Opinion
Conaway: She won an Emmy; I fixed the Keurig; give it up for us
“I have three Addys, the national award the American Advertising Federation considers their Emmy. Not an Emmy.”
Dan Conaway
Columnist
Dan Conaway is a lifelong Memphian, fascinated and frustrated with his city, but still in love. A columnist since 2010, his distinguished advertising career has branded ribs in the Rendezvous and ducks in The Peabody, pandas in the zoo and Grizzlies in the NBA. Stories in Memphis tend to write themselves. He’s helped a few along. Two book collections of his columns have been published.
There are 321 articles by Dan Conaway :
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November 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: Art isn’t our decoration; it’s our measure
“I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”
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October 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: Chicken Tossing Days and Dog Dipping Days, a prophetic tale
Cas Walker wasn’t in denial about his outrageous business practices and politics, he knew they were outrageous, and he was proud of every one of them.
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Dan ConawayConaway: A lesson over eggs and coffee
We’ll do it again. And we’ll be loud. And we’ll enjoy it. I may even try one of those three-egg omelet things, but they can keep the raspberry mocha.
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Dan ConawayConaway: Who lost those teenagers? We did.
“What weakens our heart and denies our soul destroys us all. What actions taken by the state that threaten the well-being of the least of us, ultimately threaten all of us.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Face it, Memphis. You’re still funky.
A sense of, “I can make it,” “I can change it,” “I can create it,” because the most ordinary of origins have sent such extra extraordinary gifts to the world from here.
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September 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: Free us from Liberty
“Liberty? This city was in rebellion against the United States and taken by force by the United States armed forces. Liberty? We were officially a slave city in a slave state.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Five breathless days, one doctor, one nurse — a cautionary tale
“You have pneumonia,” he said, “double viral pneumonia.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: The Tasteful List 2023
Amazingly, my physician not only doesn’t condemn the list or even remain neutral. We actually fondly discuss several things on the list in the examining room — the place where the net result of the list is most evident.
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Dan ConawayConaway: Mr. Mayor, before you become Mr. again, don’t leave us in shame
Fair or not, the next few weeks are critical to Mayor Jim Strickland’s legacy and will leave an ugly mark or deliver a bright promise.
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Dan ConawayConaway: A 901 birth, a 901 death, a 901 legacy
We were very proud of the baby that came out of that room, out of a whole lot of rooms and minds and hearts, a whole city’s baby.
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August 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: You — yes, you — will choose Memphis’ next mayor
When 12% of the voters can put a candidate in the top four or five, the votes in your Friday night poker game could put somebody over the top.
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Dan ConawayConaway: We can’t dodge this bullet
There is no better time to tell our own state, and the rest of the country, that we are a city that cannot be bought by the people who make the bullets and the guns that are killing us.
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Dan ConawayConaway: Swimming in memory with Ann Wiggs and Eudora Welty
“We met a month before at the spring-fed pool at Allison’s Wells, a fading Southern Belle of a place — sort of resort, part art colony, part retreat from change deep in the Mississippi woods outside of Canton.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: The game. At its absolute best, right here. Be proud.
Next week, the 70 best players in the world will be here — right here — to play the game like no one else in the world can.
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July 2023
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Dan ConawayCalling the bluff: Gambling for a piece of the action
“While I understand, and share, Virginia McLean’s passion to realize the vision, I submit that her passion has prohibited her from seeing the obvious.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Moving boxes, Band-Aids, bruises and blood
Johnson & Johnson called. They wanted to make sure I was still at it before they made their quarterly projection for shareholders.
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Dan ConawayConaway: Everything has changed — except the checklist
“Sure, you can consider if the candidate would vote your way, or if your interests are going to be protected or pursued. You can consider whether or not you both share a love of fried green tomatoes, but without that checklist as your basic guide, all bets are off.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: The invaluable lesson of Johnny’s 75¢
I had earned a stomachache that I thought would prove fatal so, when my mother opened the back door and asked why I was doubled over on the steps, I threw up and confessed.
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June 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: Health care is robbing us blind in broad daylight
“There’s a quote that comes to mind. Max von Sydow said, ‘If Jesus came back today, and saw what was going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.’”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Moving — the archaeology of lives
We make progress, and then we find another failing envelope, labelled in fading ink, full of old pics of people with life in front of them, their faces full of possibility, and hours are lost as we know them again, as we visit them again, as we return.
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Dan ConawayConaway: Hey, neighbor, could we borrow a cup of tomorrow?
“Tennessee is flunking childhood education, and the valedictorian of that failure just might be Memphis.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Chicken tossing days and dog dipping — a cautionary tale
“Cas Walker was a Knoxville grocer, promoter, broadcaster, politician, con man and character. He wasn’t in denial about his outrageous business practices and politics; he knew they were outrageous, and he was proud of every one of them.”
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Dan ConawayConaway: Random wisdom. Or not.
“If you’ve seen any of these before, just laugh again.”
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May 2023
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Dan ConawayConaway: From King to Kent State, change burns in a nation under fire
“With that tragic event came an understanding that we have the unique responsibility to reject everything that pulled that trigger, the national events and mindsets that were behind that bullet then and now.”
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