Memphis Flyer 10.13.22

Editor

BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN

Editors

TOBY SELLS

Editor

KAILYNN JOHNSON

Reporter CHRIS MCCOY

GREENE

SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS

MORICI

GARD, COCO JUNE, RICHARD MURFF, FRANK MURTAUGH

STIEGEMEYER, SHARON BROWN

FENISE

NEILL

CARRIE BEASLEY

Art Director

WILLIAMS

JERRY D. SWIFT

DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE, HAILEY THOMAS

MUSOLF

CHET HASTINGS

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

My car was making an awful noise for a couple months. is metal-scraping-something sound emanated from a driver’s side wheel — sorta like steel nails etching evil spells into a tin can. It hurt to hear and totally killed the riding-with-the-window-down vibe I had going. It wasn’t constant though, just a raking rattle every time I hit a bump — which, if we’re being real here, is pretty much every few feet on Memphis streets — or sometimes just coasting, for no apparent reason at all. But tap the brakes, and it’d go away. It got to where even the radio wouldn’t drown this out, the embarrassing echo grating the ears of others, surely, as I passed.

I do have my car routinely maintenanced, and I know to replace brake pads when they wear down, but this was not that. My boyfriend, who does this weird thing where he takes his tires o and cleans his brakes every so o en (who does that?), had already inspected the pads for me. My car is seven years old, but it’s not driven o en since many days I work from home. e tires are practically brand-new. So what was the deal?

Well, I’m no mechanic and the thing was still under warranty, so I drove out to the dealership for free popcorn and three hours’ wait time in the lobby. ere’s guest wi , so I kept about my work business while the experts attempted to gure out how to exorcize the demon screaming from the side of my vehicle. A er a while, I’d had my ll of popcorn and my car was ready. Only they hadn’t done anything to it. e front brake pads were wearing unevenly for some unknown reason, but they weren’t quite to the point of needing to be changed. e mechanic who took her for a test drive couldn’t hear it, which led me to believe they might need a hearing check, but that’s for them to sort out. So, surprise! “We can’t nd anything wrong.”

Interesting. Because as soon as I drove o , the screeching was as screechy as ever. But it’s ne, there’s no problem here. A er being given the green light to keep driving with no regard, I did just that, hoping maybe it’d go away on its own. Or that a tire would fall o and then we’d have an actual problem that could be xed. Alas, neither happened. e noise got noisier and I couldn’t take it anymore. So on the way back from the o ce last week, I dropped it o at another repair shop. A couple hours later, I get the call: “[Something or another about there being multiple things wrong] and that’ll be $679.”

Ummm, what? So I need front and back brake pads and new rotors plus a brake ush?

e pads still had some life le , I knew that. And the rotors were in good condition. But okay, maybe let’s just change the pads anyway and see if that does anything. “We can’t change the pads unless we change the rotors too. For the front only, that’s $369.” Okay. But no.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman and they gured, “Here’s our chance to do a bunch of work that doesn’t need to be done and charge an exorbitant amount of money for it!” Or perhaps they truly thought I’d worn the brakes down to nubs with no care in the world. (But anyone who knows even the slightest thing about it could see that wasn’t the case.) So, again, I drove my loud-ass car home in shame.

THE MEMPHIS FLYER

My boyfriend went to the parts store and purchased some new pads, put them on, drove the car around, and the damn thing was still hissing. A closer examination had us wondering, “Has the rotor backing plate bent somehow? Is the car possessed?” A er some troubleshooting and Googling, we were back to square one. en tried that weird thing where you just take everything apart and blast the water hose through the pieces.

CONTEMPORARY

Guess what? A few clumps of brake dust, dirt, whatever the hell it was, ushed out. Maybe that accidental mud-riding I did this summer on the gravel road leading to my dad’s le me a little souvenir. Who knows? But we took her for a spin a er, and the ride was as smooth and quiet as the day she rolled o the production line.

Moral of the story? Well, there’s probably more than one. But sometimes what’s broke doesn’t actually need xing. It might not even be broke. Maybe it just needs some TLC.

Shara Clark shara@memphis yer.com

PHOTO: FRANK ALBRECHT | UNSPLASH Do you hear that?

SHARA CLARK

THE fly-by

ernet

Spooky season is in high gear over at Gri th Roasting Company. e Memphis co ee roaster collaborated with Hi Tone on “Hardcore Candy Corn.” ey describe it as “a premium- avored roast with notes of caramel, marshmallow, and vanilla.” e company also rolled out the pumpkin-cinnamon “Heads Will Roll” avor for the month. (Hey, it was an easy pun, okay?)

ABOUT THAT BASS e Memphis Bass Fishing Facebook group is what Facebook was invented for. Local folks giving the skinny on where to sh, what bait to use, dank shing memes, and, of course, photos of their latest catches.

MORE CONSTRUCTION?

Speaking of dank memes, this one was posted to the Memphis subreddit with the title, “I … *eye twitches* they were done. It seemed done.”

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

{ CITY REPORTER

By Toby Sells

Restaurant Workers Sue

Lawsuit seeks back pay from Earnestine & Hazel’s, e Vault, and more.

Workers at four Memphis restaurants, including Earnestine & Hazel’s, sued the owners to recover alleged unpaid minimum wage and overtime.

In March, an attorney led three separate suits against Local in Memphis, the parent company of e Vault, Earnestine & Hazel’s, e Paramount, and e Backlot Sandwich Shop. e suits claim three di erent classes of employees — servers and bartenders, managers, and one cook — are owed unpaid wages, legal fees, and more. ey all list Local in Memphis co-owner Tyson Bridge as the point person for the company.

Employees allege the restaurant ownership group did not tell them they were working under a new compensation plan and are owed unpaid wages and overtime.

In the suit involving the servers and bartenders, the suit claims the company did not tell the employees they were working under a tipcompensation plan. is system is a way for companies to include an employee’s tips toward the employer’s minimum wage requirements, according to human resources company Paychex Inc.

Attorneys for the servers and bartenders said the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) puts “strict requirements” on companies using the tip-credit system. In the case of Local in Memphis, these “requirements were not met.”

One employee had to clean a vomitfilled sink while being paid less.

For one, they claim that employees were not told by the company that they were working under the system. For this, the servers and bartenders were working for $2.13 per hour, the required minimum wage for tipped employees, instead of the $7.25 regular minimum wage. e employees are entitled to the di erence for those hours worked, the lawsuit says.

Also, these servers and bartenders were made to do “dual occupation” work and side work like cleaning bathrooms, stocking ice, sweeping, cutting fruit, polishing silverware, and more. ese jobs do not allow the employees to make tips while they are paid below the minimum wage. Labor law allows tipped employees to do some of this work. But the suit says Local in Memphis made their employees do more, violating federal law.

“For example, plainti [Amanda] Levitch was required to clean up a vomit- lled sink during one of her shi s (and while

being paid at a reduced tip-credit rate of pay),” reads the suit.

e company runs its restaurants as one entity and comingled its sta and management, the suit says. e employees would work at the di erent locations and their work hours would sometimes meet or exceed 40 hours. Federal law says employees working more than 40 hours must be paid timeand-a-half.

e suit claims, though, that the restaurant owners counted the employees’ time at each restaurant “in order to maintain a façade that plainti s were working less than 40 hours per week.” e owners failed to pay overtime to the employees because they did not calculate overtime based on all hours worked for the company when they worked multiple restaurant locations in the same week.

“[ e restaurant owners] were, in reality, one operation that was divided into multiple entities to support the ction that they are not joint employers and/or an integrated enterprise,” reads the suit.

e second and third suits cover restaurant managers and a cook. ey claim the restaurant owners used the same scheme to avoid paying them overtime they deserved.

For this and more, the servers and bartenders, managers, and the cook all seek alleged unpaid compensation. e servers and bartenders want compensation for unpaid minimum wages. All of the groups want compensation for unpaid overtime, liquid damages (a pre-determined money award), legal fees, attorney fees, and jury trials to get them all.

In these cases, the amount of hours and money can be determined through the employees’ testimony, but the burden of proof is ultimately on the employer.

Memphis on the internet. HARDCORE COFFEE

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY MEMPHIS BASS FISHING

POSTED

FACEBOOK BY GRIFFITH ROASTING

PHOTO: TOBY SELLS

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By Kailynn Johnson

Fighting Back With Coffee

e Anti Gentri cation Co ee Club challenges American co ee culture.

n the morning of October 5th, e Anti Gentri cation Co ee Club, located at 761 National Street, opened at 7:30 a.m., something that Maurice Henderson II and his wife, Renata, had tried to avoid.

is new opening time allowed for those on their early-morning commute to stop by and grab co ee. But Henderson, once a part-time barista, says his least favorite interactions were during early-morning shi s, where he experienced micro-aggressions.

“It’s almost like, ‘man, you’re not even a human being,’ when you have your stereotypical experience with someone at a co ee shop,” says Henderson. “ ey’re behind the bar, and people assume you don’t know what you do because you’re Black. ey think people want what they want. It’s a very individualistic experience, which is so different from co ee in Africa.”

e Hendersons have been to Ethiopia twice and even talk about their experiences in a documentary that will be shown at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. e de ning di erence between co ee in Ethiopia and what they have experienced in the states is that co ee in Ethiopia is “communal.”

“ ings are slow,” Henderson says. “ ey do these three processes called Abol, Tona, and Bereka, where you have these really small cups called ‘sinis,’ and you get three cups. ere’s no going into traditional African spaces and getting a big cup of co ee to go.”

“ ere’s a traditional Ethiopian blessing that is said when you receive it,” continues Henderson. “Buna Nagaa hin Dhabiinaa, which means, ‘May your house lack no co ee nor peace.’ ey wish peace upon you and your family. You sip the co ee, say ‘Amen’ in response. You’re doing that with a group of other people who are sitting there and waiting on co ee to be prepared for you by these Black women.”

When looking at co ee experiences in America, Henderson says it’s a very transactional experience. In fact, this is why they chose not to open early in the beginning, so that they could avoid contributing to these

types of interactions with co ee in their neighborhood. Henderson says they would rather create a space where people expect a di erent type of co ee experience. ey sought to have a more Black, a more African, more indigenous perspective, and for these reasons, they opted not to open early.

According to Henderson, your traditional co ee shop is going to make money by getting as many people through their doors as possible. He says that, through this, the people who are prioritized are wealthy patrons or patrons who are “upper-middle class.” Co ee at his shop is pay-what-you-can with suggested prices, but “it’s free for neighbors who need it.”

e shop is at the corner of Summer and National.

“You think about these shops that open up in Black and brown neighborhoods,” Henderson says. “How are they able to get people from Germantown and Cordova to drive there early in the morning for their co ee?”

e answer, according to Henderson, is by creating some type of “chic” or “urban-chic mystique” that makes their co ee seem di erent from what they can get at the gas station or Starbucks. A lot of this is by using the aesthetic of poverty to market a shop as something that is “urban,” which in turn makes your co ee and shop “desirable to people who are looking for a cool ‘co ee experience.’”

PHOTO: THE ANTI GENTRIFICATION COFFEE CLUB

Nerds of a Feather

e adventures of the yellow-rumped danger man.

n the morning, I like to sit out on our little deck. ere’s a ower garden, a bird-bath, a seed feeder, and a steady stream of feathery friends zipping in and out from the surrounding trees. I enjoy watching them while guring out the daily Wordle and sipping a Nespresso. And yes, I realize that this is probably the nerdiest possible way to begin a day.

Or so you thought. Now let me crank the nerd-level knob up to 11: I also turn on a Bird Song app on my iPhone that lets me know which birds are within earshot. A couple days ago, the app alerted me to the presence of three birds I’d never seen before: a golden-crowned kinglet, a Kentucky warbler, and the fantastically named yellow-rumped warbler. Maybe there’s a migration happening, I thought, while staring through my binoculars at a golden-headed little bird in the magnolia. Colorful birds were itting about everywhere. Hummingbirds were buzzing in the salvia. It was like the bird-nerd Super Bowl.

On the Flyer Slack channel a halfhour later, I couldn’t resist letting my co-workers know my exciting news. I even sent a screenshot of my bird app. One of them responded with a meme that read: “One minute you are young and cool, maybe even a little dangerous, and the next minute you are reading Amazon reviews for birdseed.”

Ouch! Why you young whippersnapper! You have no idea how cool and dangerous I used to be. I was once hauled to a cop car wearing zip-tie cu s and tossed in the back seat. e o cer didn’t even do the “watch-yourhead” move as he shoved me in. Before that, the police had literally broken down my front door and searched my house room to room, even tossing dresser drawers. en they hauled me and my roommates o to jail — for the horrendous crime of possessing marijuana.

is was back in the early 1970s, when I was busy cramming four years of college into seven — dropping out to work or travel for a few months, then returning to classes for a semester. I lived with four other guys in a big old dump of a house in Columbia, Missouri. In those days, mere possession of pot could send you to jail, and one of the neighbors had ratted us out. Maybe it was the pungent plumes of ditch-weed pouring o our front porch every night that set her o . I dunno. Either that or the repetitive playing of “In-AGadda-Da-Vida” o that Iron Butter y album. We really dug the eight-minute drum solo. (In retrospect, we should have

gone to jail for that.)

Anyway, the cops found some pot in the kitchen, but by the next morning they apparently realized they had no way of determining whose it was — and we weren’t admitting anything, because we were cool, almost dangerously so. Since they really couldn’t charge ve of us for possession of a half-bag of weed, the police let us go with a stern warning to lay o the devil’s lettuce. Which we all ignored, even a er doing that hard time in the Boone County slammer.

Call me Mary Poppins ’cause I will feed the damn birds, tuppence a bag.

Now, pot is legal or legal-ish in 19 states, with more coming on every year. Everybody from college kids to your great-grandma is gobbling “edibles” and discussing the merits of sativa versus indica. Last week, President Joe “Cheech” Biden issued a blanket pardon for everyone who’d been convicted of marijuana possession under federal charges, which according to e New York Times, is around 6,500 people. at’s a lot of bird-watching geezers, though not enough to swing a national election, as the Foxers are claiming.

e more important part of President Doobie’s statement was his announced intention to get marijuana removed as a Schedule 1 drug. at’s long overdue. Putting pot in the same class with such drugs as fentanyl and heroin has never made any sense.

But I digress. Bottom line: e possession of pot is no longer “dangerous.” It’s not even cool, if everyone is doing it, right? So please, spare me your judgment, kidz. I’ve got some birdseed to order.

PHOTO: BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH SUNDAY, NOVEMBER

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

HOSTED BY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Shop Local at the best artist, maker, and crafter event of the year!

With 130+ total local and regional artists and makers featured, and different artists each day, enjoy great local shopping and tasty craft beer at this annual family friendly event. Doors are open 10a 4p on Saturday and Sunday!

‘ RIGHT-TO-WORK’?

‘ RIGHT-TO-WORK’?

THE

ON NOVEMBER’S BALLOT COULD HINDER LABOR UNIONS’ BARGAINING POWER.

Can’t Pay Rent”

s the November general election nears, Shelby County residents will soon vote for several key leaders in local, state, and federal positions, along with four proposed amendments to the Tennessee Constitution.

Tennessee Constitutional Amendment 1, or the so-called “right-to-work” amendment, is the central focus of labor organizers this election season. On the November 8th ballot, voters will be instructed to select “yes” or “no” as to whether they want to enshrine “right-to-work” in the state constitution, although the law has been on the books in Tennessee for 75 years, since 1947.

Supporters of the amendment say it will protect workers’ freedom of choice to join unions and strengthen the state economy. Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and current Gov. Bill Lee both support the “right-to-work” amendment, urging residents to vote ‘yes’ in a video statement.

“Right-to-work is common sense, and with federal e orts to repeal it nationwide, it’s time for Tennesseeans to speak up,” Lee said in the video statement.

“ is amendment will protect the rights of Tennessee workers and help keep our economy growing.”

But those who oppose the amendment, like Memphis labor organizer Je rey Lichtenstein, say that “it undermines the nancial and political strength of unions,” ultimately limiting protections and collective bargaining e orts for people in the workplace.

Among the sponsors of the “rightto-work” amendment is Brian Kelsey, a Republican state senator; co-sponsors include Republican state Rep. Kevin Vaughan. Of state legislators who represent Shelby County voters in the Tennessee General Assembly, those in support and those against amending “right-towork” in the state constitution are split at party lines, with Republicans for and Democrats against.

Under the “right-to-work” law, unions are required to represent all employees in a workplace, but unions are not allowed to require that workers pay membership dues in return. On paper, the law reads as if it prevents workers from being forced to join a union, but federal law already guarantees this protection. Essentially, it

forces unions to provide workers with the bene ts of union membership without paying any of the cost.

THE ROOTS OF RIGHT-TO-WORK

e “right-to-work” movement began in the 1930s and took o in the 1940s, led by Southern segregationists and white supremacist businessmen who feared unions promoted worker unity and solidarity across racial lines. In fact, the phrase was popularized by Vance Muse, a Texas oil industry lobbyist and known associate of the racial terror group the Ku Klux Klan.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. actively campaigned against “right-to-work” legislation during his lifetime, drawing the connection between racial and economic equity. In 1961, he told the AFL-CIO that “the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.”

Twelve states, including Tennessee, enacted the law in the 1940s. Over the next several decades, other states adopted

“right-to-work”

laws, but Tennessee is the rst state in the 2020s to attempt to change its constitution with a “right-to-work” amendment. Alabama was the last state to successfully do so in 2016, and Oklahoma did the same in 2001.

Today, 27 states are “right-to-work” states, including Tennessee and the rest of the South. Just nine of those states currently have “right-to-work” enshrined in state constitutions, while 18 have laws on the books. If Tennessee becomes the 10th state to amend its constitution with “right-to-work,” it could “open the oodgate to it happening in other Republicancontrolled states around the country,” Lichtenstein said.

Opponents of Tennessee Constitutional Amendment 1 said embedding “rightto-work” in the state’s constitution aims to limit the bargaining power of unions since it requires them to represent all employees in a workplace, whether or not they are dues-paying union members.

“If there are a bunch of people in unions who are bene ting from them and are not paying any dues to cover the cost of those services, the unions in the state are sort of being sucked dry,” said Lichten-

stein. “[Unions are] unable to ght for better working conditions, to expand union membership, to ght for better workplace protections across the state.”

If “right-to-work” is amended in the state’s constitution, it will become markedly more di cult for future voters and state leaders to pass legislation in favor of organized labor, workers, and unions, “right-to-work” opponents say.

Under current federal law, employers are prohibited from discriminating against workers who refuse to join a union as a condition of employment. So the longterm goal of “right-to-work” is to steadily and slowly erode the collective bargaining power of labor unions — e ectively erasing the collective power and voice of workers, according to Lichtenstein.

“[A union] is funded by its membership, and it has, more than anything else in this country’s history, the strongest record of anti-poverty and ghting for economic equity,” Lichtenstein said.

WORKING IN A “RIGHT-TO-WORK” STATE

organizing coordinator with the Memphis and West Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, said “right-to-work” states tend to have lower wages, and the data backs up her claim.

A 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute shows people in “right-to-work” states, like Tennessee, earn an average of 3 percent less in wages than those in non“right-to-work” states.

In “right-to-work” states, union density — the percentage of workers who are union members — is low, at 6.5 percent, while membership in states that do not have the law on the books is more than double, at almost 14 percent, according to a 2019 analysis by Bloomberg Law. Union organizing activity and work stoppages are also lower in “right-to-work” states, the analysis shows, with nonunion workers earning less than union workers, and workers overall earning less in “right-to-work” states.

Altogether, people in “right-to-work” states earn $11,058 less per year, the poverty rate is higher at 11 percent, workers are 12 percent more likely to be uninsured, and workers have a 57 percent higher risk of dying on the job than

people in non-“right-to-work” states, according to AFL-CIO’s Common Sense Economics training program.

“Right-to-work” supporters, like former Gov. Bill Haslam, say the law supports economic growth, citing “a lot of success recruiting jobs to Tennessee.” Haslam said “right-to-work” is a fundamental reason the state is a good place to live and work.

Opponents of “right-to-work” say the law is why employers are attracted to states like Tennessee: “Businesses come here for that speci c reason. ey’re concerned about growing their money,” Baker said.

Today, Memphis is one of the poorest large metro areas in the nation. Of the 25 largest employers in the area — including FedEx, which employs 30,000 workers alone — only two employers, Shelby County Schools and University of Tennessee Health Science Center, supported increasing hourly wages during the 2018 “Fight for $15” campaign.

Baker said the e ects of what she sees as anti-union and anti-worker “rightto-work” legislation trickles down into communities. People who earn low

wages have di culty accessing a ordable food and a ordable housing, ultimately leading to less money circulating in the local economy. She said the law negatively impacts funding for public schools, infrastructure, and other public goods and services supported by taxpayers, who tend to spend less when wages are lower.

In Memphis, the economy is based heavily on low-wage jobs. Lichtenstein said those who support amending “rightto-work” in the Tennessee Constitution envision a state that’s built on low wages and economic inequality.

“Most people that I talk to think that labor has an inherent dignity, and folks should be able to live a good life working a regular job,” Lichtenstein said. “ at’s also good economics. When you raise wages, you actually help the economy.” Brittany Brown is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Email her at brittany.brown@ mlk50.com.

is story is brought to you by MLK50: Justice rough Journalism, a nonpro t newsroom focused on poverty, power, and policy in Memphis

PHOTO: ANDREA MORALES FOR MLK50

Workers and union supporters march in a July 2020 protest at a McDonald’s on Union Avenue in Midtown. Opponents of Tennessee Constitutional Amendment 1, an item on the November election ballot, say it will undermine workers’ access to collective bargaining and weaken unions.

By Tristin R. Hicks

Toil and Trouble

D

o you know the origins of the word “assassination” or the spell “Double, double, toil and trouble”? Like many things in the modern English language, it’s Shakespeare. More speci cally, Shakespeare’s most infamous and haunting work: the Scottish play, Macbeth Macbeth is a general under King Duncan in 11th-century Scotland. When three witches prophesize his ascension to the throne, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill the king and a score of other characters to quench their thirst for power. Paranoia and madness plague them, leaving tyranny, murder, and civil war in their wake. e Scottish throne hangs in the balance as destiny, ambition, and pride sound as war horns behind the general’s banners. is year, Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC) has selected Macbeth for its free Shout-Out Shakespeare Series. e series allows TSC to tour a condensed version of one of Shakespeare’s plays and o er people an accessible way to experience his work, as well as support the work of the education sta ’s Macbeth Initiative. e initiative is part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Shakespeare in American Communities project, through which TSC o ers workshops to both teachers and students on how to teach and interactively learn Shakespeare’s work on their feet and in the thrall of performance. e tour of Macbeth showcases these teaching artists in a live production.

One of the challenges of having a touring production performing outdoors is adapting to the space. For last Friday night’s show at the International Harvester Managerial Park in Lakeland, the company accomplished this masterfully, beginning just as the sun set behind the tree line. e actors melted out of the horizon in a haunting pageant of choreographed movement that set the tone of elegance and intensity that would build up over the next 85 minutes.

is production has, of course, been scaled down from the full version of Shakespeare’s work. Director Stephanie Shine weeded through two and a half hours’ worth of text and successfully showcases who these characters are as humans. e action and relationships complement the bard’s poetry, so the audience receives a clear message without

getting lost in the language.

Shine is also working with just six actors playing 25 characters. ey seamlessly transition from character to character through techniques such as the old man’s physicality adopted by Rose James’ portrayal of King Duncan or Nicolas Dureaux Picou’s dialect work for Siward and Porter. Allison White’s costume design does wonders in helping the audience track which actor is playing what character. e actors sport kilts, color-coded to distinguish the di erent family houses and made from what looks to be repurposed annel shirts that give a minimalist modern edge to the show’s overall design.

e most compelling point in any production of this play is the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. e actors, TSC veterans Michael Khanlarian

and Lauren Gunn, have explosive chemistry, and Khanlarian’s magnetic portrayal of the infamous Scot draws wandering eyes even when the scene’s focus is not on Macbeth. If nothing else convinces you to see this play, Khanlarian’s “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow …” speech is an astounding rendition.

e work of Pershon Harper, Rose James, and Kellan Oelkers as the witches displays tight synchronicity, giving the impression of one mind in three bodies. When they magically emerge to forewarn Macbeth of his fate, it gives that quintessential spooky element audiences crave so close to Halloween.

Every able person with the time to see this production, should. Aside from the stellar skills of the six-actor ensemble, seeing Shakespeare’s writing in motion and in real time is how we keep these works alive.

TSC’s Macbeth runs every weekend until October 23rd. For locations and touring schedule, visit tnshakespeare.org.

PHOTO: JOEY MILLER (le to right) Pershon Harper, Kellan Oelkers, and Rose James

Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s Macbeth haunts stages across Memphis.

Theatre By The Lake

steppin’ out

We

The Fabric of Our Lives

By Abigail Morici

Look at what you’re wearing. With approximately 90 percent of clothing sold in the U.S. being made with cotton or polyester, it’s likely that you have cotton on you right now or did yesterday or will tomorrow, and it’s even more likely you don’t know who made that article of clothing or what their working conditions were. A er all, the industry behind cotton has a complicated, exploitative history, especially in the U.S. — a history that e Cotton Museum expands upon in its Diversity of the Delta series.

e rst installment of the series occurred last week, with Rhodes professor Tim Huebner speaking on slavery, Memphis, and the Mississippi Delta. is ursday, the museum will host its second installment, this time focusing on the rst Italians to come to the Delta. “ ey came here as sharecroppers, and they su ered a lot,” says Ann Bateman, e Cotton Museum’s manager. “ ere’s no comparison with slavery, however. But they were also abused and discriminated against during the sharecropping era.”

Anthony Borgognoni will present the talk, based on his mother Elizabeth’s research into the history of Italian immigrants who came to the Sunnyside Plantation in Lake Village, Arkansas, in 1895. Bateman also says that museum will touch on the Chinese immigrant connection to the cotton industry in a future talk in 2023. “We’re going to keep trying to continue that series as long as we have people who will speak and people who are interested.”

Out of this series also came the inspiration for the museum’s latest temporary exhibit: “Cultural In uences in Quilting.” Just as cotton has an interconnected history between cultures so does the practice of quilting, and these cultural in uences evince themselves in the di erent patterns, color blocking, and stitching.

Being able to see the di erent in uences — Japanese, German, Indigenous, Italian, and African, among others — in one room, Bateman says, shows how cotton, “a wonderful and valuable crop,” has the potential to unify if used for good.

+

“CULTURAL INFLUENCES IN QUILTING,” THE COTTON MUSEUM AT THE MEMPHIS COTTON EXCHANGE, ON DISPLAY THROUGH OCTOBER 31. DIVERSITY OF THE DELTA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 6 P.M., FREE.

Arsenic and Old Lace eatre Memphis, Friday, October 14-October 30, $25 e outrageous and comedic play by Joseph Kesselring comes to Memphis. A longtime favorite for theaters, the chaos in the play surrounds Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic, who must deal with his crazy family as he debates whether to marry the woman next door whom he loves. His two spinster aunts “lace” their wine to poison lonely old men as they engage the help of one brother (who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt) to dig locks for the Panama Canal in the basement. And then there is the murderous other brother who has altered his appearance to conceal his identity. How will it all end?

Performances run ursdaySaturday at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

Fall Fest at the Nest St. Benedict at Auburndale High School, Friday-Saturday, October 14-15, free Soar like an eagle right over to Fall Fest at the Nest and enjoy fun, family, and music. Don’t miss The Marshall Tucker Band live in concert. Shop vendors and enjoy a car show, chili cook-off, cornhole tournament, rides, food trucks, $10,000 cash raffle, and more!

MoSH Fiesta Museum of Science & History, Friday, October 14, 6 p.m., $20 Celebrate the influence, contributions, and cultures of Hispanic and Latine Memphians. Enjoy dynamic performances by Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group and a dance party for the whole family.

Soulsville USA Festival

Soulsville USA, Saturday, October 15, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free The 2022 Soulsville USA Festival takes place in the historic Soulsville USA district on College and McLemore. The mission of the event is to improve, strengthen, and empower Soulsville USA inhabitants while also fostering a safe, welcoming, varied, and economically viable neighborhood.

In addition to the stellar music lineup spread across three stages, the festival includes free entry to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, a kids zone with games and other fun activities, health and fitness activities at Memphis Rox, vendors, food trucks, and more.

By Alex Greene

Sing a Happie Song

From the

Should you attend services at Temple Israel in Memphis, there may soon come a day when you recognize the cantorial soloist’s voice as the same voice in the latest indie pop internet hit. It may seem unlikely, but in Memphis all things are possible. Of course that part about the latest hit is pure speculation, but it’s not far-fetched, given that the leading musical voice of Temple Israel is Happie Ho man, a singer with uncanny pop instincts.

Yet, while the artist known as Happie is already turning heads, with two performances at this week’s Austin City Limits Festival, don’t think that her work at Temple Israel is an a erthought. Indeed, the singer’s love of music was born in the synagogue, and her ongoing work there remains at the core of her being. “I hold space for people spiritually in Memphis, and strive to bring spiritual comfort when singing and praying. I’m a fully integrated part of the clergy team at Temple Israel. My aim is to move people spiritually, and my mode of doing that is music.”

Jewish spiritual music at signi cant historical, political, and religious sites. at came about through the BBYO (formerly the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, Inc., now known only by the acronym) and a musical partner Ho man met there named Eric Hunker. “BBYO is very big in Memphis. It’s the world’s largest Jewish teen movement. Eric and I met through that organization, inspiring teens around the world,” Ho man says. “We worked — and still do some work together — in Jewish spiritual communities around the world. We played in Auschwitz, at the United Nations, in Russia, in Moldova, and all over Eastern Europe. We both feel incredibly lucky to do this work, and inspire and connect with people musically. I’m very grateful that we’re able to still work together.”

e two also worked in more secular forms, as with their 2016 album, It’s Yours, a largely acoustic work in the Americana vein, featuring their stellar harmonies. Two years a er that, they released Hamavdil, an EP of their Jewish spiritual music. en, in 2020, she was named cantorial soloist at the synagogue where it all started. “Taking this position a few years ago was a return to home,” she says.

at was only a year a er the end of Eric and Happie’s collaborative rst chapter, though, the singer stresses, “We still work together.”

PHOTO: SHERVIN LAINEZ Happie Ho man

It all started half a lifetime ago, when the singer, now 30, was still in high school. “I’ve been singing at Temple since I was a teenager,” Ho man says. “ at’s where I really learned to sing in front of people, and learned to sing Jewish music. One of my mentors in the Jewish music world told me, ‘Happie, your voice is beautiful. Why don’t you try learning guitar? You could do so much.’ at person was Rick Recht, a prominent Jewish musician based in St. Louis, who would o en travel to Memphis to mentor young musicians. And at that point, I bought a guitar o of Craigslist and started watching YouTube videos on how to play.”

It was a pivotal moment in the singer’s life, and following music’s call has already taken her around the world, o en singing

Lately, known simply as Happie, she’s pursuing a more individual path. And her appearance at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas this week is “de nitely a milestone,” she says.

“I’ve been playing around New York with my band since February. is is our rst big festival, and it coincides with the new music and album in the coming weeks.” e new album, Heartbreak Season, due November 11th, chronicles Happie’s quest for a deep romantic relationship, mixing acoustic instrumentation with sleek, radio-friendly electro-ambience.

“My Jewish music was vulnerable, and letting people know they are not alone,”

Ho man says of her new direction. “In some ways this new music is no di erent — it’s about being open — but I am writing about my heart, so these songs are personal in a di erent way. My hope is to help people connect to their emotions through music. Whether I’m singing Jewish spiritual music or indie pop, I want to try to help people tap into that space, where they can access emotion.”

singer’s

CALENDAR of EVENTS: October 13 - 19

ART AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS

“Brooks Outside: Evanescent”

An immersive, outdoor light and sound experience.

Through Oct. 16.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART “CHOICE”

Demonstrating solidar ity in the face of threats to individual and reproductive rights. Through Oct. 21.

MARSHALL ARTS GALLERY

Jack O’Lantern World

Thousands of carved jack o’lanterns are coming to Memphis. Through Oct. 30.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

“Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960”

Exploring women’s athletic and spectating attire from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Through Oct. 16.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

BOOK EVENTS

An Evening with Florence Williams Florence Williams will discuss her book, The Nature Fix. $25. Wednesday, Oct. 19, 5-8 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART Meet the Author: Margaret Burnham Celebrating the release of By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners. Thursday, Oct. 13, 6 p.m.

NOVEL

Reading and Book

Signing with Steve Stern

Meet Steve Stern, author of The Village Idiot. Thursday, Oct. 13, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

BURKE’S BOOK STORE

Reading and Book

Signing with Tom Piazza

Meet Tom Piazza, author of Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories Wednesday, Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m.

BURKE’S BOOK STORE

COMEDY

Dave Stone

L.A.-based comedian Dave Stone headlines on his way to film his new special in Atlanta. Tuesday, Oct. 18, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

BRASS DOOR IRISH PUB

COMMUNITY

A Step Ahead Fall Fundraiser

Cookout dinner, live music, and fun times. $25. Thursday, Oct. 13, 6 p.m.

RAILGARTEN

Pick up for a Pint!

Volunteers will disperse across the neighborhood to pick up trash and receive free beer. Sat urday, Oct. 15, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS MADE BREWING COMPANY

FAMILY

Zoo Boo

Things are getting stranger at the Memphis Zoo. Friday, Oct. 14-Oct. 31, select nights.

MEMPHIS ZOO

FESTIVAL

Fall Fest at the Nest Shop vendors, chili cook-off, cornhole, rides, food trucks, music, $10,000 cash raffle, and more. Friday, Oct. 14-Oct. 15.

ST. BENEDICT AT AUBURNDALE

Fall Fetch Fest

Celebrate the 10-year an niversary of Overton Bark. Free. Saturday, Oct. 15, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

OVERTON BARK DOG PARK

Harvest Festival at Agricenter Pumpkin painting, games, ac tivities, hay rides, and live music. Free. Saturday, Oct. 15, 9 a.m.

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL

Memphis Brewfest

Serving unlimited samples from 50+ breweries and cider ies. $40+. Saturday, Oct. 15, 3-6:30 p.m.

LIBERTY BOWL STADIUM

Memphis Food & Wine Festival Interact face-to-face with lead

ing chefs and vintners from across the nation. Saturday, Oct. 15, 6-10 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Shop Black Fest Support local Black-owned businesses. Saturday, Oct. 15, noon-5 p.m.

RIVERSIDE + BASS PRO DR.

Soulsville USA Festival Music, free entry to the Stax Museum, a kids zone, activi ties, vendors, and more. Satur day, Oct. 15, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

SOULSVILLE USA

Tambourine Bash

A night of Memphis music collaborations you won’t forget. Thursday, Oct. 13, 7-10 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

FILM

Queen Rising Movie Opening

A struggling teacher dives into her dark past surrounding the “College Town Slayings.” Friday, Oct. 7-Oct. 16.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

FOOD AND DRINK

Dixon Beer Garden

Featuring herbs grown on-site,

Margaret Burnham will discuss recent release By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners with Laura Faith Kebede.

Park + Cherry, and other Memphis favorites! Friday, Oct. 14, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS Garden Party

A modern twist on a clas sic outdoor party! Sunday, Oct. 16, 2-6 p.m.

ANNESDALE MANSION

Pancakes for Primates Build your own pancakes and enjoy the primate keeper chat, a gorilla feeding, and fun gorilla enrichment. Saturday, Oct. 15, 9-10:30 a.m.

MEMPHIS ZOO

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Witches Ride and Run 5K/10K

Also offering children’s activi ties, candy, and food. Saturday, Oct. 15, 9 a.m.

JUNIOR LEAGUE OF MEMPHIS

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.

Cocktails & Conversation 2022

An evening of delicious treats and thoughtful conversation about the “Business of Sport.” Friday, Oct. 14, 6 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

MoSH Fiesta

Celebrate the influence, con tributions, and cultures of His panic and Latine Memphians. $20. Friday, Oct. 14, 6 p.m.

SPORTS

Memphis Basketball Block Party

Kicking off men’s and women’s basketball seasons with team introductions, music, in flatables, games, and more! Free.

Saturday, Oct. 15, 3-5:30 p.m.

UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LUTHER

C. MCCLELLAN ALUMNI MALL

PERFORMING ARTS

Circus Bezerkus: Freakshow!

Highlighting and showcasing the dark underbelly of the circus arts. $10, $25. Thursday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Master Works by Collage Dance Collective

Experience the father of American ballet, George Bal anchine, plus more masterful works. Friday, Oct. 14-Oct. 16.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

The Beat Goes On Lisa McClowry performs as Cher in this tribute. $32.95, $52.95. Friday, Oct. 14, 9 p.m.

GOLD STRIKE CASINO

SPECIAL EVENTS

Adult Field Day Fundraiser for CHOICES. $40. Saturday, Oct. 15, noon-4 p.m.

LOFLIN YARD

Archaeology Day

Featuring flintknapping, atlatl dart throwing, pottery craft, birds of prey, guided nature hike, and more. Free. Saturday, Oct. 15, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

C.H. NASH MUSEUM AT CHUCALISSA

Memphis Grizzlies vs. New York Knicks Wednesday, Oct. 19, 6:30 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

THEATER

Arsenic and Old Lace

The outrageous and comedic play by Joseph Kesselring. Friday, Oct. 14-Oct. 30.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Kill Move Paradise

Four Black men find them selves stuck in a waiting room for the afterlife. Friday, Oct. 14-Oct. 30.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Pass Over

Politically charged and beauti fully provocative. Through Oct. 19.

CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE

Pretty Woman

One of Hollywood’s most beloved romantic stories. $29$125. Through Oct. 16.

ORPHEUM THEATRE

Macbeth

TSC’s Free Shout-Out Shake speare Series returns.Various locations and various times. Visit tnshakespeare.org. MEMPHIS

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

ate Oliva, his wife Aimee Wortham, and Sammy Marten will open their Half Cocked food truck October 14th in front of 2178 Madison Avenue.

e “Japanese chicken shack” is “essentially a new concept,” Oliva says. “Something di erent to o er Midtown.”

ey’re serving chicken karaage, a traditional Japanese chicken dish. e chicken is twice-fried in potato starch. “So, it’s extra crispy.”

It’s also gluten-free. “We believe it’s going to be the best fried chicken in Memphis,” Oliva says. “We want to ru e a few feathers — pun partially intended. ere are so many good places to get fried chicken in Memphis, but we feel there’s always room for another place in that sector.”

mones. We believe in being ethical.”

e donburi rice bowl ingredients include candied ginger and shallots with a grapefruit citrus garnish. “If you add a fried egg on top — BOOM. It’s just over the top.”

Oliva’s interest in Japanese cuisine peaked when he worked at Uchi in Austin, Texas. “It’s a nationally renowned Japanese restaurant. Chef Tyson Cole was on Iron Chef America.”

Oliva also was chef de cuisine at Erling Jensen: e Restaurant. “A er learning about French food from Erling, once I became acquainted with Japanese food, that was it.”

He and Marten met two years ago. “A er talking about food, we just said, ‘We need to do something. Get a trailer and do something.’ We both grew up in Italian families, so food is a given.”

Marten was the owner of the old Creole Cafe. “I was a stand-up comic for years,” he adds. He also was in movies, including Dirty Movie and Another Dirty Movie

He will be an operating partner at Half Cocked. “I’m not going to be nearly as involved at the stove, so to speak.” Wortham will be the up-front person and catering events point of contact.

Oliva describes it as “a savory bite with an international avor. e marinade has shiro dashi, soy, sake, mirin, and some other special ingredients. e potato starch allows us to achieve a coating better than what you do with wheat our. It stays crispy. It allows you to add other avors, add on other stu if you want to make it spicy.”

“Shiro dashi is like Japanese chicken stock. It’s the mother of everything,” he adds.

e rst time he tried chicken karaage, Oliva was “ oored by the explosion of contrasting avors. It’s salty and sweet and sour. All of those things will be balanced out instead of being too much one way or another.”

e chicken — “prime meat that’s been cut up” — is made to eat with chopsticks. We’re serving it with a rice bowl.”

“We de nitely improved on the chicken nugget,” Marten adds.

ey fry the chicken in peanut oil. “We use chicken that’s never had any antibiotics. Ever,” Oliva says. “No growth hor-

Oliva considers working with Jensen and chef Judd Grisanti as his culinary school. “A big part of this whole thing was I was a complete blackout drunk. I was a highly functioning, successful alcoholic. I managed to become chef de cuisine at Erling Jensen’s. I’m proud of the work I did there. And I’m really proud of the fact I quit drinking ve years ago. I fell back in love with the restaurant business a er I got sober.”

Half Cocked will also o er a seasonal menu. “Not what people expect from a food truck,” Oliva says. “We’ll let the market dictate what is good during that part of the year. We like to shop at farmers market a lot. We get beautiful Chinese eggplants, skewer them, and grill them over charcoal and do a little miso glaze with fresh herbs.

e point is the food is light, not heavy, but super-satisfying.

“We’re going to have tons of other stu we have not unleashed; lots of tricks up my sleeve.”

“Me and Sammy are both Louisiana boys,” Oliva adds. “He’s from Hammond. I’m from Shreveport. We might have boiled peanuts and craw sh boil next week.”

PHOTO:

Aimee Wortham, Nate Oliva, and Sammy Marten

By Chris McCoy

Secrets and Lies

Madison (April Hale) has had a hard life. When she was young, her father (Henry E. Reaves III) was a political activist. “I can’t believe we still have to deal with racism in America! It’s the 1990s!” her mother Gina (Rekeitha Morris) exclaims at the dinner table when her younger daughter Brooke (played as a child by twins Candice and Taylor Bradburn) tells the family one of the boys at school called her the n-word. eir father is more direct. If anyone hurls slurs at his kids, he instructs them to respond immediately, with force.

But before the two sisters can grow up, their father dies under mysterious circumstances. Gina quickly remarries, but her new husband doesn’t live up to the high standards her former husband set. He’s abusive and violent, and before long, the two girls are on their own.

Madison, now an adult, struggles to keep the family home that is the girls’ only legacy from their parents. She’s gainfully employed as a beloved, but no-nonsense elementary school teacher. But with

Brooke (played as a college-age student by Jessie Reeder) in school, it’s hard to make ends meet. “I just wish they would pay teachers what we’re worth!” she says to her new friend Greg (Xamon Glasper).

Don’t we all, Madison.

Ben has a potential solution to Madison’s money problems. Turns out he’s a writer with big connections. His boss Mr. Laurent (Phil Darius Wallace) runs a publishing house which specializes in true crime novels. Madison had revealed to Ben that, when she was a student at

Blu City College, she was a witness to the infamous College Town Slayings. In fact, her former beaux Ben (Dash Kennedy Williams) had been the prime suspect in the killings that took the lives of ve of her classmates.

Madison has never opened up to anyone but the police about her awful college experiences. She’s had more than enough trauma for one lifetime, and she’s not too keen on dredging up bad memories for fun and pro t. But then Mr. Laurent reveals exactly how much pro t is on the

April Hale (above) and Henry E. Reaves III (le ) star in this lm.

table — it’s more than enough to save the house and ensure Brooke can nish her studies. Soon, Madison nds herself in Greg’s home o ce, where a sign on the wall says, “Do something today that your future self with thank you for.” Whether her future self will thank her for the tour of bad relationships, enduring mysteries, and PTSD that live in her damaged psyche is very much up in the air.

Queen Rising is an independent production made in Memphis by mostly homegrown talent. Director Princeton James is well-known on the lm scene here for acting roles in Blu City Law and short lms by Mark Jones and Noah Glenn. His feature directing debut is blessed with a sizable budget (by indie world standards, anyway) and a crackerjack crew. Cinematographer Jordan Danelz makes his presence felt with

Queen Rising is a made-in-Memphis lm that punches way above its weight.

impeccable lighting choices and some truly lovely frames. From the rich hues of Madison and Brooke’s Midtown bungalow to the beautiful exteriors shot at Rhodes College, this is a gorgeous film.

It certainly helps that the cast is incred ibly good-looking. But Hale is more than a pretty face. She’s a prolific actor who got her start in the Indie Memphis scene with the late director Rod Pitts’ cult classic rom com What Goes Around… Hale holds down the demanding lead role with con fidence, and subtly. You can always sense that her Madison knows a lot more than she’s telling, and that she’s learned to keep her mouth shut through hard experience. (I will also put in a good word for Miguela Gary, a young actor of great poise who plays Madison as a child.) Reaves, who co-wrote the screenplay with producer

Allison Chaney, nails his big speech as Madison and Brooke’s father. The great Memphis actor Phil Darius Wallace slays as the mysterious publishing magnate who will either help Madison’s dreams come true or make her life a living nightmare — possibly both! James knows that all you need to do is point a camera at Wallace and he’ll take care of the rest.

Queen Rising’s ambitious script rushes some beats, and details vital to the twisty plot breeze by very fast. But there’s no question that this entertaining work shows James’ and the rest of the team’s great potential. This is a Memphis film that punches way above its weight.

Queen Rising Now playing Multiple locations

EMPLOYMENT

IT ARCHITECT II

needed at Terminix International Company, L.P. in Memphis, TN. Must have bach in Info Sys, Comp Sci, or related & 8 yrs’ software development & operations experience, including: Product concept development, requirements mgmt, functional analysis, interface definition & control, synthesis, verification & validation; Generating technical documentation such as specifications, engineering reports, test plans & procedures, validation plans, & validation reports; CI/CD architecture; GoLang, Groovy, Python, Java, .Netcore, Maven, MSBUILD, npm, Kubernetes; Leading, building & implementing a large scale transition to Enterprise Information Architecture includingapplication development, integration & data integration/data exchange; Designing & implementing a fully automated single click release deployments (CI/CD) Framework; Accelerated Ops Team’s productivity by writing Ansible/Puppet/CloudFormation Scripts for performing Day to Day operations which include Server provisioning (Linux & Windows), Software installations & make it ready for application teams; Implementing Self-Service deployment, Centralized Monitoring & Logging solution jobs for the Application teams; Architect e-commerce platform migration from Azure VM’s to Azure App Service solution; Automated infrastructure deployments using CloudFormation, Terraform, Jenkins, AzureDevOps & Ansible. Email CVs to: applications@terminix.com. EOE - M/F/D/V.

SR. GLOBAL SOURCING ANALYST

needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN.

Must have Bach in Statistics or related & 5 yrs exp in a multi national retail environment, incl: Merchandising Analysis, Category Management, Cost modeling, or Supply chain; SAS (Base & Macros), SQL programming, Data visualization tools & VBA; activity-based costing, product sourcing, category management, microeconomics, statistical process control, business process analysis, continuous improvement & business modeling using techniques such as linear regression, experiments, & time series forecasting; data analysis skills to provide solutions & make recommendations on merchandising; building a landed cost model; quantitative modeling to build logistics & transportation models. Will accept a master’s & 3 yrs exp in lieu of a bach & 5 yrs exp. Email resumes to: taresume@autozone.com. EOE

SR. VISUAL

MERCHANDISING ANALYST

needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bach in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs of exp, incl: SQL skills incl query optimization, creation & management of tables, subqueries, & complex aggregations; C#, SAS, R, Python, Unix; web development to support analyst & visual merchandising operations; statistical modelingincluding forecasting, customer segmentation, & cluster analysis. Experience must include at least 3 years of supply chain, visual merchandising, retail store operations, retail space automation. Email resumes to: taresume@autozone.com. EOE

ENGINEERING

SR. SYSTEMS ENGINEER

needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bach in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs of development exp, incl: Java Spring Framework, Spring boot, Spring Batch, Spring JPA, Hibernate, Cloud native architecture, Pivotal Cloud Foundry, & microservices architecture; Messaging systems incl ActiveMQ; Data Structures, Advanced Algorithms, System design, Java EE, Java core, Java Reflection, SQL, & RDBMS; Operating systems -UNIX, Linux, & Windows; Database Technologies - Oracle DB, SQLite DB, Postgres DB, & DB2/SQL; Agilemethodology. Must have 2 yrs of development experience with Java - OAuth 2.0, Google cloud platform, Event-driven systems; Messaging Systems - Kafka & GCP pub sub; JavaScript - ReactJS & Node.js; QT C++. Email resumes to: taresume@autozone.com.

BUY, SELL, TRADE

WANTED: OLD WINDUP

& 78 records.

old

Be a part of something big.

Zero-Sum Hummers

Nature as endless metaphor for our human foibles.

I adore my hummingbirds, arguably the best in-close yers in the world, with reaction times so fast they zip in next to angry defensive bees to score a sip of sugar water despite the bees coming at them in a bee fury that would dissuade virtually any other critter, including me.

Two feeders full of sugar water hang not 40 inches from me, just outside my home o ce window. Who needs Net ix when I can turn to the Hummingbird Channel?

A tiny hummer can dart backwards and hover, waiting a human heartbeat for the bee to either peel o or charge toward it, and if the bee is serious, the bird might wheel and bug out or might zigzag into another port of the feeder to see what the bee will do then.

Of course during that human heartbeat the little hummer’s heart beats some 200 times. ey must perceive even the quickest human or bee as operating in slo-mo. No bee has ever caught any hummer at my feeders.

Watching the bird feeders is observing nature as an endless metaphor for our human foibles. Like humans, hummingbirds fall for the zero-sum approach to sharing with others. ey seem to be convinced that whatever sips another hummer can take means that much less for them. Classic zero-sum thinking.

ere are two feeders with four ports on each. Eight hummingbirds could easily share those. ey never do. ey expend enormous energy chasing one another in wild aerial acrobatics that make the Blue Angels look staid and clumsy.

I guess their little brains can’t seem to learn what should be obvious. Human beings are at the top of the intelligence pyramid because we learn so much, so quickly, and advance so easily. We wouldn’t fall for the same sort of wasteful error that the hummingbirds do.

Um, yeah.

We barely survived four years of a regime led by the quintessential zero-sum thinker, Donald Trump, who reminds me of a hog guarding a rotting carcass, chasing o other scavengers to keep all that delicious lth for himself. No matter what the comparator, he boasted that he was at the top, smarter about national defense than “his” generals, more intelligent than the U.S. intelligence services, more able to brilliantly analyze the “China u” problem than world-renowned virologists, and just generally a “very stable genius.”

But we can all fall into similar — if less world-stagey — logic traps. Overcoming our amygdala reaction to seeing someone else doing well is our daily challenge.

My zero-sum white man reaction to immigrants or refugees coming into “my” country might be, “You will not replace us!”

My evidence-based response would be closer to, “Welcome. Like any ecosystem, our diversity is our strength. Work, study, learn, be productive, pay taxes, create a future for your family here. Help us repair and improve our nation’s image around the world. We are glad to make this your new homeland.”

My zero-sum white man reaction to a person of color, possibly an immigrant, being hired by my employer might be, “Stealing our jobs! I gotta gure out how to undermine this one.”

My evidenced-based response would be more like, “Welcome. e most successful work teams are those that can operate well in a complex world economy. Let’s learn from each other and perform at our top potential.”

e hummers are fun to watch chasing each other. It’s like an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, with Elmer Fudd chasing him and Da y, and the perspective showing a long hallway with many doors and all of them suddenly popping out of random doors with no idea of how they got there. e hummers go streaking past my window, then suddenly sprint downward from above my window, and it’s pure entertainment for me.

But our human zero-sum analysis tendencies have a more malevolent outcome and show us o en at our worst. From white nationalists to Vladimir Putin to anyone who feels like someone else’s misfortune is their gain, those stories are ugly.

Can we show that we are even smarter than a bird that weighs about the same as a penny? One wonders.

Tom H. Hastings is coordinator of con ict resolution degree programs at Portland State University, Peace Voice senior editor, and on occasion an expert court witness for the defense of civil resisters.

Are we smarter than a bird that weighs about the same as a penny? One wonders.

Tom H. Hastings