Opinion
The governor of Arkansas opposes allowing cities to issue their own stay-at-home orders, but that's not stopping Mayor Marco McClendon from moving forward with his curfew for West Memphis.
When the hospital asked, my cousin was among those who said they’d be comfortable working with patients who tested positive for the virus. Now, some of her coworkers avoid her.
Confined to our homes and apartments, Jews across Memphis, America and the world will impart the same timeless lessons of Passover via Zoom and digital touchpoints instead of large in-person seder gatherings.
It was an early spring that year too – 1878 – as Mardi Gras celebrations in Memphis ended and news of yellow fever erupted. Even though the outbreak was in another country, ship trade made everyone our neighbor. And, Memphis was a major hub, webbed by train tracks and edged by riverboats.
The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on African Americans shines a spotlight on racial disparities that translate into different health outcomes for whites and blacks.
During these difficult times, one of the most important things we need is information. Timely, accurate and locally-focused information.
John Prine was raised in Illinois and settled in Nashville, but he recorded three of his first six albums at different Memphis studios, including his classic debut, “John Prine.”
Shelby County has had deaths in 2.25% of coronavirus cases, compared to 1.61% in the rest of the state and 0.84% in Nashville’s Davidson County. Does this suggest that racial disparities are spiking higher rates locally? For now we can only guess.
When we once again have the luxury of addressing First-World problems, we can take up issues such as this one: Should Andrew Jackson be replaced by Harriet Tubman on currency?
Commercial construction zones have mandates regarding hard hats and goggles. Fire marshals monitor occupancy levels in clubs and other settings. Shelby County and other local governments should take a leadership role to mandate rules for retailers and other employers during the pandemic.
Memphis has always been a religious city. We will rise to the occasion, because we are a city driven by the engine of faith.
By taking a chance on playing a concert at Rhodes College, Marsalis gave the Curb Institute credibility and paved the way for appearances by George Coleman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Harold Mabern and Charles Lloyd.
The bootleg T-shirts that inspire Rebecca Fava’s face masks were symbols of a city coming together. Her masks, and other homemade endeavors like them, are perhaps fitting symbols of the city in pandemic times — coming together by staying apart.
This pandemic has awakened us to the fragility of our economy, which depends heavily on small business, hourly wages and gig economy workers. Maybe we are on the precipice of a revolution. Great crises usually inspire great change.
The faithful are attending Sunday school, Bible study and choir practice on YouTube and Twitter, and turning Facebook into a fellowship hall.
At a Chicago church, on the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Mississippi-bred bluesman Otis Spann delivered what arguably remains the most profound musical response to the tragedy.
You keep me going. Even the reader who called a recent column “a load of horsehockey,” and all those who’ve been more direct.
COVID-19 is three to five times more infectious than the flu, and up to 10 times more deadly. It can infect your entire respiratory tract from top to bottom. This is why so many victims wind up in an ICU on a ventilator. This is why young, healthy adults can die from it.
Our forced experiment in not-really-home-schooling is likely to accelerate educational inequalities. My kids have a fridge full of food, reliable internet and two still-employed parents at home. Many of their fellow public school students do not have all of these things. Too many may not have any of them.
Conferring with a medical professional by video helps individuals avoid hospitals, where they risk infecting others or coming into contact with disease.
I knew that former Sen. Bob Corker briefly served as a Tennessee commissioner of finance. What I didn’t know is that Corker cares more about finances than human lives. I knew he had guts. I also thought he had a heart.
Most people I’ve spoken to in business and health care are questioning the old ways. What’s the point of these massive office buildings, inefficient meetings and travel? The new ways will save money and free up time, so why go back?
Critics have said that because detainees of Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County are juveniles and have not been convicted of a crime, they don’t pose a threat to the community. That makes for a good soundbite, but let’s pull back the curtain on one given day and review why these juveniles are in detention.
The first death from COVID-19 was reported in Shelby County March 28. For a while, we didn’t know that, because the governor wasn’t releasing deaths with county names.
It’s only been two weeks since Memphis restaurants starting closing, but those two weeks have changed us all, maybe forever.
Great things have come of being home and self-quarantined. For example, I’ve started reading again – reading voraciously. It started when my mom cleaned out the attic a week ago and found a box of my dad’s old books, including Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series.
“Shiloh: Fiery Trial,” the newer film, embodies up-to-date scholarship on the battle and enlists 350 Civil War re-enactors who flesh out the 17-member cast.
The only Pulitzer Prize-winner with “Memphis” in the title, Peter Taylor's 1986 novel explores the fine social distinctions between Memphis and Nashville at mid-century.
Years from now, our children won’t remember the details of their classes or what exactly they learned in a class during this season. But they will never forget how you made them feel.
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