Echols: ‘We need the wisdom of trees’
“We need the wisdom that shows us how to turn our faces toward the light and bend without breaking.”
Topic: Guest Columns
RSSThere are 182 article(s) tagged Guest Columns:
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September 2025
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Opinion: MATA is fixable — and other lessons I learned on the MATA board
“If we want our city to thrive, we need a strong transit system. It effects all of us who want our packages delivered, our children to learn, our construction projects completed, our coffee to be made, and so much more.”
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Opinion: Use the Mason prison for juvenile intervention, not an ICE detention center
“There is no doubt in my mind this facility can go a long way in helping Memphis reduce crime and help some of these children. It is desperately needed. Cost and bureaucracy should not be a problem.”
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August 2025
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Opinion: Upholding Memphis’ reputation as a generous city
“My philanthropic heroes, whether congregants on fixed incomes or billionaires like Warren Buffett, embody a rare attribute. Sacrificial giving means contributing beyond one’s self, not merely after one’s self-pursuits or leisure.”
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Opinion: Life-saving medical support should not be a privilege
“Cancer doesn’t care where you live. But in this city, where you live can still determine whether you live.”
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Opinion: A Venezuelan immigrant’s experience with ICE in Memphis
Alfredo Caminata saw the United States as a safe place free from the authoritarianism and persecution he suffered in his home country. Until he was stopped by ICE agents.
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Opinion: Tennessee legislators lob insults but lack ideas
“With a striking sense of amnesia, the lawmakers are eager to take over Memphis’ school board, apparently forgetting the state has already taken over many low-performing schools and been unable to do anything to help them.”
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Opinion: ‘Why is Crime Down?’
“Memphians aren’t experiencing things in our community which might explain the crime reduction. And we all see what is still on the news night after night: violent crime.”
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July 2025
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Opinion: ‘Reentry programs work - Memphis needs to invest in them’
“In Tennessee, more than 62,000 people are on parole, probation, or community supervision. In Shelby County alone, approximately 7,000 people are released from prison or jail every year. Most of them are ready to work and rebuild.”
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Opinion: ‘Every time we lose a child, we have failed’
“Jack didn’t die because he didn’t want recovery. He didn’t die because he was a bad kid. He died because the systems around him were inadequate, uncoordinated, underfunded and broken.”
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May 2025
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Opinion: On STD rates, we need to start having ‘uncomfortable conversations’
“If middle school students are having unprotected sex and contracting sexually transmitted infections, do we really think they are going to log onto a website and order a test?”
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April 2025
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Opinion: The potential impact of tariffs on Memphis
A slowdown in global trade because of the tariffs could mean layoffs, lower investment or worse for many Memphis companies big and small.
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Guest Column: Regional One is nothing short of a miracle
“Every day, Regional One quietly performs life-saving work, often without the recognition or resources it deserves. It serves our entire region – rich and poor, urban and rural, young and old – without pause or prejudice.”
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Opinion: Memphis needs plastic-bag ban
“Progress for the city doesn’t only come from attracting big name companies and potential new jobs, it must also include environmental justice and protecting the health of all residents.”
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March 2025
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Opinion: Cohen says Memphis wants results, not chaos
“Congressman John Lewis taught us that sometimes we have to get into ‘good trouble.’ Necessary trouble. Because when the system is under attack, silence eventually becomes complicity.”
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January 2025
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Opinion: The case for patience in MSCS leadership
The consequences of dismissing Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Feagins may have unintended consequences that won’t serve the district’s 110,000 students, board member Amber Huett-Garcia says.
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Opinion: Can I get some vouchers?
A public school teacher on vouchers: “Let’s be honest, today we’re far more interested in satisfying our own personal interests and we expect the taxpayer to foot the bill. We are entitled.”
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December 2024
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Opinion: Sen. Taylor calls DA’s bail decisions ‘disheartening’
State Sen. Taylor to DA Mulroy: “Stop trying to be a social justice warrior, aggressively prosecute the laws as written and passed by the General Assembly, and do your job!”
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August 2024
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Guest Column: U of M makes a major impact on families
“The benefits of receiving early intervention and therapy in the formative years is well supported by decades of research.”
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July 2024
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Opinion: The rule of law is not optional for a healthy society
Opinion: Will the Mid-South continue supporting trendy cultural rebellions against traditional civilizational norms and natural law? Can the River City stand against lawlessness and humanism that is influencing the leadership in our city?
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June 2024
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Guest Column: What happens when children learn differently?
“If children are learning, then they can begin to think with more complexity, solve bigger problems and experience success. ... If they are learning, they have hope.”
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May 2024
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Guest Column: The beauty of track and field
“Track is unique because it is both an individual and a team sport. It is a meritocracy in which the best time wins and the fastest athletes get to perform regardless of the opinions of parents or coaches. But the competition in track is not just between runners, but most importantly within each runner too.”
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March 2024
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Opinion: Rental owners can help reduce crime
“Rental property owners can reduce crime by utilizing police calls for service information at their properties. This is no untested theory. It is a proven method that has been put into practice in other crime-ridden neighborhoods in Memphis. And it works.”
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January 2024
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Toni Williams: ‘Unite for youth protection — it’s a collective responsibility’
“It takes all of us to act with a sense of urgency to address the root causes that push our children to commit or be impacted by crime. We must come together to put them on the path of safety and success with our respective resources.”
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Opinion: Look at the facts, not the hysteria, on school choice
“I had a positive experience in public schools. I don’t, however, find it impossible to believe that the same school that worked for me ... isn’t the best fit for every other child in my community.”
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