One little stitch can put a hitch in morning

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

October 29, 2009

When I was a boy, we got our shoes at Youngtown behind the Lowenstein's Department Store in Poplar Plaza.

I would perch up on a tall booth with my socked feet on the metal pegs while a salesman slipped a pair of creamy Buster Browns on me. I was then made to stand while my mother and the salesman took turns pushing down on my toes, squeezing the sides and sliding my heel in and out.

"Is this too tight? ... Too loose? ... Does this pinch? ... Is there room? ..." they asked.

I gave them half answers: "Pretty good. Not too. Sorta,'" knowing that whatever the next day brought, cramped toes or blistered heel, I wouldn't complain. The questioning I went through at the time of purchase had been too rigorous for me to dare speak up 24 hours later.

Our kids' shoes come from Target now. I guess. Shoe buying isn't really my department. Some are handed down from friends' kids, I'm pretty sure. For all I know, my children are taking shoes from classmates ... (read more)

Competition reminds Memphians who's keeping area hotel rooms looking sharp

Daily Business news story for The Commercial Appeal

October 27, 2009

Even as the Phillies and Yankees prepare to meet in the World Series, 12 other teams spent Monday afternoon making beds in this year's World Series of Housekeeping.

The sponsoring Metropolitan Memphis Hotel & Lodging Association will use the teams' $100 registration fees on a scholarship endowment for the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management at the University of Memphis.

"Housekeepers are stuck in the trenches, so this event gets them out," said Peggy Callahan, executive director of the hotel association. "It's fun for them, and it's team building." ... (read more)

Siskind Susser firm builds niche in immigration law

Business news feature for The Commercial Appeal

October 24, 2009

The labyrinthine legal maze employers must negotiate just to complete the hiring process often goes unnoticed.

But mistakes -- large and small -- result in conspicuous consequences.

Such consequences may not end in large-scale worksite raids that generate national media coverage, but they can result in a series of smaller fines that can be crippling to a midsize business.

It's after such mistakes are found -- normally through an audit -- when the expertise of Greg Siskind with Siskind Sutter Law Firm, Memphis' largest immigration law firm, would come in.

It's an expertise that has just become more accessible to employers and their human resource departments with the release of Siskind's new book, "The Employer's Immigration Compliance Desk Reference." ... (read more)

Think of our kids' future when voting

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

October 15, 2009

It is such an auspicious week, with Memphis on the verge of change, that I decided I should sit down and talk it over with my kids. I wanted to ensure they grasped the auspiciousness, so, to be certain, I looked up what "auspicious" means before sitting them down at the family table.

These kids usually have trouble grasping bedtime, yet I had faith that the transforming days ahead would register with them.

"I have something important, something of a civic nature I'd like to discuss with you today," I said.

At this point, my three older children stood and left the room, leaving me with 3-year-old Genevieve at the far end of the table.

"It's just us then," I said.

She folded her newspaper down, obviously upset that I'd taken her away from Geoff Calkins and Wendi Thomas, the only two columns she reads.

"Pardon?" she said.

I told her that there are things going on in this city that she, even at her age, should pay attention to. There are characters on the civic stage this week who deserve attention and have the ability to thrust Memphis into a national spotlight.

The ensuing dialogue went something like this: ... (read more)

Attorneys flip flapjacks for Komen fundraiser

Business news feature for The Commercial Appeal

October 10, 2009

At Calvary Church Downtown Friday morning there was no shop talk, only good-natured banter over eggs, pancakes, sausage and coffee.

For the 10th year, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz has sponsored the Barrister's Pancake Breakfast benefiting the Memphis branch of the Mid-South affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

"If you look around, there are judges, attorneys, the city mayor is here today, members of staff including sheriff's deputies and representatives from the clerks association," said Leo Bearman, shareholder of the Memphis-based law firm. "It's really a bar association fundraiser and my law firm is happy to be the motivator." ... (read more)

Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum on right track at Central Station

Local news feature for The Commercial Appeal

Oct. 10, 2009

As concepts go, this one has barely left the station, yet it seems to already be heading down the right track.

The Memphis Society of Model Railroaders -- a 75-member, 50-year-old organization of train enthusiasts and hobbyists -- has signed a letter of intent with Central Station and the Memphis Area Transit Authority to develop the Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum inside the Downtown train station.

"In Memphis, the railroads were vitally important," said Hugh Teaford, the model railroad society's president. "The river took goods up and down the country, but trains brought it all inland. There are five trains that come in here now." ... (read more)

Hornby hits another musical note with "Juliet, Naked"

Book review of Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby for The Commercial Appeal blog, "The Shelf Life."

October 6, 2009

When Nick Hornby first hit big with his novel High Fidelity, it was an instant classic among young men whose affinity for pop culture and music trivia are worn on the sleeves of their black CBGB t-shirts.

With Juliet, Naked (Riverhead Books, $26), his fifth novel, it becomes apparent that his target audience is a group of men in their mid-to-late 30s who were once young men who wore their affinity for pop culture and music trivia on the sleeves of their black CBGB t-shirts. They are now, in their age of reason, able to see the folly in a life where an entire evening's conversation might center around the importance of the track order of Nirvana's seminal grunge album, Nevermind. The view taken of their own past selves, however, is not theirs alone, but is filtered through the eyes of their wives, girlfriends, children and ex-girlfriends.

Perhaps Hornby has aged with his audience. Perhaps he has grown just as those of us who devoured High Fidelity and laughed at (with) anyone who might plan a mix tape around a day of the week or an acquaintance's death. Or those of us who might be obsessive over a particular artist. Say, Elvis Costello, for instance. Listening to that man's work day in and day out until his wife pleads to "please, for the love of all that is holy, can we listen to anything else? Anything. Put on Chaka Khan for all I care." ... (read more)

St. Jude employee band plays Cleveland for corporate musicians' crown

Business feature for The Commercial Appeal

October 2, 2009

The Mighty Electric St. Jude Band, a nine-piece group made up of St. Jude employees and spouses, leaves today for the ninth annual Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

The event is sponsored by the National Organization of Music Merchants, Gibson Guitars, the museum and Fortune magazine.

The competition contestants were whittled from 34 bands to only eight.

"We're excited to be included in the event," said Brent Royer, director of creative media services for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by day, percussionist and vocalist by night. "We got to see some of the bands at the regional qualifier in Nashville, and there were some really, really talented groups." ... (read more)

Home becoming museum for kids' art

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

October 1, 2009

One of the first really confusing things about children for me, other than how you make a diaper stay on and how to bathe a kid in the kitchen sink and then prepare food to eat later in and around that sink, was what to do with all of the "artwork" brought home from school.

If we're frank, it's not very good, is it? Be honest, parents. We tell our kids how talented they are and how the drawing of a house looks "just like our house" but, in reality, the windows are all out of proportion to the structure, and you would never, ever paint your house that shade of purple.

Yet, we feel compelled to keep this ... art. First, on the refrigerator with the decorative magnet they made in kindergarten which, honestly, isn't very attractive either. Later the artwork ends up stacked at the far end of your kitchen counter. There, just above the junk drawer, shuffled in with bills, coupons and an unfinished crossword. But then what? It can't stay there forever ... (read more)