From humble beginnings to home run king, Hank Aaron, who died on Jan. 22, left a legacy. He even found time for a brief stopover in Memphis and hit a home run in a football stadium.

Citizens all over greater Memphis – all over the country – watch over things every day, caring enough about all of us to make sure the greater good is served by the maintenance of the things we care about.

Plus, Zach Randolph’s honor, a case for Scooby Doo, and restaurants that are gone but not forgotten.

Carrying Christian symbols in the midst of violent attacks and mob rule insults our Christian faith. Crosses and signs saying “Jesus Saves” are blatantly out of place as our nation faces insurgency and rebellion.

On Jan. 20, 2009, there was remarkable unity and mutual respect among those in an inauguration crowd estimated at 1.8 million. Now, 12 years later, Jan. 20 promises to be a day of anticipation mixed with anxiety.

You’re entrusting a tax preparer with sensitive information, so it’s important to do your due diligence in choosing one.

“Many of us have already been living paycheck to paycheck, doing everything we can to make ends meet before the pandemic hit. Now, our hours are being cut due to the pandemic and we were already struggling to make rent and put food on the table.”

“I never thought that the trappings of congressional power or Trump’s dominating and vindictive personality would turn the principled guy I’ve known and liked for years into a political lapdog.”

An exhibit that opened recently marks the half-century anniversary of one of American culture’s more colorful and peculiar moments. 

What is the single rose we can take from that pile of a year? As hopeful as it may be, it’s not the vaccine.

Jonah McCoy, 8, is a patient at St. Jude. He could teach us a thing or two. 

At the heart of claims by Trump and his horde of conspiracy theorists is that it was statistically and historically impossible for Trump to lose the election, other than through fraud. How could they believe such grand-scale treachery occurred? The answer, sadly, is rooted in race. 

Each time the Shelby County Health Department announces more locations for vaccination distribution, suburban spots are excluded.

It was not a question of whether Blackburn or Hagerty or Kustoff would stand with Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or Mitt Romney. Would they even be willing to stand with Mitch McConnell? None of them wanted what happened on Wednesday afternoon, but they all helped prepare the stage. 

Scott Morris: “The year of COVID-19 taught me that there might not be time for all the fanciful dreams we put on hold.”

My mother, age 96, got a surprising Christmas present. Let us hope it foreshadows the year to come. 

What makes weddings cool has nothing to do with hundreds of people in church or a few in a cabin. It has to do with two people agreeing to share the trail, with all its ups and downs, and to get wherever they’re going together. 

A West Tennessee mall Santa named Gill Kiper died of a massive heart attack on Christmas Eve. But before you dismiss this as the most 2020 story ever, you should know it has joyous parts, too.

Perhaps one lesson from 2020 is that helping other people requires thoughtful consideration for what someone else actually needs and wants. It’s a deeper kind of call and response, and it might require breaking established habits.

We can pledge not to go “back to normal.” Normal, in the best of times, found us donating to GoFundMe campaigns to cover emergency medical bills of folks in our music community. Normal was $100 a gig for musicians. Normal is the system that’s broken.

It was the last Christmas all three sons would share with our parents, although none of us knew that at the time, and the last Christmas I would be single, and I guarantee neither Nora nor I knew that at the time.

An old-time Christmas story, read aloud by Scott Morris, Kirk Whalum and Geoff Calkins.

With so much tragedy, dissension and despair, it’s difficult to find many positives about 2020. But they do exist.

Taylor Berger: “Time spent fighting change, whether out of fear or resentment, is time wasted. Acceptance of the new normal is the key to growth, which sometimes even leads to gratitude.”