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A inteligência artificial, em seus múltiplos sentidos, tem dominado a agenda pública e até mesmo o direcionamento do capital das grandes empresas de tecnologia. Mas você já parou para pensar na infraestrutura gigantesca que dê conta de sustentar o crescimento acelerado das IAs? O futuro e o presente da inteligência artificial passa pela existência dos datacenters. E agora é mais urgente que nunca a gente discutir esse assunto. Estamos vendo um movimento se concretizar, que parece mais uma forma de colonialismo digital: com a crescente resistência à construção de datacenters nos países no norte global, empresas e governos parecem estar convencidos a trazer essas infraestruturas imensas com todos os seus impactos negativos ao sul global. Nesse episódio Yama Chiodi e Damny Laya conversam com pesquisadores, ativistas e atingidos para tentar aprofundar o debate sobre a infraestrutura material das IAs. A gente conversa sobre o que são datacenters e como eles impactam e irão impactar nossas vidas. No segundo episódio, recuperamos movimentos de resistência a sua instalação no Brasil e como nosso país se insere no debate, seguindo a perspectiva de ativistas e de pesquisadores da área que estão buscando uma regulação mais justa para esses grandes empreendimentos.  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ROTEIRO [ vinheta da série ] [ Começa bio-unit ] YAMA: A inteligência artificial, em seus múltiplos sentidos, tem dominado a agenda pública e até mesmo o direcionamento do capital das grandes empresas de tecnologia. Mas você já parou para pensar na infraestrutura gigantesca que dê conta de sustentar o crescimento acelerado das IA? DAMNY: O futuro e o presente da inteligência artificial passa pela existência dos data centers. E agora é mais urgente que nunca a gente discutir esse assunto. Estamos vendo um movimento se concretizar, que parece mais uma forma de colonialismo digital: com a crescente resistência à construção de datacenters nos países no norte global, empresas e governos parecem estar convencidos a trazer os datacenters com todos os seus impactos negativos ao sul global. YAMA: Nós conversamos com pesquisadores, ativistas e atingidos e em dois episódios nós vamos tentar aprofundar o debate sobre a infraestrutura material das IAs. No primeiro, a gente conversa sobre o que são datacenters e como eles impactam e irão impactar nossas vidas. DAMNY: No segundo, recuperamos movimentos de resistência a sua instalação no Brasil e como nosso país se insere no debate, seguindo a perspectiva de ativistas e de pesquisadores da área que estão buscando uma regulação mais justa para esses grandes empreendimentos. [ tom baixo ] YAMA: Eu sou o Yama Chiodi, jornalista de ciência e pesquisador do campo das mudanças climáticas. Se você já é ouvinte do oxigênio pode ter me ouvido aqui na série cidade de ferro ou no episódio sobre antropoceno. Ao longo dos últimos meses investiguei os impactos ambientais das inteligências artificiais para um projeto comum entre o LABMEM, o laboratório de mudança tecnológica, energia e meio ambiente, e o oxigênio. Em setembro passado, o Damny se juntou a mim pra gente construir esses episódios juntos. E não por acaso. O Damny publicou em outubro passado um relatório sobre os impactos socioambientais dos data centers no Brasil, intitulado “Não somos quintal de data center”. O link para o relatório completo se encontra disponível na descrição do episódio. Bem-vindo ao Oxigênio, Dam. DAMNY: Oi Yama. Obrigado pelo convite pra construir junto esses episódios. YAMA: É um prazer, meu amigo. DAMNY: Eu também atuo como jornalista de ciência e sou pesquisador de governança da internet já há algum tempo. Estou agora trabalhando como jornalista e pesquisador aqui no LABJOR, mas quando escrevi o relatório eu tava trabalhando como pesquisador-consultor na ONG IDEC, Instituto de Defesa de Consumidores. YAMA: A gente começa depois da vinheta. [ Termina Bio Unit] [ Vinheta Oxigênio ] [ Começa Documentary] YAMA: Você já deve ter ouvido na cobertura midiática sobre datacenters a formulação que te diz quantos litros de água cada pergunta ao chatGPT gasta. Mas a gente aqui não gosta muito dessa abordagem. Entre outros motivos, porque ela reduz o problema dos impactos socioambientais das IA a uma questão de consumo individual. E isso é um erro tanto político como factual. Calcular quanta água gasta cada pergunta feita ao ChatGPT tira a responsabilidade das empresas e a transfere aos usuários, escondendo a verdadeira escala do problema. Mesmo que o consumo individual cresça de modo acelerado e explosivo, ele sempre vai ser uma pequena fração do problema. Data centers operam em escala industrial, computando quantidades incríveis de dados para treinar modelos e outros serviços corporativos. Um único empreendimento pode consumir em um dia mais energia do que as cidades que os abrigam consomem ao longo de um mês. DAMNY: Nos habituamos a imaginar a inteligência artificial como uma “nuvem” etérea, mas, na verdade, ela só existe a partir de data centers monstruosos que consomem quantidades absurdas de recursos naturais. Os impactos sociais e ambientais são severos. Data centers são máquinas de consumo de energia, água e terra, e criam poluição do ar e sonora, num modelo que reforça velhos padrões de racismo ambiental. O desenvolvimento dessas infraestruturas frequentemente acontece à margem das comunidades afetadas, refazendo a cartilha global da injustiça ambiental. Ao seguir suas redes, perceberemos seus impactos em rios, no solo, no ar, em territórios indígenas e no crescente aumento da demanda por minerais críticos e, por consequência, de práticas minerárias profundamente destrutivas. YAMA: De acordo com a pesquisadora Tamara Kneese, diretora do programa de Clima, Tecnologia e Justiça do instituto de pesquisa Data & Society, com quem conversamos, essa infraestrutura está criando uma nova forma de colonialismo tecnológico. Os danos ambientais são frequentemente direcionados para as comunidades mais vulneráveis, de zonas rurais às periferias dos grandes centros urbanos, que se tornam zonas de sacrifício para o progresso dessa indústria. DAMNY: Além disso, a crescente insatisfação das comunidades do Norte Global com os data centers tem provocado o efeito colonial de uma terceirização dessas estruturas para o Sul Global. E o Brasil não apenas não é exceção como parece ser um destino preferencial por sua alta oferta de energia limpa. [pausa] E com o aval do governo federal, que acaba de publicar uma medida provisória chamada REDATA, cujo objetivo é atrair data centers ao Brasil com isenção fiscal e pouquíssimas responsabilidades. [ Termina Documentary] [tom baixo ] VOICE OVER: BLOCO 1 – O QUE SÃO DATA CENTERS? YAMA: Pra entender o que são data centers, a gente precisa antes de tudo de entender que a inteligência artificial não é meramente uma nuvem etérea que só existe virtualmente. Foi assim que a gente começou nossa conversa com a pesquisadora estadunidense Tamara Kneese. Ela é diretora do programa de Clima, Tecnologia e Justiça do instituto de pesquisa Data & Society. TAMARA: PT – BR [ Eu acho que o problema da nossa relação com a computação é que a maioria parte do tempo a gente não pensa muito sobre a materialidade dos sistemas informacionais e na cadeia de suprimentos que permitem que eles existam. Tudo que a gente faz online não depende só dos nossos aparelhos, ou dos serviços de nuvem que a gente contrata, mas de uma cadeia muito maior. De onde ver o hardware que a gente usa? Que práticas de trabalho são empregadas nessa cadeia? E então, voltando à cadeia de suprimentos, pensar sobre os materiais brutos e os minerais críticos e outras formas de extração, abusos de direitos humanos e trabalhistas que estão diretamente relacionados à produção dos materiais que precisamos pra computação em geral. ] So I think, you know, the problem with our relationship to computing is that, most of the time, we don’t really think that much about the materiality of the computing system and the larger supply chain. You know, thinking about the fact that, of course, everything we do relies not just on our own device, or the particular cloud services that we subscribe to, but also on a much larger supply chain. So, where does the hardware come from, that we are using, and what kind of labor practices are going into that? And then be, you know, further back in the supply chain, thinking about raw materials and critical minerals and other forms of extraction, and human rights abuses and labor abuses that also go into the production of the raw materials that we need for computing in general. DAMNY: A Tamara já escreveu bastante sobre como a metáfora da nuvem nos engana, porque ela dificulta que a gente enxergue a cadeia completa que envolve o processamento de tantos dados. E isso se tornou uma questão muito maior com a criação dos chatbots e das IAs generativas. YAMA: Se a pandemia já representou uma virada no aumento da necessidade de processamento de dados, quando passamos a ir à escola e ao trabalho pelo computador, o boom das IA generativas criou um aumento sem precedentes da necessidade de expandir essas cadeias. DAMNY: E na ponta da infraestrutura de todas as nuvens estão os data centers. Mais do que gerar enormes impactos sócio-ambientais, eles são as melhores formas de enxergar que o ritmo atual da expansão das IAs não poderá continuar por muito tempo, por limitações físicas. Não há terra nem recursos naturais que deem conta disso. YAMA: A gente conversou com a Cynthia Picolo, que é Diretora Executiva do LAPIN, o Laboratório de Políticas Públicas e Internet. O LAPIN tem atuado muito contra a violação de direitos na implementação de data centers no Brasil e a gente ainda vai conversar mais sobre isso. DAMNY: Uma das coisas que a Cynthia nos ajudou a entender é como não podemos dissociar as IAs dos data centers. CYNTHIA: Existe uma materialidade por trás. Existe uma infraestrutura física, que são os data centers. Então os data centers são essas grandes estruturas que são capazes de armazenar, processar e transferir esses dados, que são os dados que são os processamentos que vão fazer com que a inteligência artificial possa acontecer, possa se desenvolver, então não existe sem o outro. Então falar de IA é falar de Datacenter. Então não tem como desassociar. YAMA: Mas como é um datacenter? A Tamara descreve o que podemos ver em fotos e vídeos na internet. TAMARA: [ Sim, de modo geral, podemos dizer que os data centers são galpões gigantes de chips, servidores, sistemas em redes e quando você olha pra eles, são todos muitos parecidos, prédios quadrados sem nada muito interessante. Talvez você nem saiba que é um data center se não observar as luzes e perceber que é uma estrutura enorme sem pessoas, sem trabalhadores. ] Yeah, so, you know, essentially, they’re like giant warehouses of chips, of servers, of networked systems, and, you know, they look like basically nondescript square buildings, very similar. And you wouldn’t really know that it’s a data center unless you look at the lighting, and you kind of realize that something… like, it’s not inhabited by people or workers, really. DAMNY: No próximo bloco a gente tenta resumir os principais problemas socioambientais que os data centers já causam e irão causar com muita mais intensidade no futuro. [tom baixo ] VOICE OVER: BLOCO 2 – A ENORME LISTA DE PROBLEMAS YAMA: O consumo de energia é provavelmente o problema mais conhecido dos data centers e das IAs. Segundo dados da Agência Internacional de Energia, a IEA, organização internacional da qual o Brasil faz parte, a estimativa para o ano de 2024 é que os data centers consumiram cerca de 415 TWh. A cargo de comparação, segundo a Empresa de Pesquisa Energética, instituto de pesquisa público associado ao Ministério das Minas e Energia, o Brasil consumiu no ano de 2024 cerca de 600 TWh. DAMNY: Segundo o mesmo relatório da Agência Internacional de Energia, a estimativa é que o consumo de energia elétrica por datacenters em 2030 vai ser de pelo menos 945 TWh, o que representaria 3% de todo consumo global projetado. Quando a gente olha pras estimativas de outras fontes, contudo, podemos dizer que essas são projeções até conservadoras. Especialmente considerando o impacto da popularização das chamadas LLM, ou grandes modelos de linguagem – aqueles YAMA: Ou seja, mesmo com projeções conservadoras, os data centers do mundo consumiriam em 2030, daqui a menos de cinco anos, cerca de 50% a mais de energia que o Brasil inteiro consome hoje. Segundo a IEA, em 2030 o consumo global de energia elétrica por data centers deve ser equivalente ao consumo da Índia, o país mais populoso do mundo. E há situações locais ainda mais precárias. DAMNY: É o caso da Irlanda. Segundo reportagem do New York Times publicada em outubro passado, espera-se que o consumo de energia elétrica por data centers por lá represente pelo menos 30% do consumo total do país nos próximos anos. Mas porquê os datacenters consomem tanta energia? TAMARA: [ Então, particularmente com o tipo de IA que as empresas estão investindo agora, há uma necessidade de chips e GPUs muito mais poderosos, de modo que os data centers também são sobre prover energia o suficiente pra todo esse poder computacional que demandam o treinamento e uso de grandes modelos de linguagem. Os data centers são estruturas incrivelmente demandantes de energia e água. A água em geral serve para resfriar os servidores, então tem um número considerável de sistemas de cooling que usam água. Além disso tudo, você também precisa de fontes alternativas de energia, porque algumas vezes, uma infraestrutura tão demandante de energia precisa recorrer a geradores para garantir que o data center continue funcionando caso haja algum problema na rede elétrica. ] So, you know, particularly with the kinds of AI that companies are investing in right now, there’s a need for more powerful chips, GPUs, and so Data centers are also about providing enough energy and computational power for these powerful language models to be trained and then used. And so the data center also, you know, in part because it does require so much energy, and it’s just this incredibly energy-intensive thing, you also need water. And the water comes from having to cool the servers, and so… So there are a number of different cooling systems that use water. And then on top of that, you also need backup energy sources, so sometimes, because there’s such a draw on the power grid, you have to have backup generators to make sure that the data center can keep going if something happens with the grid. YAMA: E aqui a gente começa a entender o tamanho do problema. Os data centers são muitas vezes construídos em lugares que já sofrem com infraestruturas precárias de eletricidade e com a falta de água potável. Então eles criam problemas de escassez onde não havia e aprofundam essa escassez em locais onde isso já era uma grande questão – como a região metropolitana de Fortaleza sobre a qual falaremos no próximo episódio, que está em vias de receber um enorme data center do Tiktok. DAMNY: É o que também relatam os moradores de Querétaro, no México, que vivem na região dos data centers da Microsoft. A operação dos data centers da Microsoft gerou uma crise sem precedentes, com quedas frequentes de energia e o interrompimento do abastecimento de água que muitas vezes duram semanas. Os data-centers impactaram de tal forma as comunidades que escolas cancelaram aulas e, indiretamente, foram responsáveis por uma crise de gastroenterite entre crianças. YAMA: E isso nos leva pro segundo ponto. O consumo de água, minerais críticos e outros recursos naturais. TAMARA: [O problema da energia tem recebido mais atenção, porque é uma fonte de ansiedade também. Pensar sobre o aumento da demanda de energia em tempos em que supostamente estaríamos transicionando para deixar de usar energias fósseis, o que obviamente pode ter efeitos devastadores. Mas eu acredito que num nível mais local, o consumo de água é mais relevante. Nós temos grandes empresas indo às áreas rurais do México, por exemplo, e usando toda a água disponível e basicamente deixando as pessoas sem água. E isso é incrivelmente problemático. Então isso acontece em áreas que já tem problemas de abastecimento de água, onde as pessoas já não tem muito poder de negociação com as empresas. Não têm poder político pra isso. São lugares tratados como zonas de sacrifício, algo que já vimos muitas vezes no mundo, especialmente em territórios indígenas. Então as consequências são na verdade muito maiores do que só problemas relacionados à energia. ] I think the energy problem has probably gotten the most attention, just because it is a source of anxiety, too, so thinking about, you know, energy demand at a time when we’re supposed to be transitioning away from fossil fuels. And clearly, the effects that that can have will be devastating. But I think on a local level, things like the water consumption can matter more. So, you know, if we have tech companies moving into rural areas in Mexico and, you know, using up all of their water and basically preventing people in the town from having access to water. That is incredibly problematic. So I think, you know, in water-stressed areas and areas where the people living in a place don’t have as much negotiating power with the company. Don’t have as much political power, and especially if places are basically already treated as sacrifice zones, which we’ve seen repeatedly many places in the world, with Indigenous land in particular, you know, I think the consequences may go far beyond just thinking about, you know, the immediate kind of energy-related problems. YAMA: Existem pelo menos quatro fins que tornam os data centers máquinas de consumir água. O mais direto e local é a água utilizada na refrigeração de todo equipamento que ganha temperatura nas atividades de computação, o processo conhecido como cooling. Essa prática frequentemente utiliza água potável. Apesar de já ser extremamente relevante do ponto de vista de consumo, essa é apenas uma das formas de consumo abundante de água. DAMNY: Indiretamente, os data centers também consomem a água relacionada ao seu alto consumo de energia, em especial na geração de energia elétrica em usinas hidrelétricas e termelétricas. Também atrelada ao consumo energético, está o uso nas estações de tratamento de água, que visam tratar a água com resíduos gerada pelo data center para tentar reduzir a quantidade de água limpa utilizada. YAMA: Por fim, a cadeia de suprimentos de chips e servidores que compõem os data centers requer água ultrapura e gera resíduos químicos. Ainda que se saiba que esse fator gera gastos de água e emissões de carbono relevantes, os dados são super obscuros, entre outros motivos, porque a maioria dos dados que temos sobre o consumo de água em data centers são fornecidos pelas próprias empresas. CYNTHIA: A água e os minérios são componentes também basilares para as estruturas de datacenter, que são basilares para o funcionamento da inteligência artificial. (…). E tem toda uma questão, como eu disse muitas vezes, captura um volume gigante de água doce. E essa água que é retornada para o ecossistema, muitas vezes não é compensada da água que foi capturada. Só que as empresas também têm uma promessa em alguns relatórios, você vai ver que elas têm uma promessa até de chegar em algum ponto para devolver cento e vinte por cento da água. Então a empresa está se comprometendo a devolver mais água do que ela capturou. Só que a realidade é o quê? É outra. Então, a Google, por exemplo, nos últimos cinco anos, reportou um aumento de cento e setenta e sete por cento do uso de água. A Microsoft mais trinta e oito e a Amazon sequer reporta o volume de consumo de água. Então uma lacuna tremenda para uma empresa desse porte, considerando todo o setor de Data centers. Mas tem toda essa questão da água, que é muito preocupante, não só por capturar e o tratamento dela e como ela volta para o meio ambiente, mas porque há essa disputa também com territórios que têm uma subsistência muito específica de recursos naturais, então existe uma disputa aí por esse recurso natural entre comunidade e empreendimento. DAMNY: Nessa fala da Cynthia a gente observa duas coisas importantes: a primeira é que não existe data center sem água para resfriamento, de modo que o impacto local da instalação de um empreendimento desses é uma certeza irrefutável. E é um dano contínuo. Enquanto ele estiver em operação ele precisará da água. É como se uma cidade de grande porte chegasse de repente, demandando uma quantidade de água e energia que o local simplesmente não tem para oferecer. E na hora de escolher entre as pessoas e empreendimentos multimilionários, adivinha quem fica sem água e com a energia mais cara? YAMA: A segunda coisa importante que a Cynthia fala é quando ela nos chama a atenção sobre a demanda por recursos naturais. Nós sabemos que recursos naturais são escassos. Mais do que isso, recursos naturais advindos da mineração têm a sua própria forma de impactos sociais e ambientais, o que vemos frequentemente na Amazônia brasileira. O que acontecerá com os data centers quando os recursos naturais locais já não forem suficientes para seu melhor funcionamento? Diante de uma computação que passa por constante renovação pela velocidade da obsolescência, o que acontece com o grande volume de lixo eletrônico gerado por data centers? Perguntas que não têm resposta. DAMNY: A crise geopolítica em torno dos minerais conhecidos como terra-rara mostra a complexidade política e ambiental do futuro das IA do ponto de vista material e das suas cadeias de suprimento. No estudo feito pelo LAPIN, a Cynthia nos disse que considera que esse ponto do aumento da demanda por minerais críticos que as IA causam é um dos pontos mais opacos nas comunicações das grandes empresas de tecnologia sobre o impacto de seus data centers. CYNTHIA: E outro ponto de muita, muita lacuna, que eu acho que do nosso mapeamento, desses termos mais de recursos naturais. A cadeia de extração mineral foi o que mais foi opaco, porque, basicamente, as empresas não reportam nada sobre essa extração mineral e é muito crítico, porque a gente sabe que muitos minérios vêm também de zonas de conflito. Então as grandes empresas, pelo menos as três que a gente mapeou, elas têm ali um trechinho sobre uma prestação de contas da cadeia mineral. Tudo que elas fazem é falar que elas seguem um framework específico da OCDE sobre responsabilização. YAMA: Quando as empresas falam de usar energias limpas e de reciclar a água utilizada, eles estão se desvencilhando das responsabilidades sobre seus datacenters. Energia limpa não quer dizer ausência de impacto ambiental. Pras grandes empresas, as fontes de energia limpa servem para gerar excedente e não para substituir de fato energias fósseis. Você pode ter um data center usando majoritariamente energia solar no futuro, mas isso não muda o fato de que ele precisa funcionar 24/7 e as baterias e os geradores a diesel estarão sempre lá. Além disso, usinas de reciclagem de água, fazendas de energia solar e usinas eólicas também têm impactos socioambientais importantes. O uso de recursos verdes complexifica o problema de identificar os impactos locais e responsabilidades dos data centers, mas não resolve de nenhuma forma os problemas de infraestrutura e de fornecimento de água e energia causados pelos empreendimentos. DAMNY: É por isso que a gente alerta pra não comprar tão facilmente a história de que cada pergunta pro chatGPT gasta x litros de água. Se você não perguntar nada pro chatGPT hoje, ou se fizer 1000 perguntas, não vai mudar em absolutamente nada o alto consumo de água e os impactos locais destrutivos dos data centers que estão sendo instalados a todo vapor em toda a América Latina. A quantidade de dados e de computação que uma big tech usa para treinar seus modelos, por exemplo, jamais poderá ser equiparada ao consumo individual de chatbots. É como comparar as campanhas que te pedem pra fechar a torneira ao escovar os dentes, enquanto o agro gasta em minutos água que você não vai gastar na sua vida inteira. Em resumo, empresas como Google, Microsoft, Meta e Amazon só se responsabilizam pelos impactos diretamente causados por seus data centers e, mesmo assim, é uma responsabilização muito entre aspas, à base de greenwashing. Você já ouviu falar de greenwashing? CYNTHIA: Essa expressão em inglês nada mais é do que a tradução literal, que é o discurso verde. (…)É justamente o que a gente está conversando. É justamente quando uma empresa finge se preocupar com o meio ambiente para parecer sustentável, mas, na prática, as ações delas não trazem esses benefícios reais e, pelo contrário, às vezes trazem até danos para o meio ambiente. Então, na verdade, é uma forma até de manipular, ou até mesmo enganar as pessoas, os usuários daqueles sistemas ou serviços com discursos e campanhas com esses selos verdes, mas sem comprovar na prática. YAMA: Nesse contexto, se torna primordial que a gente tenha mais consciência de toda a infraestrutura material que está por trás da inteligência artificial. Como nos resumiu bem a Tamara: TAMARA: [ Eu acredito que ter noção da infraestrutura completa que envolve a cadeia da IA realmente ajuda a entender a situação. Mesmo que você esteja usando, supostamente, energia renovável para construir e operar um data center, você ainda vai precisar de muitos outros materiais, chips, minerais e outras coisas com suas próprias cadeias de suprimento. Ou seja, independente da forma de energia utilizada, você ainda vai causar dano às comunidades e destruição ambiental. ] But that… I think that is why having a sense of the entire AI supply chain is really helpful, just in terms of thinking about, you know, even if you’re, in theory, using renewable energy to build a data center, you still are relying on a lot of other materials, including chips, including minerals, and other things that. (…) We’re still, you know, possibly going to be harming communities and causing environmental disruption. [ tom baixo ] YAMA: Antes de a gente seguir pro último bloco, eu queria só dizer que a entrevista completa com a Dra. Tamara Kneese foi bem mais longa e publicada na íntegra no blog do GEICT. O link para a entrevista tá na descrição do episódio, mas se você preferir pode ir direto no bloco do GEICT. [ tom baixo ] VOICE OVER: BLOCO 3 – PROBLEMAS GLOBAIS, PROBLEMAS LOCAIS YAMA: Mesmo conhecendo as cadeias, as estratégias de greenwashing trazem um grande problema à tona, que é uma espécie de terceirização das responsabilidades. As empresas trazem medidas compensatórias que não diminuem em nada o impacto local dos seus data centers. Então tem uma classe de impactos que são globais, como as emissões de carbono e o aumento da demanda por minerais críticos, por exemplo. E globais no sentido de que eles são parte relevante dos impactos dos data centers, mas não estão impactando exatamente nos locais onde foram construídos. CYNTHIA: Google, por exemplo, nesse recorte que a gente fez da pesquisa dos últimos cinco anos, ela simplesmente reportou um aumento de emissão de carbono em setenta e três por cento. Não é pouca coisa. A Microsoft aumentou no escopo dois, que são as emissões indiretas, muito por conta de data centers, porque tem uma diferenciação por escopo, quando a gente fala de emissão de gases, a Microsoft, nesse período de cinco anos, ela quadruplicou o tanto que ela tem emitido. A Amazon aumentou mais de trinta por cento. Então a prática está mostrando que essas promessas estão muito longe de serem atingidas. Só que aí entra um contexto mais de narrativa. Por que elas têm falado e prometido a neutralidade de carbono? Porque há um mecanismo de compensação. (…) Então elas falam que estão correndo, correndo para atingir essa meta de neutralidade de carbono, mas muito por conta dos instrumentos de compensação, compensação ou de crédito de carbono ou, enfim, para uso de energias renováveis. Então se compra esse certificado, se fazem esses contratos, mas, na verdade, não está tendo uma redução de emissão. Está tendo uma compensação. (…) Essa compensação é um mecanismo financeiro, no final do dia. Porque, quando você, enquanto empresa, trabalha na compensação dos seus impactos ambientais e instrumentos contratuais, você está ignorando o impacto local. Então, se eu estou emitindo impactando aqui o Brasil, e estou comprando crédito de carbono em projetos em outra área, o impacto local do meu empreendimento está sendo ignorado. YAMA: E os impactos materiais locais continuam extremamente relevantes. Além do impacto nas infraestruturas locais de energia e de água sobre as quais a gente já falou, há muitas reclamações sobre a poluição do ar gerada pelos geradores, as luzes que nunca desligam e até mesmo a poluição sonora. A Tamara nos contou de um caso curioso de um surto de distúrbios de sono e de enxaqueca que tomou regiões de data centers nos Estados Unidos. TAMARA: [ Uma outra coisa que vale ser lembrada: as pessoas que vivem perto dos data centers tem nos contado que eles são super barulhentos, eles também relatam a poluição visual causada pelas luzes e a poluição sonora. Foi interessante ouvir de comunidades próximas a data centers de mineração de criptomoedas, por exemplo, que os moradores começaram a ter enxaquecas e distúrbios de sono por viverem próximos das instalações. E além de tudo isso, ainda tem a questão da poluição do ar, que é visível a olho nu. Há muitas partículas no ar onde há geradores movidos a diesel para garantir que a energia esteja sempre disponível. ] And the other thing is, you know, for people who live near them, they’re very loud, and so if you talk to people who live near data centers, they will talk about the light pollution, the noise pollution. And it’s been interesting, too, to hear from communities that are near crypto mining facilities, because they will complain of things like migraine headaches and sleep deprivation from living near the facilities. And, you know, the other thing is that the air pollution is quite noticeable. So there’s a lot of particulate matter, particularly in the case of using diesel-fueled backup generators as an energy stopgap. DAMNY: E do ponto de vista dos impactos locais, há um fator importantíssimo que não pode ser esquecido: território. Data centers podem ser gigantes, mas ocupam muito mais espaço que meramente seus prédios, porque sua cadeia de suprimentos demanda isso. Como a água e a energia chegarão até os prédios? Mesmo que sejam usados fontes renováveis de energia, onde serão instaladas as fazendas de energia solar ou as usinas de energia eólica e de tratamento de água? Onde a água contaminada e/ou tratada será descartada? Quem vai fiscalizar? YAMA: E essa demanda sem fim por território esbarra justamente nas questões de racismo ambiental. Porque os territórios que são sacrificados para que os empreendimentos possam funcionar, muito frequentemente, são onde vivem povos originários e populações marginalizadas. Aqui percebemos que a resistência local contra a instalação de data centers é, antes de qualquer coisa, uma questão de justiça ambiental. É o caso de South Memphis nos Estados Unidos, por exemplo. TAMARA: [ Pensando particularmente sobre os tipos de danos causados pelos data centers, não é somente a questão da conta de energia ficar mais cara, ou quantificar a quantidade de energia e água gasta por data centers específicos. A verdadeira questão, na minha opinião, é a relação que existe entre esses danos socioambientais, danos algorítmicos e o racismo ambiental e outras formas de impacto às comunidades que lidam com isso a nível local. Especialmente nos Estados Unidos, com todo esse histórico de supremacia branca e a falta de direitos civis, não é coincidência que locais onde estão comunidades negras, por exemplo, sejam escolhidos como zonas de sacrifício. As comunidades negras foram historicamente preferenciais para todo tipo de empreendimento que demanda sacrificar território, como estradas interestaduais, galpões da Amazon… quer dizer, os data centers são apenas a continuação dessa política histórica de racismo ambiental. E tudo isso se soma aos péssimos acordos feitos a nível local, onde um prefeito e outras lideranças governamentais pensam que estão recebendo algo de grande valor econômico. Em South Memphis, por exemplo, o data center é da xAI. Então você para pra refletir como essa plataforma incrivelmente racista ainda tem a audácia de poluir terras de comunidades negras ainda mais ] I think, the way of framing particular kinds of harm, so, you know, it’s not just about, you know, people’s energy bills going up, or, thinking about how we quantify the energy use or the water use of particular data centers, but really thinking about the relationship between a lot of those social harms and algorithmic harms and the environmental racism and other forms of embodied harms that communities are dealing with on that hyper-local level. And, you know, in this country, with its history of white supremacy and just general lack of civil rights, you know, a lot of the places where Black communities have traditionally been, tend to be, you know, the ones sacrificed for various types of development, like, you know, putting up interstates, putting up warehouses for Amazon and data centers are just a continuation of the what was already happening. And then you have a lot of crooked deals on the local level, where, you know, maybe a mayor and other local officials think that they’re getting something economically of value. In South Memphis, the data center is connected to x AI. And so thinking about this platform that is so racist and so incredibly harmful to Black communities, you know, anyway, and then has the audacity to actually pollute their land even more. DAMNY: Entrando na questão do racismo ambiental a gente se encaminha para o nosso segundo episódio, onde vamos tentar entender como o Brasil se insere na questão dos data centers e como diferentes setores da população estão se organizando para resistir. Antes de encerrar esse episódio, contudo, a gente traz brevemente pra conversa dois personagens que vão ser centrais no próximo episódio. YAMA: Eles nos ajudam a compreender como precisamos considerar a questão dos territórios ao avaliar os impactos. Uma dessas pessoas é a Andrea Camurça, do Instituto Terramar, que está lutando junto ao povo Anacé pelo direito de serem consultados sobre a construção de um data center do TIKTOK em seus territórios. Eu trago agora um trechinho dela falando sobre como mesmo medidas supostamente renováveis se tornam violações territoriais num contexto de racismo ambiental. ANDREA: A gente recebeu notícias agora, recentemente, inclusive ontem, que está previsto um mega empreendimento solar que vai ocupar isso mais para a região do Jaguaribe, que vai ocupar, em média, de equivalente a seiscentos campos de futebol. Então, o que isso representa é a perda de terra. É a perda de água. É a perda do território. É uma diversidade de danos aos povos e comunidades tradicionais que não são reconhecidos, são invisibilizados. Então é vendido como território sem gente, sendo que essas energias chegam dessa forma. Então, assim a gente precisa discutir sobre energias renováveis. A gente precisa discutir sobre soberania energética. A gente precisa discutir sobre soberania digital, sim, mas construída a partir da necessidade do local da soberania dessas populações. DAMNY: A outra pessoa que eu mencionei é uma liderança Indígena, o cacique Roberto Anacé. Fazendo uma ótima conexão que nos ajuda a perceber como os impactos globais e locais dos data centers estão conectados, ele observa como parecemos entrar num novo momento do colonialismo, onde a soberania digital e ambiental do Brasil volta a estar em risco, indo de encontro à violação de terras indígenas. CACIQUE ROBERTO: Há um risco para a questão da biodiversidade, da própria natureza da retirada da água, do aumento de energia, mas também não somente para o território da Serra, mas para todos que fazem uso dos dados. Ou quem expõe esses dados. Ninguém sabe da mão de quem vai ficar, quem vai controlar quem vai ordenar? E para que querem essa colonização? Eu chamo assim que é a forma que a gente tem essa colonização de dados. Acredito eu que a invasão do Brasil em mil e quinhentos foi de uma forma. Agora nós temos a invasão de nossas vidas, não somente para os indígenas, mas de todos, muitas vezes que fala muito bem, mas não sabe o que vai acontecer depois que esses dados estão guardados. Depois que esses dados vão ser utilizados, para que vão ser utilizados, então esses agravos. Ele é para além do território indígena na série. [ tom baixo ] [ Começa Bio Unit ] YAMA: A pesquisa, entrevistas e apresentação desse episódio foi feita pelo Damny Laya e por mim, Yama Chiodi. Eu também fiz o roteiro e a produção. Quem narrou a tradução das falas da Tamara foi Mayra Trinca. O Oxigênio é um podcast produzido pelos alunos do Laboratório de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo da Unicamp e colaboradores externos. Tem parceria com a Secretaria Executiva de Comunicação da Unicamp e apoio do Serviço de Auxílio ao Estudante, da Unicamp. Além disso, contamos com o apoio da FAPESP, que financia bolsas como a que nos apoia neste projeto de divulgação científica. DAMNY: A lista completa de créditos para os sons e músicas utilizados você encontra na descrição do episódio. Você encontra todos os episódios no site oxigenio.comciencia.br e na sua plataforma preferida. No Instagram e no Facebook você nos encontra como Oxigênio Podcast. Segue lá pra não perder nenhum episódio! Aproveite para deixar um comentário. [ Termina Bio Unit ] [ Vinheta Oxigênio ] Créditos: Aerial foi composta por Bio Unit; Documentary por Coma-Media. Ambas sob licença Creative Commons. Os sons de rolha e os loops de baixo são da biblioteca de loops do Garage Band. Roteiro, produção: Yama Chiodi Pesquisa: Yama Chiodi, Damny Laya Narração: Yama Chiodi, Danny Laya, Mayra Trinca Entrevistados: Tamara Kneese, Cynthia Picolo, Andrea Camurça e Cacique Roberto Anacé __________ Descendo a toca do coelho da IA: Data Centers e os Impactos Materiais da “Nuvem” – Uma entrevista com Tamara Kneese: https://www.blogs.unicamp.br/geict/2025/11/06/descendo-a-toca-do-coelho-da-ia-data-centers-e-os-impactos-materiais-da-nuvem-uma-entrevista-com-tamara-kneese/ Não somos quintal de data centers: Um estudo sobre os impactos socioambientais e climáticos dos data centers na América Latina: https://idec.org.br/publicacao/nao-somos-quintal-de-data-centers Outras referências e fontes consultadas: Relatórios técnicos e dados oficiais: IEA (2025), Energy and AI, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai, Licence: CC BY 4.0 “Inteligência Artificial e Data Centers: A Expansão Corporativa em Tensão com a Justiça Socioambiental”. Lapin. https://lapin.org.br/2025/08/11/confira-o-relatorio-inteligencia-artificial-e-data-centers-a-expansao-corporativa-em-tensao-com-a-justica-socioambiental/ Estudo de mercado sobre Power & Cooling de Data Centers. DCD – DATA CENTER DYNAMICS.https://media.datacenterdynamics.com/media/documents/Report_Power__Cooling_2025_PT.pdf Pílulas – Impactos ambientais da Inteligência Artificial. IPREC. https://ip.rec.br/publicacoes/pilulas-impactos-ambientais-da-inteligencia-artificial/ Policy Brief: IA, data centers e os impactos ambientais. IPREC https://ip.rec.br/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Policy-Paper-IA-e-Data-Centers.pdf MEDIDA PROVISÓRIA Nº 1.318, DE 17 DE SETEMBRO DE 2025 https://www.in.gov.br/en/web/dou/-/medida-provisoria-n-1.318-de-17-de-setembro-de-2025-656851861 Infográfico sobre minerais críticos usados em Data Centers do Serviço de Geologia do Governo dos EUA https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/key-minerals-data-centers-infographic Notícias e reportagens: From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy. Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano e Emiliano Rodríguez Mega. The New York Times, 20/10/2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/technology/ai-data-center-backlash-mexico-ireland.html Movimentos pedem ao MP fim de licença de data center no CE. Maristela Crispim, EcoNordeste. 25/08/2025. https://agenciaeconordeste.com.br/sustentabilidade/movimentos-pedem-ao-mp-fim-de-licenca-de-data-center-no-ce/#:~:text=’N%C3%A3o%20somos%20contra%20o%20progresso’&text=Para%20o%20cacique%20Roberto%20Anac%C3%A9,ao%20meio%20ambiente%E2%80%9D%2C%20finaliza. ChatGPT Is Everywhere — Why Aren’t We Talking About Its Environmental Costs? Lex McMenamin. Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/chatgpt-is-everywhere-environmental-costs-oped Data centers no Nordeste, minérios na África, lucros no Vale do Silício. Le Monde Diplomatique, 11 jun. 2025. Accioly Filho. https://diplomatique.org.br/data-centers-no-nordeste-minerios-na-africa-lucros-no-vale-do-silicio/. The environmental footprint of data centers in the United States. Md Abu Bakar Siddik et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16064017: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfba1 Tecnología en el desierto – El debate por los data centers y la crisis hídrica en Uruguay. MUTA, 30 nov. Soledad Acunã https://mutamag.com/cyberpunk/tecnologia-en-el-desierto/. Acesso em: 17 set. 2025. Las zonas oscuras de la evaluación ambiental que autorizó “a ciegas” el megaproyecto de Google en Cerrillos. CIPER Chile, 25 maio 2020. https://www.ciperchile.cl/2020/05/25/las-zonas-oscuras-de-la-evaluacion-ambiental-que-autorizo-aciegas-el-megaproyecto-de-google-en-cerrillos/. Acesso em: 17 set. 2025. Thirsty data centres spring up in water-poor Mexican town. Context, 6 set. 2024. https://www.context.news/ai/thirsty-data-centres-spring-up-in-water-poor-mexican-town BNDES lança linha de R$ 2 bilhões para data centers no Brasil. https://agenciadenoticias.bndes.gov.br/industria/BNDES-lanca-linha-de-R$-2-bilhoes-para-data-centersno-Brasil/. Los centros de datos y sus costos ocultos en México, Chile, EE UU, Países Bajos y Sudáfrica. WIRED, 29 maio 2025. Anna Lagos https://es.wired.com/articulos/los-costos-ocultos-del-desarrollo-de-centros-de-datos-en-mexico-chile-ee-uu-paises-bajos-y-sudafrica Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas. Eleanor Gunn. SourceMaterial, 9 abr. 2025. https://www.source-material.org/amazon-microsoft-google-trump-data-centres-water-use/ Indígenas pedem que MP atue para derrubar licenciamento ambiental de data center do TikTok. Folha de S.Paulo, 26 ago. 2025. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2025/08/indigenas-pedem-que-mp-atue-para-derrubar-licenciamento-ambiental-de-data-center-do-tiktok.shtml The data center boom in the desert. MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116287/ai-data-centers-nevada-water-reno-computing-environmental-impact/ Conferências, artigos acadêmicos e jornalísticos: Why are Tech Oligarchs So Obsessed with Energy and What Does That Mean for Democracy? Tamara Kneese. Tech Policy Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/why-are-tech-oligarchs-so-obsessed-with-energy-and-what-does-that-mean-for-democracy/ Data Center Boom Risks Health of Already Vulnerable Communities. Cecilia Marrinan. Tech Policy Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/data-center-boom-risks-health-of-already-vulnerable-communities/ RARE/EARTH: The Geopolitics of Critical Minerals and the AI Supply Chain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxVM3cAxHfg Understanding AI with Data & Society / The Environmental Costs of AI Are Surging – What Now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4hQFR8Z7k0 IA e data centers: expansão corporativa em tensão com justiça socioambiental. Camila Cristina da Silva, Cynthia Picolo G. de Azevedo. https://www.jota.info/opiniao-e-analise/colunas/ia-regulacao-democracia/ia-e-data-centers-expansao-corporativa-em-tensao-com-justica-socioambiental LI, P.; YANG, J.; ISLAM, M. A.; REN, S. Making AI Less “Thirsty”: Uncovering and Addressing the Secret Water Footprint of AI Models. arXiv, 2304.03271, 26 mar. 2025. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.03271 LIU, Y.; WEI, X.; XIAO, J.; LIU, Z.;XU, Y.; TIAN, Y. Energy consumption and emission mitigation prediction based on data center traffic and PUE for global data centers. Global Energy Interconnection, v. 3, n.3, p. 272-282, 3 jun. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloei.2020.07.008 SIDDIK, M. A. B.; SHEHABI, A.; MARSTON, L. The environmental footprint of data centers in the United States. Environmental Research Letters, v. 16, n. 6, 21 maio 2021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfba1 Las Mentiras de Microsoft en Chile: Una Empresa No tan Verde. Por Rodrigo Vallejos de Resistencia Socioambiental de Quilicura. Revista De Frente, 18 mar. 2022. https://www.revistadefrente.cl/las-mentiras-de-microsoft-en-chile-una-empresa-no-tan-verde-porrodrigo-vallejos-de-resistencia-socioambiental-de-quilicura/. Acesso em: 17 set. 2025.

Host Shilpi Chhotray is joined by Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson, a fierce advocate taking on corporate power — from Big Oil to Big Tech. You may know him as one of the two Black representatives who was expelled for demanding gun reform on the House floor after The Covenant school shooting in Nashville. But long before becoming one of the youngest members of the Tennessee legislature, Rep. Pearson was on the frontlines in South Memphis, organizing against a crude oil pipeline that threatened his hometown.Now, in Rep. Pearson's district, Elon Musk's xAI project is expanding its empire with massive, unregulated data centers that pollute the air, threaten their water, and undermine hard-won environmental protections. This conversation is about fighting against entrenched corruption, unchecked corporate and political power, and billionaires who put profit over people's health and future.Key Topics Covered:Defeating the Valero / Plains All American Byhalia PipelineThe rise of Elon Musk's xAI data center in Memphis and the environmental toll of artificial intelligenceMoney in politics: How corporate lobbying and billionaires shape elections and policyCivil disobedience: The role of protest, direct action, and speaking truth to powerKeeping people power alive in the face of corruption and broken systemsProximity to the fight: Understanding your local representatives, connecting local struggles to federal policies, and focusing energy where it can make the most impactResourcesMemphis Community Against PollutionRep. Justin J. Pearson's Speech on the House floor before being expelled“How Long, Not Long” Martin Luther King Jr. speech after marching from Selma to MontgomeryNAACP and Advocacy Groups Appeal Permit for xAI's South Memphis Data CenterOur Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Gary Parrish joins the show in-studio for the first hour. GP talks about not being able to lift his left arm and Chris tells us how he hurt his back (3:30). After that we get into the alleged Illegal Poker/Betting scandal involving Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and the mob (9:30). Memphis plays South Florida tomorrow morning and the hype has gone away but can the Tigers get it back with a win? + GP stories about his early reporting days with the Memphis basketball team (29:17). South Memphis Hype Man surprises the gang in-studio (1:17:30).Host: Chris Vernon Co-Hosts/Contributors: Jon Roser, Devin WalkerGuests: Gary Parrish, South Memphis Hype ManTechnical Director: Jaylon WallaceAssociate Producer: Jena Broyles 

“Life is a direct reflection of the choices you make.” — Sam Nelson In this high-energy, brutally honest episode of The Journey, host Larry Robinson sits down with Samuel Nelson, the founder and CEO of Massage on the Go, and one of Memphis' most relentless entrepreneurs. From surviving a life-threatening car crash to building one of the first Black-owned, nationwide massage companies, Sam's story is a masterclass in resilience, creativity, and legacy-building. In this unforgettable conversation, Sam shares: How growing up in South Memphis and Bethel Grove shaped his grind and mindset Why he calls himself a “living legend” — and how he became the first Black owner of a national massage company What the Rothschilds taught him about systems, structure, and wealth How he built multiple businesses after losing everything His faith journey and how he became an ordained minister The ultimate relationship advice: “Everything in life is about relationships. If you can't relate in the ship, it won't move.” Sam's wisdom is raw, practical, and powerful, from hustling candy in middle school to employing hundreds of therapists across the country, his journey is proof that discipline, faith, and focus can turn any obstacle into opportunity.  

Dean and Douglas breakdown the rental property investment landscape in every Memphis area ZIP code! 0:00 Introduction 02:36 Frayser 38127 06:43 Raleigh 38128 09:31 Bartlett 38133 12:03 Bartlett 38134 14:41 Bartlett 38135 16:22 Arlington 38002 19:31 Cordova 38016 22:25 Cordova 38018 24:56 Germantown 38138 27:52 Germantown 38139 29:44 Collierville 38017 31:54 SE Shelby Co. 38125 34:29 Hickory Hill 38141 36:21 Hickory Hill 38115 38:38 Ridgeway 38119 41:06 Oakhaven 38118 44:14 Whitehaven 38116 47:48 Westwood 38109 51:17 University 38111 54:03 Orange Mound 38114 56:37 East Memphis 38117 59:30 River Oaks 38120 01:01:50 Berclair 38122 01:04:18 North Memphis 38107 01:05:53 Jackson 38108 01:07:41 Rhodes College 38112 01:09:26 Midtown 38104 01:11:48 Greenlaw 38105 01:13:13 Downtown 38103 01:14:54 West Person 38106 01:16:45 South Memphis 38126 01:18:12 Millington 38053 01:20:41 Desoto County 01:25:04 OutroHave any questions? Shoot me an email: dean@crestcore.comBuild your custom buyer profile, free at Crestcore: https://linktr.ee/crestcoreDean Harris, VP of Sales at CrestCore RealtyDouglas Skipworth, Founder & Principal Broker at CrestCore RealtyPodcast production and design by Parasaur StudiosThis podcast is brought to you byGriffin, Clift, Everton & Maschmeyer PLLC. https://www.gcemlaw.com/contact-us/CoreLend Financial https://www.corelendfinancial.com/contact_us.htmlRiver City Title CompanyCrestCore Property Managment https://www.crestcore.com/Triumph Construction

In this insightful conversation, Khame' shares her remarkable artistic journey, tracing her early experiences with music in South Memphis to her profound self-discovery while living off-grid. She discusses the essential values of resilience and authenticity in her creative expression, highlighting the significant influence her family has had on her life, particularly her mother and daughter.Khame' delves into her writing process, exploring how her experiences shape her artistry. She also shares her experiences with public speaking and reflects on the transformative impact of her time spent in South Korea, where she broadened her perspectives and creative horizons.The conversation shifts to her upcoming projects, including the Mental Rhythms book series and the Melted Gold EP. Khame' emphasizes the importance of connecting with her audience, illustrating how art can inspire and motivate others. Through her journey, she demonstrates the profound power of creativity as a means of expression and connection, encouraging listeners to embrace their own paths of self-discovery and resilience.

What if every person on earth could reach their absolute potential? Dr. Adriane Johnson-Williams believes our collective power is diminished when systems block people from their best selves - and she's dedicated her life to changing that reality. The catalyst for her remarkable journey began at age 14 when she left South Memphis for boarding school, suddenly experiencing privileges her equally brilliant friends back home would never access. That stark contrast planted a seed that grew into her lifelong mission to eliminate barriers to human potential. This conversation goes beyond surface-level diversity talk to explore how real change happens. Dr. Johnson-Williams reveals her powerful filter for clients: "I'm not going to work with you if I don't believe you're ready to do the work." Her actionable framework for addressing inequity starts with getting clear on your vision, understanding why things are the way they are, and identifying your specific "brushstroke" contribution to larger systemic change. Perhaps most illuminating is her distinction between mentorship and sponsorship. While mentorship provides guidance and emotional support, Dr. Johnson-Williams credits her success to sponsors who "walked me up to the door, opened it, gone in on the other side, and said 'hey, this is my girl.'" This transfer of power - literally stamping others with your authority - creates pathways traditional mentorship cannot. Her approach to equity conversations begins with helping people interrogate their own identity and place within systems, creating space for honest reflection while maintaining everyone's dignity. Through profound insights on emotional intelligence, reflective practice, and authentic leadership, Dr. Johnson-Williams demonstrates why her one-word mission - "humanity" - resonates so powerfully across classrooms, boardrooms, and communities. Ready to make your contribution to unleashing human potential? Listen now and discover how your "because" becomes your superpower. Connect & Discover Dr Adriane: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drajw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=dr%20adriane%20johnson-williams Website: https://standpointconsulting.com/about/dr-adriane-johnson-williams/ FOLLOW MICK ON: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.com Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/

Episode Notes My guests include Memphis NAACP Chapter President Kermit Moore. Last week, a lawsuit was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the NAACP to xAI signaling their intent to sue over the company's continued use of unpermitted gas turbines at its data center in South Memphis. He explains why this issue has become so important to our community. Next, the Immigration issue continues to be front and center across this country as fears continue to mount for so many. Immigration attorney Lily Axelrod joins to give us the latest updates and why this population of people should stay vigilant. Agape Child & Family Services' Becoming ONE program is set to provide married couples, single individuals and fathers with relationship-building tools through three upcoming free workshops this week. This program provides training through workshops, couple support. Jim Harbin, Jr. is the program coordinator will explain why this might be something you may not want to miss. That and more on air and online Monday, 6 pm on WYXR 91.7 FM. Also, the WYXR app, Tunein, YouTube and Facebook Live. It's time to talk!

Episode Notes My guests include Memphis NAACP Chapter President Kermit Moore. Last week, a lawsuit was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the NAACP to xAI signaling their intent to sue over the company's continued use of unpermitted gas turbines at its data center in South Memphis. He explains why this issue has become so important to our community. Next, the Immigration issue continues to be front and center across this country as fears continue to mount for so many. Immigration attorney Lily Axelrod joins to give us the latest updates and why this population of people should stay vigilant. Agape Child & Family Services' Becoming ONE program is set to provide married couples, single individuals and fathers with relationship-building tools through three upcoming free workshops this week. This program provides training through workshops, couple support. Jim Harbin, Jr. is the program coordinator will explain why this might be something you may not want to miss. That and more on air and online Monday, 6 pm on WYXR 91.7 FM. Also, the WYXR app, Tunein, YouTube and Facebook Live. It's time to talk!

In this episode of Just Schools, Dr. Jon Eckert speaks with Lionel Cable and Joi Taylor Johnson from New Hope Christian Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. New Hope, founded nearly 30 years ago is an urban, college-preparatory elementary school providing students with a challenging, intellectual, and Christ-centered education Joi, a New Hope alum and now Director of Development, shares how the school helped shape her leadership and calling. The conversation highlights New Hope's innovative scholarship model, its farm and forest learning spaces, and the school's vision for expansion. The episode ends with a powerful piece of advice from Lionel's sister, “Do the exact opposite of what you want to do and watch what God does through you.” The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Be encouraged. Connect with us: Center for School Leadership at Baylor University Jon Eckert LinkedIn Baylor MA in School Leadership   Jon: Well, Lionel and Joi, it is a blessing to have you here today. I'd love for you to just give our listeners a little bit of an idea of what New Hope Christian Academy is all about, where it's at, what its history is, and what your hopes are as you move forward. Lionel: First, thanks so much, Jon, for having me and Joi this morning. So New Hope is going on 30 years old. We were founded in the basement of a church downtown Memphis in 1995, 1996. Basically, it was established because there were no high quality, just private or public education options for kids in the downtown corridor. So we were founded to just offer teaching, learning, discipleship to families in need at the time. So over the past 30 years, we've grown to a little over 420 kids. 80% of our families, they have to qualify for free and reduced lunch. So the core of our mission truly is impoverished families and reaching out to them because we know in order to change that trajectory, it's two things. One, gets at the heart and that's the gospel, and then two high quality academics. If we can bridge those two things together, obviously that's going to change the trajectory of family, but then also change the trajectory of Memphis. Jon: And you have kids from age three all the way through sixth grade currently with the hope of expanding in the coming years. Is that correct? Lionel: Yeah, absolutely. Past 30 years due to our funding model, which is simply on a sliding scale, it was an impossible thing to expand. Now, with the passing of the Voucher Law in the state of Tennessee, the doors are now wide open for us to expand. So after next school year, we will be adding seventh and eighth grade. Jon: Yes. And so it's great to have your director of development on here because she has a vested interest in New Hope. So Joi, can you tell us a little bit about how you ended up back here professionally at New Hope? Joi: Yes, it's such a beautiful story honestly. I graduated from New Hope in 2007 and graduated from the sixth grade, and New Hope gave me a scholarship to go on to another independent school here in Memphis named ECS, Evangelical Christian School. And from there I went to the University of Memphis and I was all about social work and helping others. And from there, I helped start a program called the Choose 901 Alumni Program. And the alumni that we were helping were exactly the alumni from New Hope Christian Academy. And so I've kind of just always been in the works, helping our alumni get internships, jobs, and just connecting them to different opportunities and networks here in the city of Memphis. But as time went on, I kind of yearned to be back home. I wanted to be here and trying to advance the mission of New Hope. We want this school to be known all around the Memphis community and even further, because there's just so many great things happening here. This is the place that helped raise me honestly and cultivate the type of leadership and servant leadership that I have to this day. So it just made complete sense for me to come back and give my twenties, my thirties away to a school that helped make me who I am. Jon: I love that. And you mentioned this scholarship that happened after you left New Hope to go to another school. That is an unusual model. Joi: It's different. Jon: So can you talk a little bit about that Joi? How does that work? Joi: Yeah, so New Hope has always been a main proponent of school choice. Whether the actual vouchers have been passed or not, they've always just had a heart to connect students to quality education. Low-income students, underserved students to quality, Christ-centered education. And so they have always been connected to several foundations and donors who really care about what's happening in the Memphis community. And so they did the thing, they made sure it happened, and they've been doing it for 30 years now, funding scholars to go to different schools all around the city. Jon: That's such a beautiful thing, especially in a place like Memphis. Memphis is an amazing city, but it's also one of the most racially polarized cities that I've ever seen. And when they integrated Shelby County schools and they tried to connect with other counties, there was a lot of strife in that. And what I love about New Hope is it's, hey, each kid deserves an education that best fits that kid. And so ultimately you have people that have put money behind doing that, and then you have a school that's living out that mission pre-K through sixth grade, and now that's expanding with some additional opportunities. But even when it wasn't, it wasn't ever just about New Hope, but that's what I love. It was about the kids you were serving, and so therefore you're willing to use resources that a lot of schools would hold for themselves. And you're putting that scholarship with kids over the next six years to get you to the University of Memphis so that you can get through successfully. Do you know of other schools that have that model? I've been in a lot of schools and I don't know if I've ever heard that. Are you familiar with anybody else? Or Lionel, where did that idea come from? Was that just the community that you were in, or did that come from another school's model? Lionel: Yeah, so 30 years ago know when we opened, we wanted to go through 12th grade. However, the demand for high quality Christian urban education, it exploded, so we grew faster than what we intended. So the founder, Steven Carpenter, no, I can tell you the scholarship program, that was not a part of his original design for the school. It was around year four or five, we need to figure out are we going to expand or are we going to just send the kids somewhere else? And ultimately our checkbook said, okay, it's cheaper and actually easier to send the kids to our surrounding schools rather than add a grade at the time. So the model stuck. But I will tell you, Jon, you mentioned just Memphis being such a unique place. In the private sector, there are not a lot of urban ED private schools here. As a matter of fact, they're exact opposite of us. So I would like to think that our children know 30 years ago, they were really the first black and brown kids to go to some of these predominantly white spaces. So there were struggles there, but there was also opportunity for growth in terms of how New Hope could better support our kids when they left us to go to some of these other schools. So we created what was called the Alumni Support Office. There's three people in that office right now who spend 95% of their time on the campuses of the other schools to stay connected with the kids, to act as that bridge, to also act as a cheerleader, but then to also act as an advocate so that the children don't lose themselves in these spaces so that their identity can remain and then also so that they can cross the finish line. So with that particular model, we've had great success. Over the last 30 years, we have a 99.9% graduation rate from high school. 99.9% of our kids get accepted into college, 70% of which are actually working on their college degree or post-secondary. So I'd like to think it was a combination of the New Hope Scholarship opening the door, but then also that continued support that the organization offers all the way through to the finish line. Jon: Well, it's such a beautiful example of building the kingdom because it's not just a gift to your students, it's a gift to those campuses that were impoverished by the lack of diversity. They were not the kingdom because they were only serving a segment of the population. And so you enrich those campuses with the gift of your students. And so that's always one of the things when we study Brown vs Board of Education and the language of that, it's always like, well, how the black and brown kids are being harmed. And the counter argument to that is, all of the students who were not able to be exposed to different cultures and different kinds of kids and people within their own community, that's impoverishing to everyone. So you have been a gift financially in the scholarship to those schools, but to send kids out who are well-prepared in an academically rigorous setting with a heart grounded in Christ, like what a beautiful gift that is to Memphis. And so sometimes we hear all of the polarizing stories and the separation, and even in school choice discussions, it's this othering of, "how could you be for that or how could you be for this?" And it's like, "No, we want each kid to become more like Christ." And we do that best when we do that in community. And I feel like that's what you're living out. Now. Joi, can you talk a little bit about that experience of going to ECS? We've worked with ECS, a really fascinating school. How helpful was that office to you? Obviously you were successful, you went on to college, you're part of that 99.9% that Lionel talked about, but what was that experience like as a student? Joi: Honestly, it was really difficult. When I graduated, it was still in the early years of our alumni scholarship or support office, and so they were really still trying to understand how to get involved and be on the campus and really understand the difficulties we were experiencing as alumni going to these schools, because as Lionel stated, that New Hope is a predominantly black and brown school. And so when you leave this place and go to a predominantly white school, I mean, when I say culture shock, that's seriously what I was feeling as a seventh grader. We're already teenagers and crazy and feeling all kinds of ways. And so being in a completely new environment without my family really, we went through kindergarten through sixth grade together. And so leaving them and being placed in a completely new situation, it was really hard. It was really, really difficult. But the ASO office, they were there and they walked with me through all of those obstacles and difficulties and challenges that I faced, and they really encouraged me to just keep going because I was going to come out gold in the end. Even though it was some hard times, there was a lot of beauty in that as well. I tell a lot of people, the ECS definitely helped me academically. I mean, when it came to college, I was so ready. I didn't even blink to some of the work that they were throwing at me. But also spiritually. I mean, it really gave me that foundation of the Bible and knowing these verses and scriptures. Whenever I'm in these science classes or philosophy classes, and they really want to deter you from thinking that Jesus is the Savior and he is the creator, it really just gave me a foundation to know who I am, whose I am, I'm a daughter of the King, and it just really gave me a push to really get through everything. So I think I came out gold from doing all of that and trying to navigate it. Jon: Yeah, that joy through struggle is something that I think our current students have a hard time understanding. I mean, we want adversity. We don't want trauma. And so certainly going outside of your comfort zone to a new campus with support, that's adversity. We don't want it to bleed into trauma because I think through that adversity, we grow and become more of who we're created to be. And that's part of learning. I mean, that's the zone of proximal development. It's where you're at on your own versus what you can do with others through struggle, and that's where real joy is, and that's where transformation happens. So you would do some interesting things, Lionel, at your school with the forest and the farm. These aren't typical things that you think of in urban settings. Can you talk a little bit about what you're doing there and what the idea behind all that is? Lionel: Yeah, it was 2013, Mary Leslie Ramsey, who was the teacher that came up with the idea. We had recently been gifted the land from Habitat for Humanity, it's right across the street. They wanted to actually turn it into a subdivision, but found out it was on a floodplain, so couldn't do anything with it, so they gave it to us. She woke up one day with the head of school at the time and said, "Hey, the Lord has given me a vision. Do you see it? Do you see it?" And he kept saying, "I don't see a thing," because there was nothing there. And she said, "No, do you see this farm and this forest?" So she talked him into it, and obviously we didn't have a budget at the time to get it started. So we partnered with the Memphis Botanic Garden and they gave us all of the plantings that they were going to throw away. And it just really started with this small idea. Since Frayser is a fresh food desert, and the majority of our kids are either apartment dwellers or they don't necessarily go outside like they should, Mary Leslie just, she had the idea, "Okay, we've got to get our kids outside and we've got to expose them to something completely different than what they're used to." So that's when the farm and the forest was birthed. Currently, it is sitting on about five and a half acres. About one and a half of those acres, that's the actual farm. And it's more agricultural than it is animals. So our kids grow anything and everything from cabbage to strawberries to harvest their own honey. I mean, you name it, it is there. I'd like to think of it as the Garden of Eden because in the middle of Frayser, you wouldn't expect just this beautiful farm and forest that is there. We've got a full-time horticulturist who pours into that, and our teachers are able to go out there and do some applicable things with everything that is growing out there. With what's happening in the classroom, the forest piece is about four, four and a half acres, and we look at that as more of our play space. There are birdwatching observatories, there's about 1.7 miles of a walking trail that has been excavated there. I mean, just a beautiful space. And it's a way for our kids to really connect with our Lord. I mean, there's no better way to put your hands in the ground to plant something and just see how good God is by something coming up out of the ground. Jon: So you've got to tell me, how good are your kids at avoiding the instant gratification trap that gets really exposed in gardening. So they see something that is not even close to ripe, like that's it. I want to try it. Are they good at leaving it and letting it develop to its fullness of what the Lord wanted before they indulge? Or do they give in to that childlike instant gratification of the underdeveloped prefrontal cortex? Lionel: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's pretty developed. Jon: Okay. Lionel: Probably not at the beginning. And let me tell you why. So a part of Mary Leslie's strategy was also to give back to the Frayser community, so our kids understand the things that we plant, it's going towards a common good. So with this being a fresh food desert, every Friday, starting in late March all the way through, I'd say the end of October, we have what is called a pay what you can stand. And we invite the entire Frayser community to come in and grab as much produce as they'd like, and they can pay something or they can get it for free. So our kids know that, hey, we got to wait. We want that fruit to get ripe or those vegetables to be fully developed because it's going towards a good cause. Jon: That is so beautiful. The reason why I ask is last week I was at a school that's in a juvenile detention center down here in Texas, and they have violent youth offenders. They have quite a range of kids from age 13 to 18, and they have a garden. And in the English class, they were writing about weeds and the weeds they have in their own lives and then going out and weeding and tilling this garden. It was this beautiful lesson, but there was a very underdeveloped cucumber that one of the guys picked up and started munching for about 15 seconds. Until then, it's all out all over the ground because it was not ready. And the guy who's in charge of the garden says, "Yeah, they lose about 90% of the produce to kids not being able to delay that gratification to the point that it is ripe." And I think your point about they're doing this for someone else, that changes the calculus, that changes what it is. And now these kids are in juvenile detention through a series of tragic circumstances, bad decisions. Some of it may be related to not being able to delay gratification or not having the security of believing that something will be there the next day and not just taking what's available right now. But it was a fascinating lesson. So when you started talking about what your kids do, I was like, "Oh, I got to hear it." I had not thought about what a great lesson in delayed gratification gardening is. Because you take that too early and that thing that's going to be amazing in a week is inedible in the moment. So I love that. I love that. Joi, you're telling the story from a development fundraising perspective. Anything you want to add to what New Hope's doing that you think is particularly compelling? Joi: Yes. When I was a student at New Hope, we always craved for a middle school or a high school. We wanted to be at New Hope for as long as we possibly can. So for me to be here at New Hope, at the start of the transition of us actually bringing in a middle school, I mean, that's amazing to me. It feels like my sixth grade dreams are coming true right before my eyes. So I'm excited that I get to extend this type of opportunity to the current fifth graders who are here now. And then to the rest of the generations who are coming through, that they really get a chance to be involved and get this, it's like an incubator for Christ-Centered leadership and learning service and different activities that they get a longer chance to kind of experience that before they enter into high school where it really gets crazy. Middle school is just the beginning, but high school, I feel like we give them a chance to be prepared and cultivate their social emotional learning process needs that they have, so that when they are in those frightening or new situations, that they feel more prepared how to navigate these things. And so I think that's one of the best things that I'm excited about preparing or clearing out a new pathway for our students to really get time here with us here at New Hope. And then of course, it's our 30th anniversary. That's a huge deal. I don't know if we ever thought we would see this kind of day, but we're so blessed and thankful that we've made it. God has been with us the whole time. We've had a lot of obstacles, but we've come out on top every single time because his hand has been over us. And so I want to offer more partnerships and relationships to the community, especially right now. We have a really hectic education system going on, atmosphere in Memphis right now. So I really feel like this is a great time to amp up New Hope and tell more people about it because they are getting fearful and worried about what their child's education really will look like in the future. But we have been stable. We've been here for 30 years, and hopefully we can open our doors to more people. Jon: Yes. Love it. Love it. And the fact that you can describe middle school as a dream and not a nightmare, is a true testimony to the work of the spirit at New Hope. So love it. As a former middle school teacher and a middle school kid, I think I would have loved being at your farm and forest and in the culture you've built at New Hope. So that's a beautiful thing. We always end with a lightning round where I'll just ask a few questions and we just keep the answers to about a sentence if you can. I'm terrible at this, but if you can, that's better than me. So the first question is, what's the worst piece of advice you've ever received, as an educator or as a student, but just worst piece of advice you've ever gotten? Lionel: I guess I'll go first, Joi. Joi: Go ahead. Lionel: Honestly, I don't think I've ever gotten really bad advice. It may not have worked out because there's learning and failure. I just learned not to do that again, but I learned from it. So to answer your question, no bad advice. Jon: Well, one thing, Lionel, I would say that the piece I always give is people tell you to stay in your lane. And I feel like that's bad advice many times. And if New Hope would have stayed in its lane, you wouldn't have scholarships to send people off to school. You wouldn't exist. You wouldn't have a farm, you wouldn't have the wood. So I'm applying my bad advice that I received to New Hope as a counter example, and I'm grateful for educators that step up and speak out about, here's what we need, here's what we need to flourish, and here's what we need to do together. So I'll apply my bad advice to your good counter example. So thank you for that. Joi, what about you? Have you gotten any bad advice or are you as blessed as Lionel is to never have received bad advice? Joi: No, I think I have gotten bad advice before. Being in this new situation, raising money for an independent black school in Memphis, I think people have definitely told me that there are certain groups of people and populations I shouldn't ask money for support from or any type of activity from. But we're learning that our parents, our grandparents, the people in our community might be great people who can give and be a part of this whole mission that we have going on in New Hope. It doesn't have to be one specific person or they have to look a certain way. This is an opportunity for all. Jon: That's good. All right. Best advice you've either given or received? Joi: I will say the best advice that I think I've gotten actually come from Lionel. It was a couple of years ago, I was still in my previous job and antsy to get back home and to do work here at New Hope. And I talked to Lionel about it, "Like, why is it this not working out? I want to be here." And he told me to be still and wait on the Lord. And that's been the best advice because look where I am a couple of years later. I'm here and an opportunity to really lead in a big way, bigger than what I was trying to do earlier. So being still. Jon: Psalm 46:10, always good advice. All right. Lionel, what about you? Lionel: Yeah, you may have heard this one already, Jon. I think this advice came from my sister. About 10, 15 years ago, I had an opportunity, between two schools, to be the principal. One, was the highest performing school in the district, the other was the seventh worst performing school in the entire state of Tennessee. I was offered both jobs. Go out to the car, called my sister, I'm like, "Hey, I think I'm going to decline the worst school. I just want to go to the best school." And keep in mind, Jon, I had no experience at a failing school at all. Simple advice from her. She said, "Lionel, God has really blessed you in your career. Why don't you do the exact opposite of what you want to do and watch what God does through you?" Jon: That's amazing. Lionel: At that point, I accepted the job at the other place, and that's all she wrote. I mean, it was the best decision of my life. Jon: Yeah, love that. You have told me that. And it's always a good story to hear that again. Because I think so often I want my desires to always be aligned with Christ. And the more I am praying, the more I'm in the word, the more that is likely. But so often, my selfish desires get in the way of what He wants. And so love that. Okay. What do you see as the biggest challenge for New Hope specifically for the next 30 years? What would you say? And then we'll go back to what's your greatest hope? But we'll start with the challenge first. Lionel: Yeah. Prior to this year, it was the funding model. I mean, it's flipped on its head. 93% of our dollars came from donations. Past 30 years, we've never been in the red. Praise God, thankful for that. Now that ESA's vouchers, all of that is here, there is a path forward. So I think the challenge is how can we leverage our 30 years of experience and create more new hopes? New Hope, we serve 44 different zip codes in Memphis. In the north Memphis area is where we planted our flag, but South Memphis is the most impoverished area in the city. And my dream, my desire, my hope is that we can plant our flag in South Memphis and create a New Hope South Memphis, and then hopefully a New Hope East Memphis. So many children here, Jon, they need teaching, learning, and discipleship, and they need hope. And New Hope can certainly provide that through the gospel, but then also change that family's trajectory just through high quality academics and just building that foundation. So in short, to answer your question, the challenge is, how do we get more dollars? How do we leverage the dollars we have? How do we create these partnerships so that New Hope can grow well beyond Frayser, which is where we are now? Jon: Joi, anything you'd add to that challenge? Joi: He is the visionary leader of New Hope Christian Academy, so I stand behind him. That's our goal and vision. That's what we're doing. Jon: That's great. So then what's your greatest hope for New Hope or education in general, what's your greatest hope? Lionel: Oh, that's a loaded question, Jon. Jon: I know. We ask good ones for the lightning round and try to get you to give a parsimonious answer. Lionel: Oh. For Memphis specifically, and I think there's two parts to that. Memphis specifically, I'm hopeful that the education system will look more like the Kingdom, in particularly the private schools. Because it's not, Jon. I mean, again, New Hope and Collegiate, which is our sister school, we're the only ones that are high poverty, high concentration of black and brown children. Other schools are the complete opposite. And I always say, if you don't like diversity, you don't like heaven, you're not going to like heaven. And the thing is, I mean, I'm hopeful that in the independent school space that there will be room for growth so that it can look more like the Kingdom and that the leaders will be more Kingdom minded. As it relates to just education? We need more urban Christian education. I think that's the key. In the core of the city, we need high quality options for families because that's where the concentration of brokenness is, and in every major city in America. So I'm very hopeful, you know that the lens will look towards just again, high quality urban Christian education in cities across America. Jon: Oh, yes. Love that. Rebecca McLaughlin says, "Don't miss the fact that Christianity is the most diverse multicultural movement in the history of the world. And the church is becoming increasingly black and brown in 2025." So that's a great word and appreciate your heart behind that. Joi, anything you'd add to your hope for where things are headed? Joi: Yes. I think when people think of Memphis, their mind goes to our crime rate, our history, our music, and our food. And I think one thing about Memphis that most people miss is that this is a place with a lot of opportunity. And I'm grateful that the ESAs and EFS has made their way to the Shelby County area because crime is a big issue here. Safety is a big issue here. But I do know that that's directly related and linked to poverty. And I know that poverty can be changed with quality education. And so I think this is a great time for us to really capitalize on, now's the time. New Hope is the place for parents and community members to pour into and send people to, and maybe even replicate a school like that in their own city or their own state, that this kind of gospel and movement that we're trying to spread actually spreads everywhere. Jon: That's great. This resonates with what the Spreading Hope Network does. They're based out of Minneapolis. I'm sure they're aware of you and hopefully you're aware of them. Love the heart, love the work you're doing. Our team, they got to visit, it all came back. Bill Sterrett was enamored with the farm and the forest. Loved it. The team loved it. So anybody that gets a chance to get through Memphis and visit, I know they find a welcome team there that is just doing good work. And it's an encouragement and there's great joy in the work that we get to do with kids. So thank you for your time. Appreciate your work on our advisory board, Lionel. Joi, it's great to meet you virtually. Hopefully we'll meet you in person soon, and thanks for all you do. Joi: Sure. Thank you. Lionel: Thank you.  

The NAACP is calling on local officials to halt operations at Colossus, the “supercomputer” facility operated by Elon Musk's xAI in South Memphis. As reported in NBC News, leaders from the civil rights group sent a letter Thursday to the Shelby County Health Department and Memphis Light Gas and Water criticizing the organizations' “lackadaisical approach." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wed, 14 May 2025 21:15:00 GMT http://relay.fm/connected/552 http://relay.fm/connected/552 Stage Manager Could Never 552 Federico Viticci, Stephen Hackett, and Myke Hurley This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. clean 5976 This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. This episode of Connected is sponsored by: Fitbod: Get stronger, faster with a fitness plan that fits you. Get 25% off your membership. Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free. Links and Show Notes: Get Connected Pro: Preshow, postshow, no ads. Submit Feedback Google's statement on May 7 press reports about Search traffic – Google Blog Apple opened the door to web paywalls — our test shows it might hurt conversions Initial Data Is In: App2Web Conversion Rates After the App Store Ruling — Superwall Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year - Apple The Android Show: I/O Edition - YouTube Android 16 Material Three Expressive UI coming in beta this month | The Verge The Swift Student Challenge Interviews and watchOS and tvOS Wishes Apple, Anthropic Team Up to Build AI-Powered ‘Vibe-Coding' Platform - Bloomberg Good Vibrations Between Apple & Anthropic – MG Siegler Apple and Anthropic reportedly partner to build an AI coding platform | TechCrunch Andrej Karpathy on Vibe Coding Cursor OpenAI Is in Talks to Acquire Programming Tool Windsurf for $3 Billion - The New York Times Variant Junie App Store Vibes - MacStories VibeCode App Google confirms it's close to getting Gemini support on iPhones | The Verge xAI in Memphis - Archives - 512 Pixels Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer stirs turmoil over smog in Memphis : NPR Protect our Aquifer Second xAI Datacenter Could Take Enough Energy to Power 40% of Memphis; Government Agency Charged with Studying Impact Targeted by DOGE - 512 Pixels Memphis Chamber of Commerce Claims No New Gas Turbines Will be Placed at Second xAI Location, Despite Documents to the Contrary - 512 Pixels Musk's xAI explores another massive methane gas turbine installation at second South Memphis data center - Southern Environmental Law Center A cheat sheet for why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment – The Weird Turn Pro What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT? – Sustainability by numbers

Wed, 14 May 2025 21:15:00 GMT http://relay.fm/connected/552 http://relay.fm/connected/552 Federico Viticci, Stephen Hackett, and Myke Hurley This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. clean 5976 This week, Myke hosts The Quizzies, Apple announces new accessibility features, Federico explains vibe coding, Google makes announcements ahead of IO, and Stephen takes on xAI. This episode of Connected is sponsored by: Fitbod: Get stronger, faster with a fitness plan that fits you. Get 25% off your membership. Ecamm: Powerful live streaming platform for Mac. Get one month free. Links and Show Notes: Get Connected Pro: Preshow, postshow, no ads. Submit Feedback Google's statement on May 7 press reports about Search traffic – Google Blog Apple opened the door to web paywalls — our test shows it might hurt conversions Initial Data Is In: App2Web Conversion Rates After the App Store Ruling — Superwall Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year - Apple The Android Show: I/O Edition - YouTube Android 16 Material Three Expressive UI coming in beta this month | The Verge The Swift Student Challenge Interviews and watchOS and tvOS Wishes Apple, Anthropic Team Up to Build AI-Powered ‘Vibe-Coding' Platform - Bloomberg Good Vibrations Between Apple & Anthropic – MG Siegler Apple and Anthropic reportedly partner to build an AI coding platform | TechCrunch Andrej Karpathy on Vibe Coding Cursor OpenAI Is in Talks to Acquire Programming Tool Windsurf for $3 Billion - The New York Times Variant Junie App Store Vibes - MacStories VibeCode App Google confirms it's close to getting Gemini support on iPhones | The Verge xAI in Memphis - Archives - 512 Pixels Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer stirs turmoil over smog in Memphis : NPR Protect our Aquifer Second xAI Datacenter Could Take Enough Energy to Power 40% of Memphis; Government Agency Charged with Studying Impact Targeted by DOGE - 512 Pixels Memphis Chamber of Commerce Claims No New Gas Turbines Will be Placed at Second xAI Location, Despite Documents to the Contrary - 512 Pixels Musk's xAI explores another massive methane gas turbine installation at second South Memphis data center - Southern Environmental Law Center A cheat sheet for why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment – The Weird Turn Pro What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT? – Sustainability by numbers

Elon Musk's xAI project is building one of the world's largest supercomputers in South Memphis—but at what cost? In this episode, we break down the environmental, economic, and ethical implications of xAI's expansion. From toxic gas turbines and unpermitted operations to water consumption and job promises that may bypass the very people most affected—this is a deep dive into how unchecked tech might exploit low-income Black communities under the guise of innovation.#Memphis #xAI #ElonMusk #EnvironmentalRacism #SouthMemphis #DataCenter #BlackCommunities #MLGW #MemphisPolitics #TechAccountability #MemphisVoices #WaterJustice #TennesseeEnvironment #Grok

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company has been spewing pollution into South Memphis without federal permits for several months, triggering public outcry and questions about the development of AI infrastructure across the country. Ariel Wittenberg from POLITICO's E&E News breaks down the controversy along with the climate, public health and tech implications. Plus, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he expects to finish evaluating whether to proceed with funding hundreds of large Biden-approved projects in DOE's pipeline by the end of the summer. Ariel Wittenberg is a public health reporter for POLITICO's E&E News. Josh Siegel is the host of POLITICO Energy and a congressional energy reporter for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy.  Alex Keeney is a senior audio producer at POLITICO.  Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jozzy pulls up to The Underground Lounge and delivers one of the most layered, unfiltered conversations yet. Lou, Spank, and Holly dive deep with the Grammy Award winning songwriter turned artist as she shares how her journey took her from South Memphis to writing some of the biggest songs in music—only to realize that success behind the scenes comes with a price.She opens up about what it really took to break out as a songwriter in a city that didn't understand the lane she was chasing, and why leaving Memphis was more survival than strategy. Jozzy shares behind-the-scenes moments with legends like Missy Elliott, her experience navigating a cutthroat industry, and the frustration of being a hitmaker with little credit, until she decided to flip the script and step into the spotlight.But it's not just about the music. The episode takes a turn as Jozzy unpacks a recent situationship that left her blocked, confused, and questioning her own patterns. From pursuing straight women to learning tough lessons about boundaries, respect, and accountability, she keeps it brutally honest—and hilariously relatable. There's talk of DMs, “business calls” gone left, Cash App peace offerings, and the fine line between love and ego in the public eye.This episode is part music industry masterclass, part relationship therapy, and all the way Underground Lounge. Whether she's talking Billboard hits or emotional misses, Jozzy holds nothing back,and that's exactly why you'll be locked in from start to finish.

In the heart of every shadow that plagues our communities, from the silent cries of the trafficked to the silent battles of addiction, We Fight Monsters stands as a beacon of hope and defiance. Born from the shared experiences of those who've faced the abyss and emerged to tell the tale, our organization is a testament to the power of resilience and the strength of unity. We are the ones who navigate the night to bring back the lost, who stand in the face of evil not with weapons, but with the unwavering belief in redemption and recovery. Ben is a daddy to eight (sometimes ten), grandparent to one, humanitarian, fighter of evil, bringer of hope, formerly addicted, alcoholic and homeless. He's also the owner of BlackRifle Co, a data intelligence and digital media agency not to be confused with the coffee company of similar name, and co-founder of two non-profits—We Fight Monsters and Flanders Field—that help people in some of the worst places in America and the world. Ben loves sharing that his wife Jess can drive, load, and fire a M18 Hellcat, a WWII tank destroyer. He’s also the only crackhead ever invited to CIA headquarters. When they’re not in South Memphis helping others rebuild their lives after addiction, Ben and Jess can be found in rural Georgia where they live with their family.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this powerful episode of The Journey, host Larry Robinson sits down with Mark Yates—entrepreneur, executive, Howard grad, and lifelong Memphian—for a deeply personal and unapologetically Black conversation. From growing up in South Memphis and Whitehaven to navigating corporate America and attending an HBCU, Mark reflects on the moments that shaped his identity—including the moment he made a conscious decision to be Black.

In this inspiring episode of The Journey, host Larry Robinson sits down with Memphis native Bobby White—a sharp-witted, service-driven leader affectionately known around the city simply as Bobby. Raised in South Memphis by two educators, Bobby shares how growing up in a house built on structure, love, and high expectations gave him the foundation to lead with heart and humility. From Central High to Morehouse, from teacher to chief of staff, his path is proof that service is more than a role—it's a calling.

From growing up in South Memphis to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. Presidents, Henry Hooper II has a story of unshakable faith, fearless determination, and living life without excuses. In this episode of The Journey, host Larry Robinson sits down with the legendary Secret Service agent, Olympian, Marine, and proud Kappa Alpha Psi brother to explore how discipline, faith, and integrity shaped his incredible life path.

...What we finna do come tomorrow? ...especially if the overseer of your choice doesn't win ...will you fear power or contest with it? A hallmark feature of any presidential election in a racist country is the continued psychological warfare against the colonized, especially Black people, who, along with Arab Muslims, will be inevitably blamed, scapegoated or strategically pitted against one another in service of the powers that be, for no other reason than if we were to coalesce our efforts toward our own interests and liberation, that could signal the end of empire and all the symbolism, pomp and circumstance that they hope will keep us distracted and placated. We are living in a lie, a constant paradox: Black people are no better off from the open theft and profiteering of our culture by white people but appropriation masked as "multiculturalism" in the media is at an all time high and judging by the decreasing numbers of Black folks in physical public space in major metropolitan cities, is showing no signs of slowing down (if you can just "be" Black, why would you need Black people?). Record numbers of white people are using tiktok and other technologies to fine tune their mimicry of what they think Blackness is while at the same time decrying we won't be "replaced"; Vanity fair is publishing articles about the "radicalization of america's white young men" and giving a well known white supremacist a whole spread about how wealthy "conservative extremists" are calling themselves "anti-imperialists" in a fake populist rebrand while a privately owned newspaper is upset at its billionaire owner for blocking their presidential endorsement and also regularly publishing Israel centric propaganda around freeing the hostages when there are twice as many or more Palestinians held captive before oct 7? This is sometimes peppered with actual unbiased coverage of the genocide here and there (to some individual writers' credit). The US says it is committed to protecting Ukrainian sovereignty after Russia's attempts to annex their land but not that of the Palestinian people...who also had their land stolen? In 2021, Kamala Harris was quoted saying wars are fought over oil but in a few years it'll be over water Elon Musk is building what will be the world's largest supercomputer in South Memphis, TN in a predominately Black community and authorities there greenlit the project with no community input or oversight in a part of the city that is currently plagued by a water crisis, replete with lead and other pollutants. This is 3 years after the community started a successful grassroots resistance movement that stopped two companies who were planning to build a major oil pipeline right in the middle of a historic Black neighborhood. They did the bulk of their organizing during and despite of a Trump presidency. European investors are buying farmlands in water rich areas, mostly in Africa and even in parts of the US to sell to areas that are water poor and dividing up last remaining farmland on earth to take advantage of what they call... “Empire crops” This has been happening under democractic and republican administrations. So again, what's going to be our answer? Will it b a departure from what colonialism wants, thinking about something other than yourself? What's it going to be after you slip that paper in that box? Recommended Reading and Resources Forthcoming at www.patreon.com/ihartericka This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rashad Pridgen (Soul Nubian). Rest in Power, my love https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-rashad-pridgens-artistic-life-celebration

This 100th ChangeMakers Podcast episode honors the legacy, career, and calling of Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson, who has been intertwining medicine and ministry for decades to transform lives and communities. Join host Jeremy C. Park as he talks with Rev. Kenneth S. Robinson, M.D., who announced his retirement in June 2024, after serving as President and CEO of United Way of the Mid-South for more than nine years. Dr. Robinson became President and CEO in February 2015 after nearly 25 years as a volunteer and Board member of United Way of the Mid-South, the region's largest public, exclusively charitable foundation.During the interview, Dr. Robinson shares how being born premature and facing illnesses paved the way for his calling to pursue medicine, how his parents fostered a focus on education and faith, and how they instilled the confidence for him to succeed. He discusses how his paths for medicine and ministry started to become intertwined while at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, and how those callings came with personal sacrifices and hard decisions. Dr. Robinson reflects on meeting his wife and how they've built their family, how and why he balanced working at Vanderbilt while pursing a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and then the transition to serving in the Governor's Cabinet as Tennessee's Commissioner of Health from 2003-2007.Dr. Robinson talks about serving as Pastor and CEO of St. Andrew AME Church in Memphis and how they worked to transform South Memphis, and then what led him to United Way of the Mid-South, where his legacy will be the social entrepreneurial approach that he brought to human services through Driving The Dream™ Identifying poverty as the critical, underlying issue impacting every facet of our community, Driving The Dream™, established in 2016, currently connects over 170 independent agencies and organizations in a system of care for people living in, or at risk, of poverty. The network of support allows individuals in need to connect to available resources with a single phone call or visit to a participating agency. Through a shared database and communication system, multiple agencies are able to offer services to families. Driving The Dream™ Care Coordinators, or case managers, assist families in building their own roadmap to self-sufficiency. To date, Driving The Dream™ has helped over 15,000 individuals advance toward financial stability.Dr. Robinson wraps up with some of the lessons learned, his advice and encouragement for those who want to make a difference, and a fun, lightning round of short questions and answers where he shares what he likes to do to relax, his love of the Memphis Grizzlies, favorite Bible verses, and his plans for the future.   About Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson:Dr. Robinson's bi-professional synthesis of medicine and ministry has made him a strong leader in the areas of public policy, health and healthcare, and community development at the highest levels of local, state and national impact. He served in the Governor's Cabinet as Tennessee's Commissioner of Health (2003-2007), guiding significant contracting and grant-making authority within his Department's $548 million budget. Prior to joining United Way, he was the consultant and public health policy advisor to the Mayor of Shelby County (2008-2015) and Chair of “Healthy Shelby,” which was highlighted by United Way Worldwide as a replicable model of public/private collective impact.For 25 years (1991-2016), Dr. Robinson also served as Pastor and CEO of St. Andrew AME Church in Memphis; developing health and human services, high-quality childcare, Pre-K and K-5 education, and economic development initiatives.  He founded an associated CDC, The Works, Inc., a very effective nonprofit that partners with United Way to impact lives locally. The entire St. Andrew Enterprise has become a major stakeholder in creating a healthy, sustainable community; responsible for over $22 million of new investment in South Memphis.In 2000, United Way of America (now United Way Worldwide) awarded him its Community Builder of the Year award; recognizing both his local volunteer work with United Way and his formative community work through St. Andrew. Dr. Robinson has held board and leadership positions with numerous nonprofits, foundations, colleges, civic organizations, health-related entities and “think-tank” groups across the Mid-South and Tennessee.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Harvard College; the Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School; and a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School.He and his wife, Marilynn, have twin daughters – both accomplished physicians. The ChangeMakers Podcast is produced by cityCURRENT and powered by Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services. Be inspired by more positive media by following cityCURRENT here: www.cityCURRENT.com

Drew Joyner, owner of Ash Holdings, shares his experience in commercial real estate, focusing on industrial and retail properties. He values commercial assets for their challenges and stability, and prioritizes tenant management, zoning, and parking issues. Drew highlights a South Memphis deal with a 40% cash-on-cash return and stresses the importance of broker relationships and professional expertise in finding off-market opportunities. Drew Joyner | Real Estate Background Ash Holdings Portfolio: 15 properties / 53 units / ~165,000 sqft Based in: Memphis, TN Say hi to him at: LinkedIn Sponsors: Apartments.com

Before Justin J. Pearson became a national voice for common sense gun regulation, he was a strong advocate for climate and environmental justice, having worked to defeat a multi-billion-dollar crude oil pipeline that could have poisoned Memphis's drinking water and taken land from South Memphis residents.  Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is working to make climate a top priority in his traditionally fossil fuel-friendly city. From his first press conference where he discussed making Cleveland a “15-minute city,” to his current push to electrify municipal fleets and decarbonize the city “block by block,” Bibb is leading his city to advance climate solutions and close the racial wealth gap. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Justin J. Pearson became a national voice for common sense gun regulation, he was a strong advocate for climate and environmental justice, having worked to defeat a multi-billion-dollar crude oil pipeline that could have poisoned Memphis's drinking water and taken land from South Memphis residents.  Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is working to make climate a top priority in his traditionally fossil fuel-friendly city. From his first press conference where he discussed making Cleveland a “15-minute city,” to his current push to electrify municipal fleets and decarbonize the city “block by block,” Bibb is leading his city to advance climate solutions and close the racial wealth gap. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seamus Malekafzali returns to the show to talk to us about a report into the BBC's reporting by a law firm that alleges the organisation is not sympathetic enough to Israel… but don't worry about the report being biased, they used ChatGPT! Also, we talk about Elon Musk's blanketing South Memphis in methane gas, and look at executive misbehaviour at Neom (which, wouldn't you know it, is a kind of French Foreign Legion for senior businesspeople who are unhireable anywhere else). Get the full episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/112015355 *MILO ALERT* Check out Milo's UK Tour Here: https://miloedwards.co.uk/live-shows Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and November (@postoctobrist)

Dean and Douglas breakdown the rental property investment landscape in every Memphis area ZIP code! 00:00 Introduction 2:12 Frayser 38127 5:36 Raleigh 38128 8:55 Bartlett 38133 10:11 Bartlett 38134 11:56 Bartlett 38135 13:42 Arlington 38002 15:31 Cordova 38016 18:00 Cordova 38018 19:46 Germantown 38138 21:47 Germantown 38139 22:57 Collierville 38017 24:30 SE Shelby Co. 38125 26:56 Hickory Hill 38141 29:34 Hickory Hill 38115 31:12 Oakhaven 38118 33:46 Whitehaven 38116 37:24 Ridgeway 38119 39:20 East Memphis 38117 42:54 Westwood 38109 45:52 West Person 38106 48:49 South Memphis 38126 50:21 University 38111 53:11 Rhodes College 38112 55:07 Orange Mound 38114 57:54 River Oaks 38120 59:51 Berclair 38122 01:02:23 Jackson 38108 01:04:35 North Memphis 38107 01:06:24 Midtown 38104 01:08:36 Downtown 38103 01:10:49 Greenlaw 38105 01:12:03 Millington 38053 01:13:48 Desoto County Have any questions? Shoot me an email: dean@crestcore.com Dean Harris, VP of Sales at CrestCore Realty Douglas Skipworth, Founder & Principal Broker at CrestCore Realty Podcast production and design by Parasaur Studios This podcast is brought to you by Griffin, Clift, Everton & Maschmeyer PLLC. https://www.gcemlaw.com/contact-us/ CoreLend Financial https://www.corelendfinancial.com/contact_us.html Local Title & Closing Services https://localtitle.com/contact/ CrestCore Property Managment https://www.crestcore.com/ Triumph Construction

In “Bala's Bistro: Where Mali Meets Memphis,” Gravy producers Marie Cascione and Joshua Carlucci profile Malian chefs, cousins, and business partners Bala Tounkara and Mady Magassa. Their story takes us from West Africa to the casinos of Tunica, Mississippi, and finally to South Memphis, where their restaurant, Bala's Bistro, has become an emblem of success and belonging for African immigrants in the South.   Today, 21% of Black Americans are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. The vast majority of Black immigrants in America live in the South, and Tennessee is one of the fastest growing states for this community.   Bala and Mady both immigrated to Memphis by way of New York City in the early 2000s. Looking for some semblance of community, they landed in Whitehaven, a Black neighborhood that, at the time, had only a small enclave of West Africans. They started cooking in restaurants with no initial plans beyond making money to make ends meet. Over the years spent around fire and knives, Bala and Mady decided to dive into a business venture of their own: making food from home, as they saw it. They opened Bala's Bistro in 2019 to answer the question: Where's all the African food in Memphis?   Though Bala and Mady are from Mali, they make and serve food from all over West Africa. Fufu, egusi, maafe, and saka saga—just to name a few—all make star-studded appearances in the glass display case from which Bala's customers can pick and choose to make their plates. The case looks like a buffet for a reason: Bala and Mady want you to ask about the food.   Bala used to be self-conscious of what he ate back home, but today he embraces it and encourages others to give it a shot. When Memphians wonder about some of the soupy, bubbling concoctions, he explains and gives them samples. He's big on education; he wants curious eaters to satisfy their wonder, but even more, he wants Memphis to know that the soul food they know and love, and the rich and spicy cuisine of West Africa, were cut from the same cloth.   In this episode, Cascione and Carlucci talk to Bala Tounkara and Mady Magassa all about their journey to Memphis and the story of their restaurants. Gravy listeners will also hear from guests, some who come to Bala's for a taste of something new and leave with a sense of community. Having just opened a second restaurant—Mande Dibi—Bala and Mady double down on the idea they hatched long ago. The pair place their bets on African food finding a widely-adored home, just as they did, in Memphis. At the same time, their restaurants have become a place of refuge and community for all who come to eat at their table, whether from Memphis, Mali, or all that in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second episode in our coverage of the case of Lisa Lewis: in January of 1999, 27-year-old college senior and expectant mother Velecia “Lisa” Lewis was living in a South Memphis apartment with her mother, Bea; she was looking forward to spring because she'd be graduating, and her daughter was due to be born.  But just after New Year's, Lisa's  mother arrived home from work and discovered Lisa had been murdered. And now, Lisa's cousin—who worked in law enforcement departments for years—is trying to solve her cold homicide case.  Season 18 covers four unsolved homicides in four states and across three decades: all are in need of local and national attention to be resolved.  Head to  https://tryfum.com/fall  and use code FALL to get a free gift with your order today!    Angela's Facebook page for Lisa: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555374294770   Laurah's book LAY THEM TO REST:  https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/laurah-norton/lay-them-to-rest/9780306828805/   Sources at our website: https://www.thefalllinepodcast.com/sources Submit a case here   Join us on Patreon to fund therapy initiatives: https://www.patreon.com/thefalllinepodcast   We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheFallLine   2024 All Rights Reserved The Fall Line® Podcast, LLC  

In January of 1999, 27-year-old college senior and expectant mother Velecia “Lisa” Lewis was living in a South Memphis apartment with her mother, Bea; she was looking forward to spring because she'd be graduating, and her daughter was due to be born.  But just after New Years', Lisa's  mother arrived home from work and discovered Lisa had been murdered. And now, Lisa's cousin—who worked in law enforcement departments for years—is trying to solve her cold homicide case.  Season 18 covers four unsolved homicides in four states and across three decades: all are in need of local and national attention to be resolved.  Head to  https://tryfum.com/fall  and use code FALL to get a free gift with your order today!    Angela's Facebook page for Lisa: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555374294770   Laurah's book LAY THEM TO REST:  https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/laurah-norton/lay-them-to-rest/9780306828805/   Sources at our website: https://www.thefalllinepodcast.com/sources Submit a case here   Join us on Patreon to fund therapy initiatives: https://www.patreon.com/thefalllinepodcast   We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started. https://www.advertisecast.com/TheFallLine   2024 All Rights Reserved The Fall Line® Podcast, LLC

LeMoyne Owen College is a four-year liberal arts college located in Memphis, TN that provides a transformative experience for students with a proud tradition of educating notable alumni. Last week I sat down for a live podcast at the historic Cossitt Library with Interim President, Dr. Christopher B. Davis, Director of Alumni Relations, Dr. June Chinn-Jointer and Emeritus Professor, Dr. Clarence Christian to have a conversation about the past, present and future of the institution. Situated in the heart of the historic Soulsville district, LeMoyne Owen College has always been a constant in the South Memphis community for education, mobilization and empowerment for blacks. Dating back to 1862, LeMoyne Owen College is Memphis' only historically black college and proud to be one of just over 100 such institutions remaining nation-wide. Take a listen as our distinguished panel discusses the founding and early years of LeMoyne Owen College and its significance within the HBCU community. The college faced many transformations over the years and was at the forefront of civil rights efforts in the city of Memphis. With a very strong alumni, many notable graduates have walked the halls of Steele Hall who continue to support and guide its direction. The college is currently revamping its brand now coined as "The Source" with a plethora of innovative initiatives underway. On this podcast, you will discover the strategic efforts in place for the growth and development of Memphis' only HBCU, LeMoyne Owen College.

“I've spent so much money on this music sh*t…owing my plug, had to pay him back, crawl out the hole… it takes years for balance” ~ Tripstar Tripstar skips class with Lalaa Shepard of The Progress Report to speak about getting his GED in prison after dropping out of Highscool, being raised by a singe mother, fatherhood, growing up in South Memphis, signing to Moneybagg Yo and going back independent, best advice from Young Dolph and Yo Gotti, upcoming tour, and new music with Hitkidd and Co-Cash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode focuses on our upcoming Law Review Symposium entitled "The Path of Least Resistance: How Marginalized Communities are Targeted by Harmful Infrastructures and Land Uses." For anyone interested in issues such as water access, housing, wastewater, and other infrastructure that impacts the well-being of communities, as well as the disparities in how low-income communities fare in these situations, this episode will contain a plethora of interesting items for you! We're joined by Symposium editor Ashlie Gozikowski, who will go into more detail about the symposium itself and why she chose the topic, as well as attorney Sarah Stuart, of Burch, Porter, and Johnson, who is a featured Symposium speaker on a panel focused on the Byhalia Pipeline, where she'll discuss the community involvement, eminent domain issues, and other items related to the successful halting of construction of the Byhalia Pipeline through a low-income South Memphis neighborhood.

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently sat down with buzzing 1017 Memphis artist Sett for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation he talked about linking with QC artist Wee2Hard, his upcoming album that drops June 30th, coming up in South Memphis, starting to gamble in the 3rd grade, winning $50k in one day, his mom having 10 kids, being the youngest of all the boys, his relationship with his brothers, jumping off the porch, reveals his key to making it out of Memphis, going to college for one week, his friend Cam encouraging him to start rapping, upcoming song with Finesse2tymes, starting to take rap serious when he got out of jail, his song “Free Marvin” blowing up, being cousins with Pooh Shiesty, Gucci reaching out to him when he was locked up, how he deals with hate, his new song “Snap”, the video trending on YouTube, his buzzing single “Piss Sett Off”, reveals the features that will be on his project, longterm goals, performing at Memphis In May, shares advice for the youth, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently connected with Memphis artist 2Deep The Southern President for a very special “Off The Porch” interview! During our sit down he talked about coming from Orange Mound & South Memphis, connecting with Gangsta Blac, 8Ball & MJG, selling tens of thousands of CDs out the trunk independently, having a gift of gab, being inspired by 2Pac & Jay-Z, being authentic in his music, compares his story to Nipsey's, explains his definition of a leader, shares a story of Jermaine Duper flying him out to Atlanta, reveals the difference between a pimp & a playa, explains his definition of P, winning multiple awards at the Player's Ball, his chemistry with producer HotRod, the inspiration for his classic song “Married To The Game”, 8Ball jumping on the remix, embracing social media, going viral on TikTok, shares his thoughts on the Zion Williamson situation, single “Iceberg” with MJG, upcoming album ‘Grateful For The Game', spending over $250k on his career, losing $200k gambling, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#IBI Episode 24 M.E.M.P.H.I.S featuring Big 30 and Baby Slime. Tune in to this exclusive episode with Whitehaven's very own as we discuss a variety of topics including growing up in South Memphis , the process of finding joy in music, Pooh Shiesty influence, upcoming projects , the misconception of Memphis and more. Join us for some ignant conversation and find out what Big 30 and his artist Baby Slime have planned next

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently sat down w/ Memphis native Scan Man for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation he discussed growing up in South Memphis, balancing basketball and his rap career in the beginning, getting introduced to Dj Paul through Koopsta Knicca, The Kaze era, “Running Lips” being a classic song, studio sessions w/ 10 members of the Three Six Mafia, recording 50-60 songs for each album, dropping “KamiKaze Times Up” album, working with Gangsta Boo, starting his own label, launching his distro company ,Nephilum , upcoming Memphis Mafia compilation, working on a documentary, memory of Koopsta Knicca, Memphis music scene, advice to the youth on learning the music business, & more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Racism, white supremacy, and the attempt to control Black bodies didn't go away after the Civil War. As I often say, "Racism never goes away, it adapts." One of the ways racism persists is through our criminal legal system, especially the death penalty.  Joia Erin Thornton is the founder and executive director of the faith leaders of color coalition (flocc). Through her organization she works toward eliminating capital punishment in the carceral system. She talks about her journey into this work and why faith leaders need to be involved.  Episode Highlights:  How growing up in the South (Memphis and New Orleans) influenced her ideas of justice How her parents taught her mother predicted Joia would grow up to be a "changemaker"  Why ending the death penalty is a bipartisan political issue The role of hope in justice work and ending the death penalty  Visit the flocc website ------ Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.  Get your "Justice Takes Sides" merch: justicetakessides.com  Keep up with my latest work at JemarTisby.Substack.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently linked with OG Memphis rapper Criminal Manne for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our sit down he talked about coming up in Memphis, social media's impact on the streets, jumping off the porch when he was 13, his dad not being in his life, falling in love with rap by listening to Run DMC, explains how he linked with DJ Squeeky, reveals how the group The Project Playaz was formed, the difference between North & South Memphis, turning down deal with Universal & Loud Records, the music video for “Buck With Me”, signing with Rap-A-Lot, having to get out of the deal, going solo, selling his CDs & tapes out the trunk traveling city to city, explains what inspires him to keep creating today, dropping his first movie ‘Da Neighborhood Dopemane', working on 6 more movies, dropping the soundtrack to the movie, upcoming music videos, explains how he linked with Pastor Troy for the ‘Atlanta To Memphis' collab album, going crazy mixtape run, his close relationship with 8Ball & MJG, working several times with Young Dolph, having a good friendship with La Chat, reveals why he never worked with DJ Paul & Juicy J, putting out a collab project with OJ Da Juiceman, having a lot of unreleased records with Don Trip, his label 47 Mobb, his thoughts on the music scene in Memphis right now, explains why signing doesn't make sense to him, shares advice for the youth, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   Recently we sat down with Memphis rapper Kato2x for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation he talked about life in South Memphis, the city getting worse due to the new generation not listening to the OGs, jumping off the porch when he was 11, lessons he learned while being in the streets, beating 2 murder charges, explains how Rich & Ruthless got started, locking in with music when got out of jail last year, not being big on doing features, feeling like the rap game is fake, being friends with Big Scarr since the fourth grade, being close with Key Glock since before music, having unreleased songs with Glock, his creative process, labels reaching out to him, his “October 16th” song that dropped on his birthday, the music scene in Memphis being divided, his new music videos “My Side Or No Side” & “How You Built”, upcoming projects, shares advice for the youth, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently sat down with Memphis native Famous Animal TV for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation he talked about growing up in South Memphis, jumping off the porch when he was 10, running the streets at a young age, his family being proud of his accomplishments, explains what lead to him becoming an entrepreneur, starting his YouTube, his first video going viral, starting off interviewing people in the streets, showing people the real Memphis, transitioning to interviewing upcoming rappers in Memphis, rebranding with the freestyle series, artists getting creative when they come on his platform, explains how he got the name Famous Animal, explains the difference between the streets and the music industry, helping break a lot of artists, staying out of beef among the Memphis rappers, risks & sacrifices he has had to make to be successful, knowing his worth, being open to partnering with a major label, shares advice to the youth, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview by Haze   / mike_tall   We recently sat down with Memphis rappers PaperRoute Woo & Snupe Bandz for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation they talked about coming from South Memphis, the violence increasing, Woo jumping off the porch when he was 8, Woo being very good at playing basketball, going to college, Snupe jumping off the porch when he was 14, trying out college for a short time, meeting each other in elementary school, Snupe just starting to rap 2-3 years ago, Woo rapping since he was 14, Woo starting to take music seriously in 2020, watching Key Glock blow up, Woo being a part of PRE before he got the chain, Dolph signing Snupe in 2020, signing in their hood, explain what it was like working with Dolph in the studio, touring with Dolph, reveal what Dolph was like away from the music & cameras, his legacy in Memphis, their first song together “In My Bag” blowing up, their breakthrough single “Pop Out”, their new project ‘Boyz N Da Hood', their chemistry when recording together, their songs “Mold Me”, “Team Player”, “Loyal”, “Green Beam” with Bankroll Freddie, working with Duke Deuce, “Cross The Tracks”, deluxe on the way, plans to drop solo albums next year, the entire PRE camp going up, plans to do a PRE compilation album, the music scene in Memphis right now, Woo being a father, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

38127 - Frayser - 4:24 38128 - Raleigh - 7:45 38134 - Bartlett - 11:16 38133 - Bartlett Brunswick - 14:29 38135 - Bartlett Ellendale - 16:37 38002 - Arlington - 18:27 38016 - Cordova North - 21:27 38018 - Cordova South - 24:49 38138 - Germantown - 28:00 38139 - Germantown East - 30:31 38125 - South East Shelby County - 32:42 38141 - Hickory Hill South - 35:44 38115 - Hickory Hill North - 38:33 38118 - Oakhaven Parkway Village - 40:28 38116 - Whitehaven - 43:44 38109 - Westwood - 47:05 38111 - University - 51:04 38117 - East Memphis - 54:29 38122 - Berclair - 58:40 38104 - Midtown - 1:02:04 38119 - Quince Ridgeway - 1:05:39 38105 - Greenlaw - 1:07:32 38107 - North Memphis - 1:09:13 38112 - Rhodes College - 1:10:51 38106 - West Person - 1:13:18 38126 - South Memphis - 1:15:57 38114 - Orange Mound - 1:18:05 38108 - Jackson Farmville - 1:19:57 38053 - Millington - 1:22:59 Mississippi - Desoto County - 1:25:13 Link to weekly Zoom Calls: https://linktr.ee/crestcore Have any questions? Shoot me an email: dean@crestcore.com Dean Harris, VP of Sales at CrestCore Realty Douglas Skipworth, Founder & Principal Broker at CrestCore Realty Podcast production and design by Parasaur Studios This podcast is brought to you by Griffin, Clift, Everton & Maschmeyer PLLC. https://www.gcemlaw.com/contact-us/ CoreLend Financial https://www.corelendfinancial.com/contact_us.html Local Title & Closing Services https://localtitle.com/contact/ CrestCore Property Managment https://www.crestcore.com/ Odyssey Construction

South Memphis native Carol Coletta is president and CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership and named of the 100 most influential urban planning experts. She is leading the relaunch of a nonprofit to develop, manage and program six miles of riverfront and five park districts along the Mississippi River. Carol has been living in downtown Memphis since 1977 and is extremely passionate about the city. After traveling the world, Carol has studied and immersed herself in the art of building community. She discusses what prompted the need to redesign Tom Lee Park and the many experiences we can expect for the opening kicking off September 2nd. You'll learn some of the biggest lessons and strongest allies she's encountered throughout this project. Lastly, Carol shares with us the many hats she wears such as being a mother, dog mom, lover of cities and cancer survivor. Be sure to RSVP for the opening of Tom Lee Park on tomleepark.org.

South Memphis native, Laquita Jones, is a Carver High School Graduate, Author and Serial Entrepreneur is one Memphis' most impressive and vibrant faces in the entertainment and business arena. For over 10 years, Xclusive Memphis has assisted with marketing and promotions for countless celebrities; as well as educating, empowering and equipping aspiring and new entrepreneurs who need help with branding and financial education. Take a listen as Ena and Laquita discuss the motivation behind Xclusive Memphis as she navigates this entertainment space in a male driven industry. You'll understand how Laquita approaches gatekeepers and fosters relationships while building such a premier brand. Laquita has most recently been chosen to be a part of the For(bes)The Culture 2023 class that represents black excellence who uplift black and brown communities through their crafts and philanthropic efforts. Also, be sure to tap in to Laquita's upcoming September 23rd conference, Girls + Gifts + Goals.

I recently had the opportunity to interview the student who helped Tom Shadyac with finding Memphis Rox in 2018, Chris Dean along with Executive Director, Zach Rogers and PR, Alex Williams. Listening to Chris tell his story about growing up in South Memphis and finding a strong connection with rock climbing was definitely insightful. Find out how Memphis Rox is enriching the community and traveling abroad with a purpose. Memphis Rox Climbing + Community is the nonprofit climbing gym in South Memphis founded by filmmaker Tom Shadyac in 2018! Since its opening, Memphis Rox has committed to providing opportunities for the local community to engage in healthy, active lifestyles through rock climbing, clean eating, travel, and outdoor exploration. In addition to 36,000 square feet of state of the art climbing, Rox offers a range of programs including climbing classes for all ages and experience levels, fresh and free meals, transitional housing, a low-cost sundry store with essential staples and free menstrual products, a community garden, and opportunities for adventuring outdoors. Find out more about this life changing organization at MemphisRox.org!

Eureka McAfee is a South Memphis native who is currently the Principal at Alcy Elementary School. She is a graduate of LeMoyne Owen College and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Eureka begins the podcast with how the two of us first met when she and Coach Nedra Brown came to Millington, TN on a volleyball recruitment visit. McAFee talks about growing up in South Memphis being very active in sports and dance. She later matriculated to LeMoyne Owen College majoring in Education while playing volleyball. After graduation, Eureka began her teaching journey at Carnes Elementary pouring into the kindergartdners. Fast forward over two decades later, Eureka is now the Principal at Alcy Elementary providing value and structure. Eureka's gift of connecting with her students and staff is evident and recognized by MSCS. She has been coined "The Rapping Principal" and her videos have gone viral over the internet. Tap in to Eureka's amazing journey and discover how she's making a difference in the Memphis education system and beyond.

Fake Florida homecoming queen sues school district after expulsion, rescinded college admission. Oklahoma news anchor stumbles over her words as she suffers a stroke while live on air. Did Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine? Woman has the police called on her after trying to buy a homeless guy food. Body found in South Memphis identified as missing jogger Eliza Fletcher. Mom attacked by robber while pushing kids on stroller. Emailer wants relationship advice. Rover is thinking of taking testosterone.

After a days-long search, a 34-year-old teacher who was allegedly kidnapped while on the run was apparently found dead this week. The Memphis Police Department was summoned at 7:45 a.m. on Sept. 2 to help the University of Memphis Police Department in identifying a missing person, Eliza "Liza" Fletcher. Fletcher was jogging at Central and Zach Curlin around 4:20 a.m. when a "unknown man approached her" and "forced" her into an SUV, according to Memphis Police. Cleotha Abston, 38, was arrested two days later on accusations of exceptionally aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence, but Fletcher remained missing. During the investigation, Cleotha's brother, Mario Abston, was reportedly detained on drug charges, but he is "not believed to be involved to Fletcher's kidnapping." According to inmate records, Abston is also charged with identity theft, tampering with/faking evidence, theft of property, and fraudulent use/illegal possession of a credit/debit card. On Tuesday, September 6, Memphis Police said they discovered Fletcher's body in the 1600 block of Victor Street and charged Abston with first-degree murder and first-degree murder in the commission of kidnapping, in addition to the other criminal charges he faces. In a press conference on Tuesday, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis and other law enforcement officials said that Fletcher's remains had been discovered in an abandoned duplex in South Memphis. According to WREG-TV Abston was allegedly spotted cleaning out his black SUV near where Fletcher was discovered. During the press conference, Davis stated that detectives "haven't obtained very much information" from Abston during questioning. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Fletcher was a junior kindergarten teacher at St. Mary's Episcopal School and previously taught at Promise Academy in Nashville. Her spouse, Richard Fletcher III, and she have two children. He reported her missing after she did not return from her run a few hours later. According to the Commercial Appeal's affidavit, Fletcher was running on the University of Memphis campus when a black GMC Terrain drove by her and paused, waiting for her to pass. According to the affidavit, "A male left the black GMC Terrain, raced aggressively at the victim, and then forced Eliza Fletcher into the vehicle's passenger side. There looked to be a fight throughout this kidnapping." Abston was released from prison in November 2020 after serving a 24-year sentence for aggravated abduction. Fletcher's grandpa, Joseph "Joe" Orgill III, controlled a large hardware distribution empire, according to WREG. In a statement, Fletcher's family said, "This terrible loss has broken our hearts and devastated us. Liza brought excitement to everyone she met, including her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church congregation, and everyone else who knew her. Now is the moment to remember and celebrate how amazing she was, as well as to assist those who loved her so deeply. We are grateful for all of the messages of love and care that have been sent our way. We are eternally grateful to local, state, and federal law enforcement for their persistent efforts to find Liza and bring the perpetrator of this heinous act to justice. We hope that everyone, especially media representatives, understands the family's need to grieve privately and without outside interference during this difficult time." If you like TRUE CRIME TODAY - Be sure to search and subscribe wherever you download podcasts! Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-a-true-crime-podcast/id1504280230?uo=4 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0GYshi6nJCf3O0aKEBTOPs Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/real-ghost-stories-online-2/dark-side-of-wikipedia-true-crime-disturbing-stories iHeart https://www.iheart.com/podcast/270-Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-Tru-60800715 Amazon https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/565dc51b-d214-4fab-b38b-ae7c723cb79a/Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-True-Crime-Dark-History Google Podcasts https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzUwMDEyNjAucnNz Or Search "True Crime Today" for the best in True Crime ANYWHERE you get podcasts! Support the show at http://www.patreon.com/truecrimetoday

Eliza Fletcher was abducted on Friday morning in Memphis. The abduction was caught on surveillance in the early morning hours. Cleotha Abston has been arrested and charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.There are search parties out looking for her with K-9's and boots on the ground in South Memphis as of Sunday afternoon. Link to photos in episode:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/103HqkXFBkFbLZ1Dd9E_PjA3kXEZrRL7G?usp=sharingDonate: PayPal - prettyliesandalibis@gmail.com Venmo - @prettyliesalibis