Tennis is surging in Memphis

Young children are learning to play tennis. (Courtesy photo)

     If the number of children participating in the Bellevue Tennis Center’s Family and Friends Tennis & Health Fest on May 21 were an indication of its success, then Arnold Thompson wouldn’t have a problem admitting the objective was accomplished.

Of the more than 200 people participating in the first-ever tennis clinic for adults and children at Jesse Turner Park at the corner of South Parkway and Bellevue in South Memphis, a sizable number of the participants were children.

“We’re reaching a lot of kids each year. We want to reach more,” said Thompson, a certified tennis professional and director of programs for Tennis Memphis, Inc., the event sponsor. “It’s a way of reaching out to the community.”

Tennis Memphis is a 501c3 non-profit organization governed by a board of directors working in partnership with the City of Memphis to manage and operate the city's seven municipal tennis centers: Bellevue, Eldon Roark/Whitehaven, Frayser, Leftwich, Raleigh, Wolbrecht and Wooddale.

Carrington Brown wins a tennis
match at Eldon Roark Tennis Center
last year. (Courtesy photo)

The mission is to build a better community through tennis, education, mentoring and a number of programs.

Tennis Memphis is a USTA Community Tennis Association organization and a member of the National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network of nearly 600 nonprofit organizations. Tennis Memphis ranks among the top 20 USTA affiliates, Thompson said.

NJTL was founded in 1969 by tennis legend Arthur Ash and two others who set out to make tennis available to traditionally underserved youth, regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status. Ashe died in 1993.

Although African Americans are less likely to pursue tennis compared to, say, basketball, baseball or football, Thompson is hoping to introduce more children to the sport and encourage them to become professional tennis players some day.

“We want to make tennis an equal opportunity sport as basketball and football. We want to put tennis on that kind of status, locally,” said Thompson, noting that Tennis Memphis has been able to reach 3,000 to 3,500 children annually.

He figures at least 70 percent of the overall number of children playing tennis each year in Memphis and the Mid-South is African American. He said adults opting to learn the sport number around 2,000 each year.

“We’re starting lots of black kids playing tennis every year. Seventy percent of the kids are going to be playing tennis for the very first time,” he said. “What we want to do is increase how many of them will continue to play after learning to play in their first summer camp.”

NJTL summer camps have begun. Campers are encouraged to participate by registering online at tennismemphis.org, or by mailing a completed form and payment to Leftwich Tennis Center, c/o NJTL Camp, 4145 Southern Avenue, Memphis, TN 38117; or in person at the following locations: Bellevue, Eldon Roark/Whitehaven, Leftwich and Wolbrecht.

Summer camps will run for six weeks Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to noon, and end July 22. A summer pass is $195. Scholarships are available too. Children 5 – 18 are encouraged to participate. Tennis rackets will be provided as well. Check the website for more details.

“There is nothing like tennis,” Thompson said.

For more information about the summer camps, contact Kent Smith, camp coordinator, at (901) 237-5677 or by email at ksmith@tennismemphis.org. To learn more about Tennis Memphis, Inc., contact Arnold Thompson at (901) 679-7394 or log onto www. tennismemphis.org. Tennis Memphis is located at 4145 Southern Ave.

Speaking out about HIV/AIDS

The scourge of HIV/AIDS is ravaging communities, tearing families apart, and destroying lives. No one is safe from its deadly infection. The rate of infections in the United States climbs and teeters, as well as the death toll, from one year to the next.

Health care providers have sounded the clarion time and time again warning people to protect themselves at all times. Like most people who contract the infection, Sheila Smith took a chance. Then she took a stand – but not before her life changed for the worse.

Sheila Smith

On Friday, June 17, Smith and three others infected with HIV/AIDS will sound the clarion at the 24th Annual Juneteenth Urban Music Festival. The format will be different than the smaller groups Smith often addresses. This time hundreds will hear her riveting story, followed by a Q & A session.

Smith plans to tell it all – how she struggled with the infection, how it dampened her spirit, how she nearly gave up on life. She’d tell them how she discovered the infection and how her life turned topsy-turvy.

“I hated myself, because I knew it was my fault,” said Smith, now advocating for others who also struggle with the infection. “I felt dirty and filthy because of what I’d gotten into. I cried and beat myself up mentally.”

Tears kept flowing incessantly and drained Smith of a life she once enjoyed. “I cried in the mornings. I cried at noon and I cried at night. I cried in the shower. And I cried at work,” said Smith, recalling the day she was given the dreadful prognosis.

“I always gave blood and I received a letter saying I need to go to the health department. I went to get tested about two or three times. I couldn’t believe it. I was in denial.”

Before she accepted her fate, depression set in. Then it took its toll. “I took anti-depressant pills and anxiety pills,” said Smith, trying to calm her frayed nerves and restore her sanity and self-deprecating state of mind. She also sought the help of a psychologist.

“I prayed for death,” said Smith, 50, a former radio personality at gospel stations WLOK 1340 AM, WBBP 1480 AM and WAVN 1240 AM in Memphis. She came to her senses and chose life instead, believing she could help others in the same predicament rather than succumb to the infection.

Smith is a living testimony that life doesn’t have to end abruptly. The final chapter hasn’t been written yet. It’s been 21 years now since she first contracted the infection; she hid it for 17 years. Now she has a new lease on life.

 “When I finally let go, not one person denied me,” said Smith, fearing rejection, abandonment, obstracization and the proverbial cold shoulder. “I felt no one would love me. I was afraid of what people would think, what they would say, and how they would treat me.”

She didn’t have to worry about her mother, father, a sister and three brothers – even her “gazillion” cousins. Her immediate family loves her unconditionally, she said. “But would other people love me? That was my worry.”

The worry would soon dissipate. “I got my deliverance in 2011 from worry, anger, disappointment, let-down. All of that is gone,” said Smith, crediting God for her deliverance. “I started speaking out in 2012.”

In 2014, she started a non-profit organization called “Let’s Talk: HIV/AIDS.” “We’re educating the community trying to dispel the stigma of HIV/AIDS,” she said. “We’re encouraging people to get tested and to know their status.”

Her sister, Pamela Lee, is working on a foundation called the “Sheila R. Smith HIV/AIDS Foundation. She plans to launch it officially in September. The organization and the foundation will become disseminators of information and provide much needed support for people struggling with HIV/AIDS.

“I want people to know you can live with the disease,” she said.

Darius Cowan wins writing award

MSU English Department Chair Elizabeth Crosby presented junior Darius Cowan
with the NCTE 2016 Achievement Award for Superior Writing during a school assembly
on May 9. (Courtesy photo)

     The story is simple, touching, intriguing, enough to earn a high school student kudos in a writing competition. The synopsis: A young woman applies to an art school, and after she’s accepted, she decides not to attend because someone she cares for can’t come with her.

Darius Cowan, a junior at Memphis University School (MUS), was pleasantly surprised when he learned the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) had tapped him for the national 2016 Achievement Award for Superior Writing. He is one of three students from Tennessee to win the award.

Cowan was encouraged by his English teachers to compete for the award because they “thought it would be a good fit for me based on my in-class writing.” So the 17-year-old penned a short story entitled “Rue” and convinced the judges that he has the writing chops to weave together an inspiring story.

“I was so pleased Darius was honored by the NCTE,” said Elizabeth Crosby, chair of the MUS English Department. “He is an outstanding student, and I look forward to seeing his writing talent continue to develop.”

“I was surprised [to win] because I took a creative approach to an argumentative essay and wrote a short story along with it,” said Cowan, who wrote the winning story despite his intense focus on AP courses. “I didn’t know how that would go, but it paid off, apparently.”

The creative argument was recently published in The MUSe, the school’s annual literary magazine featuring student prose, poetry, artwork and photography. Cowen is expecting to be named the editor when he returns to school as a senior.

His school chums were happy for him. “A lot of them didn’t know I was in the competition,” he said. “When I received the award, everybody congratulated me.”

Including his mother, Dana Dennis, a divorcee who has four other children. Cowan is the youngest. “When I read the story, it was awesome,” she said. “I always knew he was talented when it came to writing.”

“I like writing fiction,” said Cowan, noting that his favorite writers are Scott Westerfield, an award-winning young adult fiction writer, composer and media designer; and Maggie Stiefvater, an award-winning New York Times bestselling young adult fiction writer.

“I like stories that evoke an emotional reaction and make people think,” said Cowan, who started writing “little stories” when he was in third grade at Christ Methodist Day School, a Christian education school promoting spiritual development, academic excellence, social responsibility and personal integrity.

Excellence, personal integrity, and any other attribute that Cowan may possess were no doubt gleaned from the story he submitted to the judges. And certainly those attributes helped to propel the young author as a model student at MUS, where he maintains a 4.24 GPA.

MUS is a non-denominational and non-discriminatory college-preparatory day school for boys in grades 7-12. The school was founded in 1893.

School is out for the summer. Cowan, however, plans to write more stories before he returns to MUS this fall. Meanwhile, he’s making plans for college. He has his eyes set on Washington University, a private research university in St. Louis, Mo.

“They talked to me about how flexible the classes are,” said Cowan, who likes science, biology and photography. “I can take biology classes and writing classes with no issue.”

Although Cowan is gifted in areas that demand his attention to academics, he still hopes to be a published author some day. “I definitely have aspirations to be a published writer,” he said. “I’m not sure of the form. But I would like to write novels.”

Dennis is encouraging her son to pursue production writing. “I’m looking to see a movie [some day] and see his name in the credits or a book with his name on it,” she said.

Right now Cowan is “kicking around a fantasy novel.”

Could Memphis suffer the same fate as Flint?

     The water fiasco in Flint, Mich., is still at the top of people’s minds everywhere – even in Memphis, where age-old corroded pipes and contaminated water could spell trouble for people living in older communities.

In light of Flint’s widespread water problems – which stoked fear across the United States for months – Memphis Light Gas and Water Division has discovered a 16-year-old database in its archives containing 38,275 records of service lines possibly made of lead between 1874 and 1940.

Out of approximately 288,000 water lines, 3,029 of 38,275 of those lines were installed before 1900. That’s 39 years before MLGW was established. The latter – 38,275 lines – was installed mostly within the vicinity of the Parkways and other areas.

“Flint is the most recent example,” said former state Rep. Henri Brooks, who lived for a while on South Parkway, one of the oldest areas in Memphis. “But you’re find this problem all over the nation in older communities.”

The water problem affects more people of color, said Brooks, pointing to the impact it has had on African Americans, particularly in Flint. So she’s challenging Memphians to respond sooner than later to fix the problem to avoid a similar fate.

“People in Memphis need to get the ball rolling now,” she said, “before we have this massive health problem on down the road.”

The tap that Phyllis Randolph drinks from spews murky brown water sometimes when MLGW is working on the water main. “I have to watch my water,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s mud that gets in the pipes or not, but I count to 10 before the water is clear.”

Randolph is a retired schoolteacher who lives in an older neighborhood in Mid-town. She’s aware that the homes in the area, including her own, could be outfitted with lead pipes. She’s just not sure.

“Somebody knows something,” said Randolph, noting the database of lead pipes in older communities should have been uncovered long ago to keep the community and its people out of harm’s way. 

“You can’t lay pipes and not have a history of what those pipes were made of and where they were manufactured. This reminds me of the lead they used in paints years ago.”

Fixing the problem could cost millions, she said.

The database and a map of the affected areas can be found on MLGW’s website at http://www.mlgw.com/leadservicedatabase. MLGW field inspectors will be scouring the database to determine where the lead pipes are located.

Jerry Collins, MLGW president and CEO, says residents who are concerned about possible water contamination or lead poisoning should not be alarmed. “Our water has never been higher quality than it is today,” he said.

MLGW has tested for lead in Shelby County for years. Older homes suspected of containing lead pipes have consistently been in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency, the utility pointed out. Five micrograms in the blood is considered lead poisoning, according to the EPA.

Even if homes are outfitted with lead pipes, Collins said homeowners need not worry. Those pipes have been treated with sodium hexametaphosphate, a coating that reduces corrosion and helps protect pipes in the home.

Water in Memphis is drawn from artesian wells. It consistently meets EPA drinking water standards, MLGW says.

Residents unsure about the tap water in their homes can request a free water testing kit.

“This is a serious public health issue,” Brooks said.

A “whole lotta shakin' goin'” on at Juneteenth

   

More than 30,000 celebrants near and far attend the three-day Juneteenth
Urban Music Festival each year. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

     There will be a “whole lotta shakin' goin' on” when the Juneteenth Urban Music Festival commences June 17-19 in the historic Robert R. Church Park on “world famous” Beale Street in Downtown Memphis.

Well, not the kind of “shakin’” the legendary fireball rock and roller Jerry Lee Lewis sang about, but a kind of foot-tapping, handclapping and finger-popping that cannot be overlooked when people spring to their feet to respond to a plethora of music that will reverberate throughout the park during the three-day event.

The event is free, of course, much like the celebration that took place 150 years ago when the slaves in America celebrated with a feast and the sounds of revelry when they were apprised that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1963, to free them.

In fact, it was two and a half years later on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger and his Union Soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas, to break the news that the Civil War had ended and that slaves were henceforth free.

Last year, a mime performed, silently giving praise to God
and his glory. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Juneteenth is the oldest-known celebration in the United States marking the end of slavery. Celebrants all across the U.S. commemorate the freedom of slaves from inhumane treatment and the yoke of bondage with food, drink, games and merriment.

This is the 24^th year that Juneteenth is being celebrated in Memphis. The long-running festival is a mainstay and a cultural delight for celebrants seeking historic information about Juneteenth and an opportunity to revel in the park. Many of them attend the festival year after year.

The Juneteenth Urban Music Festival is devoted to Memphis’ rich musical history, which is an undisputed brand known worldwide and celebrated for its uniqueness and mass appeal. It has attracted celebrants near and far.

Vendors also will be in the park selling their products, including a tent with a historian on duty educating the crowd via pamphlets, placards and banners denoting the origin and history of Juneteenth and the reason for the ongoing festival.

 “If this is your first time celebrating with us, you’re going to enjoy the festivities,” said Telisa Franklin, Juneteenth’s CEO and president. “Memphis has a rich musical history and a plethora of talented artists and musicians.”

If that’s not enough to get you stirred up, Franklin and her staff will host the first-ever Memphis Juneteenth Job and Career Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, at Golden Gate Cathedral, 3240 James Rd. Check out the details at www.memphisjuneteenth.com.

“Bring your resume and dress for success,” said Franklin.

As a complement to the three-day festival, some of Memphis’ premiere and upcoming musicians and entertainers will be recognized and honored for their contribution to music and the community at the Juneteenth Urban Music Awards Thursday, June 16, at Crowne Plaza Memphis East Hotel, 2625 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

The awards show starts at 7:30 p.m. and features international recording artist Melvia “Chick” Rodgers and live performances by “Big Baby” Tameka Goodman, JROQSOL, Cortney Richardson, Delvin Crutcher, J. Lake, Ashton London, and Shenéa the Songstress. Channel 24 on-air personality Yvette Whiteside and life coach Dr. Sid will host the show.

General tickets are $10; premiere, $25. Tickets can be purchased at That’s Love Banquet Hall, 2988 Old Austin Peay; Uncle Lou’s Chicken, 3633 Millbranch Rd.; and McClain Motors, 1505 Elvis Presley Blvd. Tickets also can be purchased on Juneteenth’s website at www.memphisjuneteenth.com.

Gospel music is an integral part of Juneteenth. On Sunday, June 19, the last day of the festival, “Praise in the Park” will commence at noon. It is an all-day worship experience that crosses color lines and embodies “One God, One Love, One City.”

Churches and faith-based groups throughout Memphis are invited to worship in the park and bring with them a message of hope, faith, reconciliation, unity and praise. Innovation Church, pastored by the Rev. Marron D. Thomas Sr., will headline this year’s “Praise in the Park.”

Franklin noted that music – gospel, R & B, country, rock and roll, hip-hop, blues and jazz –  is an integral part of Juneteenth, which spun the revelry that celebrants everywhere enjoy during the month of June.

“We are here to stay,” said Franklin. “Memphis is a haven for good food, camaraderie and eclectic music. We won’t forget from whence we came. That’s why we celebrate Juneteenth – to call attention to the history of African Americans in this country.”

Three high school seniors reprise the role of ‘Dreamgirls’ at The Kroc Center

Three seniors from Memphis-area high schools are creating a scene in Ballet On Wheels (BOW) Dance School & Company’s dance production of “Dreamgirls” at The Kroc Center on Saturday, June 4. Two shows are scheduled – a matinee at 2:30 p.m. and an evening show at 7 p.m.

 Kaiah Amira Warr (White Station High), Rheya Amani Traylor (Overton High), and Simone Alexandria Yates (Central High) are reprising the role of the fictional Detroit, Mich., girl group known as the Dream, which is based on the 1981 Broadway musical “Dreamgirls” and the 2006 film version starring Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé Knowles.

 “They are three young ambitious ladies who fit the role,” said Chauniece R. Thompson, BOW’s founder and executive artistic director, Memphis’ first non-profit, professional African-American ballet school and dance company.

Rheya Traylor (left) and Simone Yates are two of three high
school seniors reprising the role of 'Dreamgirls' at The Kroc
Center. (Courtesy photos)

“We want to make sure we are true to the theme and the dance styles in the movie and Broadway (version),” said Thompson. “The dance styles include ballet, modern dance, jazz, juking and hip-hop. And all the dancers are Memphians.”

 “You should come see Dreamgirls. It’s a great adaption of the old play and we’re just telling a great story,” said Warr, one of two lead dancers touting the production via video on the dance company’s website – balletonwheels.org.

Warr has danced since the age of five and started with BOW when she was six. She has studied ballet, hip-hop, modern, improv, contemporary, character and pointe. Her career highlights include performing as “Dorothy” in “The Wiz” in 2012, as the “Scarecrow” in 2013, and played the firefly character “Ray” in the “Princess and the Frog.” Her parents are Kevin and Shelah Warr.

Yates, the second lead dancer, said, “The music is great. The dancing is great. Everything is great about Dreamgirls.” She has danced with BOW since she was 16 years old and studied ballet, African, hip-hop, modern, improv, contemporary and pointe.

Yates is a member of BOW’s Senior Company. Her dance credits include a role in “Charlotte” in the 2014 version of “The Princess & the Frog.” Her parents are Stephen and Lydia Yates.

Performances include several
dance styles such as ballet, modern
dance, jazz, juking and hip-hop.

Traylor has been dancing for 10 years. She enjoys modern dance, but ballet is her favorite genre of dance. She played “Aunt Em” in “The Wiz” in 2013 and “Louis” in “Princess and the Frog” in 2014.

Thompson is one of six choreographers who created dance steps for the production. “It’s a phenomenal show,” she said, noting that period-based costumes will be worn by the dancers to add flavor and authenticity.  

“It’s a never-before-seen dance production,” said Thompson, who worked on the production for about 3 ½ months. “It’s a show the Memphis community will definitely want to experience.”

“Dreamgirls” is BOW’s end-season production. The class schedule starts in September and ends June 2017. Summer dance camp for beginners is now underway. Children 3 – 18 can join.

 For more information about “Dreamgirls,” or to purchase tickets online, contact Ballet On Wheels at (901) 870-4348 or visit: www.balletonwheels.org.

Spa operator moving forward after leasing fiasco

Vincent Gardley works with Willis Harris, a regular at Gardley's French Riviera
Spa in the Whitehaven Plaza shopping center. (Photo: Wiley Henry)

Vincent Gardley is vacillating between moving the French Riviera Spa he operates in the Whitehaven Plaza to the Southgate Shopping Center on Third Street or the Southland Mall Shopping Center on Shelby Drive. He’d rather stay put but that option is not on the table.

Gardley purchased the spa a year and a half ago from a Utah resident who owns 20 French Riviera Spas throughout the Southeast. That purchase did not make Gardley the leaseholder on the Whitehaven Plaza property. After learning of that and moving to explore his options, Gardley found out that the choices available at that point did not include him continuing to run his French Rivera Spa operation from the Whitehaven Plaza spot.

The bombshell created a predicament for Gardley: He’d increased the spa’s membership considerably within a relatively short time. Now he has to move and risk losing what he’d gained.

Southgate is 5.87 miles north of the spa’s current location and Southland is 1.20 miles south.

“I have two leases on my desk and I’m going to make a decision in a few weeks. So I have some options. I’m trying to decide which way to go,” said Gardley, who learned in April that he has to vacate the building at 4130 Elvis Presley Blvd. by October.

“We’re trying to keep it under $7,500 a month,” said Gardley, hoping the new location will keep the spa’s growing membership in tact as well as draw others. “We need about 9,000 square feet. We would love to have 11 or 12.”

The price has to be right, he said.

Relocating the spa would require transporting several elliptical machines, tread climbers, punching bags, upright cycling bikes, rowing machines, weight benches and other cardio exercise equipment. But Gardley doesn’t see this as a problem – just a setback.

“All we need is space and don’t require a huge build out – offices and stuff like that,” he said. “We can move in 10 days.”

Gardley purchased the spa from Ren Rice, who still is the leaseholder on the property.

“He did buy that business…but the lease that we have, Vincent is not even on it, said Rick Smith, director of property management with Finard Properties, which owns the Whitehaven Plaza. “So our dealings are with our leaseholder.”

A 10-year lease agreement for the spa is on file with Finard. But Smith would not divulge much information about the lease, citing landlord and tenant confidentially. He did say, however, that there are no options after the lease expires in October, meaning the lease will not be renewed.

“So what we did was we reached out to the person on the lease, the company on the lease,” said Smith, “and we told them…that you need to check your lease and its statements and requirements…the end of the term.”

Smith said he’d heard about “the potential sale (of the French Riviera Spa) through the grapevine” and notified Rice to tell him “y’all need to check this before you do anything. At that point, there was nothing more that we could do.”

Gardley called Smith in an attempt to renegotiate the lease.

“I was told that the people I bought the spa from were in violation of the lease by selling me the place,” said Gardley.

“When Vincent did reach out to me, I spoke with him as absolutely open curtain as I could,” said Smith. “But I still had some restrictions, because Vincent was not on the lease. And anytime that a business under a lease agreement has transactions, that has to be approved by the property owner.”

Gardley looked back on his conversation with Smith. “I said, ‘Oh, I wish somebody had told me this, that there was a problem.’ But, of course, they continued to take my money,” he said. “They kept taking a rent check from me with my name on it, with my company’s name on it.”

Smith said, “We don’t review every single payment that comes in in terms of whose checking account did that come from. They’re just going to mark it paid and credit it to the account down in the credit department. That’s no different than if I go and pay your light gas and water bill.”

Gardley is not dismayed, not even after learning that Finard is leasing the former Ike’s pharmacy at 4126 Elvis Presley to Planet Fitness, a national chain. Renovation has already begun and Planet Fitness should open around the time the lease comes to an end for French Riviera Spa, Smith said.

“We’ve been working on that lease for quite some time,” he said. “These things take six, 12 months, and even more to work out the economics…the construction…the lease agreement and the language therein.”

It is not customary for a landlord to pit two competing businesses against each other, Smith said. “Most likely, what will end up are two people who can’t pay their rent.”

Acknowledging that Gardley is in a bad spot, Smith said, “Vincent is a fine young man and he is a great operator. It’s a bad situation.”

Gardley has been forthright with his French Rivera Spa clients.

“Soon as I found out about this, I talked to the members and told them the lease won’t be renewed and that we would have to move,” said Gardley, who was upbeat in February when he talked to The New Tri-State Defender about his expansion plans for the Whitehaven location.

“We’re obligated by law to honor the lease agreement,” said Smith. “But it doesn’t change Vincent’s predicament. That’s the burden of the story.”