Calkins: Reopen Memphis? Empty shops and restaurants show it’ll take more than mayors to do that
The government didn't shut down the economy. COVID-19 did that. So it'll take more than the government to open Memphis back up.
Geoff Calkins
Columnist
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
There are 1013 articles by Geoff Calkins :
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May 2020
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Ready or not, Memphis, it’s time to start reopening. So let’s not screw it up
Memphis and Shelby County will start reopening for business Monday. It's up to Memphians to make sure it's not the disaster many expect.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: A dog, his owner — and one wild & crazy parade
You've seen the parades all over town, haven't you? For birthdays and elementary schools and the like? Well, they had one at Trezevant Manor Thursday. It was the happiest parade of them all.
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April 2020
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Today’s superhero? A nurse — and father of 7 — who flies to New York to fight coronavirus
Todd Maxwell is a nurse from Byhalia, Mississippi. When the pandemic hit New York, he left his job in Jackson, Tennessee, to fly up and work in a hospital dedicated to COVID-19 patients.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: A rational, bipartisan plan to reopen Memphis and Shelby County? Why are some of you mad?
Area mayors outlined a "Back-to-business" framework Monday. The framework did not include a definite starting date — and that's a good thing.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Coronavirus canceled his first marathon. So he ran it anyway. Alone.
Nate Franklin trained to run his first marathon on his 26th birthday. When it was postponed by COVID-19, he decided to run it anyway. It's a lesson for us all.
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Memphis Tigers Football Former Memphis Tiger dies of COVID-19
Dennis Bradshaw, former quarterback at the University of Memphis, died Saturday of COVID-19 at the age of 62.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Landers Nolley is the good news that Memphis Tiger fans need
Virginia Tech transfer Landers Nolley is headed to Memphis. That's great news for a program that has been in need of some.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: A bittersweet day as Tyler Harris decides to leave the city he loves
Tyler Harris has decided to transfer. With the expected arrival of Virginia Tech transfer Landers Nolley, it makes all the sense in the world. But Memphis fans should be forever grateful to Harris for reaffirming the connection between the Tigers and the town.
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Coronavirus Memphis kindness blog, April 17: MicroPort donates 100,000 surgical masks
MicroPort Scientific and its Arlington-based orthopedics division have donated 100,000 surgical masks to Memphis Fire Services, and the company plans to donate 100,000 more locally soon.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: For Rev. Eli Morris and Hope Church, getting COVID-19 may have been an answered prayer
Eli Morris is feeling better after testing positive for COVID-19. Now he and the rest of the clergy at Hope Church are focusing on those in the community who are facing the same challenges he faced — usually with fewer resources.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Why does this keep happening to Memphis basketball?
Jalen Green skips college for the G League. It's the latest disappointment for Penny Hardaway and Memphis basketball.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Super agent Jimmy Sexton is still doing deals — from his back porch
Jimmy Sexton and agents at CAA just negotiated contracts for 43 NFL players worth a total $611.5 million. How do you do that in the midst of pandemic? Well, you start by never leaving your home.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: University of Memphis president David Rudd optimistic there will be students — and football — on campus this fall
University of Memphis president David Rudd told The Daily Memphian that "current indicators would suggest" students will be back on campus in the fall. He's hopeful football will be back, too.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: How a 62-year-old Marine named Sgt. Tony is winning Facebook Live
Tony Ludlow started his wise-cracking boot camp more than 20 years ago. Now he's beaming it out on Facebook Live.
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Coronavirus Memphis kindness live blog, April 10: The gift of pizza on porches
One woman in Sea Isle has made sure her neighbors have popsicles and pizza.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: My teenage son cut my hair and . . .
Memphians are getting shaggier as part of life under coronavirus isolation. So, our columnist ventured into Calkins Clip Club for a trim by a teenager with a pair of shears.
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: What happens when a St. Jude kid plays golf in the pandemic
Dakota Cunningham is the St. Jude patient who sank a 5-foot putt for $50,000 at the World Golf Championship-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last summer. This past Thursday, he did better than that.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: No, there won’t be football
Dr. Jon McCullers loves sports as much as you do. But he has some bad news.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Dan Spector was Shelby County’s death number 3 — and a whole lot more
Dan Spector died Tuesday of COVID-19. He loved the Tigers, Judaism, politics, Midtown, newspapers, the arts — and a brilliant white flower that bloomed just one night a year.
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March 2020
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: My friend tested positive for COVID-19 — but she went all over Memphis first
You want to know why you should take social distancing seriously? Meet a nurse I know. She lives in Memphis. She tested positive for COVID-19. And y'all just might have crossed paths before the test results came back.
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: Even in a pandemic, the high school lunch table endures
There's no lunch table with classes canceled, unless a group of friends gather via technology to debate sports, dating and the winner of a fight between a gorilla and a bear.
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: In a time of pandemic, can construction paper save us all?
Across-the-street neighbors Melinda Henson and Laura Allen realized they weren't seeing as much of each other as they should. So they took it upon themselves to connect as only two elementary school teachers could. In the process, they taught a lesson to us all.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: The class of 2020, and a lost senior spring
The Class of 2020 will not have the senior spring that the rest of us had. It may shape them in important and lasting ways.
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: Help us ‘crazy’ Memphians save local journalism
Memphians are just audacious enough to think they can can find solutions. That’s what defines us as much as anything else. We roll up our sleeves. We innovate. And at a time when the model for local journalism is broken — but the need for local journalism is as keen as ever — Memphians have come up with a solution to that. But it needs you.
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: Yes, it’s true! They had a (very happy) coronavirus parade!
The teachers at Bailey Station Elementary missed their students. So they threw a giant (no joking) coronavirus parade!
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