Richard Russo is a man obsessed with bridges. In his novels, these bridges are largely symbolic, spanning the chasm of emotions and responsibility that men feel, bridges they must cross on the road to coming to terms with divorce, death, estranged children, age and loss.
In his previous novel, Bridge of Sighs, and his latest, That Old Cape Magic (Alfred A. Knopf, $26), those bridges, while still metaphoric, have become quite real ... (read more)
A group of immigrant students from Central High School and the City University School of Liberal Arts charter school worked as cross-culture volunteers at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare last year.
About 60 students are expected to enroll in the program this school year.
"The volunteers come after school twice a week for two hours and learn the clinical side of the hospital, teaching, nursing, administration," said Johnekia Catron, manager of volunteer services for Methodist Le Bonheur. "They shadow paramedics in the emergency room and work in same-day surgery."... (read more)
I registered my kids for school almost two weeks ago. It takes no less paperwork to buy a house than it does to register three children for the Memphis City Schools system. I'm not even sure what I signed, I may very well have contracted them away into indentured servitude.
(That is not a complaint.)
The kids began their new schools last week, Richland Elementary and White Station Middle. By all reports, the first week was a success, although those are the reports of my kids themselves and not their teachers ... (read more)
For our country, the summer of 1969 was a time of violence and uncertainty, and the perfect time in history for the sea change that the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend, could offer. The three-day celebration of peace, love, music and more left everyone involved with lifelong memories.
For former Memphian Bonnie Roberts, then 19, memories of Woodstock begin with a wedding in New England. Or, more precisely, a bridal shower, hosted by a friend who offered to take her to Woodstock on the back of her boyfriend's Harley Davidson.
Getting there, it turned out, would be part of the adventure ... (read more)
In the summer of 2007, two teens drowned while swimming in public pools in Memphis. From the tragedy sprang the Make A Splash Mid-South program through Safe Kids Mid-South at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center.
The goals of the program, according to Susan Helms, Le Bonheur's director of injury prevention, are to offer swimming lessons to those who otherwise couldn't afford it, enhance lifeguard training and inject diversity into swim meets.
"The community was outraged by the drownings, and it was the perfect time for the two, Safe Kids and Le Bonheur, to work together," Helms said ... (read more)
Barack Obama and I will be the first to tell you that it's not easy being president. Oh, sure, the hand waving and goodwill junkets, and even the budget stuff, is simple. But sometimes there is discord among your people. Occasionally there is a situation in your country or, as I refer to it, living room, that requires immediate attention and I, the president, am the only one who can attend to these matters.
Recently, with so many of my little countrymen out of work for the summer and home all day right here in my rose garden, there has been a loss of patience and inflammatory remarks made, some lashing out in anger and frustration. Tempers have flared.
I've tried to be diplomatic about it like a good leader and sit all parties involved down to discuss the matter like adults ... (read more)
