IN THE BEGINNING ~ by anna traverse fogle

A HOUSE-SOLD NAME IN MEMPHIS!

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OF

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Bigger Than Themselves

Nearly halfway through 2021, I still catch myself thinking about how long “this year” has been — meaning 2020. The traditional temporal signposts have been absent for too long. The fall and winter holidays lacked their usual luster for many of us, and the new year began without much of a bang. For those working or attending school from kitchen tables, the weeks and months tend to melt into one undifferentiated sludge.

But the days lately are growing more distinct, more bright, less sludgy. Thank god for vaccines, for the researchers who developed them, for everyone who has worked to get them into our arms. By the time you read this, even middle schoolers will be eligible for shots. By the end of the summer, our kitchen tables will be lonely, left to fend for themselves.

In the hazier times, a few clarion voices rang through. Locally, Dr. Stephen Threlkeld’s was one such clear, steady force. An infectious disease specialist and a third-generation Memphis doctor, Threlkeld has been on the front lines of the pandemic since early last year — in the medical response, of course, but also in communicating pertinent information to the Memphis community. He is also one of the Top Doctors listed in this issue. His assessments have been central in providing guidance locally to individuals, businesses, and schools. As medical director for infectious disease at Baptist Memorial Health Care and managing member of the Threlkeld Infectious Disease clinic, he’s undoubtedly an expert in the field. It’s his common-sense advice and comprehensible distillations of complex information, though, that have been most valuable for many Memphians wondering just what’s going on.

Turns out he’s a bit of a comedian, too. When I called Threlkeld to ask him whether he would approve our using a photo of him on the cover of this month’s magazine, he said, “Sure, that’s fine. But you must not care much about your circulation!” Call me crazy, but my instinct says featuring a respected local physician on the cover of our Top Doctors issue ought to inspire more folks to pick up this issue. (And yes, I do care about our circulation.)

Dr. Threlkeld went on to tell me that he loves our city, and is glad to serve it however he can. If that means appearing on the cover of our city magazine as an avatar for local medical heroes, then so he shall — with the understanding that he is only one of many working tirelessly to get the rest of us through this mess.

“You must not care much about your circulation”: It was a funny, self-effacing retort, yep, but also a bigger statement about the priorities of healthcare workers. Their calling, which guides their work every day, is bigger than themselves. The same could be said of those who serve in plenty of other ways, including professions that don’t traditionally get a lot of ink in magazines: grocery store cashiers, delivery drivers, gas-station attendants, sanitation workers, to name only a few. These folks never had the option of working from their kitchen tables. You can’t change someone’s tire or bag their groceries over Zoom.

I remember early in the pandemic, wondering about the extent of the impending societal disruptions: Would toilet-paper and Clorox shortages be harbingers of more dramatic come-aparts in our infrastructure? What would happen if we all stayed home? But of course, that was never going to happen. The people whose work couldn’t pivot? They simply kept going. All the talk about the 2020/2021 time warp — that’s a function of privilege. Even as things continue getting back to “normal” (whatever that is, was, or will be), let’s remember that this difficult chapter has been anything but equally difficult for us all.

This issue is our combined June/July magazine. You’ll next see a print magazine from us in August, when we’ll release our annual City Guide. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, please visit us online at memphismagazine.com, where every story is free to enjoy. And tell a friend to subscribe: Let’s prove to Dr. Threlkeld that putting him on the cover was, in fact, good for circulation.