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OUR 1704TH ISSUE 10.21.21

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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

Last week, the University of Tennessee Volunteers lost a football game to Ole Miss. Trying to puzzle out what happened is, for this decidedly disinterested Memphian anyway, something of a challenge, but I gather that there was a call by the referee that some UT fans found objectionable. So, like any sane adults attempting to voice their ire, they threw trash onto the field of Neyland Stadium. The Vols, incidentally, were playing at home, so these fans were mucking up their own turf. I suppose it is worth remembering that “fan” is short for “fanatic.”

Still, how the citizens of Knoxville choose to conduct themselves in public is no real concern of mine, living, as I do, almost 400 miles away. But I have noticed a disturbing trend in the way the event has been discussed. I don’t recall the first instance, but I’ve seen the trashdumping described as a “protest.” Language is flexible, but that’s stretching the definition of “protest” to the absolute breaking point.

It’s not lost on me that some of the same people who are comfortable describing last Saturday’s food fight in that forgiving way probably used harsher language to describe, to stick with sports-adjacent examples, former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest of police violence against Black Americans. I’m sure one of the two was deemed “disrespectful,” and I doubt it was the display that endangered players and left a field covered in trash.

So yes, racism surely plays a part in the language we use to describe these events.

This has been on my mind to discuss for some time. I’m reminded every time I see people blocking hospital entrances or assaulting doctors and nurses leaving work or intimidating school board meetings described as “protesters.” Let’s call them what they are — terrorists. Their aim is to, by means of intimidation and threats of violence, achieve their political goals. I have, for close to two years PHOTO: NEOMRBUNGLE | WIKIPEDIA/CREATIVE COMMONS now, endeavored to maintain some level Neyland Stadium of sympathy for people who fear that vaccines and masks might hurt them. I think those claims are easily disproved, but I also understand that the disinformation machine is chugging along at full power.

When we repeat these euphemisms, we uncritically accept — and help spread — a narrative that obfuscates the truth with an emotional appeal. It almost always helps people already in power and hurts people already hurting.

When, fresh out of college, I worked as a clerk and then a paralegal at a law firm, supervising workers compensation cases, I heard the phrase “right to work” fairly often. It sounds noble, but in reality, legal bans on union security contracts between labor unions and employers tend to weaken the bargaining power of the worker. Similarly, when Mississippi’s workers compensation statutes changed, I often found myself explaining to our clients that their bodies were now, according to the state of Mississippi, worth fewer weeks of total benefits. It was never an easy conversation to have; these people almost all had kids to feed.

Often we had done everything within our power, achieved the best settlement available under the law, but it seemed a pittance when considered against the loss the worker suffered, the radically altered future they now faced. When I discussed how best to communicate the legal limits of our power with the attorney I worked for, he eventually got frustrated and quipped, “Tell them the ‘family values’ politicians they voted for wrote laws that hurt N E WS & O P I N I O N their families.”

THE FLY-BY - 4 Look, it’s one of the most bedrock NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 principles of any fairy-tale — names have POLITICS - 8 power. To put it another way, we’re living in FINANCIAL FEATURE - 9 the country that has elected one movie star AT LARGE - 10 COVER STORY president and one reality TV star president.

“INDIE MEMPHIS RETURNS” As many people watch the Super Bowl for

BY CHRIS MCCOY - 12 the ads as the game. Image consultant is a WE RECOMMEND - 16 real job.

MUSIC - 18 In other words, as tennis player Andre CALENDAR - 20 Agassi said in a 1989 Lamborghini ad, “ImVISUAL VIEWPOINT - 22 BOOKS - 25 age is everything.” Let us not do the work of FOOD - 26 bad actors for them. Remember the power FILM - 27 of names.

C LAS S I F I E D S - 30 Jesse Davis LAST WORD - 31 jesse@memphisflyer.com

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MEMernet

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Covid, Cannabis, & USPS

U R I N E-F R E E

Virus continues to fall, a tearful testimony, and a deadly shooting.

COUNCIL OF MEMPHIS & WEST TN

“Keep your Kellogg’s factory a union shop, and your Kellogg’s products urine-free,” wrote the Central Labor Council of Memphis and West TN on Facebook last week.

It’s a reference to the ongoing strike there and to Gregory Stanton, 46, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison for urinating on a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies assembly line in 2014.

He posted a video of it online.

TWE ET O F TH E WE E K @TweetJustnTacos wrote: “Someday someone at Netflix is gonna find out about Amy Weirich and good lord that six-parter is gonna be rough.”

G R E E N S WAR D BATTLE

October 21-27, 2021

Edited by Toby Sells

Memphis on the internet.

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Questions, Answers + Attitude

POSTED TO MEMPHISFLYER.COM

Memphis artist Martha Kelly published an illustrated essay at memphisflyer.com and her website last week showing the history and struggle to protect the Overton Park Greensward.

Her paintings outline how much of the original park design has been taken over by parking lots, a fire station, a service facility, a golf course, and more. It also shows plans from recent years to increase parking for the Memphis Zoo, taking ever more parkland. See an excerpt on page 22.

CAN NAB EAT Holly Ramsey and her son T.J. testified last week before the second meeting of the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission.

T.J. cannot walk and has cerebral palsy, which gives him epileptic seizures. Ramsey said, thanks to the medical cannabis she buys in another state, her fourth-grader went swimming and had a medical tube removed this summer.

“I have to break federal law to get meds for my son,” Ramsey said, wiping a tear and holding up a clear plastic bag of what looked like red candy. “I live in Brentwood and can get Delta 8 gummies at [stores] all over town, but the state won’t let me get meds for my child that doesn’t look good, doesn’t taste good, and doesn’t get anybody high.”

The commission is now setting up what Tennessee’s cannabis program will look like.

However, the program, according to the law that established the commission, will not be active until the federal government removes cannabis from the Schedule I. Commission board members began work last week to fill the role of the commission’s executive director. So far, about 65 people have applied. Commission members asked to open applications until the end of the year. The budget for the executive director’s salary is now $88,788 with a benefits package just north of $21,000 for a total of about $109,000.

C OVI D -19 N U M B E R S FALL One key Covid number was as low last week as it was just as the Delta-variant surge began. The latest weekly average rate of positive Covid-19 tests is 5.5 percent. The number has not been that low since late June (4.4 percent) and early July (7.9 percent).

Over the previous two weeks, Wolfchase had the most active Covid-19 cases and Germantown was (and remains) Shelby County’s most-vaccinated city. All of this is according to geographic data from the Shelby County Health Department.

Over the last two weeks, active Covid cases have been more prevalent in the northern part of the county, in North Memphis, Millington, Arlington, and more. However, the Wolfchase area (38133) was the hottest spot on the map with 382 active cases. The vaccine rate in Germantown was (and is) highest here with 74,864 shots given per capita.

PHOTO: MEMPHIS FLYER

The numbers show that Shelby County’s Covid situation is improving from a summer of record-high Covid cases.

US PS S H O OTI N G Three United States Postal Service (USPS) employees were killed at a Memphis facility last week, one dead of an apparent selfinflicted gunshot wound.

The shooting happened at a USPS inspection facility at the East/Lamar Carrier Annex in Orange Mound at the corner of Park and Pendleton, according to Susan Link, a postal inspector in Memphis.

“Three employees are deceased and there is no ongoing threat,” Link said during a brief news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Lisa-Anne Culp, public affairs officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Memphis office, said, “The shooter was one of the three employees deceased of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and the investigation is ongoing.”

Later in the week, USPS identified the victims as James Wilson Jr., 47, and Demetria Dortch, 37. The suspect was identified as Johntra Haley, 28.

Memphis Police Department officers responded to the scene last Tuesday in support of the FBI and USPS. Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.

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The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Monday, October 29, 2018

Crossword ACROSS 1 Just one year, for Venus and Serena Williams 7 Small plumbing problem 11 ___-Caps (candy) 14 It gets beaten at a party 15 McEntire with a twang in her voice 16 Long, long time 17 Remove, as from a belt 18 Popular program usually shown back to back with 34-/36-Across 20 Strong brews 22 Speaker’s place 23 Host of 18-Across 27 One of four on a fork 28 Anger 29 Some hospital pics 30 Ham and lamb

31 Immigrant’s class, for short 32 Money that may go in a slot 33 Purchase at Citgo 34 & 36 Popular program usually shown back to back with 18-Across 40 Engine cooler 41 Lose vibrancy, as from exposure to sunlight 42 H.S. proficiency exam 43 Vegas hot spot, with “the” 46 One-liner 47 Smelting refuse 48 Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan’s ___ Sea 49 Co-host of 34-/36-Across 51 “You can stop explaining the joke to us” 53 Peter, Paul and Mary, e.g.

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30 Mother with a foal

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32 Applaud

43 Ditch for cutting timber

33 Aunt or uncle, sometimes

44 Pays for everyone

35 Does one’s taxes online

45 Convertible, in slang

36 Like light from a far-off star

47 Quaint store

46 From Doha, e.g.

49 Golfer Singh who won the 2000 Masters 50 More sagacious 52 Always bumping one’s head on doorways, say 55 Topeka’s home: Abbr.

57 “Are you?” response 58 “Strange Magic” band, in brief 59 Ma’am’s counterpart

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#Striketober Kellogg strike here comes amid many across U.S.

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4 Samsung product 5 At an angle 6 Movie for which Tatum O’Neal won an Oscar 7 Nickname for Erving in the old N.B.A. 8 ___ Pieces 9 Onetime Apple product 10 One of the Three Bears 11 Country below Hungary 12 “Stop, I beg you!”

13 Banded gems 19 Precollege exam that offers college credit 21 Sans ___ (font type) 23 Not many

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No. 0924

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

Striking workers kept the picket line active all last week at the Kellogg Co. factory, even as the company is hiring to replace them, and comes amid a flurry of strike activity across the U.S. The labor strike here entered its second week this week with no signs of slowing. It’s in unison with strikes at Kellogg’s plants in Battle Creek, Michigan, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

“They are on strike demanding equal pay and benefits,” according to the Memphis Labor Council.

“They are standing up to a company that made over $2.3 billion in profit so far during the pandemic and now wants to lock new hires into permanent low-wage, no-benefit employment.”

Kellogg Co. struck back last week with its first formal statement on the strike since it began. It said no workers were being asked to give up healthcare benefits, retirement benefits, holiday pay, or vacation pay. As for union claims about the new hires, Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said they have the same health plan as salaried employees but pay a lower contribution, which was part of a union agreement in 2015. The new proposal maintains current pay for new hires and “offers significant increases in wages, benefits, and retirement,” according to the company.

“We are deeply concerned that the union at our four U.S. cereal plants has decided to strike and what that means for our employees, and especially concerned that the union struck without allowing members to vote on our October 1st offer,” Bahner said in a statement.

The company posted jobs to Indeed last week to temporarily replace striking workers at its plants. The listing says, “We are looking for employees to cross the picket line and join hundreds of

Kellogg salaried employees, hourly employees, and contractors to keep the lines running during the strike.”

Union leaders here have kept close tabs on “scabs,” people or companies that cross the picket line to work or provide services for Kellogg. Wings on the Fly food truck crossed the line last week, having no knowledge of the strike until it arrived at the factory.

PHOTO: MEMPHIS LABOR COUNCIL

Kellogg worker on strike, asking for a livable wage and better benefits “Within a few minutes, we determined that we would not open for service in respect of your boycott,” said Lonnie Ford, managing member of the food truck company, in a statement to union leaders. “We did not open for business and departed the premises within 30 minutes of arrival.”

Workers across the U.S. are hitting picket lines in what some have dubbed “#Striketober.” John Deere employees went on strike last week demanding better wages. A television and film workers strike was avoided last week after reaching a deal on wages and conditions.

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

Opening October 30, 2021

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Bonner for Sheriff?

Republicans will husband resources for other races — notably Amy Weirich’s for DA.

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Sheriff Floyd presidential ones.

Bonner was the In the two or three county elections top vote-getter of leading up to 2018, Republicans had all Shelby County managed to do well, but eventually the candidates in 2018, statistics began to tell, and GOP success the year he was in all-county balloting from now on will elected to his first depend on (a) such superior organization term. Running as as the party can manage, and (b) having a Democrat, he candidates with clear crossover appeal. handily defeated Republican Dale Lane, In eschewing to nominate a rival a veteran deputy who has since become candidate for sheriff, the Republicans police chief of Collierville. simultaneously are hoping thereby to Bonner is certain to do well in 2022, scale down Democrat campaign efforts as well. For one thing, he will have no generally and are husbanding their opposition this year from a Republican own resources for such races as that by candidate. The local GOP ICS has District Attorney General Amy Weirich, petitioned for primaries in all county races seeking re-election against Democratic except that for sheriff. competition.

Asked why, Cary Vaughn, current Ironically, there was a modest but chairman of the Shelby County Republican unsuccessful effort by a few members last Party, said, “We think he [Bonner] has done week in a meeting of the Shelby County an exemplary job and deserves everybody’s Democratic Committee to seek a critical support. We believe vote on Sheriff in leadership, and we Bonner’s compliance think that’s what he’s with a federal decree offered.” on Covid protections The GOP’s for jail inmates. position recaps in a way the enthusiasm • Like other elected of former Sheriff Bill political bodies Oldham, Bonner’s elsewhere, the Shelby predecessor and a County Commission Republican, who is working overtime endorsed Democrat in efforts to agree on PHOTO: JACKSON BAKER Bonner, rather than a redistricting map Bonner with predecessor (and Lane, to succeed him for the next round of endorser) Bill Oldham in 2018 in 2018. elections in 2022.

Democrats might After several be entitled to feel pleased that one of their rounds of discussion, both with each own is apparently guaranteed a conflictother and with members of the Shelby free re-election contest. There is always County Schools board, also facing an the chance that a candidate or two will election, commission members are seeking run independent campaigns for sheriff, agreement on finished products for both but, lacking the backing of an organized their own election and that of SCS. A partisan effort, any such candidate would preliminary decision could come as early have little chance of prevailing. as Wednesday of next week, says Darrick A factor mitigating Democrats’ Harris, the commission’s ex-officio pleasure in seeing Bonner go unopposed assistant in the matter. Final decision is due is, no doubt, the well-founded suspicion

by November. of an ulterior motive on the part of the So far, at least eight different maps have Republicans. The “blue wave” county been chewed over by the participating election of 2018, which saw Bonner and commissioners (mainly the six incumbents other Democratic candidates carried into who intend re-election bids: Amber Mills, office, was a confirmation of a demographic District 1; David Bradford, District 2; fact: The population of Shelby County — Mick Wright, District 3; Michael Whaley, majority-Black and working-class — has District 5; Mickell Lowery, District 8; finally begun to reflect that demographic Edmund Ford Jr., District 9; and Brandon reality in local elections as well as in Morrison, District 13).

F I N A N C I A L F E AT U R E B y G e n e G a r d

Fall into Adventure

Real Estate or Stocks?

Does it have to be one or the other? Consider risks and returns.

Real estate generally has a lower expected return than stocks, for good reason. While there can be spurts of strong real estate performance, Robert Shiller’s data shows that real returns (aka after inflation) in the U.S. housing market have been only about 0.8 percent per year since 1890. Even this return may be an anomaly — the increasing availability of mortgage loans and current low interest rates probably contributed. This makes sense: If real estate outperformed inflation meaningfully over time, as decades turn into centuries housing would become completely unaffordable.

According to S&P, the real returns of U.S. stocks since 1872 has been around 6.8 percent — a vastly larger number.

There are many good reasons to own your own house, but an eventual financial windfall is not as attractive as you might think. Many of us know people who owned a house for a short time and sold it just a few years later, ending up with a large lump sum. These things happen, but in the last 40 years (through June 30th) the median home price in the U.S. has only risen from $69,400 to $374,900, which seems like a healthy 5.4x return.

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PHOTO: TIERRA MALLORCA | UNSPLASH

The unconsidered risks of real estate

However, the S&P 500 has risen from 131.21 to 4327.58, a 32.7x increase (that’s not even including dividends). We all need a place to live, but putting up as little capital as possible for a place to stay and investing the rest has historically been a better financial decision over any reasonably long period than owning (and maintaining!) a house.

Real estate seems to make a lot of money due to leverage, or borrowed money. By putting up, say, 10 percent of the purchase price of a $100,000 house, 1 percent appreciation on $100k turns into 10 percent appreciation on your $10,000 investment. But it works the other way, too — the equity in real estate can vanish quickly in a downturn, as we saw around 2008.

You can borrow money to leverage up stocks, but it seems recklessly risky to most investors. Real estate prices are typically less volatile than stocks, but real estate leverage creates a real risk that many buyers don’t seriously consider, probably because the price of your house is not quoted daily on an exchange.

Water heaters, HVAC systems, and roofs require repair and replacement on uncertain timelines. Owners of houses often underestimate these costs, as well as property taxes, eventual remodels, and the countless nitpicky expenses of ownership. As a landlord, the risk of just one bad renter can eclipse years of profits, and the 2020 lockdowns introduced a new risk of months to years of nonpaying tenants with no legal or financial recourse.

Fortunes have been made in real estate, but in my opinion, it’s a hard way to make “easy” money. I’m a big fan of diversified stock and bond portfolios that include some real estate exposure through real estate investment trusts, or REITs. That’s the kind of real estate investment that doesn’t call you in the middle of the night about a broken pipe!

Gene Gard is Chief Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions. Ask him your question at ggard@telarrayadvisors.com or sign up for the next free online seminars on the Events tab at telarrayadvisors.com.

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T

he choice between stocks and real estate as investments is a bit of a false dichotomy. Obviously, we can include both in our portfolio, but most people tend to choose one or the other. It’s been said that everyone is deep down either an Elvis fan or a Beatles fan (but not both), and in the same way, most people either believe in the value of the stock market or they believe in the value of real estate. There’s not much gray area in between.

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all me a masochist, but I’ve stayed in touch with former president Donald J. Trump.

Or, better said, I’ve allowed him to stay in touch with me.

Trump was booted off Twitter on January 8th for violating that social medium’s “glorification of violence” policy.

And there’s little doubt that his tweets surrounding the January 6th insurrection and its aftermath glorified the actions of those who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol.

“American patriots,” Trump tweeted on January 8th, “will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly.”

Trump added, “I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” which Twitter interpreted as: “So if some of you patriots want to come and mess that up, feel free.”

That was Trump’s last tweet. He briefly experimented with other social media platforms but got no traction, and finally he settled on email as the best way to deliver his message. I signed up for it on the theory that we better keep an eye on the sumbitch.

At first, Trump’s emails were tweetlength rants in the form of a “Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America.” All the catchphrases were there: “Radical left Democrats,” “Disgraceful RINO Republicans,” “Fake News,” and, of course, “Russia, Russia, Russia.”

Now things have changed. Sure, Trump still emails the occasional “statement,” but it’s almost like he’s just going through the motions, like the Beach Boys playing the Beau Rivage casino — singing the hits for the money. And make no mistake: Money is what this is all about.

Consider: On October 14th, a typical day, I got 15 emails from Trump. Fifteen!

I’m old, so I’m targeted by a lot of email marketers, but none of them think I’m stupid enough to open 15 emails a day in order to win a football signed by The

Donald or an invitation to Mar-a-Lago or to become a member of the Day One club (where, according to Donald Trump Jr., “your name will be first on the list my father sees”). Or I could win a signed hat, a signed poster, a signed photograph, a personalized welcome mat, or (gasp!) lunch with Kimberly Guilfoyle. The approaches vary but the closing pitch is always the same: Give me, your beloved president, some money.

If you click on “Donate,” you’ll see a countdown clock at 59 minutes with the following clever text: President Trump is working around the clock to SAVE AMERICA from Joe Biden and the Radical Left, but he cannot do it alone. He’s calling on YOU to step up.

For 1 HOUR ONLY: you can INCREASE your impact by 300%! Please make a contribution of ANY AMOUNT IMMEDIATELY to help President Trump SAVE AMERICA! So, as you can see, it’s an emergency.

Helpfully, when an American Patriot™ donates, say, $50 to Save America, he is automatically signed up to give that amount monthly forever — or until he notices the money disappearing from his bank account and decides to opt out.

If you read the fine print (so boring!), you discover that the money goes to Save America JFC, a joint fundraising committee on behalf of Save America and Make America Great Again PAC (“MAGAPac”). And if you read all the way to the bottom, you’ll reach the money shot: “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”

That means this money is not going to help Donald Trump or any candidate get elected. It is not going to help Donald Trump “save America.” It is going to help Donald Trump pay his bills, fuel his jet, fund his lawyers, and settle his lawsuits. It is a grift, pure and simple. It is what Trump has done all his life.

When a snake emails you who he is, believe him.

11

NEWS & OPINION

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

COVER STORY BY CHRIS MCCOY PHOTO: LOGANBAN | DREAMSTIME.COM

INDIE MEMPHIS

RETURNS

The Bluff City’s premier film festival invites you back to the movie theater.

D

October 21-27, 2021

on’t call it a comeback! The 24th edition of the Indie Memphis Film Festival is returning to theaters October 20th-25th. Like all organizations trying to plan large events in 2021, the specter of Covid hung over the planning process.

“I’ve gotten out of the business trying to predict the pandemic,” says Knox Shelton, who took over as Indie Memphis executive director earlier this year. “When we were having initial conversations at the beginning of summer, we were really optimistic about what the world would look like in the fall.

And then, of course, toward the end of summer, we started to see our numbers creep back up. So, to use the most boring word used over the past year and a half, we had to pivot and keep trying to figure out how we were going to bring the community together for the festival in the safest and healthiest way possible.”

Last year’s festival took place mostly online, with virtual screenings hosted by the Memphis-based cinema services 12 company Eventive, supplemented by socially distanced, in-person programs at

the Malco Summer Drive-In and Shelby Farms. The virtual event succeeded beyond expectations, expanding the reach of the regional festival to international audiences.

That success means that online offerings will continue to be a part of Indie Memphis. This year, you can buy a virtual pass and view dozens of feature-length and short narrative films and documentaries without setting foot in a theater.

With Covid case numbers on the decline after the cresting of the Delta wave, the decision to go ahead with a scaled-down, in-person festival, while requiring masks and proof of vaccination for attendees, looks sound. Screenings will take place at the Crosstown Theater, Playhouse on the Square, The Circuit Playhouse, and the Malco Summer Drive-In. For Shelton and festival staff, online and in-person means running two film festivals at the same time. “It’s been challenging,” Shelton says. “I think putting on a festival of this size with the team we have is always going to be challenging, but it’s also the team that’s made it go really well. I think the

wealth of experience we have with [artistic director] Miriam Bale, [director of artist development and youth film] Joseph Carr, and [director of marketing] Macon Wilson has been incredible and made my transition very smooth and easy.”

ART HOUSE REVIVAL Before Shelton was hired as Indie Memphis executive director, he was the head of the nonprofit Literacy Mid-South — and a big fan of the kind of independently produced, art house films that are the festival’s reason for being. “As somebody who’s just enjoyed Indie Memphis over the past few years, finally getting a little behind-the-scenes look at Miriam and her work has been just really fun for me,” he says. “I just have so much respect for what Miriam has brought to the organization over the years.”

Bale is responsible for putting together a sprawling program of narrative features, documentaries, and shorts from all over the world, most of which would not otherwise appear in theaters. Wednesday night’s opening feature is Red Rocket by six-time

Independent Spirit award winner Sean Baker. The director’s feature, Tangerine, a film famously shot on an iPhone about Los Angeles transgender street life, opened Indie Memphis 2015. “We’re really thrilled that Sean Baker is coming for opening night,” says Bale. “He’s such a fan of art house cinema, festivals, and theatrical screenings in general. The film is so much fun, but it definitely has deeper elements.”

Simon Rex, an MTV VJ and former porn star who raps under the name Dirt Nasty, is the unlikely star of Red Rocket. “It’s about the worst person you’ve ever met, who’s also one of the most charming people you’ve ever met. Sean Baker is just brilliant at casting,” says Bale. The director found “theater and first-time actors and they all come together for this fresh energy.”

For the closing night film, Bale landed Spencer by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, whom she describes as one of her favorite filmmakers. Spencer deals with a critical few days in the life of Princess Diana as her marriage to Prince Charles was coming apart. Diana is played by Kristen Stewart,

Life Ain’t Like the Movies KILLER MEMPHIS MOVIES There are five made-in-Memphis feature films in the Hometowner competition this year: the documentaries, Reel Rock 15: Black Ice by Zachary Barr and Peter Mortimer, A Ballet Season by David Goodman and Steven J. Ross, and The Lucky 11 by George Tillman; and the narrative features, Life Ain’t Like the Movies by Robert Mychal Patrick Butler and Killer by A.D. Smith.

The horror-tinged Killer is a good fit for a festival that happens the week before Halloween. Smith says the movie was a product of the pandemic. “It’s a combination of being stuck in the house for days and wanting to do something creative.”

When Killer opens, Brandon (Larshay Watson), a med student, has invited his friend Sam (Aric Delashmit) to stay at his house during the pandemic lockdown, which they think will last about two weeks.

Killer

A Ballet Season

Bunker

But unbeknownst to Brandon, Sam has spread the word to their circle of college chums and stocked up for a party fortnight.

Brandon becomes the reluctant host to 10 diverse friends, played by Memphis actors Madison Alexander, Shannon Walton, Terrence Brock, Divine Dent, Jeneka Jenae, Charisse Bland, and Blain Jewell.

At first, it’s fun, as the friends treat it like an unexpected spring break. But as the pandemic wears on, tensions rise. The party game they play, where one of the players is secretly a killer and the others have to guess which one is picking them off, becomes real when they are all drugged and wake up tied to chairs in a circle. Smith wrings tension out of the claustrophobic situation, as the party dwindles and bodies pile up. But there’s also an undercurrent of black humor, such as the moment one player who has been falsely accused uses their last words to say, “I told you it wasn’t me!”

in one location, I wanted everything to be fresh, every time we went to a different room, every time we changed perspective.”

After writing the story in lockdown and leading his cast in extensive rehearsals over Zoom, Killer was shot in five days last fall. Smith credits assistant director Sarah Fleming with making sure the shoot was productive. “She taught me so much,” he says. “I don’t think I could have done it in five days without her. I knew what I wanted, but she knows so much more technical jargon than I did. She was able to very simply go back and forth with my DP. Sometimes when the cast was getting a little off track, she wouldn’t have any problem getting people back on. She was like, ‘I want to make sure you can just do your thing, and make sure everything looks good.’”

them.”

Bunker is a series of portraits of men who have adopted this peculiar lifestyle. There’s a 40-something, three-time divorcé who sleeps on a bare mattress inside a bomb storage bunker; a 70-year-old counterculture fugitive who has made a castle out of a missile silo; and a real estate developer who is selling “survival condos” where the 1 percent can escape apocalypse with their wealth and privilege intact. “Everyone uses the term ‘threat scenario,’” says Perlin. Each one of the people in the film has a different threat scenario they are primarily concerned with in their lives, and it’s only through listening to them talk in the film that you kind of get a sense of which one they’re more partial to. So for some people it’s water, for other people it’s asteroids, and for other people it’s civil unrest.

“I think what’s fascinating to me is how bunker culture — safety, escape, prepper world, what-have-you — can be found in all parts of the political and social spectrum.

Here in New York, you have a lot of young people moving upstate and starting off-grid solar and wind farms. So in many ways, when people come to these places, they’re looking for a story that will give some meaning to their lives.”

PHOTO: CHAMP MILLER

Black Ice

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

Killer has the trappings of a slasher movie, but at its heart, it’s an old-fashioned, country house mystery like Murder on the Orient Express. “Some of my first memories are drinking coffee as a 5-year-old with my grandmother and watching Perry Mason,” says Smith. “I love whodunits like Scream.

As a mystery buff, I’ve always wanted to make a mystery, but I never knew how I was going to be able to do that. I don’t have the budget to make a big production, so when the pandemic hit and we were forced to stay inside, it just took my mind to a different place. … I was a writer before I ever picked up a camera. I’ve been writing for at least 15 years, learning how to structure a story and create characters. Even though we were

BUNKER MENTALITY “I have been interested in the Cold War and covert architecture for many years,” says director Jenny Perlin.

Perlin, who grew up in rural Ohio, recalls finding out that the farm where her family bought their Christmas trees was built on top of a secret nuclear facility. From 1948 to 1990, hundreds of such secret sites designed to withstand Soviet atomic bombs were constructed all over America. In the years that followed, many of the missile silos, munitions storage sites, and command bunkers were decommissioned. “I knew that some of these structures had been repurposed,” Perlin says. “I wanted to meet some of the people who were living inside

WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR If you’ve heard the terms “creepypasta” — and are not “extremely online”— it was probably in connection with the Slender Man case. Two pre-teen girls from Wisconsin stabbed a classmate 19 times, claiming to be under the control of a malevolent supernatural entity they had read about online. Director Jane Schoenbrun says creepypasta (a portmanteau of “copy and paste”) is “a giant collective of amateur storytellers who essentially tell each other ghost stories, try to develop those ghost stories collaboratively, and try to convince each other that these ghost stories that they’re telling each other are true, that they’re really happening to them.”

In Schoenbrun’s debut feature, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, a teenager named Casey (Anna Cobb) stumbles across a story similar to Candyman or Bloody Mary. If you repeat the title phrase, you will be transformed in some unknown, but continued on page 15

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

whose performance as the disenchanted princess is already garnering Oscar buzz.

Among the other buzzy showcase screenings at Indie Memphis is Drive My Car by Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, the film tells the story of Watari (Toko Miura), a young woman hired to chauffeur Yusuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima), an actor and playwright who is trying to mount a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima while coming to terms with the death of his wife. “Drive My Car is just one of those films that you see, and it just lasts with you for so long,” Bale says. “It just sort of shifts something in you a little bit.”

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probably horrible, way. When Casey tries the World’s Fair challenge, her sheltered life begins to unravel in ways that may or may not be in her head. Driven by Cobb’s nuanced performance, the film is both trancelike and deeply creepy.

“One of my goals with World’s Fair was to take this visual language of the internet and learn how to represent it in film,” says Schoenbrun. “I feel like it’s an everevolving conversation. As we all culturally become hyper familiar with conventions of a screen, the question for me as an artist isn’t ‘just point a camera at the computer screen, and that’s the movie,’ but how do you make art using that language? … I also wanted to be truthful to the way the internet has always felt to me, which is this strange combination between maximalism and minimalism — being shown everything at once and seeing nothing interesting.”

Schoenbrun’s film debuted virtually at Sundance during the height of the pandemic, where the story of an isolated young girl reaching out through the internet took on unexpected resonance.

“It’s a lonely film about sitting inside, and I think people were really ready for it in January. The reception at Sundance was overwhelming,” Schoenbrun says. “I like to think of it as a film about the horror of being seen and seeing yourself. That’s a very core part of who the character is, seeking an understanding of how she sees herself, how she wants to be seen, and how others are seeing her.”

AFROBEAT GOES ON Siji Awoyinka only briefly lived in Nigeria.

His expat parents returned to the country when he was 5 years old. When he grew up, he traveled the world, eventually landing in Brooklyn. One day, he was hanging out with a friend, a crate-digger with a massive collection of rare records from the African nation, when they found themselves wondering what had happened to the people who made the music. Little did he know that would launch him on an 11-year journey of discovery that culminated in his first film, Elder’s Corner.

“I’m a musician first and foremost,” he says. “Music came before filmmaking, and I see filmmaking as an extension of my storytelling capabilities as a musician.”

Elder’s Corner invites the audience along as Awoyinka travels to Lagos to track down the musicians who thrived in Nigeria’s prosperous 1950s and ’60s, then suffered through the civil wars and oil-fueled dictatorships that followed.

Along the way, he traces the evolution of African popular music from the jazzy, cosmopolitan high life to the

Elder’s Corner drum-focused primitivism of juju to the funk-inflected, revolutionary grooves of Afrobeat.

“We have a very strong oral history,” says Awoyinka. “That’s how we pass down

information, especially that generation.

They didn’t keep copies of their own recordings, they didn’t keep pictures, they didn’t keep anything. A lot of these artists, these elders, hadn’t heard any of those records for decades. So that was the icebreaker. When we turned up for the interviews, I brought up my laptop with a hard drive full of old classics and played their song. Their eyes would just light up, like, ‘Wow, where did you get this from?

Who gave you this? I haven’t heard this in 20 years!’ When they discovered I was also a musician, it completely won them over, and they relaxed and opened up and told

me all kinds of stories.”

Awoyinka brought along recording engineer Bill Lee to resurrect an abandoned Decca Records studio, which produced many of the classic songs.

Watching the joy in the eyes of the musicians who are back in the studio for the first time in decades is one of the many pleasures of Elder’s Corner. “There were moments where I wanted to just jump into the pit with them,” says Awoyinka. “But I couldn’t ’cause I was behind the camera!”

For more Indie Memphis coverage, see page 27. Check for daily updates during the festival at memphisflyer.com.

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

continued from page 13

15

steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

The Nature of Art

By Abigail Morici

Whether you fancy yourself to be left-brained or right-brained — or you find the concept to be a myth — letting your creative juices flow is good for brain health. Ask the nonprofit Arkwings Foundation, and they’d agree. “Our primary mission is promoting mind, body, and spirit wellness,” says Jana Wilson, executive director. “Right now the way that’s manifesting itself is through integrating arts and nature — the healing power of arts and nature.”

For a taste of that healing, Arkwings is hosting its annual Frayser Local Arts Festival. “We want people to get a look at the different ways they can express themselves creatively,” Wilson says of the festival’s aim to encompass all forms of art.

PHOTO: ARKWINGS FOUNDATION Inside, exhibits will fill the grounds’ 1930s house with visual arts, available to view and purchase. Meanwhile, culinary artist Cardi Fuqua, Performer from last year’s fest owner of Naked, will demonstrate recipes made from the fresh produce and herbs from the art garden. Outside, poetry, spoken word, song, dance, and yoga will populate the performance schedule, and artisans will set up shop to sell handmade goods.

At outdoor creativity stations, festival-goers can paint mini murals on repurposed vinyl banners, write their thoughts on slips of paper and clip them onto strings that hang down from the Poetry Tree, and touch, feel, and smell the herbs in the garden before making herbal salts of their own.

“It’s a chance for people to get creative and enjoy themselves and nature,” Wilson says.

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Gus Moreno’s page-turner of a debut leaves a void in its wake.

Books, p. 25

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Memphis, don’t turn your back on Haitian refugees.

Last Word, p. 31

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES October 21st - 27th

Repair Days 2021 Metal Museum, 374 Metal Museum, Thurs.-Sun., Oct. 2124, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

For Metal Museum’s largest annual fundraiser, drop off your metal items to have them restored to their former glory.

Proceeds help support annual programming such as virtual exhibition tours, educational activity guides, demonstration videos, apprenticeships, and so much more.

Cemetery Cinema: Soul of the City Film & Nosferatu Elmwood Cemetery, 824 South Dudley, Fri., Oct. 22, 6 p.m., $17 View the film that features footage of the cemetery’s Soul of the City event, during which actors, reincarnated as some of the residents, led tours of the grounds. Afterward, Nosferatu will transport viewers to 1838 Wisborg, a German town plagued with the vampirish whims of Count Orlock.

Urinetown: The Musical Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins, Fri., Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m., $35 This satirical musical opens this week. Set in the future, when the government has banned private toilets, citizens must pay a company to relieve themselves, but one hero seeks justice against this moneyhungry corporation. Shows will run through November 7th.

Trunk or Treat on Tillman Street United Way of the Mid-South, 1005 Tillman, Sat., Oct 23, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., free Drive through the parking lot and receive candy from the comfort of your vehicle.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in their best costume and enjoy music, festively decorated trunks, food, and fun. Plus, free vaccinations (flu and Covid-19) will be offered.

Live music at

PHOTO: ANGEL ORTEZ/COURTESY BROOKS MUSEUM

The Brooks partners with Cazateatro to celebrate Day of the Dead.

Gears in Reverse

By Abigail Morici “Stay in your cars. No bikes. No motorcycles,” Monica Sanchez, cofounder of Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, warns with a gentle wagging of her finger. That is really the only rule of the Dia de los Muertos Reverse Parade — other than not referring to the holiday as Mexico’s Halloween. “Don’t even get me started on that,” Sanchez says.

This year’s parade is set in reverse. Kathy Dumlao, director of education and interpretation at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, explains, “Because of Covid, we wanted it to be like Shelby Farms’ Starry Nights, where you see the sites from inside your car as you drive along.” There, you can watch performances by Cazateatro Catrinas, folklore groups, mariachi bands, and more, and stationary floats will be interspersed throughout the route in Overton Park. Decorated in bright colors and papel picado (perforated paper), the floats will hold marigolds for the dead to smell, candles for the dead to find their way, and other more personal items to encourage the dead to visit. “Sometimes, we mock the dead,” Sanchez says. “But in a loving way.”

Another symbol of the holiday: skulls and skeletons. “We all end up skeletons one way or another. There’s nothing scary about Dia de los Muertos,” Sanchez says. “That’s why when you’re a kid you eat sugar skulls to remind you that death is sweet.”

An audio tour will be available on SoundCloud to accompany your ride (or to listen at home), and guests can pick up craft kits for later. “Now, don’t stop and hold up the parade,” Sanchez reminds. “But feel free to circle around and come back if you’d like.”

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS REVERSE PARADE, OVERTON PARK, 1930 POPLAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23RD, 10 A.M.-3 P.M., FREE.

October 22nd - 8:00pm Cowboy Mouth

October 23rd - 8:00pm Mark Edgar Stuart

10/20

Duwayne Burnside Blues Hour

10/21

George Porter

10/22

Cowboy Mouth

10/23 10/23

Showboats

10/27

Duwayne Burnside Blues Hour

Barks and Boo-ze Grind City Brewing Company, 76 Waterworks, Sat., Oct. 23, 2 p.m.

Hosted by Friends of Tipton County Animal Shelter. Bring your pups for the costume contest. Donate for entry.

In This Moment Ballet Memphis Fly Studio, 2144 Madison, Sat., Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., $35 Ballet Memphis returns to the stage with a medley of works.

RiverArtsFest Renasant Convention Center, 255 N. Main, Sat.-Sun., Oct. 23-24, $10 Artists and talent from all 50 states will be present at the longest-running fine arts festival in the Mid-South. Live music, entertainment, and demonstrations will be onview. Kids can participate in interactive art stations, and of course, food and drink will be available for purchase.

Haunted Mansion Panel and After-Hours Exhibit & Graceland Tour Graceland, 3717 Elvis Presley, Wed., Oct. 27, 6:30-9 p.m., $75 This Zoom panel will share more about Walt Disney World’s eerie estate, The Haunted Mansion. Plus, visitors can tour the “Inside the Walt Disney Archives” exhibition before an afterhours tour of the Graceland Mansion.

10/28 Tauk

10/29

Spank!

10/30

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

“Beale Street Blues” is among the local films showing in this year’s Indie Memphis Hometowner Shorts Competition.

Film, p. 27

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

Mark Edgar Stuart

17

October 21-27, 2021

THIS OCTOBER, BE A PART OF THE INAUGURAL MEMPHIS SOUL MUSIC FESTIVAL, A VIRTUAL CONCERT EVENT TO BENEFIT SISTERREACH

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Love blues, gospel or soul music… and being part of a ggreat cause? Join us for the Memphis Soul Music Festival.

Nationally recognized artists Eric Gales, Opal Staples, Chick Rogers, Frank McComb, Cherisse, Omar, DJ Jazzy Jeff and more are coming together to create this one-of-a-kind vi virtual concert event. Proceeds will help establish a housing community for vulnerable women and families in crisis. Learn more at sisterreach.org.

STREAM FOR FREE

MUSIC By Alex Greene

H is for Hives How a band inspired by the Oblivians rose to world domination.

T

he Hives took the world by storm over 20 years ago, and the fact that they’re still an A-list act on today’s tours and festivals is a testament to the quality of the tracks they’ve always produced. Rightly or wrongly lumped in with bands like the Strokes at the time of their first hits, their staying power since then has been due to them getting, from the outset, the building blocks of rock-and-roll right: a witty mash-up of European design and American bravado.

Yet, for a band with touchstones closer to the Stooges-meet-the-Clash, there are some surprisingly Southern elements to their history and sound.

This week, they begin a brief run through the South that will bring them to Oxford’s Lyric Theater on Tuesday, October 26, and, excited by the possibility of hearing a Swedish band in this hemisphere — all too rare, post-pandemic — I caught up with Nicholaus Arson, guitarist and collaborative songwriter for the group, to find out where they stand now, as they consolidate the world domination they spearheaded in the early aughts.

Memphis Flyer: The Hives have a history of ties with Memphis, don’t they?

Nicholaus Arson: Yeah, for sure. I’m wearing my Goner shirt now! And for us, the Oblivians was one of the most important bands, growing up. To begin with, we didn’t even know they were from Memphis. They were on Crypt, which was based in Hamburg, just across the water from Sweden. But yeah, me and [brother and lead singer] Pelle went to an Oblivians show around 1997 in Stockholm. We’d been aching to see the Oblivians for a long time, so that was a pivotal moment! It was one of those shows where you go just knowing it’s going to be great. Because if you can release records like that, chances are that the shows will be good. That brand of rock-and-roll is seldom shy.

You’ve even been known to cover “Stop & Think it Over” by the Compulsive Gamblers.

Yeah, definitely. It’s the greatest ’60s song not written in the ’60s. That’s just what Greg Cartwright does.

And you recorded and shot some music videos in this area as well.

Yeah, I think we did at least two with Mike McCarthy — “Abra Cadaver” and “A Little

More for Little You.” It was all on the same day. We were just running between sets and Mike had a whole schedule in his head.

And then, we recorded pretty much all of The Black and White Album in Oxford, and also in Como, Mississippi, at Jimbo Mathus’ studio. Oxford’s pretty close to Memphis, and it’s sort of a neat little place. Good food.

So we’re sort of tied to the geography. We have friends there.

Rumor has it that you’ve been writing a lot of songs since the pandemic shut down touring.

With Covid, we were able to start finishing stuff, really. I think we have about 25 songs that are ready to record. Since Covid hit, we haven’t been able to go into any studios. But really there are effectively two new albums ready to record. That’s very un-Hives. Usually, if we have an album of 14 songs, that’s the only songs we have.

PHOTO: GÖRAN BROBERG

The Hives Any surprises in store with the new songs?

As far as greatness, no. It’ll all be great. And as far as going in some other direction, again, no. They’re new Hives songs. Some pretty good rockers. We’ll play some on this tour. We’re playing new stuff all the time.

One common element in Hives tracks is the guitar interplay between you and Vigilante Carlstroem. How do your different styles inform the group sound?

We’ve always talked in terms of where you are in the beat. I was always a tad ahead of the beat. Vigilante was always lagging a little bit. So it was like the Stones. They were very loose in their tempos. If you play everything too much on the grid, there’s no groove left. My guitar style is very choppy.

My right hand was always more important than my left. To play what I play, you need a firm grip, and the rest is all strumming!

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Friday, October 29th

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

Grand Prize Drawing Dates

19

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

October 21 - 27

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

“Better Than a Stick in the Eye”

Exhibition of sculptures by Greely Myatt. Through Nov. 20.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

“Black Artists in America: From the Great Depression to Civil Rights”

This exhibition is the first of three that examine the African-American experience in the visual arts through the last 70 years of the 20th century. Through Jan. 2.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Kaleidoscope”

Exhibition of work by members of The Artists Group of Memphis. Online viewing only.

Through Oct. 31.

Support the Metal Museum’s largest fundraiser by dropping off your metal items to be repaired.

Art on Fire

“Mourning Memphis”

Call for Artists: The Brush Off Project

Live music, tastings from local restaurants, drinks, an auction, and art sale, all while enjoying a roaring bonfire. Saturday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Stroll the darkened halls and hear the tales of the first families while viewing a beautiful Victorian mourning collection.

Through Oct. 31.

Seeking new and exciting painters to submit their work to a juried painting competition.

Through Oct. 31.

WOODRUFF-FONTAINE HOUSE MUSEUM

AVENUEART.CA

Paint Night: Underpainted Landscapes with Danielle Sierra

“On Christopher Street” Exhibition of portraits of transgender residents by Mark Seliger. Through Jan. 9.

A fun-filled evening of painting. $65, general admission. Thursday, Oct. 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Painted Odyssey”

Exhibition of paintings by NJ Woods. Through Oct. 31.

WKNO.ORG

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Master Metalsmith: Kim Cridler | Held

“Realism”

An annual exhibition celebrating the most influential contemporary metal artists. Ongoing.

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com or P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101.

DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY.

Exhibition of work by Memphis artist Catherine Vaughn.

Through Oct. 29.

THE GRANGE AT WILSON GARDENS

METAL MUSEUM

“The Louisiana Project”

Exhibition of works by William Eggleston. Through Oct. 24.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“The Yellowing”

Installation, painting, film, and sculpture works by Emily C. Thomas. Through Oct. 31.

ART HAPPE N I NGS

2021 Art Auction

Support Metal Museum programming by participating in this year’s art auction. Tuesday, Oct. 19-Oct. 23.

METAL MUSEUM

Art Explorers: A Class for Mini-Makers

Explore illustration, sculpture, and mixed media projects in this fun and interactive after-school class with Terri Scott. $120.

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 3:30-5 p.m.

ARROW CREATIVE

Repair Days 2021

Bring your metal items to the museum this October to have them restored to their former glory.

Thursday, Oct. 21-Oct. 24.

METAL MUSEUM

ARROW CREATIVE

URBAN ART COMMISSION

STEAMFest WWW.MOSHMEMPHIS.COM

October 21-27, 2021

3050 Central Ave, Memphis, TN

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October 23rd

Featuring booths, talks, presentations, demonstrations & more.

CALENDAR: OCTOBER 21 - 27 B O O K EVE N TS

F ES TI VA L

Booksigning by Joy Bateman

Frayser Local Arts Festival

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE OF MEMPHIS

ARKWINGS

Author discusses and signs The Art of Dining in Memphis 4. Thursday, Oct. 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Celebrate local talents and creativity in a beautiful outdoor setting. Saturday, Oct. 23, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Indie Memphis Film Festival C O M E DY

Pokeweed Comedy

Jess Salomon, featured on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, headlines a fun lineup. $10, general admission. Sunday, Oct. 24, 8 p.m.

LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

Trey Kennedy: The Are You For Real?

Tour

Independent features, documentaries, and short films. Through Oct. 25.

RiverArtsFest

Movies in the Park: Soul

SOUTH MAIN HISTORIC ARTS DISTRICT

BERT FERGUSON COMMUNITY CENTER

Wilson Harvest Festival

Orion Fall Movie Series: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey

A street celebration of the visual, performing, and culinary arts. Saturday, Oct. 23-Oct. 24.

Features chili cook-off, hayrides, golden gourd hunt, and more. Free. Saturday, Oct. 23, 12:15-6 p.m.

WILSON THEATER

Take a pelican pontoon boat tour, taste local food fare, enter the photography contest, see the bird program, and more. Friday, Oct. 22-Oct. 23.

REELFOOT LAKE STATE PARK

FI LM

Cemetery Cinema: Soul of the City & Nosferatu Double Feature

Outdoor showing of Elmwood’s original film and Nosferatu. Friday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY

Trey Kennedy is a born and raised Oklahoman who never expected to enter the entertainment industry. Friday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.

Bring your folding chairs for an evening of entertainment. Thursday, Oct. 21, 7-10 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Pelican Fest

Grab your blankets and enjoy the movie. Saturday, Oct. 23, 4 p.m.

FO O D A N D D R I N K

Zootoberfest

Guests can purchase a commemorative stein to sip

continued on page 24

GRACELAND SOUNDSTAGE

C O M M U N I TY

Community Garden Day in Orange Mound

Volunteer for a service opportunity, meet other people, learn from expert gardeners, and reap the harvest from your labor. Sunday, Oct. 24, 9-11 a.m.

ORANGE MOUND COMMUNITY GARDEN

South Memphis Senior Walking Club

Calling all seniors! Tuesday, Oct. 26, 8-9 a.m.

CORNER OF MISSISSIPPI AND GAITHER

Join our team.

Get a $2,000 sign-on bonus.

*

Job fairs every Thursday at Southland.

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

Jess Salomon, a U.N. war crimes lawyer turned comedian, will headline at the Lamplighter Lounge.

E X P O/ SALES

Costume Shop Sale

The costume department is cleaning house and selling some of its finest garments along with other items. Friday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 23, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

RK Gun Show

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Browse and shop available items. Through Oct. 24.

LANDERS CENTER

Want to earn your $2,000 sign-on bonus? Come work at FAM I LY

Southland. You’ll get a great starting salary and be part of the

Flower Tots

friendliest staff in the industry. To see what opportunities are

Story-time for pre-K and kindergarten-aged children (with an adult), followed by a motion activity or show and tell. Thursday, Oct. 21, 10-11 a.m.

available, stop by the Southland Job Fair on Thursdays, from

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

11 AM to 3 PM, on the second floor in the Kennel Club.

MoSH STEAMFest

Or visit dn.careers/southland to apply for positions online.

Learn about the importance of STEAM and STEAM career paths. Saturday, Oct. 23, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Wacky Hollow

Features a life-sized board game for the whole family. Through Nov. 28.

See HR for complete details. *Any Cage Cashier, Main Banker, Drop/Count Team Member, Dishwasher, Cook, Bartender, Cocktail/Beverage Server, Dealer, Slot Technician, Restaurant Server and Restaurant Host/Cashier.

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V I S UA L V I E W P O I N T B y M a r t h a Ke l l y

Battle for the Greensward, Illustrated

October 21-27, 2021

Memphis artist Martha Kelly brings her talents as a painter to the fight to protect the Greensward at Overton Park.

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1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

V I S UA L V I E W P O I N T B y M a r t h a Ke l l y

10)

Martha Kelly is a Memphis artist who is passionate about the city’s public green spaces.

She has followed the struggle to protect the Overton Park Greensward, which has been ongoing for years. Kelly maintains a home gallery of her paintings and prints in Midtown. To see more of this visual viewpoint and other art, visit marthakellyart.com.

VISIT US AT

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

MAKE YOUR CLOSET HAPPY, MANE.

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

11)

TO PLACE AN ORDER.

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GRINDCITYDESIGNS.COM/ MEMPHISFLYER

CALENDAR: OCTOBER 21 - 27 continued from page 21

P E R FO R M I N G ARTS

In This Moment

beer from while they enjoy a fall afternoon at the zoo. $12. Saturday, Oct. 23-24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

A captivating mixed-rep bill. $35, festival seating. Saturday, Oct. 23, 7:30-9 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 24, 2-3:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS ZOO

BALLET MEMPHIS

H O LI DAY EVE N TS

One Night Only: Don Bryant & The Bo-Keys with Chamber Orchestra

Barks and Boo-ze

Bring your pups and enjoy a few brews to support FOTCAS pets. Saturday, Oct. 23, 2-3 p.m.

GRIND CITY BREWING COMPANY

Cerrito Bingo: Howl-OWeen Bring your pup decked out in their Halloween best for a costume contest. Free to play.

Friday, Oct. 22, 7:30-9 p.m.

Celebrate the Halloween season. Second showing at 9:30 p.m. Ages 5 and up. $10. Friday, Oct. 22, 8 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Fright-tober

Featuring spooky, kid-friendly matinees at 2 p.m. and spookier adult-themed horror films in the evenings at 7 p.m. Tickets are free, but capacity is limited.

Registration is required. Saturday, Oct. 23.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

Featuring Disney guest speakers via Zoom sharing more about Walt Disney World’s The Haunted Mansion. Wednesday, Oct. 27, 6:30-9 p.m.

GRACELAND

Mid-South Maze

Features corn cannon, haunted maze, and hayrides. $10.

Through Oct. 31.

October 21-27, 2021

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL

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Take in the arts from around the country at the longest-running fine arts festival in the MidSouth, RiversArtsFest.

Shelby Forest Trail of Terror

Prepare yourself as dark forces are unleashed to make your worst nightmares come true. $15. Friday, Oct. 22-23, 7-11:30 p.m.

SHELBY FOREST GENERAL STORE

Trunk or Treat on Tillman Street

Halloween fun from the comfort of your car. Free. Saturday, Oct. 23, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

UNITED WAY OF THE MID-SOUTH

Zoo Boo

Your favorite spooky event is back! Candy stations, magic shows, and straw mazes make up just a portion of what is offered. $13, $15. Friday, Oct. 22-24, 6-9:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS ZOO

Ride for Education

Bike enthusiasts will take to the roads in the community’s first-ever Ride for Education.

Sunday, Oct. 24, 9 a.m.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

RIDGEWAY LOOP

OPERA MEMPHIS

Haunted Mansion Panel & After-Hours Exhibit & Graceland Tour

FEDEXFORUM

BORNBLUM JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Riveting dramatic storytelling, lush orchestration, and scintillating vocal writing. $50. Friday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Fright Lights Halloween Laser Shows

Sunday, Oct. 24, 4 p.m.

Hear Don Bryant & The Bo-Keys in a very special performance with members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. $25, $35.

Friday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Pagliacci

OVERTON SQUARE

Lemoyne-Owen Magicians at Memphis Tigers Mens Basketball

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Collierville Cruise Night

Enjoy an evening to check out some of the best rides the MidSouth has to offer with Memphis Street Rods. Wednesday, Oct. 27, 5-8 p.m.

COLLIERVILLE TOWN SQUARE

S PO R TS

901 FC vs. FC Tulsa

YV5K & 10-Miler

Features two race distances, benefiting Youth Villages. $50.

Saturday, Oct. 23, 7 a.m.

T H EAT E R

Marie and Rosetta

Bringing fierce guitar playing and swing to gospel music, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jimi Hendrix. $30. Friday, Oct. 1-Oct. 24.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Urinetown, The Musical

A satire of capitalism, this musical is set in the future when the country has had a 20-year drought that has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. Friday, Oct. 22-Nov. 7.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 11 a.m.

AUTOZONE PARK

For help, call the Tennessee REDLINE 1-800-889-9789

BOOKS By Jesse Davis

Monstrous Grief Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us is a haunting debut.

November 5-7 Halloran Centre Orpheum-Memphis.com Sponsored by

DON BRYANT & THE BO-KEYS

with CHA MBER ORCHESTR A P E R F O R M I N G L I V E a t C R O S S TOW N A R T S

C ROSS TOWN TH E ATE R

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22 SHOW 7:30PM

TICKETS: $35 / $25

For tickets, go to crosstownarts.org

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

did the world would laugh at us,” Moreno writes. “We pretended it didn’t exist and you ended up dead. Every unexplained memory was crashing down on me, collapsing into a single source. The condo, the dreams, Itza, the cyanide bomb, the wall, it was all the same thing. Ghost didn’t feel like a big enough word.”

Moreno writes about feelings and experiences for which words can never be big enough. And he does it, not only with skill and grace, but with a grasp of genre capable of igniting a page-turning frenzy in the reader.

The key to making a thriller or horror story is making it convincing. Why do the would-be victims stay? Why does no one speak up sooner? Usually, the answer is some version of “they’re afraid to admit they’re in danger,” and Moreno plays with a version of this idea. Thiago, who saw himself as the supporting character, the lesser in an unequal partnership, isn’t sure he cares if he is in danger. Maybe he deserves whatever happens. At times, he believes that he’s cursed, so it’s easy for him to ignore the warnings — the strange, sometimes threatening packages of things they didn’t order, the voices, the cold spots in the apartment, the suspiciously sudden appearance of a stray dog.

Tasteful nods to other classics in the genre abound, such as a scene from The Exorcist Thiago glimpses while flipping channels, which later stands as a sort of protective amulet, hinting at the way the seemingly trite flotsam and jetsam of pop culture can be sources of strength. Along with Moreno’s atmospheric approach, much of the heavy lifting is taken care of, leaving the reader’s imagination wide margins to conjure its own fears to fill the space.

One can’t help but hope that, when faced with the unfathomable, Thiago will summon the strength to save himself. In the end, Moreno’s This Thing Between Us does what only the best horror can — gives the reader reason to hold onto their humanity.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

S

ome books worm their way into your psyche. Scenes from their pages bubble up from the depths of your mind at the oddest times. You’re doing the dishes, listening to an album or a podcast, and a snippet of remembered dialogue sends shivers down your spine. When the last page is turned, these books leave a void in their wake.

Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us (MCDxFSG Originals) is such a book.

Which is fitting, because This Thing Between Us is a book about the void, about the spaces we leave behind when we go, and about the grief that fills them.

The novel, which takes the form of a letter to the protagonist’s dead wife, written as a sort of coping mechanism-meetsexorcism, feels personal, almost as though Moreno rewrote journal entries and mixed in some supernatural elements. It’s also incredibly timely in its meditations on grief, loneliness, belonging, and the pervasive intrusion of consumer technology, arriving as it does at the tail-end of the 19th month of a global pandemic, with all its death and enforced distance and disturbingly chipper advertisements.

In This Thing Between Us, Thiago mourns his deceased wife Vera and attempts to navigate the uncertain waters of social life after loss. At the funeral, Vera’s old boss throws himself into Thiago’s arms, sobbing. Some of Thiago’s and Vera’s friends want him to move on, but he’s stuck, a ghost of his former self, walking through his routines but finding no comfort there.

Bit by bit, at first hardly noticeable through the fog of his grief, things begin to get more and more bizarre around Thiago. It all began when Vera talked him into buying an advanced at-home smart speaker, Itza.

“The things that were happening in our condo, as long as we never drew them to a single source and gave it a name, it couldn’t take shape. But with every strange noise, every random package, it had felt like we were being pushed toward calling it what it was, calling it into existence, and when we

25

“Full of humor, spirit, and sass …”

October 21-27, 2021

Everything That’s True — Selected Writing from the Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine is a great read — and a great gift.

Autographed and personalized copies available.

Pre-order today at bit.ly/BruceVBook

26

release date: november 1, 2021

FOOD By Michael Donahue

Happy Belly Karen Barrett’s food makes people smile.

K

aren Barrett just made it easier for bellies to be happier.

Owner of The Happy Belly Company, Barrett opened Happy Belly Kitchen October 18th. The commercial space in the CloudKitchen at 3237 Summer Avenue will be used for curbside pick-up and delivery only. The rest of the time it will be used as a production kitchen for catering and meal prep.

Barrett’s cuisine is varied. “I have always been into Southern comfort, but I always put my own twist on it,” she says. “I have a lot of island influences. I like to mix those cuisines with what we already have in our city.

“My speciality is a hot water corn bread sandwich. It’s two hot water corn bread pieces. And it has collard greens, smoked turkey, and chow-chow. You get a cup of pot liquor on the side.”

The Happy Belly Company umbrella also includes her catering business, The Happy Belly Experience. “I even make ice cream: Happy Belly Scoop. I feel like there’s not anything I can’t do with food.”

Born and raised in Memphis, Barrett says, “I’m a preacher’s kid, so very early on I was taught to serve.” And, she says, “If I can give you that moment with a good plate of food, I’ve done my good deed for the day.”

She loves the reactions she gets from people who enjoy her food. “They’re happy.

They sing. They dance. In the South, sometimes they want to hit you.” Those are the people who go, “Oh, my God. This is so good I could just slap you.”

Barrett perfected scratch pancakes while spending summers with her greatgrandmother. But she wasn’t so great on her first attempt at hamburger steaks, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The gravy was the problem. “I added too much flour so it was thick. I didn’t season it or anything.”

But her grandparents were troopers. Her great-grandfather said, “That’s the best I ever had.”

“I knew he was lying ’cause I saw them passing a package of Tums in between them at the table.”

Barrett, who worked at various corporate jobs, attended the old L’Ecole Culinaire, where she was asked to cater a Christmas party. That led to more catering jobs and a catering business.

She moved to Nashville, where she worked for an insurance services company

but returned to Memphis two years later. “I had to make food work for me. I still had people calling for catering.”

She began posting online what she was cooking. “And I’d sell out.”

Barrett got a job at the old Marley’s Caribbean restaurant on Beale Street. “West Indies food was the same thing we already had to eat in the South. It’s just the different spices they add to make it taste different.”

Barrett, who opened Happy Belly in 2018, decided what direction to go after a friend asked her to cook a dinner for eight during the pandemic. “I cooked their entire meal, set it up for them, made it pretty, packed up, and left.”

PHOTO: ERICA COX

Karen Barrett Her specialty now is intimate events, catering dinner parties for 30 people or less. “I literally set up all of the food. I do craft cocktails as well. Signature drinks for that particular event. If you want music, I have live music I can set you up with.

Photography. The entire experience, so you won’t have to worry about it.”

Barrett, who’s always been considered “the life of the party,” says, “If I had to decide what I want to do all the time, it would be eat, drink, and be merry. So, I wanted to monetize it. I was always doing it just because I wanted to. I still do it because I want to. People just pay me to do it now.”

She would like to see her food in grocery store frozen food departments.

And a TV show isn’t out of the question.

“I really want Happy Belly to be a name everyone knows and to know they’re going to get something delicious. I’m going to make all of the bellies happy I can.”

Go to happybellyexperience.com for more information.

FILM By Shara Clark

Short Stories The Indie Memphis Hometowner Narrative Shorts are weird, wondrous, and woke.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect.

Director Laura Jean Hocking received the first-ever Indie Memphis Women’s Short Film grant for “Hot Singles.” The film opens with Daisy (Shannon Walton) seeking shelter from an apocalyptic event in a flower shop basement. Alone and unable to get cell service, she begins to unravel as days pass. A glimmer of hope arrives as she sees a flickering bar of signal strength — but there’s just one person she’s able to get through to, and unfortunately it’s not her father.

Jean Jackson directs “The Nest,” a Beats by Dre Black Creators short film, and a five-minute glimpse into the cyclical and mundane life of Byrdie (played at various ages by Chelsea Dargba, Autumn Whetstone, and Sallay Fofanah), who’s trapped in a repetitive loop of daily routines, alone in her room — until one day she chooses to venture outside, ready to embrace all that lies beyond the door.

2019’s Best Hometowner Narrative Short winner Kyle Taubken is back with “In a Bad Way.” The film introduces us to Mike (Keith Johnson) after he’s lost big at the casino. The money was meant for his kids’ Christmas presents, and he has a chance to make it right.

Will the gambling addict save Christmas?

In “Beale Street Blues,” director Daniel R. Ferrell explores a world of crooked cops on the streets of Memphis. As an FBI investigation is underway, officer Arthur Breedan (Keith John-

(Above) Bryce Christian Thompson stars as Shah in “The Devil Will Run”; (below) “Chocolate Galaxy” is a futuristic musical journey. son) enlists his cousin Floyd (Edward Fields) to assist in his ongoing scheme of robbing drug dealers. Though Floyd is hesitant, Breedan pushes, and things go a little too far — potentially bringing the rogue cop one step closer to justice.

“Beale Street Blues” was funded by the 2020 Indie Grant for Proof of Concept, which means Ferrell intends to expand it into a feature film.

Joshua Woodcock directs “Main Street,” starring JS Tate, who is homeless and living along Main Street after losing his wife. His lonesome days are spent reading through her old journal pages, collecting change from passersby, and having solo lunches in the park. Until he meets an unexpected friend who, for a time, brings much-needed companionship.

Noah Glenn’s “The Devil Will Run” is a standout among this hometowner selection. Bryce Christian Thompson stars as 7-year-old Shah, who is convinced a hole in his backyard is a portal to hell, and whose brother teases him for it. After a precious and pivotal backyard scene with his continued on page 28

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Award-winning entertainer Kane Brown brings his Blessed & Free Tour, featuring special guests Jordan Davis and Restless Road. Tickets available!

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Billboard Latin Music Award Winners Banda MS bring the MS Tour Positivo to FedExForum for the first time.

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Get tickets at FedExForum Box Office | ticketmaster.com | fedexforum.com

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

F

or a person who’s never been a film critic in any real capacity (okay, I thoroughly bashed a couple films while on my college newspaper staff a lifetime ago), I was both eager and anxious to take on the task of covering a snippet of what’s on offer in the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

The selection of eight short films in the Hometowner Narrative Shorts Competition — clocking in around an hour and half total —will close out the festival on Monday, October 25th, at Crosstown Theater. They run the gamut from weird and whimsical to thought-provoking and heart-tugging.

Kayla Myers, Indie Memphis Film Festival programmer, says, “One of the first things that struck Brighid [Wheeler] and I in programming is that almost all of the filmmakers in this bloc are filmmakers whose work we’ve seen before, but it showcases an incredible amount of growth and daring choices.

“I think people will be excited to see this work, especially with them being able to screen in person, since so many of our local filmmakers have only really been screening virtually. The pandemic has been such a trying time for all of us, but there are some bright spots in the fact that this work was created, a lot of it, during the pandemic, and we get to showcase it.”

27

FILM By Shara Clark continued from page 27

Join us for a special evening of fun and fashion to help us raise funds for cancer research!

Local celebrities will model Cancer Awareness Bras.

Friday, October 29 | Tickets $10 Doors | 6pm | Silent & Live Auction Tickets available Horseshoe Gifts Shops or Night of The Show at Bluesville.

best friend Nella (Posie Steinmetz), Shah confronts his fears. “The Devil Will Run” was a 2019 Indie Grant recipient and was co-written by Glenn and IMAKEMADBEATS. “Chocolate Galaxy” (directed by Blake Heimbach, Ryan Peel, and David Parks) is — and I’m pulling this directly from the Indie Memphis site — “an Afrofuturistic Space Opera.” That’s an apt description for the Black Mirror-esque musical journey that takes Fuzzy Slippers (David Parks) to Sector 9 for a night out, where he meets

— and falls for — The Goddess (Taylor Williams). Set design, costumes, and interspersed animation transport the viewer — moonrocks or not.

In “Watch,” directed by Mars Lee McKay, Sarah (Adrienne Lamb) finds an old tube TV on the street while she’s taking out the trash. It mysteriously powers on, and through shifting scenes and static, has a message for her.

The Indie Memphis Hometowner Narrative Shorts Competition films are available for online viewing Oct. 20th-25th and will screen at Crosstown Theater Oct. 25th beginning at 9 p.m., $10.

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CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Each shopping day will feature 60+ different local makers, artists, and crafters, chosen especially for you. Join us and Shop Local!

PLUS enjoy a variety of Craft brews on tap while you shop at Crafts & Drafts, curated by our friends at Cash Saver Memphis!

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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EMPLOYMENT • REAL ESTATE • SERVICES EMPLOYMENT

SERVICES

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY Position available at Rhodes College, Memphis, TN. Teach five courses per year in the Department of Biology and perform other typical duties of college professors, including grading papers, tests, and assignments. Requirements: Ph.D. in Biology or a related field and research experience in microbiology. Submit CV at jobs.rhodes.edu.

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Wanted: Old windup victrolas & old 45 & 78 records. Paul 901-734-6111

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fedexishiring.com

T H E L A S T W O R D B y B r y c e W. A s h b y a n d M i c h a e l J . L a R o s a

Refugees and Us

PHOTOCUNAPLUS | DREAMSTIME.COM

THE LAST WORD

On September 9th, Mayor Jim Strickland announced that a small number of Afghans — maybe 36 — would be welcome in Memphis; some would be resettled here under a special visa arrangement, eligible for federal funding.

Others would have to apply for political asylum and appear, sometime in the future, before a federal immigration judge who will determine their eligibility/ status under U.S. asylum laws.

The images this past August of tens of thousands fleeing Afghanistan for “anywhere in the world” were shocking. They reminded those of us of a certain age of the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Many Vietnamese were resettled in Memphis — leading to a small but thriving Vietnamese community at Cleveland and Madison here in Midtown. More robust Vietnamese communities developed in Los Angeles and New Orleans.

More recently, Haiti. The images last month of white men on horseback pushing back dark-skinned Haitian people as they tried to cross from Mexico to the United States were disturbing. But not any more disturbing than the images we “don’t” see of the many brown-skinned people who die of heat stroke, etc. in the Sonoran Desert while attempting to enter the USA. Last year, 113 people died trying to cross into the United States at the southern border. Between 2001 and 2017, 2,833 human remains were recovered in Southern Arizona — 40 percent of those persons have never been identified.

We have, it seems to us, a moral responsibility to help the people of Haiti. What we’ve done is deported 2,000 Haitians back to a Haiti they barely recognize. We’ve admitted about 12,000 into the U.S. to stay with relatives until their asylum petitions can be heard by a judge. The Biden administration has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians who arrived in the U.S. before July 29th of this year. TPS is offered to people from certain nations — nations that are too unstable or overwhelmed due to political or environmental catastrophe — to receive deportees.

Haiti has witnessed all of the above. First, there was the devastating 2010 earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter scale and struck 14 miles from the capital city, killing more than 100,000 and leveling a quarter of a million structures. Then, political instability leading to the assassination of the sitting president of Haiti this past spring, followed by hurricanes and another earthquake, measuring 7.2, on August 14th.

Haitian nationals have been living throughout South America and Mexico since 2010 (and earlier). Many were employed in Brazil, helping to build stadiums and infrastructure for the 2016 Summer Olympics; some headed to Chile where they were able to find work, but both countries’ economies contracted, and Haitians went from helpful labor force to non-citizen nuisance. Their only hope? The United States.

They assembled at Del Rio — a town about 150 miles west of San Antonio, Texas, and the reaction to so many people huddled under a bridge was hysterical and histrionic. Both the media and politicians stayed with the story — both hoping to gain viewership and political points.

Our nation can certainly absorb 12,000 Haitian nationals.

Germany alone, with far less space than the USA, took in more than a million Syrian refugees during the past decade.

We can probably take in 1,000 here in Memphis. Why not try?

It will cost some money to resettle, re-train, and set up housing, but remember, we spent about two trillion dollars during a 20year war in Afghanistan that failed to achieve its stated objective.

Even before the U.S. left the nation, the country slipped back into Taliban control.

We would spend far less than two trillion to support our Haitian brothers and sisters, and we have a responsibility to help this Caribbean nation plagued by natural catastrophe, venial and corrupt politicians, and a United States whose meddling often results in troubling consequences. Don’t forget the United States’ engineering of the exit of Haiti’s then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a violent coup unfolded in 2004.

Memphis has a history of welcoming neighbors and successfully resettling refugees. Now is the time to act to welcome our brothers and sisters from Haiti; they need our help and our city can always embrace their talents and energy. Building human capacity — by investing in refugees — makes more sense than throwing trillions of dollars at unpleasant, unwinnable wars.

Bryce Ashby is a Memphis-based attorney and the board chair of Latino Memphis. Michael LaRosa teaches history at Rhodes College.

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

We have a moral responsibility to help the people of Haiti.

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