“I typically write about God in this space, and you may think there’s no way on earth to weave God into a conversation about punctuation – but on that matter, Dear Reader, you would be wrong.”

“In a time of pervasive anxiety and loneliness, we pay a hearty chunk of change for a music box named after a Turtle in order to drown out the God-given sounds that Creation offers to soothe us.”

“As I linger on the sweet and innocent memories, I try to never let them become my lone takeaway from that time in life when things felt better even if they weren’t. I don’t want my selective recollections of the past to become an encompassing reality that never was.”

“There is a difference between criticizing law enforcement as a profession and criticizing how law enforcement officers are trained. Examining professional failures does not demean a profession. It strengthens it.”

“Nearly 800,000 vehicles are donated to charities every year. There are a host of charities that accept donations of cars listed. But they may not all be reputable.”

“If you plant the right trees in the right places, embrace and care for our native ecosystem, and hold industry and government accountable for their impacts on our environment, we may just succeed.”

Opinion: “Memphis does not have to choose between innovation and stewardship. ... SpaceXAI must complete the water recycling facility, pursue water-saving technologies, and be the community partner Memphis was promised.”

“American exceptionalism becomes dangerous when it suggests America is beyond criticism.”

“Drowning is often viewed as a tragic accident, something rare and unavoidable. In reality, drowning is a leading cause of preventable injury and death, particularly among children and young adults.”

“So much of what I think about and talk about and write about and pray about has to do with the here and now. Who is struggling? What’s on my to-do list? What has happened? What’s up next?” 

“Last year’s audit made people believe MATA cannot be redeemed. But it is imperative that we not give up. Memphis should be a world-class city. Quality transit attracts employers and gets people to work on time. It also keeps people from going into debt just to maintain a working vehicle.”

“Millions of Americans across racial and geographic lines are working harder and falling further behind. The basic infrastructure of a stable life is out of reach for far too many families. This is not a partisan talking point. It is the lived arithmetic of American households.”

“If county government chooses to collect millions of dollars more than the state-certified revenue-neutral rate allows, taxpayers deserve the honesty of calling it exactly what it is: a tax increase.”

“We are more armed than other countries, and more permissive about how those arms are stored, carried, and used. Memphis knows this reality more intimately than most cities. Gun violence is not an abstraction here; it is a daily presence.”

“A zoning code that makes Memphis harder to understand, more expensive to develop and less compatible with national retail formats is not a neutral document. It is a competitive disadvantage.”

“With an iron-grip commitment to nonviolence, Lawson called for campaigns of civil disobedience that pressed the demands of the larger Black community.” 

“The universe isn’t obligated to make sense to us. There’s no requirement for rhyme and reason. Things just happen, be they good or bad, and the burden is on us to find a way to make it work.”

“Safety isn’t just about whether crime exists. Safety is also about whether people feel they belong to one another. It is also deeply true that poverty affects safety.”

Opinion by Candace Echols: “Behind the scenes — when no one is watching — that same man is quietly using his talent and fame to give attention to those who might otherwise be overlooked.” 

Opinion by David Jordan: “If we align our efforts across sectors and remain rooted in both compassion and accountability, Memphis can become a national model for what human flourishing looks like in practice.”

James Maclin says, “The best version of this rewrite would do two things at once: Modernize Memphis’ land use rules and protect the public’s trust in the process. That means clear notice, clear explanations, clear transition rules, and clear lines of decision-making.”

Carla Thomas and Stan Bell are among the legendary artists who will be honored at the DOWD Awards ceremony Thursday at the National Civil Rights Museum. The event is free to attend with an RSVP at DOWD.WYXR.org.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners who bought into Air AI’s programs lost as much as $250,000.

“Gardening is a chance to connect with something basic, even primal. It’s dirty work, literally, but it puts us in touch with the most fundamental elements of nature from which we all came and depend on for sustenance, beauty and sensory pleasure.”

“There is no shelter system, rescue network or group of volunteers large enough to absorb endless human irresponsibility. Memphis cannot rescue its way out of this.”