiday classics. It’s just so joyous. It’s downright rapturous. Oh, and Christmas movies. God, I live for those too. Especially new ones that blend humor and drama and romance and cute dogs and lots of holiday whimsy. I am nothing less than a big sucker for Christmas movies with lots of holiday whimsy. Can’t get enough of that.
The best type of holiday movie whimsy to me is when older, divorced men and women find unexpected love during the holidays and their families meet and there’s a lot of gosh darn, good old holiday merriment with a couple of the family members being a little eccentric and the cute dog eats the turkey or the ham from the holiday table. Hollywood could crank out a million of those every Christmas, and it still wouldn’t be enough for me.
Oh, and the Christmas DECORATIONS. This is perhaps the best aspect of all during the 12 beautiful days of Christmas. I’m not talking here about just lights, either. Sure, Christmas lights are more than awesome. When I drive by really big houses in really nice neighborhoods and the lovely new homes are completely covered in blinking lights and there’s a Santa and his sleigh and reindeer in light on the roof, I just get a warm feeling all inside me. It makes me so happy to see a display like that because you know someone had to put a lot of thought and work into creating something that majestically gorgeous.
I also like the vignette decorations, like the nativity scene with the baby Jesus and Joseph and Mary and the camels and the manger and all that. It’s so cheerful and nostalgic and wonderful. It just makes me want to sit around a warm fire with the people I love, drinking eggnog and sharing memories from Christmases past. Like the time Uncle Buddy got out of prison just in time to celebrate Christmas with his family — well, the members of the family who lived in the county into which he was released after doing time for aggravated assault because he was still on parole and couldn’t leave that county. It didn’t really matter though, because most of the whores he hung around with all lived in the county, too, and they had plenty of drug-dealer connections without having to steal another car and go to a different county to get the Christmas crystal meth. There were plenty of local convenience stores to rob to get the cash to pay the guy at the meth lab.
And Uncle Buddy would tell us all sorts of wonderful stories about celebrating Christmas in the state penitentiary with all of his Aryan brothers and how he was always married in prison to the man with the most cigarettes. And since it was just as easy to get drugs in prison as it was on the outside, if not easier, he and the brotherhood never had to worry much about spending Christmas without heroin. They could just attack and gang-bang any of the drug dealers in there and get their drugs and celebrate the night away.
Of course, it was harder for them to get the Christmas lights and decorations, since they didn’t carry those in the prison commissary. They had to bribe the guards to bring those in under the cover of night. Well, they didn’t so much bribe them as they did threaten them with having associates on the outside murder their children on Christmas day if they didn’t get them the lights and decorations so they could spend Christmas Eve smoking crack in their cells and then making fake reindeer antlers to wear to the chow hall.
I don’t know why those stories warm my heart so during the holiday season but they really, really do. In fact, I feel like going Christmas shopping right now and getting what I heard on the news the other day is the most popular gift this year: an assault rifle. They’re on sale, you can get them at the gun shows without a background check, and everybody needs one. What’s the downside to that? So Merry Christmas, you hear?
Rather than shop, I spent a rainy Black Friday at home catching up on my reading and came across an intriguing editorial in that day’s New York Times. Titled “False Alarms About a National Crime Wave,” the Times‘ editorial board provided detailed statistics indicating that, far from escalating, the trend in violent crime in America is in fact receding dramatically.
The Times article called the long-term trend “unmistakable,” adding that “the rate of violent crime, including murder, has been going down for a quarter-century, and is at its lowest in decades. On average, it is half of what it was in 1990, and in some places even lower.”
As a long-time resident of Memphis, a city that’s unfortunately known for its high crime rates, these observations piqued my interest, and sent me off into the ether to check out the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports. It’s a simple task; they’re found at: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/. The reports date back to 1930, although the oldest one online is from 1995.
I decided to do a two-decade comparison. Despite what critics sometimes say, the FBI’s numbers do seem quite “uniform” for every metro area in the country, comparing as they do apples to apples in a dozen well-defined crime categories. So I pulled up the detailed numbers for the Memphis metro area in 1995 and compared them with the same numbers 18 years later — in 2013 — the latest full year for which FBI statistics are available.
Those numbers speak volumes about what’s actually been happening here, suggesting that there’s something of a silver lining to our local crime cloud. Here are a few of the most interesting statistics:
• The Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had a population of 1,072,051 in 1995; in 2013 there were 1,347,803 of us. That’s a 26 percent increase.
• Despite the fact that we had 26 percent more people in 2013 than 1995, the total number of violent crimes committed annually remained just about the same over this 18-year period: 13,432 in 1995, 13,389 in 2013.
• The murder rate in the Memphis MSA declined by 35 percent, from 214 in 1995 to 139 in 2013. Rapes declined similarly, from 937 in 1995 to 617 in 2013.
• Property crimes dropped 24 percent, from 74,042 (1995) to 56,471 (2013), while motor-vehicle theft fell from 16,263 (1995) to 3,517 (2013), a remarkable 78-percent decline.
These numbers suggest, pretty convincingly, that Memphis today is in fact a safer place than the Memphis of the mid-1990s. More importantly, this downward trend has occurred all while our metro-area population has grown over 26 percent over the past two decades. Even in our “worst” categories, the crime stats for our now-more-populous area have stayed roughly the same, in raw-number terms.
Now let’s face it: Memphis’ crime numbers, like those of similarly poor Southern cities, are still pretty miserable, overall, when compared to more prosperous places like Boston or Seattle, cities whose murder rates, for example, are one-fourth of ours. But there seems to be no question that we are a decidedly safer place than we used to be. And while it certainly is premature to declare victory in the war against crime, we should not ignore the fact that the overall trend in regard to crime in the Mid-South is positive, not negative.
Mark Twain once said there are three kinds of lies: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” But sometimes statistics, however drab, represent indisputable facts. In 1995, the Memphis metro area endured 214 murders; in 2013, we had “only” 138. Of course, a single murder any year in Memphis is one murder too many. But does a 35 percent drop in your city’s murder rate indicate that the city is being engulfed by an all-new tidal wave of local crime?
I think not. As a community, we should start by remembering to allow our discussions about crime to be guided as much as possible by factual information, not by uninformed opinion that occasionally borders on hysteria. Blind hogs may get lucky occasionally, but they rarely find acorns.
Kenneth Neill is the Publisher/CEO of Contemporary Media, Inc., the parent company of The Memphis Flyer.
You could freeze your ass off waiting in line at Wal-Mart at 5 a.m. Friday morning while some lady with a mullet and a Tweety Bird tattoo stands next to you talking about her new double-wide.
Or you could sleep in and head to the Le Bonheur Christmas Cottage at the Agricenter. The expo runs Friday, Nov. 23rd through Sun., Nov. 25th. All proceeds go to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center’s new “Clubhouse” resource center, which will feature computers, laundry and kitchen facilities, lounges, and sleep rooms for patient families.
Shoppers at the Christmas Cottage can choose from jewelry, clothing, pottery, and toys. Santa will be present for pictures with the kids.
Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com 