This summer I was unfortunate enough not to have health care, which would have been fine but with all of my luck I got sick, of course. Now I don’t have anything against doctors; I honestly like going.  The problem came into play when it came to the bill. It is usually covered by insurance but as I said before I didn’t have any. So me being a child of Google, I googled  cheap health care in Memphis and I stumbled across Christ Community. So I called  and made an appointment.  When I walked in I was greeted with smiling faces and a room full of waiting patients. So I picked up a magazine  and waited for my turn.  A older lady came in and sat next to me and we sparked a conversation. In that conversation she told me (what felt like) all of her business. She told me that it was a shame that so many places like Christ Community were closing their doors due to the lack of funding. Honestly, I blew her off with  me being so wrapped up in the magazine I was pretending to read . The nurse called me back and I met with the doctor; all was fine. Later when I went  home I started to think about the older lady and what she said.  So I looked up reasons why Christ Community couldn’t get funding  and I found the phrase separation of church and state, which I further looked into. The Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Which is totally cool but let’s take a minute to think about the neighborhoods that have these religious services. They are urban neighborhoods that wouldn’t necessarily have access to health care.  So what exactly are we separating again? Someone please remind me.    – See more at: http://www.allabouthistory.org/separation-of-church-and-state.htm#sthash.QYh83K2V.dpuf

When you were younger do you remember someone coming to your house if you missed too many days of school? In Shelby Co. as of Friday, September 12, 2014, 2,500 children have not shown up to school since it started in August. Shelby Co. schools say that number is so big they cannot send a truancy officer to all 2,500 children’s homes. So how do we fix the problem and whose fault is it that the children are not in school? Well in my opinion the parents are at fault. As a parent you decide what the child does and does not do, and school is one of those decisions. I think maybe we could fine the parents somehow if there child has not shown up for school. but then the problem comes in that what if the child is 16 and can drive how do you punish the parent for the child’s decision, and that he/she chose to drive somewhere other than school. But when it comes down to it we have to hold the parents accountable and we can only do that by punishing the parents somehow… what do you think?

In my opinion I think the Kellogg’s strike was very unnecessary. My old roommate is the daughter of the Kellogg’s Memphis Plant manager, now President Rachel McConnell, and she kept me informed on Kellogg’s side of the issue at hand. Kellogg’s headquarters demanded Memphis management to lower the pay of new employes that would be hired in the future, every other benefit including health and dental would still be included and they would be completely covered. If Kellogg’s memphis refused to do this, then they would be facing a possible shut down of the entire Memphis branch within as soon as five years, which would cost even more people their jobs. The Kellogg’s management did not want to go that long without their loyal employees, however the union that the factory workers were employed under forced them to not sign the new contract which would keep Kellogg’s in business. Kellogg’s is not allowed to let people work for them without being under a contract. Them refusing to sign the contract made it to where Kellogg’s had no other choice other than to shut their doors to the current factory employees. They where in court for months over whether this lockout was legal and ethical. Recently the NLRB has ruled this lockout reasonable and ethical, which allowed for the workers to return to Kellogg’s. I truly believe Kellogg’s wanted their workers there and hated it for them during the time of the lockout, for them going that long without pay.

Over the past week, Memphis has been in the news seemingly non-stop, and not for anything pleasant. It seems our city has been hit again and again with needless acts of violence that continuously lower the public opinion of Memphis. I can not count the number of times over the past seven days that I have heard people claim that this is the reason they would never raise children in Memphis, or why they would never move here.

This troubles me so deeply because, as a Memphis resident, I love this city very much. Many of the breaking news updates have centered around children, either as the victims or the perpetrators. It is the latter that bothers me the most. As a child development major, and a student ministry employee at a local church, I work with the kids in this city every single day. I have the privilege of working with kids in the neighborhood that the Kroger attack took place near. The statistics for kids in this neighborhood are not promising. I believe that the board of education needs to implement a variety of after school programs that provide constructive activities for children in the city. Going further than that, these programs need to be staffed with employees that these children can look up to and feel safe running to in times of need. Many children throughout our city have no one to turn to, or to provide for them. Alongside that, they have no one disciplining them when they do wrong, or demonstrating what is right on a regular basis. Because of this, they form their conscience and their gauge of right versus wrong on the people around them. When the people around them consist only of other children, it brings about the mob mentality that was demonstrated in the Kroger parking lot last week.

It is difficult for me to understand why domestic violence takes place, and how anyone with a heart can justify it. Luckily, I have never witnessed domestic violence first hand, but that is a reason pushing me to unveil the details behind such abuse. Recently, the subject of domestic violence has become extremely relevant within the NFL community including staff, players, and fans. Ray Rice, former Baltimore Raven’s running back,  has been in headlines for The New York Times, ESPN, and Fox News because a video that went viral of him punching his fiance. What are the consequences for his assault within his organization of work? As of right now Rice is cut from the Ravens and Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, has suspended him from the league. Is that justifiable enough? Apparently not for Rice. He is attempting to appeal the organizations decision, and has until 11;59 pm on Tuesday, September 16 to do so. I keep wondering to myself how could something so cruel ever have the chance for an appeal. There is simply a flaw in the system. Rice served a two game suspension for the act, under the leagues Personal Conduct Policy (which is ridiculously too lenient in my opinion). Currently, Rice could fight his second suspension by claiming article 46 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Within the agreement it is stated that the NFL commissioner and the specific club can not penalize a single player for the same act. Rice will possibly argue that the league could not suspend him twice, or that there could not be a suspension on top of having his multi-year contract terminated by the Baltimore Ravens. Also, there is possible cause of public influence, but only if the commissioner punished him after the video had gone viral and felt pressured by the public. But would it potentially be wrong for the public to pressure him? I don’t think so at all. The National Football League is a public organization, whose supporters are the general public. It is the public who watches games on television, who purchases merchandise, tickets, and memorabilia. It is the public who gives the players, managers, and owners a need to work. Without the public’s acceptance, the NFL shouldn’t make any rash decisions. So, if Goodell’s decision was based on the publics influence, then good for him and good for the NFL. Aside from the public’s influence, the league itself needs to make administrative changes in order to avoid loopholes when laws are broken. The league should be less worried about what superficially tarnishes their reputation, and more worried about what makes them an admirable league of legally abiding athletes and employees. Aside from the league itself, how much responsibility should be put on law enforcement? What role do they play in this? Lastly, I wonder if the reprocussions would be different if Ray Rice were not a celebrity.

Since I began college in 2011, i have held 5 jobs. Two of which paid minimum wage. Coming into college, you know, you don’t have a lot of bills (if any at all) so you aren’t too focused on what you made. I simply looked at my money as gas money for my trips back to Memphis from UT Chattanooga! Now that I am in my final year of college and I have my own apartment with my own bills, (keep in mind my roommates wanted to be all fancy, so the apartment is NOT cheap) I definitely see the meaning of minimum wage and how it can affect your living situation. Although I make more than minimum wage NOW… I didn’t when I first moved. How can you afford to pay rent, utilities, car insurance, hell weekly gas trips etc…off of a $300 check every two weeks (for our college students that cannot work full time due to school, including myself). Hell, your rent is more than what you make by itself. I suggest we go up to or write to the people that are in charge of changing minimum wage and ask them to do a simple task. All they have to do is live ONE month…probably not even that long…off of $7.25 40-hour work weeks. Or let’s throw them an extra quarter…$7.50 an hour. I want to see them stretch that money and worry about making ends meet. If they have been there before in life, I want to remind them of how hard it is to find a decent job paying more than minimum wage. I feel that the lesser paying jobs make you work the hardest. Let’s take Walmart for example. Although my position was one of the higher paying positions (cashiers get paid $7.65 compared to the $7.45 and $7.25 stockers and cart associates make), I scanned thousands, and I do mean thousands, of shoes, clothes, groceries, bikes, furniture, plants, etc per hour. I did this 8 hours a day, 4 to 5 times a week. You deal with rude customers consistently, you deal with theft, fights, getting cursed out about an expired coupon (seriously?) and then get fussed at your supervisor for going two minutes over your break. You get pulled into the office for not scanning fast enough. All of that for $7.65 an hour. Not to mention Black Friday and the holiday season and all of its craziness. Keep in mind, this is your first real job and it is extremely hard to get hired elsewhere due to “lack of experience”.

Of course I know that the cost of living will go up with the increase of minimum wage, but you have to give people a fighting chance. You can barely fight with $7.25. You can throw a pillow at your problems and that’s about it. I understand that minimum wage is something that you are supposed to start with and then you can work your way up, but what about those jobs that do not offer progression and you have to be buddy buddy with the manager to even get your yearly raise? What about those who were not fortunate enough to be able to afford and attend college, but have just as much drive as you do?

It’s time we stand up and make a difference in everyone’s lives. Then we can all sit down and eat some pecan pie…or nah? 🙂

In Memphis, TN Shelby county teachers are speaking on taking a strike. Several of the teacher feel they are under paid for the work and responsibility they are involved in on a daily basis. News channel 3 interviewed some people to gather their thoughts on teachers taking a strike.  I was one of the parents they interviewed. They news cast ask me what where my thoughts about it and I told them” I absolutely disagree with the decision of taking a strike against the school board for higher wages..

I do agree that our teachers are extremely under paid. Teachers deserve better than still having to have a summer job to make ends meet. I feel that many of teachers go the extra mile for our children. I think they should come up with another way to get what they deserve. Going on strike will affect our children. It is no time frame on how long you will be on strike, so every day that a class is not being taught is another day of delaying our child from the proper education needed. Our children are our future why do we want to damage that?

I am a strong believer that all people signing up for a job such as teaching should not be in it for the money. There should be a passion for a job as teaching. It was already understood the pay for a teacher when applying for the job. So why demand a raise? I am not saying “never ask for a raise” but I don’t think it should get taken that far to deprive our kids of their future due to greediness.

Some people may disagree with my opinion. I’ve heard many people say strikes having been going on for decades and it’s the best way to get a point across. I’ve even read papers and articles stating that the school teachers should have been took this action when the Memphis police department received a raise years ago. Shelby county school teachers I’ve spoken to have not yet decided if they’re going to participate but do think they deserve a raise for their role in helping society by educating,.

So far the teachers of Shelby County have not started to strike. The teachers striking will cause a lot of ciaos. From not enough teachers in a classroom to shutting down the schools and the children getting really behind. Schools have already been shut down because of falling scores and it will be horrible for many others to shut down because of a strike. I truly believe many of the teachers that are planning to participate in the strike are the ones that are not teaching our children as the signed up to do.

I’ve listened to many people decision on this matter and so far I haven’t been persuaded that a strike is the very best and last effort to higher our teacher’s wages. Have anything else been done before this action? This is just the wrong thing to do to our children! I really hope this “strike thing” blows over because I would hate to see the day money overcomes teaching our children of Shelby County.

Here is a add link http://wreg.com/2014/08/27/parents-arent-happy-that-teachers-are-threatening-to-call-out-sick/

By:Treniece Lipford

In the recent aftermath of Protest in Ferguson, you got to wonder do the police still see themselves as part of the community. The way the  police handled the case of Micheal Brown Shooting, and the treatment of the protest let you know which side they chose to upheld. Another problem that also could be look at  is the demographics of Ferguson itself.Race has made this incident more divide and gave more incite on why this could happen. In Ferguson, the black population is the majority while the white population is the minority, but the the city council and police officers are majority white. The non-representation of the black community and blatant targeting of black community by the officers has build a level of distrust that was going to burst at any major event that effect the black community, and sadly it had to be the shooting of a young black man by a officer.  In the Micheal Brown Case the built so much distrust simply by trying to hide everything from public view. It could have been handle ten time better if the information about the the shooting  was in public view so that no doubts or hastily drawn conclusion could cloud peoples judgments. You have to hold value to the phrase, ” Innocent until proven Guilty” and the officer in the situation should have a fair investigation in the shooting, but this also goes for Micheal Brown. There should be no shade or slander thrown on both parties and that both the officer and Micheal past should not be brought up to be use as reason to give justification for anything. The police simply side with the officer in the situation and use underhanded tactics such as drawing a negative image of Micheal Brown and describe the merit of the officer. There can be not just plain black and white line drawn in this situation and there must be non biased view to get the truth.  Even with how bad the case was handle, one of the most major misuse of power and judgement by and public official was how the Ferguson police department handle the protest of the Micheal Brown Case. People have the right to protest, just as officers have power to break up and stop unruly protesting and rioting due to protesting. The Ferguson police had not reason to to use such heavy handed fear and horrible unnecessary force crowd control tactics. There was no need for the police  to have on more armor then our soldiers in hostile environmental, nor was there any reason for them to walk up and down the streets pointing fully automatic weapons at unarmed civilians. Even the language the police use threatening people was force was uncalled for. They treated the people that pay them and the people they gave oath to protect as insurgents. The United States Military has stricter rules and conduct for their soldiers in other countries that our own police violated on there own people for no reason. So there is no reason for the people of Ferguson to be able to trust the police when the police cannot not do what the suppose to do or when the police to do even trust the people.