Bob Turner

It feels impossible to find time to meet. Check your calendar for openings, notify me of availability, and see what might look good in the next few weeks. Six months later we are in the same place. Sync schedules, pivot to Google Calendars, and submit a Doodle poll. Nothing. Our calendars have less empty space […]

“Did I hear you say that you’re preaching on politics?” “Yes, I’m looking forward to this series.” “Hmm. Good luck.” Scary, huh? There are two things that make for impolite conversation: politics and religion. I recently decided to take on both at the same time. It felt necessary. If 2024 goes like previous election years, […]

They told us not to expect much rain in Botswana during June. It’s their winter: the dry season for a country that is already dry. Miami will see as much rainfall in two months as Botswana will see in a year (18 inches). Complicating this, Botswana is one of the 44 landlocked countries of the […]

Have you noticed that parents have been acting a bit crazy? The parents getting ejected at youth baseball games for harassing the umpires; The parents losing their minds at school board meetings. The parents schlepping their kids around suburban hotels that exchange uniformed weekday business travelers with briefcases for weekend uniformed children with soccer balls. […]

Did movies get worse? Over the holiday I saw Wonka at my childhood movie theater. That cinema features one screen, no online reservations, and seats reminiscent of jury duty. However, I walked there from my parents’ house and got admission, candy, and a drink for $10. Not bad. So, I’m not knocking the theater experience, but instead […]

I must’ve been the last one to try Schlotzsky’s. It’s weird to look back and wonder how I missed it. I had seen it on Poplar Avenue in Memphis since 2005 when we moved here, and usually my Northeast Ohio upbringing would be attracted to last names with unnecessary consecutive consonants (even Coach K would […]

The word woke has had a curious life. Like so much slang, it was introduced by Black people, co-opted by youngish white people, and then ruined by oldish white people. Its meaning has changed over time. The expression goes back as far as May 20, 1962, when William Melvin Kelley used it in the New […]

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. For some, it’s a day off work or school. For others, it’s a day of contemplation and reflection. For Memphis, it’s a reminder that history unfolds right in front of us. White Station Church of Christ, where I serve as Senior Minister, was planted in its neighborhood in […]