Opinion: In Memphis, school decisions carry history. This one carries hope.
“The leadership of the Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School and Believe Memphis Academy Charter School have begun a conversation about merging.”
Topic: Guest Columns
RSSThere are 246 article(s) tagged Guest Columns:
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March 2026
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Opinion: ‘Justice, safety, solidarity, law and order — in Memphis, they have to be the same project’
“Amid the frustrating recruitment challenges facing the Memphis Police Department, I would like to turn our attention to a different critical element of our public safety architecture: the frontline civic organizations engaged in violence-reduction efforts.”
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Outgoing FedEx St. Jude Championship leader: ‘To the city of Memphis — thank you’
Before FESJC’s outgoing Executive Director Joe Tomek leaves for Australia, he has some advice for Memphians.
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Opinion: Survey shows support for local police — and for hiring more of them
“With strong overall positive feelings about local police coupled with a very strong desire for more officers, we need a major effort to recruit and retain people of good character and a sense of public service to be in local law enforcement.”
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Echols: ‘Not understanding each other’ is hardly limited to different languages
“The cacophony of languages rising from the upstairs coziness of this one tiny coffee shop in a small foreign village brings back wonderful memories for me as well as excitement for my children.”
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Echols: ‘What wrestling with God has looked like for me’
“When the story of who God is and what he has done for humanity comes to light, the risk of offense is high, granted, but the potential for bellyaching laughter is even higher. And one outweighs the other every time.”
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Guest Column: Remembering a legacy of courage, perseverance and love
“We can take inspiration and hope from Lynda Lowery’s example. Every day, we see young people realize they have a voice and start to use it. As adults, we should be called to do the same.”
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Opinion: Displaying the Ten Commandments in schools is a monumental error
“Someone will be forced to decide which biblical version to display and how to number the commandments. Any such choice would privilege one religious tradition over others.”
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Opinion: Senator Hagerty on ‘Making Memphis the safest city in America’
“One of the great gifts of public service is the ability to make an outsized difference for your fellow citizens. I would never have imagined earlier in my life I could help make Memphis safe and marketable.”
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Opinion: Add library workers to the civil service without unnecessary steps
“I hope that the citizens of Memphis will vote for the referendum granting civil service protection to library workers, and that library employees be re-hired for jobs they secured through a fair and competitive process.”
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Opinion: In a college search, the student is the constant
“Where your child goes to college will never be as important as what they do when they get there. Let your students take charge, take risks and know that they’re going to be OK. You are, too.”
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February 2026
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Opinion: Memphis, are you still thinking about the Roman Empire (and Yellow Fever)?
“Historian Kyle Harper is coming to the University of Memphis to ask a chilling question: are we, like the Romans, on the cusp of societal collapse — or even mass extinction?”
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Opinion: Why immigration enforcement is not the same struggle as the Civil Rights Movement
“Supporting local charities and advocating for legislative reform are reasonable paths forward; interfering with active law enforcement is not.”
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Guest Column: Memphis is well placed for the next wave of growth
“Rebuilding the electrical grid will be a central American industrial challenge. Memphis has a rare opportunity to be more than a pass-through point in that effort — it can become a place where the grid is built.”
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Opinion: Is Mayor Young the right mayor at the wrong time?
“When a mayor uses gratitude to drown out discontent, applause feels less like celebrating progress and begins to feel much more like a way to silence criticism.”
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Opinion: A simple blood test can help save more Tennesseans from colorectal cancer
“The impact of colorectal cancer is exacerbated for Black Tennesseans and people in rural areas who face even more challenges to getting screened and treated.”
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Opinion: When school transportation fails, learning may not happen at all
“For about 26,000 Memphis students, access to school transportation is the difference between showing up ready to learn and not showing up at all.”
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Opinion: The failure to fund pre-K hurts children and families
“We ask the Shelby County administration to find a path forward with First 8 Memphis so that our school system and all other operators are not expected to fill a sudden budgetary gap that we cannot afford.”
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January 2026
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Echols: ‘This has not been my best week’
“Their blood runs through my veins, and many of them walked in the light of grace the same way I am doing this week, just earlier on the timeline. God loved them, and he loves me, too.”
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Opinion: Germantown citizens deserve clear answers about the push for a full-time mayor
“When the City of Germantown proposes sweeping and permanent changes to our system of governance — such as this charter amendment — transparency is not optional, it is essential. But this is where city leadership has fallen short.”
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Opinion: The controversy around xAI is far more than environmental — it’s moral
“If we can’t boldly say the ability to create nonconsensual sexual imagery and child sexual-abuse material need to be fully and permanently irradiated from xAI’s products, we are truly lost.”
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Guest Column: An open letter to Ja Morant ‘Memphis is with you, but be fully with us’
“Memphis is still with you. But now we’re asking you to be fully with us too. We don’t need a superhero. We just need Ja Morant. Present, accountable, and all in.”
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Opinion: xAI’s Southaven data center isn’t about noise; it’s about America’s energy reality
“The debate unfolding in Southaven over xAI’s data center and its gas turbines reflects a familiar clash playing out across the country.”
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Opinion: DeSoto County’s regional sewer project sees ‘substantial progress’
“This is a $300 million regional infrastructure project involving court oversight, multiple jurisdictions, complex engineering, and layered funding sources.”
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Echols: Team sports make space for light to gain victory over dark
“Team sports push back on our natural inclination toward selfishness, and I celebrate and support anything that makes space for light to gain victory over dark, especially if that light involves a goal, a ball and a reversible polyester jersey.”
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