There is a floating island of marine trash in the northern Pacific Ocean. Have you heard of this? It’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex, and it’s a swirling mass of plastics and chemical sludge collected from around the world that some reports claim is twice the size of Hawaii.

Our dining room table is a lot like that.

We’re a family that eats meals together. We have dinner every night in our dining room at a massive 4-by-8 solid oak piece of furniture my wife got me for Father’s Day years ago. Can’t see it? That’s because all 32 square feet of it is covered in backpacks, jackets, folders, papers, novels, textbooks, mail and other paraphernalia.

You know that giant magnet Wile E. Coyote uses to try to pull Roadrunner into his clutches from across the desert? Or the tractor beam Darth Vader’s henchmen use to pull the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star?

Our table is also a lot like these … (read more)

These 20-somethings are the denizens of a city many of us may not even recognize. It’s a place that we might as well call “New Memphis” for all of the positive changes occurring — the planned revitalization of the Overton Square theater arts district, an Overton Park Conservancy, omnipresent bike lanes on city streets, urban gardens sprouting like weeds, private and government grant money pouring into coffers, and a general attitude shift more powerful than the New Madrid fault. They’re not of an older lineage of “can’t-dos” but one of a new breed: the “why-nots.” Those on the list this year are stepping out and taking risks in careers and community. They’re bettering themselves now to be more productive, creative, and helpful later on.

On this list of 20 people in their 20s are painters, actors, and an athlete. There are musicians, three former members of the military, a handful of radio show hosts, a seamstress, and a conductor of orchestras. They are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. We have five entrepreneurs, a dancer, an elected official, and those who dream of one day being elected. They write, they tweet, they meet, they talk and preach, and mingle.

It’s a list whose members are as different as dry rub and wet, Isaac and Elvis, Midtown and Germantown. Yet there are common denominators that cut through this list like Big Muddy itself. First and foremost, they’re all Memphians. Though some weren’t born here — Lahna is from Canada, Samilia from North Carolina, Siphne from New Orleans, and Christian from Austria — they’ve made Memphis their home. Even those whose talents and careers could carry them across the country stay here by choice.

And that brings us to the second common denominator: They each want to make Memphis a better place. These young people have studied, practiced, traveled, and returned to a place they call home, New Memphis. They are faces you’ll be seeing and voices you’ll be hearing, whether you buy tickets at a box office, stop in at an art gallery, watch a political debate, or listen to neighbors in your community. Pay attention. You’ll want to know them … (read more)