Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian | Opinion

Opinion: Parents want accountability at MSCS. Students deserve it

sarah@thememphislift.org (Sarah Carpenter) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 04:00:01 -0500

“If the ASD was a ‘failed experiment,’ then what do we call decades of schools where almost no child can read?”

Opinion: Every year is a new beginning when you open your heart

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 12:26:28 -0500

Every day is a new beginning, and every year is a fresh start. That’s the larger message of the Jewish high holy days, which started this past week with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and continue for 10 days through Yom Kippur.

Opinion: For live theater, magic can be found in the pit

jmiles@thebesttimes.com (Joyce K. Miles) — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 08:51:18 -0500

“Little is ever mentioned of what goes on in countless orchestra pits within the confines of our many theater companies.”

Opinion: Driving Tennessee’s prosperity in divided times

editor@dailymemphian.com (Erin Hafkenschiel) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 04:00:07 -0500

“Our goal is simple: to create a space where partisanship fades and common sense takes the lead. We may not agree on everything, but we can agree on this: We all want our families and communities to thrive.”

Opinion: Why Shelby County is investing in neighborhood-level preventive care

editor@dailymemphian.com (Lee Harris) — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 04:00:04 -0500

“By focusing on preventive care, ShelbyCares helps residents avoid costly medical interventions, contributing to long-term savings in healthcare costs and improving overall community health.”

Opinion: An open letter to Memphis and a farewell

futrisa@churchhealth.org (Joshua Henry Narcisse) — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 04:00:14 -0500

“For my final column, I wanted to write a letter to Memphis, to the city I love and that has made so much of my story possible,” Narcisse said.

Opinion: School vouchers expand opportunities for families

editor@dailymemphian.com (Chris Fay) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 04:00:11 -0500

“Suggesting that school choice programs drain public schools is misleading and distracts from the real conversation we should be having — how do we give every child in Tennessee access to a high-quality education, regardless of ZIP code, income or circumstance?”

Opinion: There is no ‘model jail’ for Memphis

editor@dailymemphian.com (Emmett Sanders) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 04:00:11 -0500

“By failing to address the underlying problems that put so many people to jail in the first place, Shelby County will be doomed to revisit these problems again and again.”

Calkins: Why is a cove in Memphis suddenly filled with Cubs flags? It's out of sadness — and respect.

gcalkins@dailymemphian.com (Geoff Calkins) — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0500

Todd Dixon — a nurse, triathlete, Sunday-school teacher, husband and father — died at 54. Now an entire street in East Memphis is flying Chicago Cubs flags in his honor.

Opinion: A jail at Shelby Farms Park would be a destructive mistake

laurawolffmorris@gmail.com (Laura Wolff Morris) — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 04:00:14 -0500

“A high-security jail inside Shelby Farms Park would destroy the very qualities that make it so valuable. ... There are more appropriate sites for a jail. But there is only one Shelby Farms Park.”

Opinion: Memphis is a better place when journalism thrives

sleach@dailymemphian.com (Sarah Leach) — Tue, 9 Sep 2025 16:12:35 -0500

“The Daily Memphian is a nonprofit news organization that gives away immeasurable amounts of news content for the good of this community. Your subscription pays for you to read all our journalism. Your donation powers the work we do to reach everyone else with the news.”

Opinion: The most common diagnosis in Memphis? A broken heart.

morriss@churchhealth.org (G. Scott Morris) — Sun, 7 Sep 2025 04:00:05 -0500

“We live in a city where too many carry wounds we can’t see. Trauma from childhood. Grief that never healed. Depression that whispers lies in the night. Anxiety that clenches like a fist.”

Echols: 'We need the wisdom of trees'

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Sun, 7 Sep 2025 04:00:05 -0500

“We need the wisdom that shows us how to turn our faces toward the light and bend without breaking.”

Opinion: Use the Mason prison for juvenile intervention, not an ICE detention center

jcvergos@yahoo.com (John Vergos) — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 05:47:26 -0500

“There is no doubt in my mind this facility can go a long way in helping Memphis reduce crime and help some of these children. It is desperately needed. Cost and bureaucracy should not be a problem.”

Opinion: MATA is fixable — and other lessons I learned on the MATA board

editor@dailymemphian.com (Anna McQuiston) — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 08:35:49 -0500

“If we want our city to thrive, we need a strong transit system. It effects all of us who want our packages delivered, our children to learn, our construction projects completed, our coffee to be made, and so much more.”

Echols: Staying quiet — despite the good things we've found

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Mon, 1 Sep 2025 10:34:39 -0500

“Let me say, ain’t nobody going to like this comparison – not the shot people, not the Christian people, and not the other people, either — but it’s real. There are things about Tirzepatide that remind me of the Holy Spirit.”

Opinion: The reach of Memphis Rox keeps climbing

morriss@churchhealth.org (G. Scott Morris) — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 15:54:27 -0500

“Memphis Rox isn’t just about climbing walls. ... It is about a Memphis that refuses to stay on the ground, a Memphis that believes no mountain is too high.”

Calkins: Memphians will be finishing Liza's Run again. A few weeks ago, that was no sure thing.

gcalkins@dailymemphian.com (Geoff Calkins) — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:00:10 -0500

A month ago, it seemed as if the event was ending. But a group of women emerged to make certain that Memphians will once again be finishing Liza Fletcher’s run.

Echols: Words that aren't the uninhabited talk of AI

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:04 -0500

“While AI can talk about God, it cannot speak about experiencing him. It can offer no first-person perspective on what God is like in the euphoria of love or in the depths of grief.”

Opinion: Upholding Memphis' reputation as a generous city

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:04 -0500

“My philanthropic heroes, whether congregants on fixed incomes or billionaires like Warren Buffett, embody a rare attribute. Sacrificial giving means contributing beyond one’s self, not merely after one’s self-pursuits or leisure.”