MemphisFlyer 01/29/2026

Human Trafficking Hot Spot

SHARA CLARK Editor-in-Chief

ALEX GREENE Managing Editor, Music Editor

JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors

TOBY SELLS Associate Editor

KAILYNN JOHNSON News Reporter

CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor

MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers

KIMBERLY HAM Calendar Editor, Copy Editor

JESSE DAVIS, EMILY GUENTHER, COCO JUNE, AJ KRATZ, PATRICIA LOCKHART, ABIGAIL MORICI, FRANK MURTAUGH Contributing Columnists

SHARON BROWN, AIMEE STIEGEMEYER Grizzlies Reporters

CARRIE BEASLEY Senior Art Director

CHRISTOPHER MYERS Advertising Art Director

NEIL WILLIAMS Graphic Designer

KELLI DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE, SHAUNE MCGHEE Senior Account Executives

JANICE GRISSOM ELLISON, KAREN MILAM, DON MYNATT, TAMMY NASH, RANDY ROTZ, LEWIS TAYLOR, WILLIAM WIDEMAN Distribution

KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

THE MEMPHIS FLYER is published weekly by Contemporary Media, Inc., P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 Phone: (901) 521-9000 Fax: (901) 521-0129 memphisflyer.com

CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC.

ANNA TRAVERSE Chief Executive Officer

LYNN SPARAGOWSKI

Controller/Circulation Manager

JEFFREY GOLDBERG Chief Revenue Officer

MARGIE NEAL Chief Operating Officer

KRISTIN PAWLOWSKI Digital Services Director

Human Trafficking Hot

Spot

Advocates say stronger laws haven’t yet undone the conditions that allow exploitation to thrive in Memphis.

PHOTO: COURTESY SAMANTHA BROWN p16

Changing Landscapes

Ways to adapt to rising homeowers insurance rates. p7

PHOTO: TOWFIQU BARBHUIYA | UNSPLASH

Ja, Memphis, and the Weight of a Franchise

As trade rumors swirl, Memphis finds itself wrestling with more than basketball. p31

PHOTO: @MEMGRIZZ | X

NEWS & OPINION

THE FLY-BY - 4 POLITICS - 6

- 7 AT LARGE - 8

STORY “HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOT SPOT” BY KAILYNN JOHNSON - 16 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT WE RECOMMEND - 19 MUSIC - 20 FOOD - 21 CALENDAR - 22 NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 23 WE SAW YOU - 24 NEWS OF THE WEIRD - 26

WOMEN

MEDICINE - 9

THE fly-by

MEM ernet

Memphis on the internet.

DAMN SNOW

e DAMN Weather of Memphis on Facebook worked overtime last week as a winter storm swallowed the city, posting memes, forecasts, and images. e one above shows I-40 at Riverside Saturday night. It was a blanket of snow and ice again Sunday morning.

ICY BEALE

A reel from Downtown Memphis showed peaceful, snowcovered streets populated only by a few intrepid dog walkers. Neon still popped on Beale, not drawing a single soul.

PANIC BREAD

Meanwhile, Cli Messler was in a Memphis-area grocery store where he witnessed a woman buying an entire cart-load of bread. He called it the opening scene of “Snowpocalypse: Rise of the Carbs.”

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

{ WEEK THAT WAS

By Flyer staff

Taylor, Library Workers, & a “Zombie Hotel”

Funeral home removes GOP lawmaker, a push for a union, and a hotel demolition.

TAYLOR REMOVED

Brent Taylor Funeral Directors will no longer carry the name of (or be owned by) the Memphis Republican state Senator.

e funeral home’s parent company, Heritage Family, announced on Facebook last week that “the business is no longer owned, operated, or a liated in any way with Brent Taylor.”

PHOTO: (TOP LEFT) BRENT TAYLOR | FACEBOOK; (ABOVE) UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER (le ) Brent Taylor’s “public statements and political commentary” triggered a name change; (above) demolition of the former Holiday Inn

e company said its Collierville location is now in a transitional phase. Leadership has changed hands, and “all decisions, services, and community initiatives are now guided by a new management team.”

As the funeral home further noted, “We understand that recent public statements and political commentary made by the former owner do not re ect the values, mission, or beliefs of our current leadership. To ensure that our identity aligns with the inclusive, community-focused service we provide, we are actively undertaking a full rebrand of the funeral home.”

e new funeral home will get a new name, a new sign, and a new visual identity. e post noted this “will represent a fresh chapter for our organization and a renewed promise to the families of Collierville and the surrounding areas.”

ZOMBIE HOTEL

e demolition of what many call the “zombie hotel” in the Medical District is slated to wrap in February.

e abandoned Holiday Inn tower at 969 Madison sat vacant, decaying, and ever-more gra tied for years. Its “dead” status earned it the casual “zombie” moniker on Memphis social media.

e University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) bought the 12-story building in 2015. Flintco started work on the $12 million demolition project last March. e company says the work is expected to be “substantially completed” next month.

Once the building is cleared, the open space will be rst used as a parking lot. Long-range plans could involve using the space to complement a proposed College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building, to be situated next to that area.

LIBRARY WORKERS PUSH UNION

Library workers continue their ght to form a union as Memphis City Council members prepare to take action on a civil service referendum.

Memphis Public Libraries-Workers United (MPL-WU) was originally slated to gather in front of Memphis City Hall on Tuesday of this week in support of placing a civil service referendum on the 2026 ballot. Due to the Memphis City Council’s subsequent delay in considering ordinancess, the gathering was then changed to Tuesday, February 3rd. Representatives from MPL-WU were to be joined by members of the Memphis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Black Workers Center, MemphisMidsouth Democratic Socialists of America, and others. e decision would allow residents to decide if library workers should have civil service protections. Library workers are now considered political appointees.

According to Communications Workers of America (CWA), this leaves “more than 200 library sta ” without workplace protections that other city employees have. City of Memphis Library Workers called for a union election with CWA in September.

PENNY RULES

Small changes could come to small change in Tennessee as the discontinuation of the penny could see local governments and utilities rounding bills up or asking for exact change. A state report said governments and utilities like Memphis Light, Gas & Water could change how they accept pennies in the future.

Visit the News Blog at memphis yer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.

By Kailynn Johnson

EPA: xAI Permits Required

Despite Shelby County Health Department approval, “our community was right all along.”

Local environmental groups and advocates asked for an apology to be issued to South Memphis residents and that the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) “follow the law,” following a recent announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

e move comes a er a new EPA ruling that temporary methane gas turbines at the xAI facility in South Memphis must follow requirements set by the agency — meaning they must get an air permit before operating. e agency said these turbines “have never been exempt from the regulations.”

Local environmental advocates pushed for an apology in a press conference last week and said the health department must reconsider the permits. Among these were Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson; LaTricea Adams, CEO, founder, and president of Young, Gi ed, and Green; and KeShaun Pearson, executive director for Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP).

All of this comes a month a er the Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board dismissed an appeal to rescind xAI’s air permit. e appeal was led by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Young, Gi ed, and Green.

During the hearing, attorneys for the health department stressed that the EPA told them that temporary turbines did not need a permit. Due to this, the board decided the existing permit met legal requirements.

Pearson called for the health department to revise its position on the matter, and follow federal law.

He said the department’s decision on xAI’s permit set a precedent for future data centers to acquire the necessary permits before operating.

Pearson said the EPA’s order con rmed what many residents had consistently said in town halls, meetings, and hearings. He asked elected o cials to send letters urging the health department to comply with the EPA’s mandate.

“Our community was right all along,” Pearson said. “We always choose our community and our right to breathe clean air, to drink clean water, and plant in clean soil.”

Adams emphasized that the EPA’s mandate is federal law and not a suggestion. She called the decisions by the health department and its air pollution board displays of “blatant and staggering incompetence.”

“Expert environmental organizations and frontline community members told the health department over and over again that they were breaking the law,” Adams said. “ e Shelby County Health Department must change their policy today to ensure no polluting industrial equipment turns on without a permit.”

As community members chanted “we were right,” KeShaun Pearson said he was proud of residents for continuing to show up and voice their concerns. He called the EPA’s decision an “historical celebration,” as South Memphis residents have continually been ignored and le out.

“It has taken the collective action of Memphians and those outside the city to get us where we are today,” KeShaun said. “We are celebrating the result of our continued pursuit of environmental justice for our families and our future.”

POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Ice-Week Musings

On a “newbie election” and the question of assigning proper credit for crime levels.

A thought, a er taking a look recently at the county Election Commission’s website with an eye to seeing who was running across the breadth and depth of the developing 2026 county ballot.

At this stage of the game, enough candidate petitions have been pulled by Democrats, Republicans, and independents to create a valid sense of what the eld will be as we head into the election year.

Upon scanning the numerous names of petition pullers, it is possible to conclude that, with the major exception of the county mayor’s race, which has engaged the attention of several wellknown political gures, the candidate list is unusually heavy with newcomers and political unknowns.

It is almost as though one were looking at a list of candidates in Nashville or some other community.

ere are exceptions, of course, sprinkled here and there in the candidate list. But overall, 2026 is stacking up as a “newbie” election, one of those that ushers in a new governing class and rede nes local politics for a generation or so.

in races involving direct partisan competitions spoke for themselves.

But Memphis city elections are nonpartisan. e current mayor, Paul Young, was best known as a local-government technocrat, without any particular history of partisan involvement, and, while he drew very well from traditional Democratic voting areas, he got signi cant votes in Republican-leaning areas as well.

And Young’s immediate predecessor as mayor, Jim Strickland, had been the very model of partisan ambivalence. A former Democratic party chairman of a generation ago, he had become a pronounced centrist who had been formally censured by his erstwhile party for backing the public campaign of a Republican legislative candidate, the archconservative Brent Taylor.

Another key fact about Memphis that did not square with the Trump pattern of selecting target areas: It lay within an undeniably red state jurisdiction. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, though not exactly a MAGA-ite, was certainly supportive of Trumpian initiatives, and his state government was perpetually engaged in a public show of dominance over local-option areas like Memphis and Nashville.

A good many of the names which may now look unfamiliar — and especially those of the winners of their races — are destined to enter the common parlance and to take their place on a political list of Usual Suspects.

• Last fall, when Memphis was rst pinpointed by the Trump administration for imminent inclusion in its sequence of federal interventions, the prospect was greeted locally with all manner of anticipation and nervous speculation. Puzzlement, too.

To be sure, the city t the administration’s pro le of an urban area with a history of crime problems. But it was not, strictly speaking, “blue” in the way that other target areas like Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles were. Yes, the city’s demographics were — and are — decidedly Democratic. Election results

But if Memphis was not the ideal bête noire in the Trumpian sense, it turns out to have served the President’s purpose by its very unsuitability as a partisan foil. As numerous sources from the mayor to DA Steve Mulroy to the city’s Crime Commission have pointed out with convincing statistical evidence, the curve of violent crime in the city was already spiraling downward.

e present state of general satisfaction with crime levels is, more than arguably, the product of an existing trend, not the fruit of a federal-state task force imposed on it.

Yet here we are in the wake of the appalling hard-line excesses and tragedies of Minneapolis, unable to claim credit for this relative equilibrium ourselves, forced to hear Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem and Trump himself use the city’s name boastfully as justi cation for policies that elsewhere have been divisive and ruinous.

By AJ Kratz

Changing Landscapes

Ways to adapt to rising homeowers insurance rates.

In recent years, U.S. homeowners have seen insurance premiums skyrocket.

Between 2021 and 2024, the national average premium increased by 24 percent, more than double the rate of in ation over the same timeframe.

Below are some of the main contributors homeowners should be aware of.

• In ation and increasing reconstruction costs

e cost of building materials, labor, and other homebuilding expenses has increased sharply, making it more expensive to rebuild following a natural disaster.

• Underwriting losses for insurers

A rise in claims has led to nancial losses for many insurance companies, which now face challenges related to pro tability and solvency. ese losses have resulted in rate hikes by many insurers.

• Limiting coverage in certain areas

Some companies no longer provide coverage for those living in areas at high risk for natural disasters. In some states, insurance companies are prohibited from using predictive modeling based on climate projections and reinsurance costs. Without the ability to adjust rates to match potential future risks, many are simply deciding to eliminate their exposure to those states. For example, State Farm no longer issues new policies for residents of California due to the state’s high risk of wild res.

• Stricter underwriting requirements

Insurance companies are becoming stricter about the types of risks they’ll cover, making it more di cult for homeowners to qualify — especially those who live in high-risk areas.

• Labor shortages

A shortage of skilled workers increases the cost of home repair and rebuilding. is cost is o en passed to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

Four

Actions to Help Lower Your Home

Insurance Premium

Fortunately, the actions discussed below

can potentially help you lower your home insurance premium.

1. Shop around — If you’ve been with your insurer for a while, it may be time to reevaluate your options. Consider reaching out to reputable insurance companies to compare rates and coverage, making sure your policy remains competitive.

2. Bundle — Many insurers o er multipolicy discounts for those who bundle homeowners and auto insurance. Bundling your policies with a single provider can also make it easier and more convenient to manage your coverage.

3. Streamline — If it’s been a while since you reviewed your policies, you could save money by streamlining your coverage. Start by determining how much coverage you need. For example, consider how much it would cost in today’s dollars to rebuild your home. Doing so can help guide your homeowners policy amount. en look for ways to streamline your coverage. Maybe you no longer own a valuable possession that was still covered by your policy. Adjusting your coverage amount may potentially lead to savings. However, don’t be tempted to reduce or eliminate your coverage, as you could regret your decision if you ever need a payout — and protecting such a large asset is crucial.

4. Raise your deductible — One way to potentially save is by increasing your deductible. e key here is to make sure you have enough saved in your emergency fund to cover the higher deductible, should something unexpected happen.

AJ Kratz, CFA, CFP is a Private Wealth Manager and Partner with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest registered investment advisory rms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s nancial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.

is commentary is provided for general information purposes only, should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice, and does not constitute an attorney/client relationship. Past performance of any market results is no assurance of future performance. e information contained herein has been obtained from sources deemed reliable but is not guaranteed.

By Bruce VanWyngarden

Snow Cover

e storm continues.

Last Friday, the usual prewinter storm mood hung over Memphis like, well, a cloud, inspiring the standard “Snowpocalypse” jokes, the bread-andmilk memes, and the typical haha jitters that a ect this Southern city when winter weather looms large.

A few years ago, I wrote a column in which I suggested that then-Mayor AC Wharton declare Memphis’ rst day of snow each year an o cial civic holiday: Snow Day! It already has all the trappings, I wrote. Like Christmas, it begins with a shopping frenzy, as we scurry to grocery stores to stock up on Snow Day foods. And the Snow Day holiday spirit abounds as we wait in long lines, buying booze, smiling and laughing in anticipation of the dangerous excitement to come. “ ey’re saying we might get 14 inches,” says the cashier, as we shiver in anticipation. And, as I wrote then, everyone takes the day o anyway, so why not make it o cial? But the mayor ignored me. Surprise.

We all went to bed Friday night with the understanding that snow or freezing rain or sleet or some awful combination thereof would pile up high during the night and greet us at daybreak. But no. We got a boring two or three inches of crunchy snow, just enough to keep most of us inside for the day with our phones and computers, where we were greeted at mid-morning by news of another horri c killing by ICE/Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

DHS o cials immediately issued statements that Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old American citizen who was shot, was planning to “massacre federal agents,” and posted a photo of a gun that they claimed belonged to the victim.

As one video a er another of the incident emerged, the true story became clear. Pretti was lming with a cellphone and wasn’t interfering with any sort of “operation,” when two federal agents approached him, pushed him to the ground, and sprayed his face with tear gas. He never reached for a gun. en a scrum of ve or six men piled on, pinning him to the sidewalk and beating him as he covered his head with both hands. As they subdued him, one agent pulled a handgun from a holster on Pretti’s belt in back, and within two seconds, agents had red 10 shots, killing him on a public sidewalk in broad daylight.

Trump apologists went into their usual “just comply and nothing will happen” mantra. But comply with what and with whom is the question. ere was no leadership evident in this encounter, no

one to assure proper policing protocol was followed. It was just a bunch of guys pushing someone around, then beating him, and then shooting him as he was on his knees.

I studied a still photo image of the moment just before the shooting. Each “ofcer” was dressed di erently — a couple were in jeans, a couple were in camo, one was in an Navajo-patterned shirt. ey wore hats and coats of various kinds and colors. e only thing consistent in their appearance was that they all wore masks and none displayed identi cation. A er they shot Pretti, most of them quickly walked away, seeking to distance themselves from the scene.

Alex Pretti wasn’t the “worst of the worst.” He wasn’t even an immigrant. He was a nurse at a VA hospital who was exercising his right to lm federal agents in his neighborhood. What happened in Minneapolis on Saturday wasn’t “law enforcement,” and it certainly wasn’t police work. It was disorganized bullying sanctioned at the highest levels of our country’s executive and judicial branches. It’s a massively funded private army, like Hitler’s “brown shirts.” But not even the Gestapo wore masks.

ese anonymous thugs aren’t looking for the worst of the worst. ey’re paid vigilantes, out to enforce the legalized terrorism this administration has set up as its key domestic policy.

When people get hurt or killed or shipped o to camps in the middle of the night, when children get mishandled and abandoned, when Americans get held in custody for days without access to counsel, administration toadies like Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and JD Vance are quick to tell us that what we see isn’t happening. It’s a snow job. Iceland is Greenland. War is Peace. Non-compliance with the unidenti ed masked men is punishable by death. e choice is clear: Say loudly what you see with your own eyes or shut up and get in the boxcar. e storm is still gathering.

Memphis is a medical Mecca, not least for the tremendous women doctors we draw to the city. Indeed, there’s so much talent here that perhaps you’re feeling a bit bewildered by the choices. Enter the Memphis Flyer and Castle Connolly, who hereby present this guide to the most exceptional practitioners among an already exceptional cohort. ese award winners represent a wide swath of medical specializations, and most practice in multiple locations, from hospitals to private clinics, so you can nd the best t both medically and geographically. While you peruse the list, take a look at our in-depth pro les of two award-winning medical professionals. Seeing the human side of your doctor can not only satisfy your curiosity, it can con rm just how deeply they can relate to you and your busy life — and thus earn your trust.

Castle Connolly: Your Source for Best-in-Class Healthcare

Castle Connolly is a trusted and credible healthcare research and information company with over 30 years of experience researching, reviewing, and selecting best-in-class healthcare providers and institutions. Our mission is to help people nd the best healthcare by connecting patients with top-tier providers.

Rigorous Selection Process

Castle Connolly employs a rigorous team of researchers to select top healthcare professionals on both the national and regional levels.

e Top Doctor selection process is based on peer-to-peer nominations, open to all licensed physicians in the United States, allowing them to nominate peers in any specialty and region. e research team then thoroughly vets each nominee’s professional quali cations, including: education, professional reputation, research leadership, hospital and faculty appointments, disciplinary history, and outcomes data. Interpersonal skills such as listening, communicating e ectively, demonstrating empathy, and instilling trust and con dence are also considered.

Rising Stars are speci cally identi ed as early career doctors who are emerging leaders in the medical community.

e Castle Connolly Doctor Directory is the nation’s largest network of peer-nominated doctors.

About Castle Connolly and Everyday Health Group

Castle Connolly is part of Everyday Health Group, a recognized leader in patient and provider education, attracting an engaged audience of over 60 million health consumers and over 890,000 U.S. practicing physicians and clinicians. Our mission is to drive better clinical and health outcomes through decision-making informed by highly relevant information, data, and analytics. We empower healthcare providers and consumers with trusted content and services.

Professionals and/or institutions selected for inclusion in this magazine’s feature may also appear online at www.castleconnolly.com, or in conjunction with other Castle Connolly databases online and/or in print. For more information, please visit Castle Connolly.

ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY

Nora Daher

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Daher Asthma & Allergy Clinic 2136 Exeter Road Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 203-6055

Christie F. Michael

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists

51 North Dunlap Street, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570

BARIATRIC SURGERY

Virginia Weaver

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Methodist University Hospital

UTMP Weight Management and Wellness Center

57 Germantown Court, Suite 204 Cordova, TN 38018 (901) 758-7840

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Jennifer S. Morrow

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Stern Cardiovascular 8060 Wolf River Boulevard Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 271-1000

Neeraja Yedlapati

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Stern Cardiovascular 8060 Wolf River Boulevard Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 271-1000

CHILD NEUROLOGY

Tanjala T Gipson

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital 848 Adams Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (866) 870-5570

Amy L. McGregor

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists Neurology Clinic 848 Adams Avenue, Suite L400 Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

Namrata S. Shah

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists 848 Adams Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

continued on page 10

DERMATOLOGY

F. Gwen Beard

Memphis Dermatology Clinic 1455 Union Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 726-6655

Luella G. Churchwell Dermatology East 1335 Cordova Cove Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 753-2794

Frances K. Lawhead

Memphis Dermatology Clinic 1455 Union Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 726-6655

Robin H. Friedman-Musicante

Memphis Dermatology Clinic 795 Ridge Lake, Suite 200 Memphis, TN 38120 (901) 726-6655

Purvisha J. Patel

Advanced Dermatology & Skin Cancer Associates 7658 Poplar Pike Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 759-2322

Malika Tuli

Mid-South Dermatology 6644 Summer Knoll Circle Bartlett, TN 38134 (901) 372-4545

DEVELOPMENTAL-BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS

Toni M. Whitaker

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital Methodist University Hospital UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists 51 North Dunlap Street, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM

Lisa M. Myers

Endocrinology and Diabetes Specialists 1920 Kirby Parkway, Suite 120 Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 334-5464

GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY

Linda M. Smiley

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis Methodist University Hospital Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis West Cancer Center - East Campus 7945 Wolf River Boulevard Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 683-0055

HEMATOLOGY

Marquita N. Nelson

Regional One Health

Regional One Health Sickle Cell Center 880 Madison Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 545-8535

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Shirin Mazumder

Methodist University Hospital Methodist Medical Group 1211 Union Avenue, Suite 200 Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 525-0278

Dr. Bindiya Bagga

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Pediatric Infectious Disease by Toby Sells

Sick children in her native India drew Dr. Bindiya Bagga to medicine. Working with children — and training the doctors who will care for them — keeps her in Memphis.

Bagga was born and raised in Kolkata, India, the daughter of two engineers. Her mother was the only woman in her engineering class. Bagga’s father recognized his daughter’s creative mind for solving complex problems and suggested she study medicine. But seeing children su er from preventable diseases was “when pediatrics felt like the place to be,” Bagga says. “I had that opportunity to change their trend. No one has a choice of where they are born — right? — or the cards that they’re dealt. It felt like I should be doing something for all kids in the community.”

And she means all kids. Her philosophy in pediatrics has become a mantra she has repeated to the many pediatric residents she’s guided over the years: no child le behind. She said this ethos is shared by Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and is why they have given her a “community and a home.”

Bagga is quick to note that “my success is not my own.” Instead, she gives credit to both those who have mentored her and the residents she’s trained. is is not just modesty. It re ects the team- rst mindset required in hospital medicine. Caring for children means caring for a whole person — and that work is done by teams, o en teams of teams. Developing strong pediatric team

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Joan Michelle Allmon

Allmon Internal Medicine (AIM) 61 Peyton Parkway, Suite 103

Collierville, TN 38017 (901) 910-3246

Natascha S. Thompson

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

UT Internal Medicine BMG

8040 Wolf River Boulevard, Suite 102

Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 227-7900

Catherine R. Womack

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

UT Internal Medicine BMG

8040 Wolf River Boulevard, Suite 102

Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 227-7900

players is central to Bagga’s work. She has led UTHSC’s Pediatric Residency Program for ve years, a role she describes as especially urgent at a time when fewer physicians nationwide are choosing pediatrics. It’s serious work. And one she jokes is kind of like “mom life, right?”

“ e challenging part of my training now…is making sure I am able to create a space for residents to thrive in their training,” Bagga says, “while also making sure that they are able to see the clinical rigor that they need to be independent when they leave me.”

MEDICAL ONCOLOGY

Sylvia S. Richey

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Methodist University Hospital

Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis

West Cancer Center - East Campus 7945 Wolf River Boulevard

Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 683-0055

NEUROLOGY

Violiza Inoa Acosta

Methodist University Hospital

Regional One Health

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Semmes Murphey Clinic 6325 Humphreys Boulevard Memphis, TN 38120 (901) 522-7700

To help create those thriving spaces, Bagga developed and built a resident wellness and mentoring program, an e ort that recently earned her recognition as Pediatric Residency Program Director. For all of it, she says simply: “Le Bonheur has my heart.”

Also close to her heart are food, cooking — especially chai — and sunset walks at Shelby Farms Park, where she says, ”I’ve never seen sunsets as beautiful as those in Memphis.”

Barbara Cape O’Brien Neurology Clinic

8000 Centerview Parkway, Suite 500 Cordova TN 38018 (901) 747-1111

Hae Won Shin

Methodist University Hospital

Methodist Medical Group Neurology 1325 Eastmoreland Avenue, Suite 370 Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 261-3500

Spine problems can be big or small, complicated or simple. They often stop you from doing the things that make your life happy and complete—like running your family farm.

These conditions can lead to unexpected symptoms, such as tingling and numbness in your hands, legs, or feet, shooting pains in your arms or legs, or a loss of strength and stability.

The right approach is the whole approach. At Semmes Murphey, Whole Spine Care is our patientcentered approach for pain-free living. It starts with an environment where you are heard, supported, and empowered—and extends across the widest range of treatments available in the Mid-South. From conservative care to the most advanced surgical techniques, each step along your journey will be thoughtful, personalized, and rooted in more than a century of experience. We have been focused on spine care since our founding in 1912, constantly developing treatments that are faster and better, and deliver complete, lasting outcomes.

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

Lanetta Anderson

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women

Women’s Physician Group

681 South White Station Road, Suite 111 Memphis, TN 38117 (901) 276-3222

Heather Pearson Chauhan

Exceed Hormone Specialists 7512 Second Street Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 312-7899

Claudette J. Shephard

Regional One Health

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Regional One Health Outpatient Center 880 Madison Avenue, Suite 3E01 Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 515-3800

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Lauren C. Ditta

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

University Clinical Health

Hamilton Eye Institute 930 Madison Avenue, Suite 200 Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

Mary E. Hoehn

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

University Clinical Health

Hamilton Eye Institute

930 Madison Avenue, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

Natalie C. Kerr

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

University Clinical Health

Hamilton Eye Institute 930 Madison Avenue, Suite 400

Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

OTOLARYNGOLOGY

Victoria L. Lim

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Collierville

Shea Clinic 6133 Poplar Pike Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 761-9720

Courtney B. Shires

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Methodist University Hospital

Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis

PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY

Karine Guerrier

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

51 North Dunlap Street, Floor 2 Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570

Jennifer Kramer

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital 848 Adams Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 287-7337

PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

Rebekah K.H. Shappley

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center 51 North Dunlap Street Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-5437

PEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY

Teresa S. Wright

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Methodist University Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists

PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Bindiya Bagga

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

51 North Dunlap Street, Floor 3 Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570

PEDIATRIC NEPHROLOGY

Margaret C. Hastings

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists

51 North Dunlap Street, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

Rima Zahr

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

51 North Dunlap Street Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570

PEDIATRIC OTOLARYNGOLOGY

Rose Mary Stocks

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

51 North Dunlap Street, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

51 North Dunlap Street, Floor 1 Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570 continued from page 10

West Cancer Center - East Campus 7945 Wolf River Boulevard Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 683-0055

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

continued on page 14

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Dr. Bindiya Bagga

Dr. Michelle Bowden

Dr. Emilee Dobish

Dr. Terri Finkel

Dr. Tonia Gardner

Dr. Dana Giel

Dr. Tanjala Gipson

Dr. Karine Guerrier

Dr. Margaret Colleen Hastings

Dr. Jennifer Kramer

Dr. Elisha McCoy

Dr. Amy McGregor

Dr. Christie Michael

Dr. Dawn Scott

Dr. Namrata Shah

Dr. Rebekah Shappley

Dr. Rosemary Stocks

Dr. Toni Whitaker

Dr. Teresa Wright

Dr. Rima Zahr

continued from page 12

PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY

Patricia J. Dubin

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists 51 North Dunlap Street Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

Tonia E. Gardner

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

51 North Dunlap Street, Floor 3 Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

PEDIATRIC RHEUMATOLOGY

Terri H. Finkel

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Department of Pediatric Rheumatology 50 North Dunlap Street Memphis, TN 38103 (866) 870-5570

Linda K. Myers

Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Rheumatology + Dermatology Associates, P.C. 8143 Walnut Grove Road Cordova TN 38018 (901) 753-0168

PEDIATRIC UROLOGY

Dana W. Giel

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center 51 North Dunlap Street Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 287-7337

PEDIATRICS

M. Michelle Bowden

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center

51 North Dunlap Street, Floor 3 Memphis, TN 38105 (866) 870-5570

Emilee Dobish

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital 848 Adams Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (866) 870-5570

Sara M. Federico

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Place Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 595-2220

Janet D. Geiger

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis River City Pediatrics 1717 West Massey Road Memphis, TN 38120 (901) 761-1280

Elisha M. McCoy

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital 848 Adams Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (866) 870-5570

Dawn H. Scott

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Le Bonheur Pediatric Downtown 51 North Dunlap Street, Suite 310 Memphis, TN 38105 (901) 523-2945

Ellen J. Stecker

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis River City Pediatrics 1717 West Massey Road Memphis, TN 38120 (901) 761-1280

PLASTIC SURGERY

Devra Becker

UT Medical Center University Plastic Surgeons 1068 Cresthaven Road, Suite 500 Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 866-8525

Patricia L. Eby

Cosmetic Surgery Specialists of Memphis 6401 Poplar Avenue, Suite 360 Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 752-1412

RADIATION ONCOLOGY

Martha Tibbs

Methodist University Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology 1265 Union Avenue, Shorb Tower, Floor 1 Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 478-7367

Dr. Nora Daher

Daher Asthma & Allergy Clinic, Allergy & Immunology by

Alex Greene

Dr. Nora Daher is not one to blow her own horn. “I’m pretty humble, so it’s really hard to be like, ‘Oh, I’m really wonderful at this,’” she says. “ ere are so many talented, wonderful people out there. But I mean, I love medicine. I love what I do. It’s kind of hard to practice now, with insurance these days and all that goes with it. But I love my patients and I love science. My daughter, she’s 12, right? We’re studying her science homework at night, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is great! is is so cool.’ And she’s like, ‘Uh, mom, I don’t know,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, you’ll love it once you get used to it!’”

at passion for her work and her patients is one thing making Daher exceptional, and it may stem from the fact that Daher herself su ered from allergies in her youth. When it comes to that aspect of her work, she’s had experience on both sides of the stethoscope.

“I was one of the only food-allergic kids that I knew back in the day. at was one of the reasons I was interested in allergies,” she says. at’s all changed now, as food allergies have become more prevalent. “Now there are so many that have food allergies, and we still don’t really know why so many kids now have food allergies that we didn’t see a few years ago. So allergies are getting much more prevalent. ere are all these theories as to why, but nobody really knows completely. Is it the way food is made? Is it the soaps that we use? What is it? And now, that’s kind of at the forefront in the allergy realm. How to x food allergies, and what do you do to x it?”

REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY/INFERTILITY

Amelia Bailey

Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Fertility Associates of Memphis 80 Humphreys Center, Suite 307 Memphis, TN 38120 (901) 747-2229

SURGERY

Dina M. Filiberto

Regional One Health

Elvis Presley Trauma Center 877 Jefferson Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 (901) 545-7100

While analyzing our industrialized food supply and its many inputs is not in her wheelhouse, Daher has specialized in ameliorating the effects of allergies that may stem from it. “In the clinic, we do oral immunotherapy to try to lessen the sensitivity to it. And that’s something that we’re doing that not everybody in town does, called oral immunotherapy, where you hope that by treating the patient with very small amounts [of an allergen] that they do tolerate, that they can, over time, grow out of it, so to speak.”

Alyssa D. Throckmorton

Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women

Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital

Baptist Medical Group 7205 Wolf River Boulevard, Suite 200 Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 227-8950

Daher’s clinic deals with other issues, of course, like airborne allergens and asthma, but, perhaps because of her own experience as a youth, food allergies have a special place in her practice. “Food allergies really a ect a patient’s quality of life. Parents are scared. ey have to read all the labels. Anything you eat, you have to read the label. Does it contain peanuts? If so, they can’t eat it. And there’s a social stigma associated with it, too. So that’s one of the bigger things right now that we’re doing.”

UROGYNECOLOGY/ FEMALE PELVIC MEDICINE & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY

Val Y. Vogt

Methodist University Hospital

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Collierville

Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women

The Conrad Pearson Clinic 1325 Wolf Park Drive, Suite 102 Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 252-3400

By Kailynn Johnson

Human Trafficking Hot Spot

Advocates say stronger laws haven’t yet undone the conditions that allow exploitation to thrive in Memphis.

Shelby County still ranks as the highest-risk county in Tennessee for human tra cking, despite broad state e orts to strengthen penalties for tra ckers.

e ranking comes from Engage Together, a Wyoming-based national thought leader on human tra cking.

e group’s latest report says Shelby County has a Vulnerable Population Index (VPI) score of 100 percent. is score compares public data to determine how susceptible a community is to human tra cking.

State o cials say that Memphis’ proximity to Atlanta, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) named as a city with high rates of human tra cking, makes it a “hot spot” for the crime.

In Memphis, sex tra cking — forcing people into prostitution — is most prevalent on Lamar Avenue, Elvis Presley Boulevard, Summer Avenue, and Chelsea Avenue. Why Memphis? Poverty, housing insecurity, and food insecurity, the report says.

Many agencies already battle the issue on its front lines here. e Engage Together report shows nonpro ts account for about 62 percent of the e orts against human tra cking in Shelby County. e rest comes from the government (18 percent) and churches (8 percent), with the remaining 15 percent coming from individual practitioners, healthcare, education, businesses, and foundations.

More still needs to be done in Shelby County, Engage Together says, to strengthen its network across these multiple sectors to slow human tra cking. e county should also

focus more on human tra cking reform and restoration, while also increasing awareness on identifying what the crime looks like. e issue of demand should also be addressed, the group said. And more needs to be done to erase the stigma around the issue.

In 2022, state e orts to address sex tra cking were ranked among the “best in the nation,” by Shared Hope International, a group focused on bringing awareness to the issue and hope to victims. While state o cials touted these e orts, the results were not perfect.

e Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) still reported 1,170 human tra cking calls and tips in 2024. Out of those calls, 178 occurred in West Tennessee, 406 in Middle Tennessee, 208 in East Tennessee, and 327 in Upper East Tennessee. e report showed that 596 human tra cking tips came from social services and advocacy groups. Citizens were responsible for 234, and law enforcement accounted for 97.

Sex tra cking reports involving children were up in 2024, with 514 cases involving minors reported that year, according to the TBI’s Human Tra cking Statistical Report. By comparison, 223 tips of adult sex tra cking were reported in the same time frame.

But the Tennessee General Assembly has come a long way on human tra cking in the last decade. In

2011, TBI and Vanderbilt University released a research study to the Tennessee General Assembly. at report, simply called the Tennessee Human Sex Tra cking Study, outlined the general lack of awareness and information surrounding this dark and dire world.

“Human sex tra cking involves the slavery of children and women forced to perform sex acts for money at various locations across the state for the purpose of making money for their captors,” the report read. “Basically, human sex tra cking is sexual slavery at its worst.”

e report shed light on “shocking” results showing that “human tra cking and sex slavery was more prevalent than many had believed.”

“ e ability to prosecute human tra cking under Tennessee’s law with more serious consequences is needed,” the report said. “Heavier sentences for o enders who subject their minor victims to violence and sex slavery, as well as allowing victims to sue their captors under civil laws for damages, would put a more stringent penalty on a horrendous crime.”

Current state law says that sex tra cking for those older than 12 but younger than 18 is a Class A felony and can result in 15 to 60 years of imprisonment. Other violations are

considered a Class B felony which carries a sentence of 8 to 30 years.

In the 15 years since that report was published, the state has taken big steps to stop human tra cking, especially with the formation of the Human Tra cking Unit. According to TBI, these e orts, coupled with its commitment to capturing perpetrators by expanding the state’s network to include law enforcement and victim advocacy groups, have contributed to the state’s increased vigilance.

What is human tra cking?

Human tra cking in Tennessee was de ned in a 2024 state law as “the commission of any act that constitutes the criminal o ense of involuntary servitude, tra cking persons for forced labor or services, commercial sex acts, and patronizing or promoting prostitution.” e law also de nes a tra cked person as a victim of a human tra cking o ense.

Rachel Haaga, CEO for Freed Life and its program RestoreCorps, expands the state’s 2011 de nition of sex tra cking through the formula of “sex plus something of value coupled with sex, fraud, or coercion.” e organization takes a multifaceted approach to combating human tra cking by helping survivors, advocating for justice, and increasing awareness amongst communities.

“Human tra cking has to have all three of those points,” Haaga says. “According to Tennessee law, if somebody is under the age of 18 there does not have to be force, fraud, or

coercion.”

Haaga says Tennessee was the fourth state in the nation to change its laws dealing with child sex tra cking. Prior to 2011, anyone under the age of 18 found performing sexual acts with a “buyer” would have been charged with “delinquent prostitution” leading to criminal charges and juvenile detention.

In this situation, the buyer would likely only have been charged with soliciting or patronizing prostitution. Haaga says, and during this time there was a strong possibility the buyer wouldn’t be charged, as it was seen as “low-hanging fruit.”

ese societal practices shed light on the inequities in the justice system — speci cally in how law enforcement recognized and addressed victims as victims.

“ is was just societal and legislative practice until as recent as 2011 for states to see what we would see as a victim — a young person who is having a sex act with a whole adult — that if there was not this value being exchanged, she is clearly a rape victim,” Haaga says. “He is clearly a perpetrator — she is a victim.”

Haaga says while a signi cant volume of research suggests that human tra cking occurs between female victims and male perpetrators, emerging data suggests juvenile males are also susceptible to human sex crimes, even earlier in age than females.

“ e average age of entry for females is 12 to 14, but the average age for males is actually 11 to 13,” Haaga says. “ e research isn’t as robust because it aligns similarly with even less sexual assault reports for males because it’s just underreported by the nature of what aligns with male reporting for those crimes.”

To understand human tra cking, many advocates point to the idea that there wouldn’t be a market without a demand. As a result of increased advocacy from RestoreCorps and other groups, the Tennessee General Assembly began recognizing the buyer as “a part of the problem.”

“In any commercial industry, if you can go for the buyer, you can change the industry,” Haaga says. “ rough prosecuting buyers well and making them go to jail, you’ll eventually decrease the prevalence of exploitation in your community because there’s not going to be as many buyers, so tra ckers themselves will nd this a less advantageous way to make money.”

An “invisible gun to her head” Tra ckers prey on vulnerable people through manipulation and leveraging fears “through grooming,” according to the Polaris Project, a nonpro t organization that deals with human tra cking support, services, and

accountability,

“It is methodical, intentional, and it works,” the group says. “Indeed, it is the most common way that people — adults and children — wind up in sex tra cking situations. Sex tra cking very rarely begins with a violent abduction, or with a stranger involved at all.”

Laura Walker, executive administrator at Memphis-based istle and Bee, says her childhood

circumstances contributed to her being a “natural pick” for a predator.

“I was a part of a vulnerable population — single parent household, low-income, parents with substance abuse,” Walker says. “ ey were able to weasel in and groom me very easily because I was looking for more than my family could provide at the time.”

Walker says the predators preyed on this vulnerability, tricking her into using herself in exchange for money and gi s, as well as love and a ection.

A cycle began to form for Walker, as she believed her purpose was solely de ned by exploitation. is continued into her adult life, where she made connections and built consistent relationships making it harder for her to exit the industry.

As she re ects on this time in her life, she likens it to having an “invisible gun to her head” to describe being involved in commercial sexual exploitation. ose without lived experience or understanding of its complexities o en question why a victim doesn’t just “up and leave.”

“We can’t leave, or we don’t know how, or we don’t have the resources,” Walker says.

She also emphasizes the importance of recognizing victims as victims.

While legislation plays a role in changing the way the state responds and steps in with human tra cking, stigma and preconceived notions still play a role in how society prejudges a sex tra cking victim before knowing their story.

“A lot of times these people were put in positions of force by somebody to commit these crimes or to develop drug addiction to cope with their tra cking,” Walker says. “ ey’re victims — they’re not just out here trying to break the law.”

Haaga adds that it can be easy to base judgement solely o perception, with many believing survivors enter tra cking on their own volition. is proves to be harmful, and minimizes survivors to monolithic narratives.

“It’s a giant societal question of where we are in the world that we’ve kind of lessened ourselves to be content

through November 17, 2024.

with labeling other humans and not desiring to know their stories,” Haaga says.

A survivor’s story

Ashley O’Shea says her addiction and exploitation started at a young age, stating that she was stuck in addiction for most of her life.

Trauma from her childhood contributed to a continued cycle of being taken advantage of. From seeing her father killed in front of her, to having a mother battling addiction, to struggling with abusive partners, O’Shea says she was led to the streets as she looked for ways to feel better.

“ e way that we live as adults — for example, addiction and the way we’re exploited and end up surviving in human tra cking and stu — stems from trauma that we had when we were children,” O’Shea says. “Being a victim of molestation and bribery and stu like that — the door was open. at’s how I learned as a child.”

e complexities of her trauma began to compound in adulthood as she would start the cycle of getting clean, then nd herself returning to addiction as a way to cope.

“My mom passed away, and I had my son three days later,” O’Shea says. “ at cycled me back into addiction, and my habit ended up taking me out into the street and prostituting — basically exploiting myself.”

is became a means of survival for O’Shea — a way for consistent money. She says she lost custody of her children during this time, and while she did leave her abuser she was “in and out of the jail system.”

O’Shea describes this as her “rock bottom” — the point where she felt so “powerless and hopeless” that she knew she needed help, but didn’t know what to do. All she did know at the time was that she was homeless, on the run, and “going to jail again.”

continued on page 18

continued from page 17

SATURDAY

“More than anything, I was like, ‘I can’t live my life like this,’” O’Shea says. “It’s either, ‘I’m going to keep doing this, I’m stuck’ or ‘I’m going to die.’”

O’Shea found Thistle and Bee through the help of a case manager in Virginia, where she was living at the time. While she regards the organization as being the “best thing” that ever happened to her, she says her healing journey was far from easy,

“[Rehab] was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do — changing everything about my life,” O’Shea says. “When I got to Thistle and Bee, I didn’t know anything — like I was a child learning how to walk and talk all over again.”

addiction, but also commercial sexual exploitation I had been involved in really since I was a child, has been great,” Brown says.

She lovingly referred to her community in the program as “The Hive” and says its peer-led model allowed them to build a community of trust.

“Everybody’s there to one, fight for their life, but also to find their life and find what their dreams are,” Brown says. “When you’re building yourself up, that light shows to the others. You start to learn what love is, have definitions of what love is, and you do start helping others.”

Discover the best camps, classes, and summer experiences for kids of all ages. Meet camp directors, ask questions, and get inspired for your family’s best summer yet — all at this FREE, family-friendly event!

FEBRUARY 28TH 11AM-2PM SCAN HERE FOR INFO family’s best summer yet — all at this

She struggled with committing to a life of recovery as she grieved her former lifestyle. These efforts were further complicated by her mental health disorder and going “back and forth” with doctors trying to find the right medication.

About nine months into treatment, she says she began working the 12 steps, which she says signified full surrender.

“That’s when my life started changing,” O’Shea says. “I started wanting this and felt like I deserved this.”

Even though O’Shea is a graduate of the program, she is still healing through therapy. She also uses her lived experience to help and encourage other survivors on their path to recovery.

“All I can do is state my experience, my strength, my hope, and try to give them the ambition,” O’Shea says. “They have to want this and love themselves.”

Samantha Brown, program director for Thistle and Bee, says that increased visibility from the media and other platforms paired with the impact of survivor stories have proved to be helpful in bringing attention to human trafficking.

Brown is a graduate of Thistle and Bee’s residential program, which helps women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and addiction. She says the free, twoyear program primarily deals with therapeutic services to treat addiction while also dealing with the aftermath of trafficking.

Those in the program are referred from detox centers, 30-day programs, and the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) as an option for transitional housing. Participants can also be referred by the court systems and hospitals.

Like O’Shea, Brown says sharing her lived experience has not only helped provide healing for others but herself as well.

“Being able to come to a place that didn’t just provide services for my

As she completed the program, Brown was able to go back to school to become a drug and alcohol counselor. She also completed Tennessee’s training to become a certified peer recovery specialist, believing her lived experience would provide insight to the position. She is also currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of Memphis.

Brown admits she’s still learning what love is, but she’s been able to find purpose in her healing journey. She says her past was primarily defined by questions of fate and why things were happening to her, but she’s now able to figure out “why she was put on this Earth.”

“I find, especially at the beginning of the journey and even throughout, it is nice to feel that love from others even if you don’t exactly know how to share your story,” Brown says. “Having that space that feels safe with people who are continuing to show up and allow you that time to process, and then, when you’re ready, to unpack without judgement, without shame — there’s nothing like that to me.”

Thistle and Bee also operates the Healing Hive & Wellness Clinic for both men and women from infancy and up. This resource offers cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavioral therapy, and more for family members that have been indirectly impacted by human trafficking.

Brown says this was in response to recognizing that the families of these survivors needed therapeutic services as well.

“It was a dream of ours,” Brown says. “It was so needed. I’m just so happy we got this place [last] year.”

This tailoring of services to meet the evolving needs of a survivor’s network is an example of how advocates are committed to sustainable change. While Brown notes they are responsive to survivors’ needs, she’s found that increased awareness has also led the community to respond.

“So many people want to help, but you’re not aware of how to help until you start having those conversations and bringing awareness,” Brown says.

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Live Rich, Die Poor

By Abigail Morici

In 1973, Alice Walker searched for Zora Neale Hurston, the anthropologist, writer, and folklorist, perhaps now best known for her novel eir Eyes Were Watching God. She was proli c in her time, the most widely published Black woman author of the 1930s, yet she died destitute, buried in an unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery. By the 1970s, all of Hurston’s books were out of print, her legacy nearly forgotten — that is, until Walker began searching for her.

When Walker came across the unmarked grave she believed to be Hurston’s, she had a tombstone erected, naming Hurston “A Genius of the South,” thus resurrecting the writer’s legacy from obscurity. And it’s this legacy that actor, director, and writer Ann C. Perry expands upon in Live Rich, Die Poor, her one-woman play about the Genius of the South.

Written almost 10 years ago, Live Rich, Die Poor contains characters from Hurston’s life and work, all of whom are played by Perry, but for her Friday performance at the Halloran Centre, Marissa Gilliam will join her in the opening scene as Alice Walker. “ at’s normally a voiceover,” Perry says. “But I thought, ‘I want a new iteration of the story that will ll up the Halloran stage.’” And so, this performance, directed by Claire D. Kolheim, has also been reimagined with full design elements for the rst time.

“ e reason I wrote [it] is because I grew to be enamored of Zora Neale Hurston’s work,” Perry says. “I remember thinking about the story for years, but what nally catalyzed everything for me is that I was sitting at home as an out-ofwork actress.” Live Rich, Die Poor, then, became her opportunity, not only to work but also to challenge herself. “I owed it to her to become the actor that I needed to be to play her,” Perry says. “And in doing so, I have grown as an actress, as a person. I see my life as almost an extension of hers, like a way to say, ‘I’ll take the baton from here.’ I feel it is a responsibility to live up to my potential and nish in a way that she didn’t get to nish.”

Yet the playwright adds, “ e title is kind of a play on words because she did die poor, but it really means to die empty. If you give everything away, you empty yourself of all your gi s, you’re poor in this di erent kind of way. You know, this brilliant artist had to die poor, but she also died empty. She was emptying herself out until her death.”

at’s what Perry hopes to do, too. “I’m ghting to have this work and have this moment in this season at a time where I feel like a lot of my peers are planning for retirement. I’m really ghting to hold on to this art and continue to grow it so that it gets out into the world.

“Even though it’s about a remarkable woman, the story is written, really, so the audience can ask themselves some questions,” Perry says. “ at was important to me — that you’re still thinking about it a week later.”

Purchase tickets at orpheum-memphis.com.

LIVE RICH, DIE POOR, HALLORAN CENTRE, 225 SOUTH MAIN STREET, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 7:30 P.M., $47.50-$59.80.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES January 29th - February 4th

“A Well-Trained Eye: e Work and Collections of David McCarthy” Opening Reception

Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Friday, January 30, 5 p.m.

Drawn from David McCarthy’s carefully curated personal collections, the exhibition is organized into four parts which examine the impact of the familial and the domestic on his development, his research into anti-war art, his work with student scholars, and the ways in which he developed ideas about the work of H.C. Westermann in conversation with Memphis artists. e exhibit includes art, ephemera, and vernacular objects by Martha Rossler, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Enrique Chagoya, Nellie Barr Wieghardt, Lillie Mae Whitaker, Greely Myatt, Terri Jones, and Tom Lee, among many others.

Meet the Author: Alice Faye Duncan Novel, 387 Perkins Extended, Saturday, January 31, 2 p.m.

Join Novel and author Alice Faye Duncan to celebrate the release of Blues Boy: e B.B. King Story

In her new book, Duncan tells the aspirational story of American music icon B.B. King from his childhood in the Jim Crow South to his triumphant reign as “ e King of the Blues.” Accessible and inspiring for young readers, Blues Boy is upli ing and sometimes heart-wrenching, but always carries emotional depth, much like the music it celebrates.

Mid-South Pride Annual Pageant

Evergreen eatre, 1711 Poplar Avenue, Sunday, February 1, 3 p.m., $10/advance, $15/at the door, $40/VIP

Whether you’re ready to compete for the title of Mr., Mx., or Miss Mid-

South Pride, or just want to witness the magic unfold from the front row, this is where community and charisma collide. is year’s pageant honors Lady Pluto and Polly Pop Joy.

“FOOD: Science, Culture and Cuisine”

Pink Palace Museum & Mansion, 3050 Central Avenue, through May 24

A multi-sensory feast of an exhibition that explores the concept of food and feasting through sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound.

is exhibition examines the intersections of food with history, technology, health, and culture, presenting food in an entirely new way. From ancient cooking methods to modern culinary innovations, this is a unique opportunity to learn about food science while exploring its connections to culture, arts, and society.

As required by Tennessee Code

Annotated Section 67-5-903, the Shelby County Assessor will be mailing Tangible Personal Property Schedules to all active businesses Within Shelby County by Friday, January 9, 2026. The filing Deadline is March 2, 2026. Please call the Shelby County Assessor’s office at 901-222-7002, if you needassistance.

succeed.

MUSIC By Alex Greene

Sean ‘1Breath’ Murphy

From tuba to digeridoo, he improvises entire buoyant worlds.

While most Memphians know Sean Murphy as the Sousaphoneplaying leader of the funky Mighty Souls Brass Band, specializing in New Orleans-adjacent grooves in classic street parade style, there’s a lot more to his musicality than that. Followers of his social media accounts know this, having seen his daily posts throughout 2025 tagged #improvisationismeditation or #spontaneouscomposition, all 365 of them featuring Murphy freestyling on various instruments conducive to contemplative states of mind, like the overtone-laden Fujara, a Slovakian shepherd’s ute, not to mention various ocarinas, drums, kalimbas, and other instruments.

ose excursions are every bit as fundamental to Murphy’s musical DNA as the Mighty Souls’ brassy funk. is makes sense when you realize that he devoted his studies at the University of Memphis as much to ethnomusicology as performance, seeking not only otherworldly instruments, but otherworldly states of mind.

All that will be especially apparent when “1Breath” Murphy, with special guest Bhakti Lam-Mu (Art Edmaiston), presents a “vibrational

“I love the ocean. I feel like that really comes through in a lot of the environments I create.”

soundscape” at e Green Room at Crosstown Arts on Sunday, February 8th at 6 p.m. Weaving sonic tapestries with didgeridoos, saxophone, tuba, gongs, utes, kalimbas, drums, bells, bowls, and more, this sound meditation journey will be more than a concert, but also a wellness practice for relaxation and self-care. Some listeners have described Sean’s improvisations as “sound acupuncture” and “a cell-altering shamanic journey.”

And it’s a great listen. e performance, while improvised, will also emulate his latest album, Ambient Light, released on the same day and available for purchase on vinyl at the show. Not long a er, on February 13th, the Memphis Listening Lab will play the LP through its high- delity sound system at what may be the most relaxing listening event in the lab’s history.

It all comes naturally to Murphy, who’s been delving into extemporaneous ambient soundscapes for nearly a quarter century now. “I played music for dance classes at the U of M right a er I graduated,” he says. “And then I helped Ondine Geary start a weekly [dance and music] improv group. We just called it ‘Improv.’ ere was no structure to the class; we would just show up and it would be a happening. at’s how I met Anne. She was there pretty much from the beginning.”

at would be Anne Froning, Murphy’s wife and partner in business, art, and mixology. Together, they run Being:Art, a company dedicated to making outdoor marimbas, xylophones, and the like for playgrounds, schools, and other public spaces. ey’ve long shared a charmed life somewhere at the intersection of meditation, dance, and homesteading. Murphy’s latest projects are simply the latest manifestation of that.

As Murphy writes in the album notes, “In my experimental music I seem to always come back to environments.” His 2013 album, Sketches of Crosstown, recorded in the empty Sears building before Crosstown Arts renovated it, is the perfect example: the building’s echo and reverb

PHOTOS: JAMIE HARMON

Murphy, an ethnomusicologist as well as a performer and composer, draws on the instruments of many cultures to create his meditative soundscapes.

itself becomes an instrument, along with Murphy and collaborator Jim Spake. Or, as Murphy further writes, “ en there are the compositions that are environments (Imbolc Ice, 2023). is latter concept was the starting point for this album.”

Imbolc, the day marking the transition from winter to spring every February 2nd on the Celtic calendar, drew something unique out of Murphy and his collaborators that year. “It was snowing on that Imbolc day, and so our normal Wednesday night improv didn’t happen. So, me and Anne and our friend Nat Newburger got together and did improv, just the three of us at the house,” with Froning and Newburger contributing dance movements while Murphy freestyled the music. “I had a whole e ects processor set up on my baby grand piano, and that was what came out of it, improvising dance with piano and e ects. And I loved what was created so much that I decided to just release it.”

at’s one of many titles available on Murphy’s Bandcamp page. “I think I’ve got, like, seven or eight solo recordings of this kind that I’ve put out,” he says. “But even before I started recording this kind of stu , I was still really intrigued by that approach. Because as an undergraduate I got introduced to John Cage, John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, all those experimental composers. And that was my rst step into that world. en I got involved with creating music for dance, primarily modern dance, and then I hooked up with Anne, and we started doing yoga with live music. And that really gave me an opportunity to start experimenting with electronics and all the di erent instruments that

I play. And somewhere along the line, I learned about John Hassell. A great Memphian!”

Hassell, a globe-hopping trumpeter who pioneered a blend of improvised music and electronic e ects that led to his collaborations with the likes of Brian Eno (on Talking Heads’ Remain in Light, among other works), inspired Murphy to blend acoustic instruments with subtle electronics. But Tom Heasley was an even greater inspiration. “Tom Heasley is a tuba player that does ambient music through creating drones and stu ,” explains Murphy. “He’s got two or three records out, starting in the ’90s. It was just really fascinating, and very much in parallel with what I was already doing. So I got a lot of ideas from him, and then at some point somebody introduced me to Music for Airports.” at 1979 Brian Eno album, also known as Ambient 1, helped popularize music designed to occupy space more at the back of your mind than the front, and Murphy is forthright about its in uence on him. Indeed, the rst piece on Ambient Light, “Buoyancy,” is, he notes, “a response and tribute to Eno’s ‘1/1’ from Ambient 1. It is an improvisation for piano, digital tape loops, and digital delay.” at title, it turns out, also evokes the world Murphy was always aspiring to visit through such music. “For a little while,” he says, “I was into the idea of deep sea diving, and that was where the pieces ‘Ambient Light’ and ‘Buoyancy’ came from — oceanic things. I’ve never been deep sea diving, but I’ve always wanted to. I’m just fascinated by it. I love the ocean. I feel like that really comes through in a lot of the environments that I create.”

FOOD By Michael Donahue

More About Fuego Vivo

A new restaurant from Tekila Group.

Tekila Group opened its rst area restaurant in 2018. And their newest, A Fuego Vivo, opens in mid-February at 5110 Poplar Avenue, the site of the old Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

And another restaurant, Zona 55, is planned for Senatobia, Mississippi, says Ricardo Rivera, 23, son of Jose Gomez, who owns the restaurant group with Rivera’s uncle, Alexander Gomez.

“We started with Tekila, the one in Cordova,” says Rivera, the group’s controller. “ at one is Tex-Mex. Your chimichangas, the loud, colorful environment people are used to. en we opened a second the next year in Jackson, Tennessee … pretty much copy and paste. Our third opened in 2022 a er COVID, in Southaven, [with] a modern interpretation of Mexican dishes. Nicer, more upscale.”

gether to put out this international menu.”

Instead of having someone prepare only guacamole tableside, Fuego Vivo will o er tableside for other items, including salsa. “We have our salsa lady,” Rivera says. “She has a bunch of ingredients, di erent levels of spice.” e salsas are made “just to your liking … It’s not all the same red and green sauce every other Tex-Mex serves. We like having a custom touch to it.”

As for the look, Fuego Vivo is done in natural colors with gold accents. Mexican architect Filipao Nunes “did everything,” Rivera says. e space includes meeting rooms and doors that can open up if more seating is needed; an open-air kitchen; a bar that seats 10 on each side; and a main dining room. A patio will open in late March.

Rivera admits they “had issues” with Memphis Heritage when opening the Tekila on Union Avenue.

“ ey didn’t want us to paint the building, which we ultimately did not do. We’re trying hard to preserve it,” he says. “It’s part of Memphis history. We understand that.”

About two years ago, the group opened the elegant Tekila in the old Nineteenth Century Club mansion on Union. “ at’s our steakhouse concept,” Rivera says. “When we rst opened, people said, ‘Mexican? Steakhouse? ose don’t go.’ But they do. It’s a steakhouse, but it’s inspired by those really nice Mexican restaurants you nd in tourist places like Cancún.”

People are familiar with the sizzling steak dishes served tableside at most Mexican restaurants. But the Tekila on Union features “high-end cuts,” like tomahawks. At Fuego Vivo, Rivera says, “We want to bring Wagyu.”

Modern Mexican could describe Fuego Vivo’s fare. Menu items will be “from all over the world,” Rivera notes. “It wouldn’t be right to say we’re ‘authentic,’ but we do have Mexican inspiration. A lot of people here in the Mid-South have the belief that Mexican food is chimichangas and burritos. at’s just not the case.”

ey’ve hired four chefs for Fuego Vivo. “[Some] have worked at restaurants in Mexico that specialized in pastas, or in Asian food. ey’re all going to work to-

Tekila Group doesn’t plan to stop with the upcoming Senatobia restaurant. More are planned. “We wanted to keep growing. We don’t want to sit still,” Rivera says.

A ribbon cutting for Fuego Vivo is planned for February 9th.

“I’m proud of what we’re doing, especially in the Memphis area,” says Rivera. “We’re able to support the city. With these next two restaurants, we’re going to hire over 200 new employees.”

Rivera acknowledged the “great restaurants,” in the area near them. “We just want to ll that void, with Houston’s gone. I’m sure they had a lot of loyal customers. Carrabba’s as well.

“We want to be that restaurant people go to weekly. We’ll have great food, but that’s not always what makes a restaurant,” Rivera says. “We want to stand out by the service we provide. I can go to an amazing restaurant and have the greatest food in the world, but if I don’t feel comfortable, if I don’t feel welcome, I probably won’t return. For me, service is top priority.”

Rivera notes the importance of teamwork in accomplishing this. We’re “all one team — if one falls, we all fall. We want to dig that deep into the sta here. It does make a di erence when you’re all working toward the same goal of satisfying the customer.”

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

Jan. 29 - Feb. 4, 2026

ART AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS

“A Memphis of Hope” Art Show

An exhibit sharing messages of what is “right” about our city through the eyes of its artists. Free. Monday, Feb. 2-Feb. 26.

WKNO DIGITAL MEDIA CENTER

“Art of the Game”: Irvin Serenco & the MSCA

e arcade expressions of Irvin Serenco and the Mid-South Cartoonists Association. Free. rough Jan. 30.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

“Bettye’s Bin: The Personal Archives of Stax Songwriter Bettye Crutcher”

Discover the story of a woman who transformed poetry into platinum hits, whose words echoed from South Memphis to the world, and whose rediscovered archives now return home. Free. rough March 31.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC

Black Artists in America: “From the Bicentennial to September 11”

e nal installment of the Dixon’s Black Artists in America series showcases artistic styles and viewpoints within African American art during the last quarter of the 20th century. rough March 25.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Food: Science, Culture, and Cuisine”

A multi-sensory feast of an exhibition that engages you to think about food in new ways through sight, taste, smell, touch, and sound. $21/general admission, free/members. rough May 24.

PINK PALACE MUSEUM & MANSION

“Last Whistle: Steamboat Stories of Memphis”

Featuring detailed model boats and original steamboat artifacts. rough June 26.

PINK PALACE MUSEUM & MANSION

Master Metalsmith

James Viste: “Let Me Tell You a Story” is exhibit is lled with whimsy, humor, memories, and anecdotes, underscoring the innovation found in smithing techniques of the past. rough Feb. 1.

METAL MUSEUM

“Meet the Dixons”

Learn how the Dixon Gallery & Gardens began with Margaret and Hugo Dixon’s vision of creating a place to celebrate art, nature, and beauty, which became a reality in 1976. rough May 31.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

MGAL 2026 Winter

Juried Exhibition e Memphis/Germantown

Art League juried exhibit includes a variety of paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, oil on silk, and mixed media by over 40 area artists. rough Feb. 27.

ST. GEORGE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

“Navigating Knowledge” is exhibition explores vessels and navigation as metaphors for the containment and transmission of knowledge. rough Oct. 31.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

Patrick McGee

Exhibition

McGee’s painting styles range from realism and oral studies to abstract-surrealism and the avant-garde. rough Jan. 30.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Redemption of a Delta Bluesman: Robert Johnson”

A series of 29 paintings reimagining the story of the mythical crossroads where the bluesman purportedly made a deal. rough June 30.

GALLERY ALBERTINE

“River Coral”: New Works by Anthony Lee Depictions of fantastic, uid gures and shapes. rough March 30.

BUCKMAN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Roger Allan Cleaves: “A World on Fire”

Part of Cleaves’ “Forget Me Nots Land” series, a complex Afrofuturist fantasy that resists easy explanations. rough April 12.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Seasons” - New Works by Melody Weintraub

Weintraub currently supervises art education candidates remotely for UT-Knoxville, and has written over 30 articles for SchoolArts Magazine. Free. rough Jan. 29.

WKNO DIGITAL MEDIA CENTER

Shameka Carter Exhibition

Carter’s earthly, etheral style evokes warmth and comfort. Free. rough Jan. 31.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Tributaries: Kat Cole’s “Meditations”

Cole captures ephemeral gestures in glass, enamel and steel, resulting in gleaming puddles of light and color. rough March 8.

METAL MUSEUM

Veda Reed: “In Memoriam”

Reed’s painting life focused on West Tennessee landscapes, the Mississippi River, brief pilgrimages in Italy and England, the vast skies of New Mexico, and Granite Mountain that loomed over her town. rough Feb. 7.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

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.

PHOTO: COURTESY WKNO

“A Memphis of Hope” invites viewers to imagine and celebrate what is right about our city.

ART HAPPENINGS

Anna Gregor, Chris Peckham, Bobby Smith

Opening for an exhibit of artworks by Gregor, Peckham, and Smith, who nd themselves in harmony. Friday, Jan. 30, 5-7:30 p.m.

TOPS GALLERY

Dixon’s 50th

Anniversary Celebration

Celebrate 50 years of art, gardens, and beauty with your Dixon community. Light refreshments, cake, and tours of the property will be o ered. Sunday, Feb. 1, 1-4 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Opening Reception for “River Coral”: New Works by Anthony Lee

Learn how Lee’s work has been creatively in uenced by the city’s culinary and musical atmosphere. Friday, Jan. 30, 5-7 p.m.

BUCKMAN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Opening Reception: Town Beautiful

Commission’s Unofficial Town Flower

Art inspired by backyard gardens, familiar corners of town, and the spirit of Collierville. Friday, Jan. 30, 5:30-7 p.m.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE

HISTORY

BOOK EVENTS

Alice Faye Duncan: Blues Boy: The BB King Story

Duncan makes B.B. King’s story both accessible and inspiring for young readers. Saturday, Jan. 31, 2 p.m.

NOVEL

Club de lectura (Spanish Book Club)

Dixon les invita a compartir sus experiencias de lectura en español a través del título seleccionado del mes: Aura por Carlos Fuentes. Free. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 6 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Genre Benders Book Club: Of Monsters and Mainframes e inaugural meeting of an explorative book club focused on the book and genre mashups you fall in love with. Monday, Feb. 2, 6 p.m.

NOVEL

Show & Tell & Trade: Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Speculative Fiction

In honor of the rst-ever Friends of Fantasy Day, Novel is kicking o this new series of book discussion and book swap events. Saturday, Jan. 31, 5 p.m.

NOVEL

CLASS / WORKSHOP

Intro to MIG Welding: Window Sill Planter

Designed for students with no experience or limited prior experience. $240. Saturday, Jan. 31, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

METAL MUSEUM

Mounted Air Plant Workshop

Beginner-friendly and familyfriendly (children are welcome if accompanied by an adult).

Saturday, Jan. 31, 11 a.m.

URBAN EARTH GARDENS, NURSERY & MARKET

Museum Muses: Mandala Workshop Part One

Led by artist Sayali Abhyankar, this hands-on workshop (part one) invites participants to explore the calming, rhythmic process of mandala-making. Friday, Jan. 30, noon-2 p.m.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE HISTORY

Rhythm & Roots

Presented by Memphis Youth Arts Initiative, this is a free community program o ering high-energy music and dance lessons for youth ages 6–17. Wednesday, Feb. 4, 6 p.m.

MEMPHIS YOUTH ARTS INITIATIVE CENTER

Studio Courses with Creative Aging: Mixed Media Collage

Cheeto Ryan leads this 6-week beginner-friendly course in mixed media collage techniques. 65+. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1:30-3 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

The Tingey Painting with Parkinsons Program

A free art therapy program that supports people living with Parkinson’s. Wednesday, Feb. 4, 10 a.m.-noon

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Watercolor Valentine’s Cards

Express your love through

watercolors during this card making workshop, led by local artist Stacey Meredith. $55. Sunday, Feb. 1, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART Youth Workshop: Printmaking 10-13 year olds can discover the art of monoprinting. $15, $10/Members. Saturday, Jan. 31, 1:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

COMEDY

Mo Alexander

Nationally touring headliner and local comedy legend Mo Alexander closes out a night of stand-up comedy. $10. Friday, Jan. 30, 8-9:45 p.m. FLYWAY BREWING COMPANY

Open Mic Comedy Night Funny stu going on in the small room downstairs. Free. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

COMMUNITY

Birds & Seeds

Swap seeds and learn about native and backyard gardening. Saturday, Jan. 31, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

LICHTERMAN NATURE CENTER

Invasive Species Pull

Keep our ecosystem healthy by identifying and removing non-native invasive species plants. Friday, Jan. 30, 9 a.m. OVERTON PARK

Lisa Marie Presley’s Birthday Celebration

Celebrate the life and legacy of the late Lisa Marie Presley. Sunday, Feb. 1, 3-5 p.m. TRAVEL LODGE

Weed Wrangle

Protect the local ecosystem by joining a weed wrangle with volunteer Bill Bullock. Saturday, Jan. 31, 1 p.m.

OVERTON PARK

FAMILY

Lego of Your Imagination

Get ready to build, create, and imagine with Legos. Come unleash your creativity and see where the bricks take you. Friday, Jan. 30, 4-5 p.m.

RALEIGH LIBRARY

FILM

Apollo 11: First Steps Edition

A special edition of Todd Douglas MIller’s critically acclaimed Apollo 11 documentary. Thursday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 1 p.m. Closed Mondays.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER

Forward to the Moon

A planetarium show about the Artemis program, NASA’s project to return to the moon, from landing humans on the surface, to building a space station in lunar orbit, to establishing a human lunar base. Thursday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. Closed Mondays.

PINK PALACE MUSEUM & MANSION

Memphis Rising Special Film

Screening: 901 Mafia Family: The Set Up

Get ready for an epic Black & Gold Hollywood premiere as part of the open mic event, Memphis Rising: A Night for Our Youth. $50/ General admission-dinner. Saturday, Jan. 31, noon-3 p.m.

RENASANT CONVENTION CENTER

No Country for Old Men

The Coen Brothers’ Academy Award–winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Thursday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Oceans: Our Blue Planet Embark on a global odyssey film to discover the largest and least explored habitat on earth. New ocean science and technology has allowed us to go further into the unknown than we ever thought possible. Thursday, Jan. 29Feb. 4, 3 p.m. Closed Mondays.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER

The Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Jewish Film Festival

A festival featuring eight films from all over the world in a diverse mix of genres. $10/ Community Movie Ticket, $8/MJCC Memphis Movie Ticket, $56/Community Series Pass - All 8 Movies, $45/MJCC Member Series Pass - All 8 Movies. Thursday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m. | Tuesday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

The Sun: Our Living Star Experience never-before-seen images of the Sun’s violent surface in immersive full-dome format. Thursday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 1 p.m., 3 p.m. Closed Mondays.

AUTOZONE DOME PLANETARIUM

T. Rex: Greatest of All Tyrants

A dazzling and accurate giant screen documentary on this legendary predator. Thursday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 4 p.m. Closed Mondays.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER

Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet

The film follows Pachyrhinosaurus youngsters through the seasons and the challenges of growing up. Thursday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2 p.m. Closed Mondays.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER

LECTURE

Munch and Learn: The Stained Glass Windows at Clayborn Temple With Lonnie Robinson, an artist, graphic designer, and art director. Free. Wednesday, Feb. 4, noon-1 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

CALENDAR: JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 4, 2026

Science Cafe at Overton Park

Dr. David Rupke of Rhodes College shares how scientists are learning about the spaces in between galaxies. $5/Suggested donation. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

OVERTON PARK GOLF CLUBHOUSE

PERFORMING ARTS

Diamonds & Dreams Exclusive

Cynda Williams hosts this night of undeniable talent, sharp energy, and polished artistry. 18+ after midnight. $25. Thursday, Jan. 29, 6 p.m.

GROWLERS

Disney on Ice: Road Trip Adventures

Experience unexpected hijinks and magic at every turn. Thursday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m. | Friday, Jan. 30, 7 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 11 a.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 3 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 7 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, noon | Sunday, Feb. 1, 4 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

Super Scientific Circus

Mr. Fish and Trent the Mime teach scientific concepts to kids using boomerangs, bubbles, beachballs, bull whips, and magic. $25. Saturday, Jan. 31, 2 p.m.

BARTLETT PERFORMING ARTS AND CONVENTION CENTER

SPORTS

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota

Timberwolves

Monday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

Memphis Tigers vs. Florida Atlantic

Memphis Tigers vs. Florida Atlantic. Thursday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

Memphis Tigers vs. Tulane Sunday, Feb. 1, 2 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

THEATER

Always a Bridesmaid

Four friends have sworn to keep the promise they made on their Senior Prom night: to be in each other’s weddings, no matter what. Thursday, Jan. 29, 7:30-9:30 p.m. | Friday, Jan. 30, 7:30-9:30 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 7:30-9:30 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, 2-4 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Dreamgirls

This musical follows an all-girl singing group as they rise from obscurity to superstardom in the 1960s and 1970s. Friday, Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, 2 p.m.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Crossword

ACROSS

1 Variety show lineup

5 Home shopping channel

8 Longtime product with a “Classic White” variety

13 Weight of an empty container

14 Mideast federation, for short

15 Ancient source of prophecy

16 Exceed the capacity of 18 Doze

19 2005 dystopian novel adapted into a 2010 film

21 Pastries with a portmanteau name

22 Intoned

26 Tick off

27 Not backing, in the backwoods

28 Loan letters

29 Arp and Duchamp output

31 In ___ of

32 Place for a pin

35 Popular lingerie item owned by HanesBrands

36 Co-owner of the Pequod

37 Word with rain or rock

38 Mellow R&B tune 40 Range org.

41 “I’d consider ___ honor”

42 Legal rights, in France 46 Graffitist, e.g.

48 Expanse far from ports

49 Monuments of classical antiquity … or what literally is missing from this puzzle

51 The People’s Princess, familiarly

54 English churchyard flora

55 Title girl in a 2001 Oscarnominated French comedy

56 Beehive State native

57 River of northern France

58 Big superhero film of 2017

59 It’s divided by the 38th parallel: Abbr.

60 Some fundraising grps.

1 Without delay

2 Setting for a Pirates of the Caribbean ride

3 ___ Noah, host of “The Daily Show”

4 Wooed à la Don Giovanni

5 Participated in a bee

6 Low-lying areas

7 European of the Iron Age

8 Heavy ankle-high shoe

9 Danger in a uranium mine 10 Prefix with conscious or catastrophe 11 Landon who lost to F.D.R. in 1936

Surely, informally

Bad artist to re-sign to a record

Jagged Little Pill

A musical inspired by Alanis Morisette’s 1995 album of the same name. Thursday, Jan. 29, 8 p.m. | Friday, Jan. 30, 8 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 8 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, 2 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Job

A psychological thriller that delves into mental health, social media, and generational divides. Friday, Jan. 30, 8 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 8 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, 2 p.m.

CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE

Live Rich Die Poor, Zora Awakening

A journey through the life, wit, and wisdom of Zora Neale Hurston. Written and performed by award-winning actress and playwright Ann C. Perry. $59.80. Friday, Jan. 30, 7:30-9 p.m.

HALLORAN CENTRE FOR PERFORMING ARTS & EDUCATION

The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare’s ribald love story reimagined as a World War II-era radio play, with the music of Rodgers and Hart, Sinatra, and Crosby. Friday, Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m. | Saturday, Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. | Sunday, Feb. 1, 3 p.m.

TENNESSEE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Brother of Moses and Miriam

Loud, as

We Saw You. with MICHAEL DONAHUE

Atotal of 550 people passed Science of Beer this year. Make that “passed through,” as in attended the annual Science of Beer event, held January 16th at the Pink Palace Museum & Mansion.

ey learned a thing or two about beer instead of just enjoying how the di erent brews taste.

“Educational components” were blended with the di erent types of beer available for tasting at the event, says museum events coordinator John Mullikin.

Rhodes College featured a liquid nitrogen ice cream made with beer. And Christian Brothers University measured the CO2 produced by di erent types of yeast.

“Our whole mission is to inspire discovery,” Mullikin says.

e event featured 24 brewers in the general area and three in the VIP area. And 10 food stations in the general area and four in the VIP room.

Guests voted on their favorite beer and food. Hampline Brewing won favorite beer and Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken won favorite food.

above: Tom Gleeson, Kevin Lechner, Miriam Gleeson circle: Ivan Fernandez

below: (le to right) Collion Bercier, Lee Liverance, John Durdin; Aldo Dean, Clif Lee, Eric Bourgeois; Claire and Jackson Fain

bottom row: (le to right) Dustin Stokes, Ali Stokes, Laura Lazar, Tucker McCormack; Kirk Chalmers, Nyota Spraggins; Morgan Kelly, Ashleigh Kempf, Jessica Russell

Ryan

Jamie Cairns, Travis Wiseman circle: Clint Kelso below: (le to right) Lauren Sexton-Davis, Stephe Traina; Jeremy Finch, Lillian Bryant; Lizzie Daws, Grady McDonald; Carl ompson and Sabrina Martinez

right row: (top and below) David Oldham, Abigail Gardiner, Daniel Pennington, Daniel Kail, Sam Henke, Jake Henke; Lyndell Beer Whitmore, Mathew McCrory bottom row: (le to right) Lesley Parada, Caroline Herz; Phillip Winchester, Rebecca Winchester

CALENDAR

FRI JAN 30

ROMAIN COLLIN: “SOLO” with AARON JAMES

7:30 PM | THE GREEN ROOM | $20+

SAT JAN 31

MEMPHIS R&B IS NOT DEAD with TRINITY ADAIR & PHILIP BOND

7:30 PM | THE GREEN ROOM | $20+

THU FEB 5

MAMA’S BROKE with FOSTERFALLS

7:30 PM | THE GREEN ROOM | $25+

FRI FEB 6

IRON MIC COALITION

7:30 PM | THE GREEN ROOM | $25+

SAT FEB 7

DOLL’S PLAYLIST

7:30 PM | THE GREEN ROOM | $25+

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

By the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication

Weird in the Wild Austin Dirks, a hiker in Arches National Park in Utah, found himself in a sitcom-worthy predicament on Dec. 7, CBS News reported. As he explored a small canyon on the second day of his backpacking trip, Dirks sank up to his thigh in quicksand. Fortunately, he had brought along an emergency satellite beacon, which was picked up by Grand County emergency responders. The team positioned a ladder and boards near him and slowly worked his leg loose. Once he was free of the quicksand, Dirks was able to hike out on his own and offer a few insights about the mythical substance. “In quicksand you’re extremely buoyant,” he said. “Most people won’t sink past their waist in quicksand.” Well, that’s a relief! [CBS News, 12/11/2025]

Weird Science

In October 2024, an Idaho man was scratched by a skunk on his property, The New York Times reported on Dec. 6. Weeks later, he collapsed and died, presumably from a heart attack. The man’s family donated several of his organs, and a Michigan man received a kidney. But a week later, he was hospitalized with fever, difficulty swallowing, and fear of water — symptoms of rabies. He died after a week in the hospital. Doctors believe the skunk that scratched the Idaho man had contracted rabies from a bat, but organ donations are not typically tested for rabies, according to the CDC. “Overall, the risk is exceptionally small,” said Dr. Lara Danziger-Isakov, a board member of the American Society for Transplantation. [NY Times, 12/6/2025]

When Fancy Goes too Far

A 38-year-old man named Sergei, who was taking part in a corporate holiday party at the Igra Stolov Game of Tables cooking studio in Moscow, was rushed to surgery after drinking a cocktail that ruptured his stomach, Metro UK reported on Dec. 25. The liquid nitrogen-infused drink was part of a “cryo-show” being put on by one of the culinary school’s chefs. Liquid nitrogen is used by chefs and mixologists to flash-chill drinks and provide dramatic effects, but because the liquid expands rapidly into a gas when exposed to room temperatures, it’s critical that the drinks are not consumed before the ni-

trogen has had a chance to fully evaporate. Witnesses at the Moscow event claimed they were given no warnings by the chef or staff of the danger the cocktail presented. Sergei underwent surgery and remained in serious condition at the time of the report. [Metro UK, 12/25/2025]

Awesome!

Among the 80,000 items that were traded in to GameStop for store credit during the retailer’s first-ever “Trade Anything Day” on Dec. 6 were a goose, a framed dog portrait, and a tiny Jesus, KENS-TV reported. But a store in Corsicana, Texas, may have received the weirdest item: a lounging taxidermic bobcat. A company spokesperson said the stores gave out about $400,000 in trade-in credit vouchers. “Our customers showed up with big imaginations ... We are very happy with the turnout.” [KENS, 12/9/2025]

That’s Bananas!

Cargo vessels have been in the news lately, but this fruity mishap has folks in southern England on high alert. On Dec. 6, eight containers full of bananas went overboard from a cargo ship, Yahoo! News reported. In West Sussex, rotting fruit has been washing up on the pebbled beaches, the U.K. coast guard said, adding that the public should avoid the areas littered with debris. They also discouraged the public from eating the floating fruits. [Yahoo! News, 12/9/2025]

Who Knew?

In Japan, millions of families headed to their local KFC on Christmas Day for chicken and fixings, Yahoo! News reported in December. “Stores with the Colonel statue dress him in Christmas attire,” said Takuma Kawamura, a KFC marketing manager. Fans could indulge in special “Party Barrels” with chicken, side dishes, and ice cream or cheesecake. Not a terrible idea ... [Yahoo! News, 12/3/2025]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

NEWS OF THE WEIRD © 2026 Andrews McMeel Syndication. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to trek to the summit of Mount Everest. They both said later that the climb down was as important and challenging as the ascent. The lesson: Achievement doesn’t end when you reach the peak. Aries, you may be nearing or have just passed a high point of effort or recognition. Soon you will need to manage the descent with aplomb. Don’t rush! Tread carefully as you complete your victory. It’s not as glamorous as the push upward, but it’s equally vital to the legacy of the climb.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Aurora borealis occurs when highly charged particles from the Sun strike molecules high in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing them to glow. The display that looks like gorgeous magic is actually our planet’s invisible magnetic shield and upper atmosphere lighting up under the pressure of an intense solar storm. Dear Taurus, I think your life has a metaphorical resemblance. The strength you’ve been quietly maintaining without much fanfare has become vividly apparent because it’s being activated. The protection you’ve been offering and the boundaries you’ve been holding are more visible than usual. This is good news! Your shields are working.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Nothing in excess” was the maxim inscribed on the ancient Temple of Apollo at Delphi. “Moderation is a chief moral virtue,” proclaimed the philosopher Aristotle. But I don’t recommend those approaches for you right now, Gemini. A sounder principle is “More is better” or “Almost too much is just the right amount.” You have a holy duty to cultivate lavishness and splendor. I hope you will stir up as many joyous liberations and fun exploits as possible.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): When sea otters sleep, they sometimes hold each other’s paws to keep from drifting apart. This simple, instinctive act ensures they remain safe and connected. I suggest making their bond your power symbol for now, Cancer. You’ll be wise to formulate a strong intention about which people, values, and projects you want to be tethered to. And if sea otters holding hands sounds too sentimental or cutesy to be a power symbol, you need to rethink your understanding of power. For you right now, it’s potency personified.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): To be healthy, we all need to continually be in the process of letting go. It’s always a favorable phase to shed aspects of our old selves to make room for what comes next. The challenge for you Leos is to keep showing up with your special brightness even as parts of you die away to feed new growth. So here are my questions: What old versions of

Rob Brezsny

your generosity or courage are ready to compost? What fiercer, wilder, more sustainable expression of your leonine nature wants to emerge? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to stop performing the hero you used to be and become the hero you are destined to become.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Haudenosaunee people practice “seventh-generation thinking”: making decisions based on their impact seven generations into the future. You would be wise to incorporate the spirit of their visionary approach, Virgo. Here’s the problem: You’re so skilled at fixing what needs urgent attention that you sometimes neglect what’s even more important in the long run. So I will ask you to contemplate what choices you could make now that will be blessings to your future self. This might involve ripening an immature skill, shedding a boring obligation that drains you, or delivering honest words that don’t come easily. Rather than obsessing on the crisis of the moment, send a sweet boost to the life you want to be living three years from now.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you open to the idea that new wisdom doesn’t always demand struggle and strain? In the days ahead, I invite you to move as if the world is deeply in love with you; as if every element, every coincidence, every kind pair of eyes is cheering you forward. Imagine that generous souls everywhere want to help you be and reveal your best self. Trust that unseen allies are rearranging the flow of fate to help you grow into the beautiful original you were born to be. Do you dare to be so confident that life loves you?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Psychologist James Pennebaker did studies showing that people who write about traumatic experiences for just 15 minutes a day show improved immune function, fewer doctor visits, and better emotional health. But here’s a key detail: The benefits don’t come from the trauma itself or from “processing feelings.” They come from constructing a narrative: making meaning, finding patterns, and creating coherence. The healing isn’t in the wound. It’s in the story you shape from the wound’s raw material. You Scorpios excel at this alchemical work. One of your superpowers is to take what’s dark, buried, or painful and transform it through the piercing attention of your intelligence and imagination. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to do this.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Jewish mysticism, tikkun olam means “repair of the world.” This is the idea that we’re all responsible for healing what’s broken. But the teaching also says you’re not required to complete the work; you’re only asked to not abandon it. This is your message right now, Sagittarius: You don’t have

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In ecology, there’s a concept called “keystone species.” This refers to organisms that have a huge effect on their environment relative to their abundance. Remove them, and the whole ecosystem shifts. I bring this up, Aquarius, because I believe you are currently functioning as a keystone species in your social ecosystem. You may not even be fully aware of how much your presence influences others. And here’s the challenge: You shouldn’t let your impact weigh on your conscience. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself as you carry out your service. Instead, ask how you can contribute to the common good while also thriving yourself. Ensuring your well-being isn’t selfish; it’s essential to the gifts you provide and the duties you perform.

to save everyone. You don’t have to heal everything, and you don’t even have to finish the projects you’ve started. But you can’t abandon them entirely, either. Keep showing up. Do what you can today. That’s enough. The work will continue whether or not you complete it. Your part is to not walk away from your own brokenness and the world’s. Stay engaged.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The Talmud teaches that “every blade of grass has an angel bending over it, whispering, ‘Grow, grow.’” I sense that you are now receiving the extra intense influence of your own guardian angels, Capricorn. They aren’t demanding or threatening, just encouraging. Please tune into their helpful ministrations. Don’t get distracted by harsher voices, like your internalized critic, the pressure of impossible standards, or the ghost of adversaries who didn’t believe in you. Here’s your assignment: Create time and space to hear and fully register the supportive counsel. It’s saying: Grow. You’re allowed to grow. You don’t have to earn it. Just grow.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I foresee a dose of real magic becoming available to you: equivalent to an enchanted potion, a handful of charmed seeds, or a supernatural spell. But owning the magic and knowing how to use it are two different matters. There’s no promise you will instantly grasp its secrets. To give yourself the best shot, follow a few rules: 1. Keep it quiet. Only share news of your lucky charm with those who truly need to hear about it. 2. Before using it to make wholesale transformations, test it gently in a situation where the stakes are low. 3. Whatever you do, make sure your magic leaves no bruises behind.

Support Local Free Press

We’re always independent. We’re always free — we won’t ever charge you for a copy of the Flyer, or for access to our website. And we strive to keep you informed about and connected to our city.

Whether you can help in the form of a few dollars a month or a larger one-time contribution, you’ll be making a di erence. ink of this as an investment in our shared future.

If you are not in a position to give nancially, there are other ways you can support the Flyer — such as by patronizing and supporting our advertisers, by reading and sharing our work, and by passing along this message to others.

Above all, thank you for being part of our community. We’re in this together.

FILM By Chris McCoy

Great Northern

Long-shot Best Picture nominee Train Dreams might just win your heart.

W

hen the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were released last week, the big story was the uncertainty in the Best Picture race.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners set a new record with 16 nominations across all major categories. Paul omas Anderson’s One Battle A er Another got 13 noms, which is more than e Return of the King, for example, but less than Titanic Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein got nine nominations, and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet got eight, numbers that in most other years would all but guarantee a Best Picture trophy.

Who’s going to win the big prize? I have no idea, but I would be happy with any of the top three contenders. e 2026 Oscars are apparently dedicated to “ ings Chris McCoy Likes,” and I just have to say, it’s about damn time. I am terrible at handicapping the Oscar race (I only beat John Beifuss of the Commercial Appeal once in the decades he has been publishing his picks), but at this point, I think strong entries in the acting categories favors Sinners. With Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn splitting the One Battle vote, the great Delroy Lindo, an actor’s actor who has been plugging away for decades, looks like the man to beat in the Best Supporting Actor category. And while Leonardo DiCaprio is great as a revolutionary gone to seed in One Battle A er Another, Michael B. Jordan’s stunning dual turn as twin gin runners Smoke and Stack is pivotal to Sinners’ success, so I expect to see him giving the Best Actor acceptance speech. At that point, you gotta think that some Academy members on the fence are going to start noticing how many times they’re checking the box for Sinners and decide it’s Best Picture.

ere are many gems among the 10 Best Picture nominees, even if their chances to win are slim. Train Dreams was written and directed by Clint Bentley, whose previous nomination was as a screenwriter for 2023’s Sing Sing. e Net ix production was adapted from a novella by Denis Johnson. It’s the kind of material that is always i y to adapt into lm, full of beautiful writing and interior thoughts. Bentley enlisted cinematographer Adolpho Veloso to create images as poetic as Johnson’s writing, and uses the steady narration of Will Patton to keep things on track.

Robert Granier (Joel Edgerton) is the kind of person you might look at and

Edgerton is so pitch-perfect as to be almost invisible, like what he’s doing barely registers as acting.

say not much happened to them during their 80 years on the planet. As the opening narration tells us, Robert grew up around Bonners Ferry, along the Canadian border on the very Northern tip of Idaho, but even during the many years he traveled the Cascades, rst as a logger, then hauling freight and passengers in his horse-drawn wagon, he never made it far enough west to see the Paci c Ocean.

Robert is a modest man, and always something of a loner. His uno cial motto could be “Don’t go to too much trouble for me.” Toward the end of the nineteenth century, he was transported to the Paci c Northwest alone at age 5 a er something — Robert doesn’t know what — happened to both of his parents. As a pretty stout guy, he found good-paying work building the Great Northern Railway. He enjoys the camaraderie among the workers, and reacts with a kind of quiet ba ement when he sees the abuse the Chinese laborers endure. One day, a racist incident spirals out of control, and Robert watches helplessly as one of his Chinese co-workers is thrown from the bridge they’re building. It’s the last straw

for Robert, who leaves the construction biz and takes up seasonal work as a logger. But the death will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, he meets Gladys Olding (Felicity Jones) outside a church potluck, and decides its time to get more religion in his life. Gladys is the only one who can pull Robert out of his shell, and she appreciates his strong, silent manner and luxurious beard. ey build a cabin on the banks of a river where they make love by lamplight and raise a beautiful daughter together. It’s a happy life, but Robert’s work as a woodsman keeps him far from home for months at a time. One fateful day, when tragedy strikes, he’s not there to protect his little family. Robert never recovers from the blow.

Train Dreams reveals Bentley as a big fan of Terrence Malick. He’s got the same reverence for nature, and the patience to let the scenes develop in their own time. Train Dreams is less oblique than say, Tree of Life, with the voiceover going a long way toward providing structure. It’s also got more of a sense of humor than Malick’s relentlessly serious tone. I wouldn’t go so far as to call William H. Macy’s turn

as Arn Peeples, a cantankerous old coot who handles the dynamite, “comic relief,” but he does get laughs. As does Paul Schneider as a would-be preacher who just will not shut up.

Edgerton was shut out of the extremely competitive Best Actor category, but in my opinion, his understated work deserved a nomination. Too o en, people think “Best Acting” means “Most Acting.” Jessie Buckley’s overwrought work in Hamnet is far from the best in her career, but right now, she’s the frontrunner for Best Actress. Timothée Chalamet is aggro to the point of being grating in Marty Supreme, and he’s probably Jordan’s only real competition. Edgerton is so pitch-perfect as to be almost invisible, like what he’s doing barely registers as acting. But when his guilt and grief nally break through to the surface, his choked-back sobs land so much harder than Chalamet’s theatrical weeping. Like its protagonist, Train Dreams’ quiet eloquence is easily overlooked, but ultimately profound.

Train Dreams is now streaming on Net ix.

Our critic picks the best films in theaters.

The Voice of Hind Rajab

This Best International Film Academy Award nominee is based on the true story of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl trapped inside a car after her family is killed by a drone strike. As rescuers try to reach her, emergency operators keep her on the phone. The film uses the real audio of Rajab’s call.

Send Help

Linda (Rachel McAdams) is a longsuffering worker in the Planning & Strategy Department. Her boss is a sexist pig. Her job is on the line when they travel to Bangkok to manage a hostile takeover. The plane crashes, stranding them on an island, and the power dynamic changes violently. The first description I heard of

this horror comedy was “Sam Raimi being a freakin’ maniac again.” Let the man cook.

Melania

Or, you could go see this $40 million bribe by Jeff Bezos to the Trump family, directed by Brett Ratner, who lost his development deal at Warner Bros. when he was credibly accused of sexual assault by six women, including Olivia Munn and a pre-transition Elliot Page, in 2017.

No Other Choice

If you don’t hate yourself enough to force Melania in your eyeballs, consider this satire from director Park Chan-wook.

When a papermaker Man-su (Lee Byunghun) is fired by an American takeover, he decides to kill every other person in South Korea who is qualified for his job. What could possibly go wrong?

BUY, SELL, TRADE

EMPLOYMENT

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

In the CHANCERY COURT of Shelby County, Tennessee No. CH-24-0964-2

ROBERT BELDSOE, ET AL

Plaintiff(s) VS. BONNIE WILSON, ET AL

Defendant(s)

It appearing from the complaint in this cause which is sworn to that:

There are parties known and unknown and as prayed for in the Petition to Quiet Title filed on July 25, 2024, as to all previous owners of 4230 Germantown Rd., Arlington, TN 38002.

It is therefore ordered that they make themselves appearance herein at the court House of Shelby County, in the city of Memphis, Shelby County, TN on March 26, 2026 and answer plaintiffs complaint for Petition to Quiet Title or the same will be taken for confessed as to defendant(s), and set for hearing ex parte, and that a copy of this order be published once a week for four successive weeks in the Memphis Flyer.

This 15th day of January, 2026

A True Copy – Attest:

W. Aaron Hall, Clerk & Master

By Jocelyn V. Henderson

Jocelyn V. Henderson

Attorney for Petitioner

Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

In the CIRCUIT COURT of Shelby County, Tennessee No. CT-1972-25-1

ISABELLE LOUIS LONG

Plaintiff(s) VS. TIMMY LAMAR SWOOPE Defendant(s)

It is appearing from the complaint in this cause which is sworn to that THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE DEFENDANT, TIMMY LAMAR SWOOPE, CANNOT BE ASCERTAINED AFTER DILIGENT SEARCH AND INQUIRY.

It is therefore ordered that HE make AN appearance herein at the Court House of Shelby County, in the city of Memphis, Shelby County, TN on March 9, 2026, and answer plaintiffs’ complaint for DIVORCE or the same will be taken for confessed as to defendant(s), and set for hearing ex parte, and that a copy of this order be published once a week for four successive weeks in the MEMPHIS FLYER.

This 15th day of JANUARY, 2026.

A True Copy - Attest:

Jamita Swearengen, Clerk & Master

By Jocelyn V. Henderson

Jocelyn V. Henderson

Attorney for Petitioner Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 2026

Docket: PR034086

In Re the Matter of: Major Hodges, Sr. Notice is hereby give that on the 21st day of Oct., 2025, Letters of Administration in respect of Major Hodges, Sr., who died Aug. 29, 2025, were issued to the undersigned by the Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.

All persons, resident and non-resident, having claims, matured or unmatured, against the estate are required to file the same with the Clerk of the above named Court or on before the earlier of the dates prescribed in (1) or (2), otherwise their claims will be forever barred.

(1)(A) Four (4) months from the date of the first publication (or posting, as the case may be) of this notice if the creditor received an actual copy of this Notice to Creditors at least sixty (60) days before the date that is four (4) months from the date of the first publication (or posting); or

(B) Sixty (60) days from the date the creditor received an actual copy of the Notice to Creditors, if the creditor received the copy of the notice less than sixty (60) days prior to the date that is four (4) months from the date of first publication (or posting) as described in (1)(A); or (2) Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s date of death.

This 15th day of Jan., 2026.

Major Hodges, Jr. Administrator Attorney for the Estate:

Jocelyn V. Henderson

THE LAST WORD By Sharon Brown

Ja, Memphis, and the Weight of a Franchise

As trade rumors swirl, Memphis nds itself wrestling with more than basketball.

ere are NBA stars who belong to teams, and then there are stars who belong to cities. Ja Morant has always felt like the latter in Memphis.

From the moment he arrived, he not only changed how well the Memphis Grizzlies played, but also changed the way they played. He changed how they felt. e arena got louder. e nights got bigger. e national cameras showed up more o en, and when they did, they did not just show basketball. ey showed a city that nally had a face bold enough to demand attention on its own terms. at is why the current trade chatter hits di erently here. is is not just a basketball conversation. It is a civic one. It is about identity, trust, disappointment, pride, and the uneasy realization that even the most electric relationships can reach a crossroads.

Morant did not need a long runway. He was a revelation almost immediately. e speed, the vertical pop, the audacity. He played like someone who had never been told where his ceiling was. Memphis embraced that fearlessness because it mirrored the city itself. Undervalued. Overlooked. Unwilling to ask permission. FedExForum nights became events. Not games, events. A random Tuesday could turn into a shared memory because Morant decided to attack the rim like it owed him money. For a small market that has always had to ght for relevance, that kind of star matters. He validates. He tells the city that greatness does not have to come from somewhere else.

For a stretch, it felt inevitable. Morant and Memphis were growing together. e future felt loud and fast and endless. But every cautionary tale has a turn, and this one did not come quietly. Morant’s o -court issues are not footnotes. ey are chapters. Suspensions, scrutiny, and league discipline reshaped how he was discussed nationally and how he was evaluated internally. His availability became uncertain. Trust became fragile. Conversations that once centered on championships shi ed toward accountability and maturity.

For Memphis, this was the hardest part. Not because the city stopped loving him, but because loving him became complicated. Fans defended him, questioned him, prayed for him, and argued about him all at once. at kind of emotional labor only happens when someone matters deeply. e organization had to navigate reality, too. You cannot build continuity when your franchise player is in and out of the lineup. You cannot sell stability when every season feels interrupted. Talent can carry you far, but reliability is what sustains a franchise.

Trade rumors exist for every star. What makes these di erent is the tone. is is the rst time the idea of Memphis listening has felt real instead of theoretical. Not aggressive. Not inevitable. Just real enough to linger. Real enough to force honest conversations inside and outside of the building. Morant’s return to the oor and his insistence on loyalty complicated the narrative rather than ending it. He played well. He spoke from the heart. He reminded everyone why this relationship existed in the rst place. And still, the questions remained. at is the tension. When a franchise reaches the point where performance alone cannot quiet the noise, it means the issue is no longer just basketball.

In Memphis, Morant represents possibility. He represents national relevance without assimilation. He represents the idea that you can be unapologetically yourself and still belong on the biggest stages. He brought eyes to the city. He brought money Downtown. He brought kids into jerseys and made them believe that someone from anywhere could stand at the center of the basketball universe. at is not easily replaced. Dra picks do not recreate that. Cap exibility does not recreate that. You do not trade that lightly. If this chapter becomes a turning point, the lesson will not just belong to Memphis or to Morant.

It will belong to every young star who believes talent alone is enough. It will belong to every franchise that mistakes brilliance for permanence. It will say that legacy is built not just on highlights, but on alignment. On trust. On showing up when it matters most.

Morant still has time. Memphis still has a choice. Redemption is still available. So is separation.

What happens next will decide whether this story becomes one of growth or one of what might have been. Either way, Memphis will remember. Cities always do.

Because when a player carries a city on his shoulders, every stumble feels personal, and every step forward feels like hope trying again.

Mississippi Delta raised and Memphis rooted, Sharon Brown is a University of Memphis graduate who covers the Grizzlies for the Flyer

The Hot Tamale Capital of the World invites you to enjoy an eclectic collection

» FEBRUARY « Mississippi River Marathon msrivermarathon.racesonline.com

» APRIL « Showcase on Wheels cabinonthebogue.com

» MAY « Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Festival, including Frog Fest and Leland Craw sh Festival LelandChamber.com

Future Tour Golf Championship

» JUNE « Delta Soul & Celebrity Golf Event facebook.com/DeltaSoulGolf

Lake Washington’s “Straight O The Lake” Music Festival

Snake Grabbin’ Rodeo facebook.com/GrabUOneOut tters

» JULY « WWISCAA Food Festival wwiscaa.com

» AUGUST « MS Delta Duck Boat Races at Lake Washington

» SEPTEMBER « Delta Blues & Heritage Festival deltabluesms.org Gumbo Nationals greenvillespeedway.net

Sam Chatmon Blues Fest facebook.com/SamChatmonBlues

Stephone Hughes Old Time Gospel Fest

» OCTOBER « Delta Hot Tamale Fest mainstreetgreenville.com/ delta-hot-tamale-festival

Highway 61 Blues Festival highway61blues.com

Monuments on Main Street Historic Greenville Cemetery Tour deltacenterstage.org/events

YMCA Cotton Classic 10K/5K Run racesonline.com/ymca-cotton-classic

» NOVEMBER « Roll’n on the River Car Show facebook.com/redwinecarshow

» DECEMBER « Christmas on Deer Creek LelandChamber.com