Habitual Flyer readers, of whom I assume there are no few, are surely aware that my regular column has been missing from its accustomed spot of late. Well, here it is, back — but only for a short while.
The fact is, this is a goodbye column, the last one of thousands I will have written for the Flyer in the years of its history, 37 — which is also the number of years that I have been a presence in these pages.
My soon-to-be-former colleagues, like the ones I started with back in 1989, are committed to the same ends that I have pursued — informing the public, adding a dash of entertainment, and engaging positively with the community. They’ll continue to do a bang-up job of it. They are selfless, even heroic types, and I will miss them, each and every one.
I will miss you, the readers, too, so many of whom I have met over the years, who inspired and informed me so I could inspire and inform them back — Democrats, Republicans, and partisans of no party; John and Mary Doe; grunts and grandees; all the members of a city and county and state whose far corners I have traveled in all weather, at all hours, and on all days of the week, holidays included.
I have logged significant news-gathering time also in foreign climes, turning in copy from places like Abidjan in Africa and the Bolshoi in Moscow. Having endured more than my share of hospitalizations, I’ve slowed down somewhat, but I’ve kept at the job for these 37 years, in the process winning some honors, including 11 first-place awards in the Green Eyeshades competition held in the greater southeastern states — the latest of these as recently as 2024. (For a fuller biography, consult “Jackson Baker: A Man of His Words,” Memphis Magazine, August, 2025.)
The prizes I cherish most are the moments of illumination I’ve been able to share with you, the reader, and though my Flyer years are done, I won’t be done with that.
Beginning almost immediately, I’ll be hosting an online subscription space with Substack, providing political news and coverage of these ongoing marquee election-year moments with as much frequency and zeal as I can muster. For details, go to JacksonBakerPolitics.substack.com
Our first task will be to fetch up all the extant info on county mayor candidates, probe their financial readiness or the lack of it, and look at just where they are in their races to be our ruler/public servant. Ditto with incumbent Steve Cohen and challenger Justin J. Pearson in their mano-a-mano for the 9th congressional district seat.
It’s gonna be a gas.
And now I get to say ciao, the Italian greeting which, as you know, means goodbye as well as hello. I’ll still be with you via Substack. And look for me on Facebook now and then, too. I’ll have things to say there, also, from time to time.