“Amid the frustrating recruitment challenges facing the Memphis Police Department, I would like to turn our attention to a different critical element of our public safety architecture: the frontline civic organizations engaged in violence-reduction efforts.”
Before FESJC’s outgoing Executive Director Joe Tomek leaves for Australia, he has some advice for Memphians.
“Consumers have been scammed out of tens of millions of dollars in recent get-rich-quick schemes.”
Both baseball and religion are often dismissed as boring, tedious, and unexciting by spectators. However, this perception usually stems from an unfamiliarity with the nuances of each.
“We can take inspiration and hope from Lynda Lowery’s example. Every day, we see young people realize they have a voice and start to use it. As adults, we should be called to do the same.”
“Someone will be forced to decide which biblical version to display and how to number the commandments. Any such choice would privilege one religious tradition over others.”
“One of the great gifts of public service is the ability to make an outsized difference for your fellow citizens. I would never have imagined earlier in my life I could help make Memphis safe and marketable.”
“I hope that the citizens of Memphis will vote for the referendum granting civil service protection to library workers, and that library employees be re-hired for jobs they secured through a fair and competitive process.”
“Where your child goes to college will never be as important as what they do when they get there. Let your students take charge, take risks and know that they’re going to be OK. You are, too.”
“Memphis has never been defined by ease. We have always been defined by resilience, by staying when others leave, by believing when belief is irrational.”
“Rebuilding the electrical grid will be a central American industrial challenge. Memphis has a rare opportunity to be more than a pass-through point in that effort — it can become a place where the grid is built.”
“Supporting local charities and advocating for legislative reform are reasonable paths forward; interfering with active law enforcement is not.”
“Historian Kyle Harper is coming to the University of Memphis to ask a chilling question: are we, like the Romans, on the cusp of societal collapse — or even mass extinction?”
“You don’t have to be a president or famous to believe in freedom, dignity, character, honor, goodness, generosity or integrity.”
“The impact of colorectal cancer is exacerbated for Black Tennesseans and people in rural areas who face even more challenges to getting screened and treated.”
“For about 26,000 Memphis students, access to school transportation is the difference between showing up ready to learn and not showing up at all.”
“Checking out a company anywhere in the country on bbb.org is quick, easy and free.”
“We ask the Shelby County administration to find a path forward with First 8 Memphis so that our school system and all other operators are not expected to fill a sudden budgetary gap that we cannot afford.”
“Introducing immigration enforcement into our neighborhoods does not make us safer; it fractures trust, drives fear underground and harms families who are already contributing quietly and faithfully to the life of this city.”
“Their blood runs through my veins, and many of them walked in the light of grace the same way I am doing this week, just earlier on the timeline. God loved them, and he loves me, too.”
“When the City of Germantown proposes sweeping and permanent changes to our system of governance — such as this charter amendment — transparency is not optional, it is essential. But this is where city leadership has fallen short.”
“If we can’t boldly say the ability to create nonconsensual sexual imagery and child sexual-abuse material need to be fully and permanently irradiated from xAI’s products, we are truly lost.”
“Memphis is still with you. But now we’re asking you to be fully with us too. We don’t need a superhero. We just need Ja Morant. Present, accountable, and all in.”
“Standing near the end of a long life exposes us to how little we truly know about another person’s inner journey, even someone we loved, even someone who shaped us.”
“The solution requires a dual approach, addressing both the immediate need for better meeting places and the deeper social crisis affecting young men.”
“Team sports push back on our natural inclination toward selfishness, and I celebrate and support anything that makes space for light to gain victory over dark, especially if that light involves a goal, a ball and a reversible polyester jersey.”
“These Afghan immigrants are not criminals. These are our neighbors. They did not enter the United States illegally and they have not violated any of the prescribed guidelines our government has given them.”
“Beth Israel is a place where people come to mourn loved ones and celebrate new love, to mark milestones and share meals together. Anyone who visits their church, mosque or temple for such moments can easily imagine our pain.”
“In Memphis, service isn’t something we outsource. We see our neighbors as assets, not problems to be solved. We are partners in progress.”