Memphis Flyer 5/12/22

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OUR 1733RD ISSUE | 05.12.22

fRee

JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Kristen Smith

Turn Up the Volume for Black Women IN THIS NEW SERIES, WE’RE WORKING TO AMPLIFY VITAL VOICES THAT TOO OFTEN GO UNHEARD.

May 12-18, 2022

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CONTENTS

JESSE DAVIS Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers ABIGAIL MORICI Copy Editor, Calendar Editor LORNA FIELD, RANDY HASPEL, RICHARD MURFF, FRANK MURTAUGH, MEGHAN STUTHARD Contributing Columnists AIMEE STIEGEMEYER, SHARON BROWN Grizzlies Reporters ANDREA FENISE Fashion Editor KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

OUR 1733RD ISSUE 05.12.22 Things seem a little different these days. Recently, I attended the Beale Street Music Festival, to cover the event for the Flyer, but also because live music is one of life’s greatest pleasures. After two years without writing a BSMF recap, pounding out 1,000 words the Monday after felt blessedly normal.

Don’t get me wrong. Those paying attention know that weekly positivity rates on Covid tests are ticking back upward. Covid isn’t gone. But events are happening, I’m vaccinated, and when I watched Cory Branan rip through “The Prettiest Waitress in Memphis,” I was able to enjoy the song instead of wondering just how many of the people in the crowd were Covid-positive. Anyway.

Last week, I went to a friend’s annual work party at a local brewery. That evening I met some friends for dinner and drinks. We shared stories, talked about work, and my friend admitted that she wasn’t moved by a recent live production of Macbeth she attended. Uncultured swine that I am, I said that for me, no theater-going experience has ever topped the time when, on a junior high field trip, I saw a college production of Dracula. (Remember that — we’ll get back around to it in a bit.)

As the evening came to a close and we prepared to head our separate ways, the conversation turned to a certain intangible but undeniable something in the air. I felt it at BSMF too — there were odd moments, times when the enthusiastic audience seemed not to know what to do. One of my dinner companions shared a story of a mild verbal interaction that spiraled into threats of physical violence. She described one of the parties involved being held back by her companions, clinging to the door frame, trying to pull herself across the threshold to start a fight.

Things seem a little different these days. There’s PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS something simmering under the surface.

Bela Lugosi as Dracula That was on my mind the next day when I caught a screening of the new Doctor Strange flick. It was okay. As a longtime fan of The Evil Dead, I appreciated the signature touches of director Sam Raimi. And there were moments when I thought, “Hey, here I am in a theater again. How wonderful is this?” The spell was nearly broken, though, by another moviegoer in my row who talked through the entire film. I considered saying something. I have before. Once I turned around and fake-apologized to a chatty couple, “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. Did we stumble into your living room? It must be awkward for all of us to be here. I hope we don’t ruin the mood.”

But I kept my mouth shut. I thought about it, even considered being polite instead of snarky, for a change. Then I thought about being stabbed to death in a Marvel movie and decided it wasn’t worth it. Everyone’s on edge.

Things seem a little different these days. It’s been in the back of my mind since the March 2020 debate between now-President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, when Biden said he was not in favor of Medicare for all or any single-payer system. Both candidates admitted we were experiencing an “unprecedented moment” in history, but in the midst of that moment, the leading candidate appeared more committed to maintaining the economic and social status quo than to finding a solution. More than two years later, I haven’t gotten over it. It just feels crazy, this insistence on individual solutions to large-scale problems. This belief that nothing should change. Or that civility or bipartisanship are goals to be prized in and of themselves.

Speaking of unchanging, some 125 years ago this month, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published. Its plot points and motifs make the 19th-century novel a fair companion to today’s world. It’s a story of greed, wealth, and disease, of old systems refusing to die, sucking the life from young blood. Told in the form of letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings, it gives the reader a broad view of the horror, something none of the characters can see as a whole. So the reader knows Count Dracula is a vampire, while the characters grope blindly in the dark. That’s often what it feels like these days.

Discussions on pressing problems are siloed, divorced from a larger reality. Meanwhile, we soldier on, going to work, paying bills, meeting friends for dinner and to discuss that certain something that taints the atmosphere, like the stench of burned NEWS & OPINION sugar wafting from another room. People THE FLY-BY - 4 discuss workforce issues without mentionPOLITICS - 8 ing the more than 994,000 Americans AT LARGE - 9 who have died of Covid. The shortage of COVER STORY baby formula hit the headlines the same “TURN UP THE VOLUME FOR week as the SCOTUS Roe leak. Something BLACK WOMEN”

BY KRISTEN SMITH - 10 must be done to address these issues WE RECOMMEND - 14 — but nothing that risks fundamental MUSIC - 15 change.

CALENDAR - 16 There’s something in the air, and we’re FOOD - 19 reaching for the air freshener instead of FILM - 20 looking for the source.

CL ASSIFIEDS - 22 Jesse Davis LAST WORD - 23 jesse@memphisflyer.com

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fly-by

MEMernet

S TAT E WAT C H B y To b y S e l l s

End of An Era (Probably)

ATHLETE MARKETPLACE

Planned Parenthood has prepared for the end of Roe v. Wade since 2019.

Last week University of Memphis Athletics launched its official online marketplace on Opendorse for student athletes to sell their name, image, and likeness to brands, sponsors, and donors. For example, digital deals (tweets and such) with U of M softball outfielder Hannah Bassham (above) start at $10.

POTHOLE POLICE

POSTED TO YOUTUBE BY JAKELY ADAMS

YouTuber Jakely Adams watched cars bottom out in a Memphis pothole last week in a video that racked up more than 12,600 views.

“Not the new Chrysler,” Adams moaned as the car (above) approached the “big ass” pothole. The car scraped inside the crater and Adams cried, “God dog! That is wild!”

‘LIL BITTY PENIS’ May 12-18, 2022

Edited by Toby Sells

Memphis on the internet.

POSTED TO OPENDORSE BY HANNAH BASSHAM

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Questions, Answers + Attitude

POSTED TO NEXTDOOR BY CRYSTAL HALL

Grahamwood Heights neighbor Crystal Hall wanted justice last week. A man flashed her “with his penis” on the sidewalk in front of her house. She hoped neighbors on Nextdoor could get his car tag as she was filing a report on “the flasher man” for “pulling out that lil bitty penis.”

The end of safe and legal abortion is likely here said the leader of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi (PPTNM), but the agency is already working on its next steps.

The declaration came after news of the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion on Roe v.

Wade surfaced Sunday, May 1st. The draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito began circulating in the court in February but was leaked to Politico only recently. The draft opinion would end If Roe is overturned, Tennessee’s abortion ban would go into effect within 30 days. federal protections for abortions nationwide PPTNM is also now considering offering emergency and give the decision to states. contraceptives, like Plan B, to its patients for free.

“We know the harm that will come from this decision,” said PPTNM CEO Ashley Cofield in a news conference Cofield said the impact would be felt hard in Shelby Monday, May 2nd.

County. Many abortions are provided here, she said, Should the court overturn the decision, it would trigger because the county is served by her agency as well as a Tennessee law that would ban abortions in the state CHOICES, Memphis Center for Reproductive Health. within 30 days, Cofield said. The decision would likely also Also, many patients travel to Shelby County from other lift a temporary injunction on a law passed here (but now parts of the state and the region for care. blocked by a judge) outlawing abortions after six weeks.

“We know, also, that it will mostly impact Black, Latino, While Cofield painted a grim reality of a future most and other people of color who already disproportionately pro-choice citizens have dreaded, she vowed PPTNM feel the effects of abortion bans and restrictions, a product would continue its work. of this country’s legacy of racism and discrimination,” “First and foremost, abortion is legal today in Tennessee Cofield said.

In Tennessee, 51 percent of women getting an abortion and our doors remain open,” Cofield said during the press in 2019 were Black, according to data from the Kaiser conference. “We will continue to provide abortion care up Family Foundation. Of the remaining women 39 percent to the very minute when we no longer can do so.” were white, 6 percent were Hispanic, and 4 percent were of But Cofield said her agency has been preparing for another race. this outcome since 2019, when the Tennessee General The Planned Parenthood Action Fund says Black Assembly passed the 30-day trigger ban. PPTNM is hiring individuals have a higher rate of unintended pregnancy and training patient navigators to help those they serve and a higher rate of abortion than non-Hispanic whites. get access to legal abortions outside of Tennessee and The underlying issues for this are linked to poverty and Mississippi. These navigators will help patients remove lack of access to pregnancy prevention services. financial and transportation barriers to finding legal A Facebook post by Advocates of Planned Parenthood abortions. reads, “Let’s be clear: This is a draft opinion. It is Should the decision be overturned, Cofield said outrageous and unprecedented, but not final. Abortion is Tennessee residents in Memphis and Nashville could find your right and it is still legal.” access to an abortion in Illinois. Those in East Tennessee, while some political unknowns now exist, could find abortion access in North Carolina, Virginia, and, perhaps, Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for more local Florida. news.

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{ FOOD • FAMILY FUN • MUSIC

CITY REPORTER B y To b y S e l l s

Pay Scale Back

TVA CEO pay controversy continues with a new bill to lower it.

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NEW EXHIBIT Coming Soon Memphis Proud : The Resilience of a Southern LGBTQ + Community. Coming June 4, 2022

May 12-18, 2022

FROM THE NEWSEUM/FREEDOM FORUM

+ image courtesy of Pride Archives c.2016

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

new bill would likely lower the pay for Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) CEO, bringing the controversial salary down to a level comparable with those of CEOs at other public utilities.

TVA CEO Jeff Lyash made $9.9 million last year. His base salary of $1.1 million was upped from a series of bonuses after he helped the federal utility meet or exceed some long-term and short-term corporate goals. His salary makes Lyash the highest-paid federal employee, far outpacing even the U.S. president’s pay of $400,000.

TVA has long defended its pay. For one, it says, salaries are not paid with taxpayer dollars but with revenue from electricity sales. Also, TVA has said pay, especially for its CEO, must be high to recruit and retain leaders who could make such salaries at other companies.

“The entire industry is competing for this talent as we all work toward a collective goal of a carbon-free energy future,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said in a statement. “That’s why we routinely benchmark with other utility peers to create a competitive compensation system. This ensures we have a well-rounded, diverse, and skilled workforce that can deliver the outcomes our customers expect, including keeping rates low.”

However, TVA has been heavily criticized on the compensation. In 2020, President Donald Trump called Lyash’s pay “ridiculous” and threatened (but failed) to cut that pay “by a lot.”

In February, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) filed a bill to make TVA’s top salaries more transparent. The bill would require the government-owned corporation to list salary information for any employee making more than around $240,000.

“TVA’s top earners are paid generously,

Image courtesy of Pride Archives c.2016

PHOTO: TOBY SELLS

TVA CEO Jeff Lyash and Southeastern communities should be able to evaluate if those salaries match the service provided by TVA,” Burchett said in a statement at the time. “Compensation transparency from TVA’s key decision makers is important for maintaining the public’s trust.”

A bill filed by Cohen Friday takes the issue further, likely lowering pay for Lyash and other TVA executives. Current law only requires TVA’s salaries to be on par with any other power provider in the U.S., including private, for-profit companies.

Cohen’s bill would make compensation comparable to “compensation of executives in public utilities in both the U.S. and Canada.”

“It is past time to get realistic about TVA salaries and to do so fairly and transparently,” Cohen said in a statement.

“Electricity generation and transmission managed from Knoxville should not earn its CEO three times what a typical Canadian utility CEO makes. The comparison I am suggesting may open some eyes and restore some reality to compensation at TVA.” A statement from Cohen’s office said a review by the Congressional Research Service found CEOs of “Canadian power companies make significantly less in annual total reported compensation than American CEOs.” In May 2020, former Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander — a longtime TVA supporter — claimed (in a Knoxville News Sentinel opinion piece) that Lyash’s salary ranked in the bottom fourth among “big utility CEO salaries.”

“The Tennessee Valley Authority plays in the big leagues,” Alexander said. “It is our country’s largest public utility, a $10 billion company serving 10 million residents in seven states. Big utilities pay big salaries to attract the best executives.”

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

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Talking It Out A lengthy County Commission meeting considers a range of issues.

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What’s the conwas the rate, too, it was understood, nection between that correlated fairly precisely with the a family squabble mayor’s budget, soon to be unveiled. and the Shelby Note, however, the three numbers County tax rate? beyond the decimal point. That works The answer with the state’s computer, but not with is: their respecthe Shelby County IT system, which, as tive places on Trustee Regina Newman pointed out, Monday’s agenda of the Shelby County can only conjure tax bills with a rate of Commission, where they were contwo numbers past the decimal. secutive items.

“It’s a 25-year-old system,” she said, A “family squabble” is what one further explaining that, to work with item was called by a couple of particithe 3.399 rate would require extensive pants in the longish debate spurred by bill-by-bill manual effort by ad hoc a proposal to build out the grounds hirees and cost $8 million. “We would of the Barretville General Store up in lose money.” (A new, more versatile IT northern Shelby County so as to create system, she promised, would be coman expanded gravel parking lot and an ing in the spring of 2024.) outdoor entertainment center.

Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. One brother, local landowner Paul had already suggested rounding off the Matthews, led a group of opponents state rate to 3.39. That, he noted, would of the project who professed concern shave $2 million off the budget of the about “intense noise and mayor, whom, it is well unsafe traffic” to come. known, he regards as an His neighbor and brother antagonist.

Barret Matthews headed Others made the case up the project, which he for rounding off the and a group of support3.399 rate to 4.0, theoreters including Shelby ically preserving Harris’ County Republican prerogatives. chair Cary Vaughn and In the end, after anformer legislator/judge other lengthy debate, the Karen Williams saw as a PHOTO: SHELBY COUNTY commissioners postGOVERNMENT great add-on to what was poned resolving things Trustee Regina already a family-friendly until their May 23rd Newman gathering place. meeting.

There was significant Other matters requirback-and-forth on the pros and cons. ing extended attention on Monday After something like an hour and a included discussion of a pay scale for half of debate, county historian Jimmy the commissioners, the resolution of Rout got in on the act, proclaiming bonus payments to Health Departthat “history is not in a time warp. ment employees, and the decision to There has got to be a compromise. proceed, at the May 23rd meeting, to This” … here we go … “this family fill the vacancy in House of Represensquabble has gone on for 80 years.” tatives District 91.

And, indeed, the commissioners fiAnd the commission finally — a nally adopted a good-faith compromise year and a half after the “Soulsville” that would allow the build-out so long TIF to redevelop South Memphis was as there is no change in the ownership first proposed, and the better part of a of the general store and its grounds, year since the Community Redevelopnor in the leadership of the project. ment Agency (CRA) gave the project Among the consequences of this a green light — voted to establish the happy medium would be the guartrust fund for the TIF. anteed preservation of the annual At the end of the meeting, which Bobby Blue Bland Day celebration on lasted five hours-plus, an invitation the grounds. to speak was extended to Britney Once the Barretville General Store Thornton, an audience member whose issue was squared away, the commisvictory in District 10 entitled her to the sion took up the matter of the county’s title of Commissioner-elect (there be2022 property-tax rate. Mayor Lee ing no GOP opponent in the forthcomHarris’ administration sent down a ing August general election). rate of 3.399 cents per $100 of assessed Her basic comment: “Y’all certainly value, the percentage rate suggested have a lot of stamina.” by the state comptroller’s office. That They certainly do.

A T L A R G E B y B r u c e Va n W y n g a r d e n

Oh, My God! Religious repression makes a big comeback.

NEWS & OPINION

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t really is unbelievable, when you viewed by the AP: “The Catholic intelthink about it. You have to wonder lectual tradition has produced giants how this can possibly be happenof liberal thought as well, but in recent ing in 2022. Women are being decades the right has done a better treated like chattel — their bodies conjob building institutions that nurture trolled by the state as though they were pathways to power.” No kidding. livestock, their gender and sexuality no And let’s not forget the Evangelical longer their own.

Christians’ contribution to this pendI’m talking, of course, about Afing fustercluck. David Talcott, profesghanistan’s autocratic Taliban rulers, sor of philosophy at King’s College and who last week ordered all Afghan an expert in Christian sexual ethics, women to wear body-covering burkas told vox.com: “Conservative Catholics in public. The decree further mandated and conservative evangelicals have that women leave their homes only become allies of certain kinds.” Indeed. when necessary, even when wearing I’m no religious expert, but I am a burka. Male relatives will also face sure of one thing: What we’re talking punishment — including possible jail about here is, at its core, sexual represtime — if women in their family violate sion. Abortion is just one spoke in the the dress code. traditional religious shame-wheel that It was seen as a hard shift by the also includes opposition to sex without Taliban government, one that conmarriage, LGBTQ rights (including firmed the worst fears of human rights gay marriage), contraception, masturactivists. It is a cruel and absurd level bation, etc. — pretty much anything of oppression and miinvolving fun sexy-time sogyny, but what do you — because their god has expect when government decreed that sex is not and religious ideology for f**king around. It’s are combined? It’s so for baby-making. The distressing. guilt is just an added Meanwhile, in the feature, not a bug.

United States of AmerIt’s no accident that ica, the Supreme Court when contraception (where six of the nine became readily availjustices are Catholic) able to women via the appears to be ready to pill, the sexual revoluoverturn Roe v. Wade tion followed, and Roe PHOTO: and thereby legalize v. Wade became the law WIKIMEDIA | GAGE SKIDMORE religious-based laws of the land. The religious Ginni Thomas banning or restricting right and their Republiabortion in 26 states (and can groomers have been counting). Seventy percent of Ameriworking to turn back the clock ever cans oppose making abortion illegal since. Can’t have women acting all upagain, but this is a case where “majority pity, after all. They need to learn their rule” is truly a joke. As Republicans place and make some damn babies. The learned long ago: Control the judges conservatives played the long game — and you control the law. stacking the courts — and it looks like The problem, of course, is not neces- they may finally pull it off. Much to sarily that the justices are Catholic their regret, I predict.

— liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor is There are two principal theories Catholic, for example — the problem about the now-infamous leak that is that the five judges in question have made Justice Samuel Alito’s prelimibeen vetted and brought to the fore nary majority opinion public: 1) A by the ultra-conservative Federalist liberal justice or associate leaked it to Society, which opposes abortion rights. provoke alarm among progressives and Presidents G.W. Bush and Donald arouse the base for the midterms. 2) A Trump (both of whom lost the popular conservative justice or associate leaked vote) followed their recommendations, it to prevent any of the five in the and here we are. It’s been the Federalmajority from being able to back away ists’ stated goal to overturn Roe v. Wade from their initial opinion on subsefor 50 years, and it looks like they’re quent votes. about to succeed.

Ironically, both results will probJohn Gehring, Catholic program diably happen. As for the leaker? If I rector at the Washington-based clergy were a betting man, I’d put money on network Faith in Public Life, was interMrs. Clarence Thomas.

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COVER STORY By Kristen Smith

Turn Up the Volume for Black Women IN THIS NEW SERIES, WE’RE WORKING TO AMPLIFY VITAL VOICES THAT TOO OFTEN GO UNHEARD.

W

hen Lynne Smith stood in front of a jury, all eyes and ears were locked onto her.

For several decades, she commanded respect as a trial lawyer in Memphis.

Though she fought tirelessly for her clients, when she fought for her own life, no one was listening to her final closing argument.

SEEN, YET UNHEARD Early September 2021, I drove my mom to several doctors’ appointments. She had been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism a few months earlier. Despite the blood thinners to clear the clot, her health continued to deteriorate over the course of the summer. She was relying heavily on the use of oxygen, and her energy levels were nearly depleted.

My mom, who’d once climbed mountains and swam in waterfalls, could barely make it out of bed without assistance. Something was clearly not okay. Desperate for answers, she visited her primary care physician and cardiologist. Neither drew blood or ran any labs on her.

Two weeks later, her heart stopped and my dad had to perform CPR. She was rushed to the ER. The reason for her fatigue: She had almost no blood in her body. A mass in her colon

WRITING A NEW LEGACY Writing has always been cathartic for me. As early as

May 12-18, 2022

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was draining all of her blood. While in the hospital, she received two blood transfusions, and they biopsied the mass to determine whether it was malignant or not. Then, she was released from the hospital.

One week later, my sister found my mom lying unconscious on her bathroom floor. She died before reaching the hospital. When the doctor came into the room to inform my family that my mom had passed away, we found out officially that she had colon cancer. A cancer that Lynne Smith never had the opportunity to fight. She was seen, yet unheard. And sadly, that is the narrative for many Black women.

Nikia Gray is the clinical director at CHOICES, Memphis Center for Reproductive Health. She says, “The system is fraught with fragmentation and structural racism.” Black women’s voices are being ignored and their concerns are not being taken seriously or are outright dismissed.

I often think how my mother’s story would have shifted if she’d been listened to by her physicians. Would she have made it to her 66th birthday less than a month from the day she died?

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Kristen Smith

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Chin Lindsey 12, I have kept a journal or collection of writings in some form. I am now working to get those writings published as a book to encourage other people on their journeys. In the past 24 months, I have experienced firsthand the treatment of a Black woman seeking to receive mental healthcare. I was referred to rehabs, trauma centers, and specialists.

I spent weeks in-patient in a variety of settings throughout the South. And as a Black woman, I was often in the minority as a patient and as a person.

In my time, I only had one Black woman practitioner, a therapist in a facility in rural Kentucky. While there, I experienced racist comments from both the other patients and the staff.

When I spoke out on how I felt, I was told by the white clinical staff that if I didn’t feel safe, then maybe it was time for me to go home.

In that moment, my voice not only felt incredibly small, but it was completely muted. I was screaming for help and met with deafened ears.

In April 2021, not only did I finally embrace my queerness and start walking in that truth, but I also connected with a Black woman therapist. Something clicked

As a Black woman, I was often in the minority as a patient and a person.

like never before, and I’ve felt my voice grew louder and prouder. Yet, I still carry the pain of being silenced for a lifetime as a queer, Black woman in Memphis.

And I feel my family’s stories are unfortunately not an anomaly.

Historically speaking, Black women across the spectrum have had their voices marginalized.

Using my mother’s story as a catalyst, I want to create space for our stories to be told, in our own words. It’s time to truly turn up the volume for Black women — and there are plenty of young, Black women waiting for their volume to be turned up.

Join my writing journey @roguecovergirl on Instagram and TikTok.

Being a Black woman is an experience that can never be erased.

SINGING SOFTLY, BUT BOLDLY “I got the Black woman experience, you know. … I feel like that’s something that you just can’t take away, you know.”

At 14, Chin Lindsey, now 19, was known by their peers and teachers as the “ukulele girl.” Lindsey walked through the hallways of Cordova High School with flowers in their hair, singing and strumming their ukulele. Though Lindsey is gender nonconforming, they said they still identify as a Black woman because that is an experience that can never be erased, although at times muted.

In fourth grade, Lindsey’s teacher would call them out for not wearing earrings, saying they looked like a boy.

So Lindsey began wearing earrings to look like the other girls, though they never felt connected to any particular gender.

Lindsey and their mom moved

her light and her voice.

Wilkes hails from North Memphis — “There were no other races, no diversity. It was just pretty much what it was,” she says. Then, she moved to Olive Branch and stood out like a “sore thumb.” She says everyone there expected her to be the “ghetto” girl, and they even idealized that version of her. Wilkes invoked that persona with a “hard” edge and became a novelty among her peers.

Returning to Olive Branch after a quick stint in Atlanta, Wilkes could no longer maintain that version of herself. In Atlanta, she saw all types of personalities and different types of people. She knew she was more than the Black girl from North Memphis. Before this time, she wrote raps to express her feelings and deep thoughts, but at that moment the raps became poetry “because it’s technically the same thing — just in a softer, more feminine way.”

Poetry helped her cope with her father’s death, as she reckoned with being fatherless at such a young age.

His death also served as the starting point for her discovering her own spirituality and identity as a Black woman. “I realized that I’m a very soft person that my environment did not allow me to be.”

Wilkes began looking beyond the Christianity of her childhood.

She meditated and felt a connection to something higher than herself, which she calls “The Universe.”

This connection snapped her out of “autopilot,” and she began to adopt a holistic lifestyle that she wants to share with others. She’s currently finishing her degree in sustainability and wants to have her own company that “provides for the earth and picks up the things from people who don’t care … until they realize it matters.”

As she continues on this journey, she sees her own poetry book line, plant nurseries, and creating spiritual retreats and spaces for people to heal and “connect to the prime source.” But honestly, she sees it all because “we are bigger than our imaginations.”

Follow along Wilkes’ journey on Instagram @miondeshayy and her YouTube channel, Mion DeShayy.

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Mion Wilkes around a lot in their early childhood.

It was just the two of them, until their mom married their stepdad. As an only child for most of their childhood, they remember retreating into their own worlds of imagination. In these worlds, they’d also try to escape the pain of not having a great relationship with their biological father — something they desperately sought. While in high school, their maternal grandmother passed away, which was devastating to Lindsey, since they spent the bulk of their early years living with her. “I didn’t know how to deal with grief.”

During this time, Lindsey turned to music as a refuge. They were featured in school musicals and confidently carried their ukulele through the halls of high school, softly singing their own melody. Though music was an outlet, it did not provide an escape from the anxiety that was building, inwardly causing frequent panic attacks. And not wanting to be an additional burden to their mom, they would tell their mom they were all right.

“But that wasn’t the truth.”

Lindsey moved to live with their best friend and “soul sister” in Austin, Texas, where they were often the only Black person in the classroom and that was a weird and new feeling. Lindsey put their ukulele down and the music stopped for a while.

And Lindsey began to doubt their voice — “It just wasn’t soulful enough.” But now as a young adult, they are ready to once again embrace the power of their story through singing and songwriting.

Lindsey appreciates the softness in their voice as an invitation to vulnerability.

There is no cap on the size of Lindsey’s audience. Maybe Madison Square Garden. Maybe YouTube. Maybe Broadway. But without a doubt, the volume will be turned all the way up.

Listen along to Lindsey’s songwriting journey on Instagram @chin.wow.

CONNECTING TO THE PRIME SOURCE When Mion Wilkes, 22, experienced the death of her father at 16, she found herself in search of answers that weren’t found in traditional places. This experience sparked a spiritual journey that helped her discover

Burkley’s clear on who her community is — “People that look like me.”

GIVING VOICE (AND BODY) Although Tyler Burkley, 27, grew up dancing throughout middle and high school, she did not meet the weight requirements to join the PHOTO: COURTESY TYLER BURKLEY

Tyler Burkley

continued on page 12

COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

She knew she was more than a Black girl from North Memphis.

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continued from page 11 University of Memphis pom or cheer teams. Currently, Burkley is an eighth grade teacher, who’s breaking the mold and ripping the runway in pursuit of her dream of becoming a full-figured supermodel and entertainer.

Burkley grew up in South Memphis, and when she transferred to Ridgeway Middle School, she was bullied for being different from her peers. Though Burkley found solace in dance, her grades were barely passing, and in her core, she believed she wasn’t smart.

When Burkley transferred to The Soulsville Charter School, her GPA was under 2.0, and her confidence was selfdescribed as even lower. But something shifted for Burkley while she attended Soulsville — she was inspired by having “positive Black women as role models.”

The impact of having those role models was immeasurable to Tyler, who finished high school as salutatorian.

While Tyer was attending the University of Memphis, her mom suffered a massive stroke, paralyzing her from the waist down at the time and leaving her unable to speak. Shortly afterward, her nephew passed away at age 5. “There was no more dance after that,” says Burkley. During this time, Burkley used food as a coping mechanism and realized she had a

compulsive overeating disorder and gained over 70 pounds.

As her weight increased, her selfesteem was falling with equal measure.

This all changed when Burkley saw a model on Instagram who was also curvy. In that moment, she knew that was her destiny.

A few months later, Burkley became the first Black plus-sized model to walk Memphis Fashion Week. She’s walked countless more runways, modeled for local and national brands, and been featured in online, print, and TV media campaigns.

Best of all, she’s loving herself along and listening to the voice of her mother’s call to “fly, little birdie. Fly.” In addition to modeling, Burkley proudly stands in her queer identity.

She’s giving voice (and body) to her goal of being a positive role model in her own community. And she’s very clear on who her community is — “People that look like me.”

As for the future, Burkley is not limiting herself. She expects to continue modeling, act in movies, have her own TV show, and most

importantly, she says, “[help] others go for their dreams.”

Watch Burkley’s modeling journey @burkley.tyler on Instagram.

RAISING THE NEXT WOMEN UP In 2018, when Kia Moore founded the Church at The Well, she realized there were no other Black millennial women church planters in the area. It’s been important for Moore to be present and visible to inspire other Black women who might also aspire for the pulpit; however, that is not Moore’s greatest mission.

Moore is raising her 5-year-old Harper Dream to live without limits. She’s instilling a confidence in her that Moore hopes will allow Harper to freely use her voice to help the world around her. “So, I’m making sure we have more examples of confident and caring Black women by raising an extremely confident and caring Black girl.”

After volunteering and organizing in college, Carlissa A. Shaw felt jumping into politics was the best next step.

With no political aspirations for

I’m making sure we have more examples of confident Black women.

herself, she founded CASE Consulting to help others in their campaigns for elected office. She’s passionate about helping her community and elevating Black women’s voices. Though she’s representing many Black women this election cycle, her greatest campaign is raising her 5-year-old daughter to “build her own goddamn tables.”

According to Shaw, Black women have been “conditioned to stay graceful in the midst of inhumane treatment.”

That’s not a world she wants for her daughter, so she’s teaching Nia Grace to “know no limits.”

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME “Life is a big canvas … paint on it as you will.”— Mion Wilkes It is not easy to open up and be vulnerable. To share a part of your story for readers unknown. But that is exactly what these women did. For that, they should not only be applauded but followed. There is immense power in storytelling for not only elevating and amplifying marginalized voices, but creating space for so much more.

So now it’s your opportunity to turn up the volume on your story.

If you are interested in sharing your story or highlighting someone else’s, send an email to turnupthevolume@ memphisflyer.com to be featured in the recurring Turn up the Volume series.

May 12-18, 2022

THURSDAYS • APRIL 28 - AUGUST 4 • 6PM - 10PM COVER CHARGE $15

2022 PARTY line up

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6.30 7.07 7.14 7.21 7.28

DJ Epic Cruisin Heavy DJ Epic Walrus DJ Epic 8.04 SouthBound

#PBodyRoof • peabodymemphis.com

Spring 2022 Public Meeting

SCAN ME! LEARN MORE & SIGN UP!

Clean-Up and FREE Community Event!

Saturday May 21, 2022

11am -3 pm

602 W. Mitchell Rd - 730 W. Mitchell Rd

Citize n Scien ce!

Music ! es i b e e & Fr

Gam

! e l f Raf

! s r o d

Ven

Presentation!

Mitchell Community Center 11 am- 12 pm 602 W. Mitchell Rd Presentation & Raffle

Roosevelt Park Clean-up!

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm 602 W. Mitchell Rd

Food

Alonzo Weaver Park 730 W. Mitchell Rd

Truc k

s!

11 am - 3 pm Community Event

Hey High Schoolers!

Get 2 hrs community service credit for participating in this clean-up!

Scan QR code above!

Limited parking available at Community Center. Parking also available at Alonzo Weaver Park.

COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

es!

13

Live music at

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Curiouser and Curiouser may 12th Lucky 7 Brass Band

may 13th Making movies

By Abigail Morici

Dear reader, do you, by chance, know how to lure a white rabbit into your presence — specifically a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat with a pocket watch? I ask, not because I want to do some weird taxidermy project, but because I’d like to follow one to Wonderland. I mean, wouldn’t you go if you could? And what if you could go, just by driving to the Memphis Botanic Garden? And what if you drove there and in the parking lot found a bottle labeled “Drink Me” — would you drink it?

Your answer better be no because you shouldn’t be trusting random liquids found in parking lots, but unlike Alice, you don’t need to consume unknown substances to shrink down to a wee size to get into Wonderland since, once you’re inside the garden, you’ll immediately feel shrunken as you come face to face with the larger-than-life whimsical characters from Alice in Wonderland.

PHOTO: ABIGAIL MORICI This mosaiculture exhibition has four main features: Alice, the Red The Red Queen playing her twisted croquet.

Queen, card guards and pawns defending the royal chess set, and the Cheshire Cat. Mosaiculture, the garden’s executive director Michael Allen says, uses bedding plants to “plug” into steel frames, creating topiary-like sculptures.

The sculptures, which require daily watering and weekly trimming, come from the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where they premiered in a more extensive exhibition. “[The steel frames had] been in storage for about a year,” Allen says, until coming to Memphis in climate-controlled trucks. Once in Memphis, bedding plants, suitable to Memphis’ climate, were added. “It’s a little thin now but what will happen is these will grow and spread out and become more full,” Allen says, adding, “We’ve hired a team of three staff members just to take care of these for the six months or so that we have them planted.”

Throughout the year, the garden will host various Alice-themed events, like Saturday storytimes for kids, adult education sessions, monthly drop-in craft and activity stations, a family tea party, and even a Rosé & Croquet party in June. Plus, starting this Thursday, May 12th, the garden will introduce its Twilight Thursdays, during which it will be open late until 8 p.m. for dog-friendly hours with food trucks and cocktails as well as special performances. After Halloween, the plants will be taken off the structures and lights will take their place for the garden’s Holiday Wonders Light Show.

For more information and for a full schedule of special events and programming, visit membg.org/alice. Follow the garden’s social media for updates.

“ALICE’S ADVENTURES AT THE GARDEN,” MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN, ON DISPLAY THROUGH 2022.

may 14th Reigning Sound

May 12-18, 2022

5/19 Take Me To The River All Stars

5/20 Southern Avenue w/special guest The PRVLG

railgarten.com

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2 1 6 6 C e n t r a l Av e .

Memphis TN 38104

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES May 12th - 18th Family Day at the Stax Museum Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Saturday, May 14, noon-6 p.m., free Join the Stax Museum for an afternoon of family-friendly activities, Black/Love family photographs, and live music from Memphis’ own Corey Lou & Da Village, setting the atmosphere for a sweetheart dance!

Eat This Book Raleigh Library, Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., free Promoting the cookbook/food culture section of Raleigh Library’s collection and highlighting Memphis’ food culture, this festival includes vendor and informational booths, food trucks, children’s activities, and live chef recipe deomonstrations.

The last event of the day will be a celebratory dance party.

Brazil by Day Crosstown Arts, Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., free Experience a fun-filled day of culture, community, and the creative and performing arts presented by Collage Dance Collective, Iris Orchestra, and Carpenter Art Garden The day will allow attendees to become immersed in the rich and diverse cultures found throughout the regions of Brazil, with fine art, live music, dance performances, Capoeira demonstrations, local cuisine, and so much more.

Dark Side of the Moon Laser Show & Lunar Eclipse Museum of Science & History, Sunday, May 15, 8 p.m.-11 p.m., $10-$13 Fifty years ago, Pink Floyd created one of the greatest albums of all time: Dark Side of the Moon.

Sunday, MoSH will commemorate the masterpiece with a laser show at 8:30 p.m., followed by a guided viewing of the lunar eclipse.

In case of cloudy weather, MoSH will run a real-time simulation in the planetarium, but if weather permits, telescopes will be available to witness the Earth’s shadow creep across the moon’s face until totality.

Critical Conversations The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Wednesday, May 18, 6 p.m.

In this panel discussion, photographer and artist Tommy Kha, artist and professor Richard Lou, gallery director Sam Rauch, and attorney Maxwell S. Felsheim will speak on the complexities of showing work within public and private spaces.

Register online. The event will include an option to view remotely via livestream.

MUSIC By Alex Greene

Top of the Pops DownBeat names St. George’s combo America’s best high school pop band. a studio every year, like Ardent, and do a project. And that was cool, but then the studio engineer was doing all the real work. During Covid, we were forced to stop that, and we had no idea if that was going to work, putting that responsibility on the kids. Like, expecting them to learn the technology and record their own tracks. They had to become way more involved in the process than just standing around a microphone. But they rose to that occasion.”

To be considered for DownBeat’s award, a school band must submit three recorded songs, produced with as much professional pizzazz as possible. To achieve that, Link has them start working on the process well before the submission deadline. “You send in your recordings, and they have panels of professionals reviewing them,” he explains. “We’re in the middle of recording songs right now that I’ll submit at the end of this year. Two of the tracks I submitted last year were completely produced and engineered by students. I didn’t touch them at all. These days, it’s on their laptops. We make great

PHOTO: SETH TAUB

St. George’s American Music Ensemble sounding recordings using Logic and GarageBand.”

Often, the ensemble writes and produces original songs, but interpreting hit songs is also crucial. “Oddly, this is the first year we’ve won where all the tracks are covers,” Link explains. “We did ‘No Ordinary Love’ by Sade, but the kid that produced it added a whole rap verse to it.

And we did ‘Dirty Work’ by Steely Dan, with female rather than male vocals. And we did Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License.’

The impressive part was that it sounded exactly like the record.”

Now the young players can revel in their win. “It’s incredible to flip through the pages and see your school on the same page as the University of North Texas or the Manhattan School of Music,” Link enthuses. “Every university pays attention if this award shows up on a kid’s resume.

And when the kids see it, they see they’re part of a bigger thing. Until then, they just don’t know how good they really are.”

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

While many imagine a high school band in uniforms, marching across sports fields, St. George’s has cultivated a more scaled-back approach to music, and that may have given them the edge in the pop group category. “St. George’s is a tiny school,” Link says. “It used to be that even tiny schools had a marching band, but not so much now. Ours is just a rock band. A bass player, drummer, keyboard player, two guitar players, two singers, and four horn players. It’s a straight-up pop band. They’re the advanced kids in the upper school. The middle year band with younger kids has the same configuration, but we play more of a mix of jazz tunes and blues, just to get them used to playing.

And then we have an introductory class for kids who are just learning their instruments. And that’s it.”

Nonetheless, this core group of players is learning every aspect of modern music-making. It doesn’t hurt that Link is an in-demand professional saxophonist who can walk the students through every facet of both performance and recording.

“Before Covid,” he says, “we would go to

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

I

n the world of jazz, few publications hold as much weight as DownBeat magazine. Founded in 1934, it quickly established itself as the authority on jazz, celebrating excellence to this day with its annual readers’ and critics’ polls of the field’s top instrumentalists, bands, and albums. And for almost half a century, DownBeat has also presented Student Music Awards. So when the hallowed journal picks a Memphis high school band as the top group of its kind in the nation, people take notice.

The modest size of St. George’s Independent School makes it that much sweeter that their band was just named the nation’s “Best High School Blues/Pop/ Rock Group” in DownBeat’s 45th Annual Student Music Awards. As artist-in-residence and sole band director Tom Link notes, “A large part of it is that people here have a way deeper connection to some very important musical roots than people elsewhere. That’s one of the reasons why my students are so good. It’s because we’re here. And my school recognizes that and supports that.”

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CALENDAR of EVENTS:

May 12 - 18

ART AN D S P EC I A L E X H I B ITS

C O M E DY

“Andy Warhol: Little Red Book”

Starring Rodney Perry, Demario “Poundcake” Hollowell, and the legendary Mr. Bird Williams.

Proceeds will support nonprofit Mrs. Budget Boss. $79-$99.

Saturday, May 14, 7 p.m.

Exhibition of polaroid photographs by Andy Warhol.

Through May 15.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

Don’t miss Broadway sensation Smokey Joe’s Cafe at Playhoue on the Square.

Stand Up Shelby County

throughout Brazil. Free. Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

CROSSTOWN ARTS

THE HALLORAN CENTRE

“The Art of Architecture”

Exhibit of Carpenter Art Garden student work. Through May 16.

CROSSTOWN ARTS

ART HAP P E N I N G S

New Public Artists: Exhibition Opening and Walking Tour Celebrate the opening of UAC’s first New Public Artist Fellowship exhibition. Thursday, May 12, 5-7 p.m.

THE MARTHA AND ROBERT FOGELMAN GALLERIES OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS

B O O K EVE N TS

Eat This Book

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com.

DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY. FOR COMPREHENSIVE EVENTS LISTING, VISIT EVENTS.MEMPHISFLYER.COM/CAL.

Mississippi Goddamn

Health and Wellness Expo

In 1963 Jackson, Mississippi, the stirring of Civil Rights is beginning to rally a nation of long oppressed people. But on a particular street, home to a civil rights pioneer, not everyone is pleased. Friday, May 13-June 5.

Offering free vaccinations, wellness kits, and other services. Free. Wednesday, May 18, 2-6 p.m.

NEW DIRECTION CHURCH

F ES TI VA L

CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE

Fried Chicken Fest in The Grove at GPAC Live music and fried chicken. $10. Saturday, May 14, 5-8 p.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Shop Black

Featuring informational booths, food trucks, activities, and live chef recipe demonstrations.

Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

T H EAT E R

COM M U N ITY

RALEIGH LIBRARY

Teams compete to be World Champion. Through May 14.

LIBERTY PARK

Shop 50+ local Black-owned businesses. Saturday, May 14, 1-6 p.m.

FOURTH BLUFF PARK

Smokey Joe’s Cafe World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest

FI LM

Friday the 13th Movie Marathon

A 12-hour, non-stop screening of one of the most beloved

horror series in movie history. Free. Friday, May 13, 12:30 p.m.-midnight.

BLACK LODGE

Sankofa

On a photo shoot in Ghana, an American model slips back in time, becomes enslaved on a plantation, and bears witness to the agony of her ancestral past. $10-$12. Wednesday, May 18, 7-9 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

P E R FO R M I N G ARTS

Interiorworks

A dancer-conceived, dancerproduced experience. $20/ suggested donation. Friday, May 13-May 14, 7:30-9 p.m.

BALLET MEMPHIS

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Brazil By Day

Get immersed in the rich and diverse cultures found

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May 12-18, 2022

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Smokey Joe’s Cafe is sure to leave audiences dancing in the aisles. $27. Through May 29.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

The Moors

Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power until the arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen. $20. Friday, May 13-May 15.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

THIS WEEK! MAY 11 - 14

THE FAIRGROUNDS IN LIBERTY PARK MEMPHIS, TN FEATURED ENTERTAINMENT

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May 12-18, 2022

MAKE ROOM FOR MORE

Everyone, especially our homebound and vulnerable seniors, deserves a place at the table and a hot, nutritious meal. So when you’re sitting down to eat with your family, make some virtual room for one more and help feed a senior.

MIFA Meals on Wheels needs your support today, where just $10 delivers a hot meal and hope at mifa.org/mealsmeanmore. mifa.org/mealsmeanmore

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FOOD By Michael Donahue

Just BBQ It Memphis chefs personalize barbecuing.

I would use a chipotle salsa. Pork is braised in a huge copper kettle. Chipotle, cilantro, lime, and onion for garnish.

I like to do the whole rack of ribs this way, or shoulder. Crispy pork is the best pork, as it accentuates and concentrates the porcine flavor.”

Mario Grisanti, owner of Dino’s Grill: “I make my own barbecue sauce, but I make it sweet. I would make a beef brisket and smoked pork barbecue lasagna with layers of meats, mozzarella cheese, etc. Thin layers of each covered in barbecue sauce.”

Chip Dunham, chef/owner of Magnolia & May: “One of my favorite barbecue dishes I’ve created is our Tacos con Mempho. I smoke my own pork shoulder for 12 hours and serve it on two corn tortillas with American cheese melted between them, avocado salsa, and

MAY 14

SATURDAY • 5PM - 8PM

Live Music, Fried Chicken and FUN! BIG BARTON AND LUCKY 7 BRASS BAND O N TH E D U N C A N W I LLI A M S A S S E T M A N AG E M E NT S TAG E

GPACweb.com • Box Office (901) 751-7500 1801 Exeter Rd., Germantown, TN 38183

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

PHOTO: JIMMY “SUSHI JIMMI” SINH

Barbecue sushi from Poke Paradise

tobacco onions. At brunch, we simply just add a scrambled egg and it’s a breakfast taco. Another one of my favorites was our barbecue butternut squash sandwich.

We roast butternut squash and toss it with some Memphis barbecue sauce. It’s a vegan sandwich that satisfies the biggest meat-eater.”

Kelly English, chef/owner of Restaurant Iris and The Second Line: “If I were to try to put my own fingerprints on what Memphis already does perfectly, I would play around with fermentations and chili peppers. I would also explore the traditions of barbacoa in ancient Central American and surrounding societies.”

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh, Poke Paradise food truck owner: “I made a roll with barbecue meats a long time ago. Made with Central BBQ ribs. I made them plenty of times when I hung out with my barbecue friends. I did it in my rookie years. Inside is all rib meat topped with rib meat, barbecue crab mix, thin-sliced jalapeño, dab of sriracha, furikake, green onion.”

Armando Gagliano, Ecco on Overton Park chef/owner: “My favorite meat to smoke is pork back ribs. I keep the dry rub pretty simple: half brown sugar to a quarter adobo and a quarter salt. I smoke my ribs at 250-275 degrees using post oak wood and offset smoker. … The ribs are smoked for three hours and spritzed with orange juice and sherry vinegar every 30 minutes. After three hours, I baste with a homemade barbecue sauce that includes a lot of chipotle peppers and honey. Wrap the ribs in foil and put back on the smoker for two hours. After that, remove from the smoker and let rest in the foil for another hour. They should pull completely off the bone, but not fall apart when handled.”

FreeSol, owner of Red Bones Turkey Legs at Carolina Watershed: “I am already doing it with the turkey legs. We are smoking these legs for hours till they fall of the bone. … We [also] flavor them and stuff them.”

Ryan Trimm, chef/owner of Sunrise Memphis and 117 Prime: “Beef spare ribs are a personal favorite of mine. A nice smoke with a black pepper-based rub followed by a fruit-based sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce is my way to go.”

And even Huey’s gets in on the act.

Huey’s COO Ashley Boggs Robilio says, “Recipe created by Huey’s Midtown day crew: Huey’s world famous BBQ brisket burger. Topped with coleslaw and fried jalapeños.”

Continuing to celebrate barbecue month in Memphis, more chefs share ’que ideas in next week’s Memphis Flyer.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

I

f you’re a Memphis chef, chances are you’ve thought about creating some kind of barbecue. Or maybe you already have.

But what would be your “signature” barbecue? Even if the idea is still in your imagination?

Tamra Patterson, chef/owner of Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe: “If Chef Tam created her style of barbecue/meat, it would be barbecue catfish stuffed with a barbecue jambalaya. No matter what I cook, I always have to infuse my love of Cajun food and Cajun culture.”

Jonathan Magallanes, chef/owner of Las Tortugas: “My style would be twicecooked for an extra texture. First, braised like carnitas with whole orange, bay leaf, lard, lime, and green chile. Then flashfried in peanut oil. At Tops Bar-B-Q, I ask for extra dark meat on the sandwich.

That bark and meat crust is divine. Then

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FILM By Chris McCoy

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Legendary director Sam Raimi breathes new life into the MCU.

I

sour Batman Begins.

Raimi felt burned by the mixed reaction to Spider-Man 3 and stopped making superhero movies until Disney loaded up the money truck to lure him into helming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It’s the best investment the House of Mouse has made in a long time.

Benedict Cumberbatch returns as Dr. Stephen Strange, the former surgeon turned sorcerer who was the brains behind the world-saving operation when the Avengers took on Thanos. The film opens with Strange and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) soaring through an aerobatic sequence recalling the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. But when the sorcerer falls to a space demon, we learn that this is not the Doctor Strange, but merely a Doctor Strange from a different corner of the multiverse. America is a wild magic talent who can travel between realities, and someone is sending giant tentacle monsters after her.

May 12-18, 2022

n 1980, one of the most significant movies in the history of American cinema was filmed in the woods around Morristown, Tennessee.

The Evil Dead was the brainchild of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, who scrounged together enough money to pay a 13-person crew to live in a brokendown cabin for a few miserable months.

Raimi, who was 20 years old at the time, combined the supernatural horror of The Exorcist and the slasher gore of Halloween with the slapstick comedy of The Three Stooges. After a rapturous review

by Stephen King, The Evil Dead became a profitable cult classic.

In 1990, the year after Tim Burton’s Batman, Raimi directed Darkman, an original superhero film starring a young Liam Neeson. When the now-disgraced director Bryan Singer’s X-Men films took off, Raimi’s innovative vision earned him the director’s chair for Spider-Man. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched with Iron Man in 2008, it resembled Raimi’s light-dark, comedy-drama tone more than Christopher Nolan’s gritty,

radians.amp 20

That someone turns out to be Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), the Avenger who has completed her heel turn into the Scarlet Witch after creating her own sitcom pocket universe in WandaVision. She is seeking a universe where the two sons she never had in this world actually exist, and that means stealing America’s power.

Strange realizes she has been corrupted by the Darkhold, a tome of forbidden chaos magic, and seeks the mythical Book of Vishanti, which contains spells to counter Wanda’s newfound might.

Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, and Benedict Cumberbatch Marvel comics appropriated the concept of the multiverse from quantum physics to explain the contradictions between different writers’ versions of their heroes’ histories, and now, with Everything Everywhere All at Once and Rick and Morty, the concept has invaded mainstream pop culture. With Rick and Morty writer Michael Waldron, Raimi milks the multiverse for all kinds of fun romps

FILM By Chris McCoy over its spry, two-hour running time. His restless camera swoops and dives, pushes in for comic effect, and pulls back to shoot fights like MGM dance sequences — especially in a music-themed magic duel, which brings super-genius Danny Elfman’s score to the fore.

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T H E L A S T W O R D B y L o u i s e Pa g e

Just Anger

THE LAST WORD

I had a fierce sense of justice when I was younger. I got in trouble in elementary school for pouring strawberry applesauce on the white basketball shorts of a boy who was bullying my friend. In church, when our Sunday school teacher would ask for “strong boys” to volunteer to put away folding chairs, I would carry as many chairs as I could under my small arms, to drive home the point that girls are strong, too.

After high school, I left my hometown and moved to Memphis for college. Sophomore year, I interned at Planned Parenthood. It was there that I learned about how much Planned Parenthood does for accessible healthcare outside of abortions, including but not limited to cancer screenings, prenatal care, and STD screenings and treatments. I also learned that we were expected to maintain a sense of decorum in the face of the pro-life protesters who set up camp outside of the building daily. We were not to give them any reason to harm us, defame Planned Parenthood, or paint us as angry or irrational. One day as I was walking into my internship, one of the protestors yelled at me, “Murderer! You are going to Hell for killing your baby!” She had so much venom and hatred in her voice, it took everything in me not to respond. Another thing I learned as a Planned Parenthood intern was that, quite commonly, people PHOTO: ZIMMYTWS | DREAMSTIME.COM who once protested outside of the building would come in to seek abortions for themselves or for a loved one. We were not to chastise or shame these people. A few weeks after the protestor yelled at me, I came to Planned Parenthood as a patient to get tested for STDs. The same woman who had screamed at me weeks before was sitting in the waiting room, holding her stomach and impatiently tapping her foot. We made brief eye contact, and she turned her face away.

In college, I had multiple friends seek abortions. Each of them had a good reason, not that any of them owed that to anyone. One of my friends was raped and told me stone-faced that if she was forced to deliver her rapists’ baby, she would kill herself. I believe her. I have read first-hand accounts from people who lived pre-Roe v. Wade, who have similar stories but with sadder outcomes: Their friends died, by their own hand or by botched back-alley abortions. Restricting access to abortion causes death and suffering. I have friends who would not be thriving, or would not be here at all, if they were denied access to abortion. Several of my friends ,who had abortions when we were young, now have happy, healthy, wanted children.

The legality of Roe v. Wade stands upon the concept that we as adult citizens of the United States have a right to privacy and equal protections, based upon the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Other Supreme Court decisions based on the same amendment include Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools, and Loving v. Virginia, which federally legalized interracial marriage. If the Supreme Court can overturn a landmark case providing equal reproductive rights, they may seek to overturn other civil rights decisions. Our very right to privacy is at stake. In fact, this is already happening to transgender and gay people who are having their rights eroded nationally. These struggles for bodily autonomy are linked together. Our fellow citizens facing injustice is a threat to all justice itself.

The history of the “pro-life” movement is steeped in racism. In the 1960s, before Roe v. Wade passed, being anti-abortion was seen as a “Catholic issue,” and supporting access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, and threat to the mother’s life was bipartisan. But the far right was troubled by all of the headway made by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in desegregating schools. Far-right evangelical leaders were opposed to desegregation and viewed abortion as an easy way to galvanize and unite Christians to vote far-right evangelical leaders into office. Defending the fetus was their political rallying cry, but defending racial segregation was the end goal.

Classism also plays a role in who is able to access abortion. Wealthy people will always be able to access abortion. They can fly themselves, their wives, mistresses, or children to a state or country where abortion is legal. Making abortion illegal creates barriers to abortion for the most financially vulnerable around us, who cannot afford to take off work for a day, much less fly to another state to access an abortion, and who are disproportionately people of color, particularly in the states most likely to outlaw abortion. These are the people who will be most likely to seek an illegal abortion in the event of an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. They are the people who are most likely to die.

Do not let voting be the only measure you take. We are set to lose the protections of Roe under a Democratic-controlled House, Senate, and presidency. We must pressure our elected officials to codify Roe into federal law. We must protest, with our wallets and our voices. We must not be afraid to use the word abortion. We must drive home the reality that abortion is safe, normal, and a societal good. We must be outspoken, even if we cannot become pregnant ourselves. Remember, abortion is an issue of human rights, and safe abortions actually preserve life, rather than destroy it.

When I was a child, I had a fierce sense of justice. Now I am an adult, and that sense of justice has calcified into a deep anger at the injustices that marginalized people face in our supposedly free and equal country. When a document was leaked from the Supreme Court outlining their probable future decision to overturn Roe, many of my friends cried when they found out. I have not cried. I am furious. I need you, regardless of your age, gender, religion, or ability to bear children, to be furious with me, to inform yourself, and to take action, because outlawing abortion is an egregious violation of human liberties that will impact each and every one of us.

Our right to privacy and equality is at stake, and we must fight.

Louise Page is a singer, songwriter, and pianist.

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