Perhaps one lesson from 2020 is that helping other people requires thoughtful consideration for what someone else actually needs and wants. It’s a deeper kind of call and response, and it might require breaking established habits.

We can pledge not to go “back to normal.” Normal, in the best of times, found us donating to GoFundMe campaigns to cover emergency medical bills of folks in our music community. Normal was $100 a gig for musicians. Normal is the system that’s broken.

With the continuance of the COVID crisis, the intangible economy has come to pretty much a grinding halt. There is little or nothing to offer the world because group experiences are on hold. You see it with football, basketball, concerts and movies.

Virtual learning does not mean that our kids have to be in front of a screen all day. Work with your teachers to try to have arts and crafts, distance activities, exercise, and, yes, breaks to go outside.

Stax Music Academy fostered small group sessions to help students cope with the stress of living in the time of a global pandemic.

“We can seize this opportunity to become more whole, more grounded than we used to be.”

Trump’s inexplicable refusal to accept the outcome of a fair election, combined with the shameful complicity from elected Republican leaders, is driving our country to the brink of chaos.

Whether it’s for psychological refuge, racial healing, creative expression or illumination of those in the shadows, it’s undeniable that we need the arts in our lives.

Julia will not remember her long days in the ICU, nor our experience this year of COVID-19, nor even the beauty of her baptism. But all who love her will.

To celebrate the work artists and arts organizations have created in 2020 despite the pandemic, ArtsMemphis is introducing Arts Week Dec. 7-13. ArtsMemphis provides grants to 70 arts organization, and this year supplied emergency funds to individual artists.

So many of us are feeling raw and on edge, more so than usual. Now, more than ever, talking to a professional counselor might be life-changing.

‘The cries that the ESA program will gut classroom funding and leave the most vulnerable students with fewer resources is antithetical to both the purpose and benefits of the ESA program.’

Kids don’t read as much as their parents did, and when you don’t read much you don’t know much. That makes you more susceptible to fakery, lies, and conspiracies. 

I’m a Republican serving with a Democratic majority, in a blue county of a red state. Shelby County government may not be the perfect model of comity, but the nation could take courage from how well we get along.

“The Shelby County Health Department is participating in the Unity Walk Against Gun Violence on Nov. 14, 2020. As public health director, I will be joining the walk to demonstrate my personal commitment to working with others to address the gun violence epidemic in our community.”

We will elect a president, but the fundamental nature of being an American does not depend on a single individual; it depends on our collective nature and the principles we practice.

Before this experience, I never thought I would get around the city exclusively by bike or seriously take bicycle infrastructure into consideration when considering where I live. But now, it is hard to imagine a future without it.

Elizabeth Cawein’s lifelong love affair with radio informs her new WYXR show, “Straight from the Source,” and the October Playlist.

White children are two times more likely than Black and Hispanic children to have the option of going to school in person. Shouldn’t we be more troubled by this social injustice?

Fast forward to 2020, where we are in the midst of a global pandemic and U.S. presidential election that could change the trajectory for future generations.

“Phasing out the heroes, myths and legends as they pertain to America’s unique story is damaging to our shared cultural identity, our mosaic of greatness.”

“As a white woman in the remaining months of her thirties, I may not be the demographic that typically fits the bill to talk about allyship but ...Black and Brown Americans are tired, and frankly it’s not their responsibility to make white people better humans.” 

To determine root causes for juvenile criminal behavior and map out more positive life plans, Shelby County needs a facility independent from Juvenile Court to provide immediate and evidence-based intervention for every youth who comes in contact with law enforcement. 

The vision for the new era of the radio station is to truly, purely and honestly represent Memphis and its surrounding area. 

“When I overhear political conversations with which I disagree, I catch myself with unkind thoughts. I wonder how people can think like that... Then I realize my own thoughts reflect the reality I am condemning.”