He told our country’s top brass that their attention would soon be turned inward. That they would be commanding military operations in our cities against the “enemy within.” Further, he said that they should hold military training exercises in our cities.
“Elevate Memphis as a national model: Use this moment of federal attention to highlight Memphis-led solutions as a case study in how cities can reduce crime and strengthen communities without losing their identity.”
“Yet the rest of the nation will see the parade charade daily on their screens large and small. They will see the National Guard in Memphis, an occupied American city.”
“I swear if we were still having children, or my kids were to have another grandchild, I’d lobby for the name iBank, boy or girl. That’s probably going to be the name of my next dog.”
“As always, remember that having any of these things now and then isn’t cheating on a diet: it’s rewarding yourself for achieving something special. Like, say, getting up this morning, or finding your keys.”
“Evidently, virtually everybody in Memphis is frightened by a turn signal as a baby and avoids them at all costs.”
“The heart of America is in the middle, and we, the people, are in the middle. And there’s no lonelier place today than the center aisle.”
“Kemmons Wilson and Fred Smith were honorable men. Both were native sons. Neither of our new saviors, Henry Ford and Elon Musk, are either of those things.”
“Whether we thrive tomorrow, actually, whether we survive, depends more on what we feed Olivia today than most of us want to acknowledge.”
“It doesn’t matter how far-fetched it might seem, or whether or not anybody else sees it. Just look. Just see.”
“We need to start clawing back, kicking and screaming, that which was given and guaranteed by the bodies who stole it from us in the night — literally.”
“Today, more than anytime in my life, truth and trust are fleeting things, and once lost seemingly impossible to find again.”
“Like much of what I learned in the backyard of my childhood, honor has become a quaint deceit.”
“July Fourth is in you. Look for it, and realize you’re a revolutionary.”
“We don’t need to borrow an identity. Nashville has been borrowing ours for decades. When my ad agency handled the NBA Grizzlies introduction to Memphis, I tried to make that point.”
“He got out of the car knowing his grandfather better, and his grandfather found his own hope in the wide eyes beside him.”
Nashville — home to neither team — will benefit as much as either Memphis or Louisville. Who thought this was a good idea?
“The top of the medicine packet didn’t give, but the edge julienned his fingers like Julia Childs over a pair of carrots.”
“Civil rights remain a movement, and that movement is more at risk now than any time in a generation. Diversity and inclusion have been declared illegal.”
“On Dec. 2, 1943, USS LCT-242 was sunk by a circling torpedo off Naples, Italy. In a little more than a year of service, she earned two battle stars. She was a Memphis girl.”
“It’s the city, man,” the band’s leader, Ollie Liddell, answered when asked where that joy comes from, “the soul.”
“Like a .30-06 Springfield with a buck in the sights, the curricula in our schools have become a target, and our history has become fair game.”
“We cannot escape our responsibility to our place in history any more than a fire can burn down what happened at Clayborn Temple.”
“As you read this, I’m headed east on Interstate 40 to a reading and book signing of ‘Never Over The Hill,’ a memoir I coauthored with Bill Haltom about our time in college.”
“Should you like to play a King-Collins course, still rare but growing in number, there’s one right smack dab in the middle of your city.”
“Whatever happens next, however ill-conceived, will largely be the result of the hubris and selfishness of the majority of that school board, and the losers will be our city’s kids and our tomorrow.”
“If the drive-in was mine, what would I do with it?"
And the photo fell away, while the magnet crashed to the floor between my feet, depriving the meerkat of its left ear. There’s something to be said for sloppy, arbitrary, impetuous, and rough around the edges. Right in front of you. You know, like life in the moment.
“We have to get our act together. The city and county mayors need to sit down together for a cup of coffee. Strong coffee. A pot of it.”