“The world today has a shortage of good people, people with integrity, honesty.”

“Is the very nature of a peak that there is only one? Does the length of a life have any correlation with the number of peaks it will have?”

“No government agency will threaten to arrest you or take legal action against you if you don’t send them money immediately.”

“The communities that succeed in this next economy will be the ones capable of supporting major investment while maintaining the trust of the people who call them home.”

“When Ron Maxey declared summer ‘the best season for a reason,’ I couldn’t resist making the case for autumn.”

“Awe is evident when your mind has been blown and you are forced to re-think what you knew before.”

“It takes living here to know the people. That’s what so many who dismiss Memphis never experience. They see headlines but never hospitality. They hear about violence but never generosity. They know the statistics but not our stories.”

“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.”

“Memphis could be at the epicenter of the next music revival, much like Nashville and country music has enjoyed over the last 15 years. Yet so many of the discussions here today focus on promoting the music infrastructure, with very little about musicians themselves.”

“Here is my challenge to Memphis as a new school year begins: Move Memphis, mane! Move beyond the debates long enough to remember the reason we have them in the first place: our children.”

“As Memphis discusses the future of Ardent Studios, I hope we will spend just as much time remembering why Ardent mattered and honoring John Fry, the man who devoted his life to making sure the music, the people and the history of this city would never be forgotten.”

“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.”

Arthur Ashe’s example is a reminder that rejecting racism, caring for the poor, agitating for peace, protecting the environment and embracing diversity transcend color or creed.

“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.”