Echols: Punctuation is a short-term superpower
“I typically write about God in this space, and you may think there’s no way on earth to weave God into a conversation about punctuation – but on that matter, Dear Reader, you would be wrong.”
Topic: Guest Columns
RSSThere are 298 article(s) tagged Guest Columns:
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August 2026
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Maxey: Despite the heat, in summer everything in nature is alive and at its peak.
“I’ll take every season life sees fit to give me, but I know which way I’ll bend if I have to choose favorites. Give me the season with long days and short pants, warm evenings but cool memories.”
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Opinion: The lesson from the World Cup is that Memphis needs to promote more local musicians
“Memphis could be at the epicenter of the next music revival, much like Nashville and country music has enjoyed over the last 15 years. Yet so many of the discussions here today focus on promoting the music infrastructure, with very little about musicians themselves.”
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Opinion: Adults can debate — but children can’t wait
“Here is my challenge to Memphis as a new school year begins: Move Memphis, mane! Move beyond the debates long enough to remember the reason we have them in the first place: our children.”
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Opinion: John Fry’s legacy deserves more than the final headlines
“As Memphis discusses the future of Ardent Studios, I hope we will spend just as much time remembering why Ardent mattered and honoring John Fry, the man who devoted his life to making sure the music, the people and the history of this city would never be forgotten.”
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July 2026
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Echols: At the beach, why do we let Phil Collins drown out the sound of the waves?
“In a time of pervasive anxiety and loneliness, we pay a hearty chunk of change for a music box named after a Turtle in order to drown out the God-given sounds that Creation offers to soothe us.”
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Opinion: District Attorney Steve Mulroy makes ‘Force Science’ a straw man
“Police officers routinely face circumstances few citizens will ever experience. They must distinguish victims from suspects, assess deadly threats, and make irreversible decisions in fractions of a second.”
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Opinion: Memphis breweries ask SpaceXAI to keep its water promise
Opinion: “Memphis does not have to choose between innovation and stewardship. ... SpaceXAI must complete the water recycling facility, pursue water-saving technologies, and be the community partner Memphis was promised.”
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Opinion: Memphis’ city planning failed us — Memphis 3.0 is the vision we need
“Those of us who don’t stand to profit off zoning decisions must speak up and support a vision for a more walkable Memphis. Not only will this support small local businesses, but it will save lives on our roads.”
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Maxey: Selective recollections shouldn’t become a reality that never was
“As I linger on the sweet and innocent memories, I try to never let them become my lone takeaway from that time in life when things felt better even if they weren’t. I don’t want my selective recollections of the past to become an encompassing reality that never was.”
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Opinion: Before you condemn DA Mulroy, read what he said for yourself
“There is a difference between criticizing law enforcement as a profession and criticizing how law enforcement officers are trained. Examining professional failures does not demean a profession. It strengthens it.”
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Opinion: Risks of SpaceXAI data center outweigh benefits
“If you plant the right trees in the right places, embrace and care for our native ecosystem, and hold industry and government accountable for their impacts on our environment, we may just succeed.”
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Opinion: Why does my electricity go on vacation more than I do?
“The real problem here — the sweaty elephant in the room — is infrastructure sorely in need of an upgrade. But as an average user who just expects the lights to come on when I flip the switch, I can’t accept that power in an urban area should go out so easily, so often and for so long.”
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June 2026
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Opinion: Politics aside? When it comes to Otis Sanford — not quite
Opinion: “Otis Sanford begins his recent column with a reasonable premise: Politics should be set aside when discussing the federal indictment of suspended General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer. Unfortunately, that’s not what follows.”
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Opinion: On xAI, Mayor Young is gaslighting Memphis
Opinion by Joseph Ryan Kelly: “If Mayor Young truly believes Anthropic’s partnership with xAI is unequivocally good news for Memphis, then he is badly misreading the moment.”
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Echols: For the newest Grizzlies, ‘Why Memphis is amazing’
Opinion: “The secret sauce that makes Memphis amazing has nothing to do with barbecue. Actually, it is the people. The kindness of the general public in this city is rich.”
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Opinion: Drowning prevention is a matter of public health — and equity
“Drowning is often viewed as a tragic accident, something rare and unavoidable. In reality, drowning is a leading cause of preventable injury and death, particularly among children and young adults.”
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Maxey: Walking is a way of slowing down the body — and speeding up the brain
“There’s really no overstating how much of an influence the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other – something most people take for granted once they’ve mastered those initial steps as a toddler – has had on the human psyche.
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Echols: ‘What am I doing to work in tandem with God?’
“So much of what I think about and talk about and write about and pray about has to do with the here and now. Who is struggling? What’s on my to-do list? What has happened? What’s up next?”
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Opinion: As bus riders suffer, Memphis needs to turn MATA around
“Last year’s audit made people believe MATA cannot be redeemed. But it is imperative that we not give up. Memphis should be a world-class city. Quality transit attracts employers and gets people to work on time. It also keeps people from going into debt just to maintain a working vehicle.”
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Opinion: What Juneteenth teaches us about the America we’re still building
“Millions of Americans across racial and geographic lines are working harder and falling further behind. The basic infrastructure of a stable life is out of reach for far too many families. This is not a partisan talking point. It is the lived arithmetic of American households.”
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Echols: A celebration of architecture — right here in Memphis
“It felt as if someone was whispering good secrets to the rest of the world about my home, and I was the one caught unaware. Sure enough, that’s precisely what has been happening for about a decade now.”
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Opinion: Call it what it is — a tax increase
“If county government chooses to collect millions of dollars more than the state-certified revenue-neutral rate allows, taxpayers deserve the honesty of calling it exactly what it is: a tax increase.”
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Opinion: ‘No wonder we are so desensitized to the slaughter’
“We are more armed than other countries, and more permissive about how those arms are stored, carried, and used. Memphis knows this reality more intimately than most cities. Gun violence is not an abstraction here; it is a daily presence.”
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Opinion: James Lawson and how ‘the Civil Rights Movement will have to become revolutionary’
“With an iron-grip commitment to nonviolence, Lawson called for campaigns of civil disobedience that pressed the demands of the larger Black community.”
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