But when it comes to serving up political red meat – in both coded and straightforward language – to far right conservatives, Lee has perfected that nicely.

The beleaguered Shelby County Health Department simply cannot effectively manage the monumental effort needed to distribute vaccines. We need someone to take charge and lead. Someone who will get things done, without excuses.

The variety of COVID-19 scams we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic are overwhelming.

Once we have gotten to know the people who have called Memphis home through the good and the bad, we can start to understand this place we inhabit together.

Dan Conaway: “Our kids, Memphis kids, our tomorrow, have to get back in classrooms. Today. Period. Every day they don’t is another day falling further behind.”

Lee encouraged Black Memphians to support Democrat Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But when emerging Black leaders in Memphis pleaded for Lee to officially abandon the Republican Party and become a Democrat, he graciously declined.

WYXR-FM 91.7 is a local “cool” nonprofit radio station built by the University of Memphis, Crosstown Concourse and Daily Memphian.

On John Simmons’ last visit, Carnival Memphis presented him their highest honor. That’s particularly interesting since John was instrumental in founding Curbi, the Carnival society named for those who stood on the curb and watched the Carnival parades go by.

“Memphis needs the trusty Mid-South Coliseum right now, and it’s within our means to call its name from the end of our civic bench once again.”

“Privilege ‘is not something we deserve, or are worthy of, and it is certainly not an excuse to turn a blind eye to the vastly different circumstances that one in five Memphians live under,” letter writers Jude Downing and Sophia Overstreet say. 

A letter from a pastor laments the chasm between ‘haves and have nots’ in the Memphis area. Another missive, from two high school students, says free childcare and better public transportation would go a long way toward helping poor families.

As a scout, it’s up to you. If the food you make is inedible, you and your fellow scouts don’t eat. If you pitch your tent in the wrong place, you and your tentmate are going to get wet. If you don’t reach down to help, no one else climbs up.

‘Those whose careers and income streams remained intact see the pandemic very differently than those who have lost their vocations and their income, and fear losing their homes,’” writes Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells.

As people wait hours for their vaccine appointment time, they end up leaving without a shot in the arm and a head full of frustration.

The answer is simple and it also stings. It’s in Nashville because Nashville asked for it.

One letter writer praised the Shelby County Health Department’s management of vaccine distribution at Lindenwood Christian Church.

‘David Kustoff does not deserve to serve in the Congress for one more day,’ writes Louis R Pounders.

‘Many thanks to Dr. Alisa Haushalter and her team for upholding these values in the midst of a health care crisis,’ Barbara Holden Nixon writes.

Joe Sills — a legendary high school band director throughout West Tennessee — died of COVID-19. His former students are gathering to play a graveside concert in his honor Saturday. One of them will be playing Sills’ own silver trumpet. 

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.

A UT devotee remembers a heart-stopping 1968 game, but says, “This time around, I’m a Georgia fan.”

‘The point is not to determine the merits of public education versus private education. Why can’t we champion both?’

The new president’s inaugural address called for unity and a lowering of the political temperature while still drawing some firm lines. Joe Biden said that “politics need not be a raging fire” and called for an end to an “uncivil war.”

As we look ahead with hope, we must also look back and demand accountability.

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.