At a time when diversity is supposedly valued in education, you’d think Memphis would be an important addition to the Big 12. Instead, the conference is preparing to add BYU, where just 1% of the student body is Black.

If you have friends like that, you’re fortunate. If you have friends like that, especially in the time we’ve lived through and the people we’ve lost, let them know what they mean to you.

So yes, COVID has laid bare our social inequities and made our divisiveness seem irreparable. It is not.

Our desire for convenience begat streaming, but our desire for experiences never went away. It’s old meets new. Just like Memphis.

A lot of us forget that memory is selective and if we actually could go back to times we fondly remember, we would probably run from the reality we find.

And now that the Food and Drug Administration has moved the Pfizer vaccine from emergency-use authorization to full approval, I expect to see more employers, public and private, requiring the vaccine as a condition of employment.

In our infectious disease practice, one COVID death every few days is now common. Yes, these deaths could have been prevented by vaccination, but they could also have been prevented through masking.

By getting the vaccine, you are protecting not only yourself but your family, co-workers and the entire community. You are also helping to ensure that our health care facilities retain the capacity to care for patients who are seriously ill with other disorders.

Danton Barto, the all-time leading tackler in Memphis football history, has died of COVID-19. Before he died, he asked his wife to get vaccinated. The best way for Tigers fans to honor him would be to roll up their sleeves for No. 59. 

We’ve all seemingly decided that virtual instruction is a sub-optimal policy choice, and that classroom instruction is worth the additional risk.

In fact, Governor Lee’s stupidity could quite literally take your breath away and the breath of those you love.

The widely believed notion that COVID-19 is only an adult problem is patently false.

Whatever good could come from consolidating Memphis and Shelby County governments doesn’t have a chance of passage as long as the dual vote is required.

How did a seemingly rational, successful, God-fearing businessman – albeit with no previous political or government experience – so easily become a wavering tool of the far right without exhibiting so much as a shred of credible leadership?

I believe our current situation is temporary, but it will likely remain through the end of 2021 as we rebuild inventories and reestablish routines.

Even if an MLM opportunity is legitimate, AARP and the FTC say most participants still make little or no money.

Our schools: A two-front political battlefield our kids didn’t ask for and really don’t need right now. Education shouldn’t be conscription, especially in the service of others’ political ambitions.

Spouses and children and grandchildren and family histories — and genes — join us at table in spirit and stories and challenges. Just some guys ... talking about nothing and everything.

Without question, this is another senseless shooting death that could have been avoided in a number of ways.

Penny Hardaway has the No. 1 recruit in the country, the golf tournament has never been better, the Tigers football team has been to seven straight bowl games and Ja Morant calls FedExForum home. Has there ever been a more promising moment for Memphis sports?

Only 24% of Americans identify as Republican... Only 30% identify as Democrat... Yet we allow ourselves to let those two parties label all of us as if we were one or the other.

It remains unclear how far teachers can go in discussing how racial injustice in the past impacts our society today. Republican lawmakers say that discussion is off limits. I say it is necessary.

Isn’t Bryson DeChambeau supposed to be smart? Then why is it, when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, he sounds like such a dummy? 

‘I would like to make clear that the initial phases for moving this project from a dream to eventual completion are in the hands of Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.’

Setting an expectation that attempts to find shared culture and values makes it possible to achieve more than if individual agendas drive each person’s actions.