April 2014 Murfreesboro Pulse by The Murfreesboro Pulse

C PE IA

CITY ELECTION

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For You!

Middle Tennessee’s Source for Art, Entertainment and Culture News

DEREK MINOR

Vol. 9, Issue 4 April 2014

MURFREESBORO

V E R AG

WHICH CANDIDATES BEST REPRESENT YOUR VIEWS? PAGE 12

MTSU alum and rap artist touring the nation with message of hope

Rockin’ the Boro Beneﬁt Earth Day on Hippie Hill Excess-O-Rama Day of Hope Mitch Gallagher Mouth Reader

ART

FOOD

Works by Oliver Langston; Local pork and  Images of Country strawberries Music at Baldwin Gallery from Batey Farms PAGE 18

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ONLINE AT: BOROPULSE.COM

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CONTENTS

COVER STORY

Bela Fleck

EVENTS

ART

April Community Events BBQ Battle, United We Style, Adventures in Agriculture, Iron Horses, Social Media Seminar

REVIEWS

6 Movie The Grand Budapest Hotel Video Game South Park: The Stick of Truth Living Room Cinema Gals Displaced Film Fest Preview 8 Nashville A look at some of the features screened at NaFF 2014 BOOKS Poetry Month with Trio of Poetry Books 0 Celebrate Recommendations include works by Latham, Coffman.

John L. of Batey Farms talks with Bracken Mayo about Batey family history.

The Grumpy Bookpeddler Crack open a used book for an affordable adventure. World Book Night Book lovers to hand out free books worldwide on April 23.

LIVING

SPECIAL ELECTION COVERAGE

from the Soul i Painting Oliver Langston creates colorful haze.

FOOD and Berries p Pork Batey Farms provides fresh pork products and strawberry picking to their Murfreesboro neighbors.

SOUNDS Minor s Derek MTSU grad delivers message of hope through rap. Notes f Music Rockin’ the Boro Cancer Benefit, Excess-O-Rama. Reviews l Album Mouth Reader, Mitch Gallagher Through the Decades ; Music Parlor, Plantations, Pews and Patriotism (1850–1870)

APRIL CONCERTS Karaoke, Trivia, DJ & Bingo Nights Places to go for fun with friends

SPORTS Talk with Z-Train v Sports The QB situation in Tennessee

Your City Council Candidates w Meet Which three will serve on the next council?

Raiders Win C-USA Tourney b Lady . . . but fall in the first round of the Big Dance.

Your School Board Candidates r Meet Views from those running for City School Board seats

OPINIONS

CREW

PULSE

For the Love of Bike Smoopy’s keeps vintage cool. Boro Fondo Bicycle concert tour to kick off April 25.

Publisher/Editor in Chief: Bracken Mayo Art Director: Sarah L. Mayo Advertising Reps: Don Clark, Jamie Jennings Copy Editor: Steve Morley

Music Editor: Jessica Pace Writers: Rachel Brooks, Gloria Christy, Philip A. Foster, Bryce Harmon, Nader Hobballah, Zach Maxfield, Michelle Palmer, Cameron Parrish, Jay Spight, Andrea Stockard, Justin Stokes, Norbert Thiemann, Phil Valentine, Kory Wells

Palabra n La Jesus and the Easter Bunny Valentine m Phil Stop subsidizing junk food. What You Don't Know , Know Don’t assume; be aware of your surroundings, organization.

To carry the Pulse at your business, or submit letters, stories and photography: bracken@boropulse.com 10 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 796-6248

Copyright © 2014, The Murfreesboro Pulse, 10 N. Public Square, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Proudly owned, operated and published the first Thursday of each month by the Mayo family; printed by Franklin Web Printing Co. The Murfreesboro Pulse is a free publication funded by our advertisers. Views expressed in the Pulse do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. ISSN: 1940-378X

DEAR READERS: HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO CALL one of those “How am I driving?” numbers on the backs of commercial trucks, just to say, “This guy is driving great! He seems very aware, he’s keeping a consistant speed, not running into anyone and following all traffic laws.” Don’t just call to complain. Sometimes people enjoy and welcome encouragement. I bet a lot of the calls placed to the truck driver comment line have to do with some kind of complaint or flaw with the driver. Perhaps he could use some positivity. I know I appreciate it immensely when the fine Pulse readers go out of their way to say they enjoy a piece they saw in the paper, they pick it up each time, it has added something to their life. I don’t need an award or anything; I just want observers to genuinely say, “That Pulse bunch seems to be a pretty creative and goodhearted group; they always do their best and live up to their potential and promises.” I am thankful that God put Derek Minor, Sonya Nobles Dukett, the good folks at Batey Farms and Oliver Langston in my life and made it pretty obvious I should share their stories this month. I need obvious sometimes. I am done feeling rushed and overwhelmed and worried. Done. No more stress or feelings on incompleteness. It does no good. I am exactly where I need to be, and I am doing exactly what I need to do. I should feel only peace and completeness. This philosophy has served me pretty well lately, and I will continue to follow it until it does not. “Multi tasking” has become one of those ridiculous buzzwords; so many people seem to have the impression others want them to be “multitaskers.” I think I’ve come to the conclusion that multi tasking is foolish, and practically impossible. One can switch between tasks, but have you ever really, effectively, done two things at once? From now on, my to-do list is one item long. I will accomplish that one thing, and then I will move on to one more thing. When I get tired, I will take a break, and then when the break is over I will have one thing to do, not hundreds. If you say you can drive and talk on the phone at the same time, I say you are probably not doing either one very well. So, just wait until you get home to call the comment line to offer the truck driver some encouragement. Peace, Bracken Mayo Editor in Chief BOROPULSE.COM

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EVENTS compiled by ANDREA STOCKARD

Send event information to murfreesboropulse@yahoo.com

APRIL 3–4 TENNESSEE STATE ARCHERY TOURNAMENT Enjoy the Tennessee State Archery Tournament at Tennessee Miller Coliseum (304-B W. Thompson Ln.). Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 494-8961 or visit mtsu.edu/tmc.

APRIL 4 ‘IT’S OUR GAME!’ MARKETING SYMPOSIUM Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) present its first “It’s Our Game!” Marketing Symposium as part of the 2014 WBCA National Convention from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Music City Center’s Davidson Ballroom (700 Korean Veterans Blvd.). This event is free and open to anyone including coaches, administrators, media, boosters, parents, fans or anyone interested in learning how to better promote women’s and girls’ basketball. Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell will speak at 3:45 p.m. For more information, call (770) 279-8027 ext. 112 or visit wbca.org.

APRIL 5 SATURDAY MORNING STORIES AT THE MUSEUM This is the perfect opportunity for our children to connect with history. Listen to a story reading in the Sam Davis Home Visitor Center (1399 Sam Davis Rd.) and participate in a related craft beginning at 10:30 a.m. Admission is free and no reservation is required for children up to 10 and their caregivers. Regular admission rates apply for tours. For more information, call (615) 459-2341 or visit samdavishome.org.

APRIL 5 NOON LIONS CLUB PANCAKE BREAKFAST The Murfreesboro Noon Lions Club hosts a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s (2896 S. Rutherford Blvd.) from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 5. Admission is $5 per person. Proceeds will be used for eye surgeries, glasses, screening and other areas of assistance that help our community. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

APRIL 5 UNITED WE STYLE Tangerine Salon and Spa presents United We Style at The Gateway Village (820 4 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

N. Thompson Ln.) from 5:30–9 p.m. to benefit the United Way and Aveda Earth Month with local models, fashion and vendors. VIP hour is from 5:30–6:30 p.m. with celebrity guests, signature cocktails, food and exclusive access to vendor booths. Doors open at 6:30 with the fashion show at 7 p.m. and post-show shopping, mingling and photo opportunities. For more information, visit uwrutherford.org/Events/UnitedWeStyle.aspx.

APRIL 5

APRIL 26 CANNONSBURGH TO HOST BBQ BATTLE, BBQ COOKING CLASS The Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary Club will hold its barbecue fundraiser on Saturday, April 26, on the historic grounds of Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro. The BBQ Battle in the Boro—Spring Fling event, offering $5,000 in prizes, will be held in conjunction with Pioneer Days at Cannonsburgh Village, an annual event that attracts several thousand visitors to a day of family fun and adventure. If you claim to cook some great barbecue, here is your chance to show your cooking skills. The Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary Club actively supports a number of local charities including Read to Succeed, the Dictionary Project (all third-graders in Rutherford County receive a free dictionary), the Good Shepherd’s Home, InterFaith Dental, Tennessee School for the Blind, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Center for the Arts, Girls State, CAPE, FolkFest, Sports4All, Sam Davis Home, Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra, the Polk Scholarship Fund and the club’s own International Jabulani, which aids citizens of Westville, South Africa. To register a team or for more information on the BBQ Battle in the Boro, call Ben Weatherford at (615) 907-5501 or visit borobbqbattle.com. Also this month, Al Knowles, one of the BBQ Battle organizers, will hold a chicken and ribs barbecue cooking class on Saturday, April 12. This course, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Cannonsburgh Pioneer Village’s Lions Club Building, will cover KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society) chicken and ribs entries, including information on competition checklists, knife sharpening, cooking temperatures, meat selection and prep, injections, rubs, sauces, marinating, brining, smoking on a gas grill, sanitation and food safety and more. For more information on the April 12 class, call Knowles at (931) 478-1000 or visit bbqclasses.com.

LOWE’S WOMEN BUILD CLINIC Designed especially for women, Lowe’s (1825 Old Fort Pkwy.) partners with Habitat for Humanity to teach various construction skills through hands-on workshops with guest speaker Felecia W., future Women Build homeowner, with various workshops and light refreshments from 9–11 a.m. The theme for this year’s Women Build is: “Girls play house, women build them!” For more information, call (615) 890-5877, ext. 106 or e-mail megan@rchfh.org.

kindergartner through 11th grader in the organization or re-register their troop. To learn more, visit gsmidtn.org or call (615) 890-2451 or (615) 690-7051.

are on your egg-hunting adventure in the water. Cost is $3 per child. For registration and information, call the Aquatics Department at (615) 893-7439.

APRIL 10

APRIL 12

GLOW IN THE DARK EGG HUNT Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee come together for a glow in the dark egg hunt from 6-8 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church (2303 Jones Blvd.). Play in a bounce house, interact with some of Camp Sycamore Hill’s ponies, play games and learn about Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. Parents can register their incoming

ANNUAL UNDERWATER EGG HUNT The Aquatics division at Patterson Community Center Pool (521 Mercury Blvd., Murfreesboro) invites you to its 10th Annual Underwater Egg Hunt for children ages 2–9, from 10:15–11:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 12. Make sure to bring a bag or basket to hold your eggs while you

GEOCACHING 101 Get active with a real-world, outdoor treasure-hunting game using GPS-enabled devices to navigate a specific set of GPS coordinates and attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location with the Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, at the Barfield Crescent Wilderness Station (301 Volunteer Rd.). Learn the basics, how to get started and what resources are available. A GPS or smartphone is required, however a limited amount of equipment will be available for loan. Admission is free; reservations are required. For more information, call (615) 217-3017.

APRIL 26 IRON HORSES TO VISIT WARTRACE Iron horses weighing from 425,000 pounds to less than four ounces will congregate in Wartrace on Saturday, April 26, during the annual Dixie Line Days at the Walking Horse Hotel and other venues downtown. The all-day train show will feature operating model trains, dealer swap tables, how-to-clinics for model railroaders, switching and model contests, Q & A with a steam locomotive engineer, live bluegrass music, food and door prizes. As an added attraction, the roar of 12,500 horsepower in motion, courtesy of CSX Transportation, will be on display as full-sized, 10,000-ton freight trains rumble through the heart of Wartrace just yards from the show locations. Dealers in used Lionel, American Flyer, and popular HO and N gauge brands of electric trains will be on hand to display their wares. Free how-to clinics covering the art of building scenery, layout wiring, and digital command control applications will be held. Operating model railroad layouts will also be on display. Show hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26. For more information, call (615) 428-7366 or e-mail contact@dixieflyertrains.com. Wartrace is located on state Highway 64, 10 miles west of exit 97 off I-24.

APRIL 12 COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY CENTER FUNDRAISER The Friends of Linebaugh Library will host a wine and cheese fundraiser from 5–7 p.m. at Oakland Mansions’ Maney Hall (900 N. Maney Ave.). Funds raised benefit the creation of a Community Technology Center for the Linebaugh Library System, which will house all electronic forms of communication, education, and outreach. Dr. June Hall McCash, winner of the 2011 and 2013 Georgia Author of the Year Awards

and a professor at MTSU, will speak on her new book A Titanic Love Story: Ida and Isidor Strauss, which retells the Strauss’ story, owners of Macy’s department store, and the tragic end to their enduring love. Reservations can be made at the Linebaugh Circulation Desk (105 W. Vine St.). For more information, e-mail swpineault@gmail. com or call (615) 631-3688.

APRIL 12 BICYCLE TOURS OF THE STONES RIVER BATTLEFIELD Join a ranger for a beautiful 90-minute bicycle tour of the battlefield at Stones River Battlefield (1563 N. Thompson Ln.) at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 12. Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 893-9501 or visit nps.gov/stri.

APRIL 18 CONCERT SERIES Attend the Cannonsburgh Concert Series (312 S. Front St.) from 7–9 p.m. on Friday, April 18. Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 890-0355.

APRIL 18 GOOD FRIDAY GOLF TOURNAMENT Help raise money for the Rutherford County program Police Athletic League at the P.A.L. Youth and Families Good Friday Golf Scramble at Smyrna Golf Course at Smyrna Airport (101 E. Sam Ridley Pkwy.) from noon–5 p.m. on Friday, April 18. For more information, call (615) 545-0984 or visit tnpalyouth.org.

APRIL 19 ELITE ENERGY GYMNASTICS EASTER EGG HUNT Elite Energy Gymnastics (2121 Battlefield Pkwy.) hosts its Annual Easter Egg Hunt from 2–4 p.m. on Saturday, April 19. Bring your friends! Enjoy games, prizes, a bouncy castle with 9-foot slide and a special appearance by the Easter Bunny. You do not have to be a member of Elite Energy to attend. For more information, visit eliteenergygymnastics.com or call (615) 890-6611.

APRIL 19 EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA Hop on over to the Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation (1399 Sam Davis Rd.) for the 14th Annual Easter Eggstravaganza from 10 a.m.–noon. Visit the Easter Bunny, enjoy games, face painting and more. Three egg hunts are scheduled: children ages 0–3 at 10:30 a.m., ages 4–6 at 11 a.m., and ages 7–10 at 11:30 a.m. Tours of the historic home will be offered as well. Bring your Easter basket and don’t forget to wear your best bonnet or handsome hat. Admission is $2 per person (over 6 months old). For more information, call (615) 4592341 or visit samdavishome.org.

APRIL 12 ADVENTURES IN AGRICULTURE The Adventures in Agriculture event is set for April 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lane Agri-Park in Murfreesboro. The Lane Agri-Park is located at 315 John Rice Blvd., just past Sam’s Club and Tractor Supply. The theme for this year’s event will be Farmers CARE, which will highlight the ways in which producers maintain and preserve their crops, animals, recreation and the environment. Farmers will be there to share their knowledge of animals, crops, homegrown foods, handmade products and more with parents and children. Admission is free and open to the public. The event provides many hands-on activities and displays to teach families about agriculture. Children can be a “Farmer for a Day,” an interactive exhibit enabling children, through play, to experience growing crops, harvesting and taking them to market. Participants can learn heritage skills such as making butter and spinning yarn, and Master Gardeners will be on hand to talk about how to grow vegetables in your backyard or a container garden.

APRIL 19 CITYWIDE EASTER EGG HUNT Children of all ages can enjoy this free Easter egg hunt complete with prizes at Richard Siegel Park (515 Cherry Ln.) at 1 p.m. Participate in carnival-style games and a visit from the Easter Bunny. For more information, call (615) 907-2251.

APRIL 22 SOCIAL MEDIA SEMINAR If you need assistance using social media for your business, come out for this seminar by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Middle Tennessee State University titled “Social Media Marketing— The Smart Way!” from 2:30–4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, at The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce (3050 Medical Center Pkwy.). Learn how to market your business through social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ while exploring social media scheduling tools and learning how social networks can complement your current website. Reservations are required and available at tsbdc.org or by calling (615) 898-2745.

the opportunity to exchange and sell their craft items or shop for new project materials at Smyrna Town Centre (100 Sam Ridley Pkwy. East) from 9:30 a.m.–7 p.m., with proceeds benefiting the Rutherford County Domestic Violence Center. For more information, find the Mid-TN Scrapbooking Club on meetup.com.

APRIL 26 13TH ANNUAL EARTH DAY CELEBRATION

Help save the planet while enjoying refreshments, children’s activities and live entertainment from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, with environmental and educational booths at the Historic Square. This event is free to the public. For more information, call (615) 494-0407.

APRIL 26 38TH ANNUAL CANNONSBURGH PIONEER DAYS Come out for the 38th Annual Cannonsburgh Pioneer Days (312 S. Front St.) from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, with old-time music and demonstrators, clogging, crafters, hayrides, blacksmith demonstrations, an antique car show and a bluegrass concert. Admission is free. For more information, call (615) 890-0355.

APRIL 26-JUNE 7 FOSTER PARENTING CLASSES PATH Classes—Youth Villages (200 E. Main St.) offers classes for foster parents from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. For a child, there’s nothing more important than to have a place to call home, a family to love and parents who believe in them. If you have enough love in your heart for a child who desperately needs it, help a child find the way home. For more information, visit youthvillages.org.

APRIL 24 JOURNEYS IN COMMUNITY LIVING ANNUAL CELEBRATION Journeys in Community Living holds its Annual Celebration and Silent Auction to benefit adults with intellectual disabilities in Rutherford and Cannon counties at DoubleTree by Hilton (1850 Old Fort Pkwy.) from 5–9:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. MTSU Men’s Basketball Coach Kermit Davis will serve as keynote speaker. To purchase event tickets, a table or sponsorship, call (615) 2953046 or visit journeysincommunity.org.

APRIL 24-26 CRAFTERS EXCHANGE CONSIGNMENT SALE Mid-TN Scrapbooking Club gives crafters BOROPULSE.COM

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LIVING ROOM CINEMA

REVIEWS MOVIE

column by NORBERT THIEMANN

facebook.com/livingroomcinema

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

the while keeping company with the myriad elderly, rich madams who frequent the fictional mountaintop vacation spot. When one of these lovers bequeaths a priceless Victorian painting entitled Boy with Apple (fictional of course) to Gustave, he and his lobby boy must evade and elude the deceased woman’s cartoonishly villainous cadre of relatives,

led by a mustache-twirling Adrien Brody and a beastly Willem Dafoe, in yet another unforgettable Anderson role. Meanwhile, this cat-and-mouse-capade takes place during a violent political shift in the imaginary Eastern European country of Zubrowka, with an SS analog called the ZZ, captained by Edward Norton. There are too many big stars to name here, but along with Fiennes’ paradoxically primand-proper, poetry-reciting, potty-mouthed fop, the set design deserves top billing, with exquisite miniatures serving as both exterior location shots and anachronistic big action set pieces. Wes Anderson can be too precious for some, but The Grand Budapest Hotel feels like his most adult work to date. As his films continue to be purer distillations of his fantastical whims, counterintuitively their grasp on real world themes becomes more concrete. Like the intricate, flowery Mendl’s cakes in the film, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a thing of beauty masking a harsher reality. — JAY SPIGHT

South Park fan’s dream. As a fan myself, I was consistently surprised by how far back those references went, to episodes I had long since forgotten. But most importantly, The Stick of Truth works as a game. Operating as a turn-based RPG, you and most of the time, a second supporting companion are up against various factions, hippies, cats, wolves and many other absurd

enemies. You take turns dishing out either melee attack, ranged ammunition, spells or various support items. It is a credit to the game that it forces you to change tactics throughout a ﬁght. The environment itself can play a big factor. You have many opportunities to eliminate your foes through environmental interaction, be it shooting an object down on their head, burning them, or just plain farting on them to gross them out before a ﬁght. Yes, you can fart, and you will be farting a lot in this game. Any negative criticisms would have to pertain to some rather frustrating, but brief, mini-game sequences. But South Park: The Stick of Truth really is a great time all around. It is hilariously absurd, yet manages to pack in a substantially fun time. — NADER HOBBALLAH

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan Directed by Wes Anderson

Rated R

Wes Anderson is arguably the most individually distinctive film director living today. His films are meticulously crafted on every level, from the script to the set design to the soundtrack to the cinematography and so on, so much so that any single frame taken from any of his movies would be enough to give that film’s director away. With each film he makes, not only does the inherent Wes Anderson-ness of each increase, so too does the quality. The Grand Budapest Hotel is billed as a comedy, probably because it has more laugh-out-loud moments (uncharacteristically bawdy ones at that) than many of the director’s previous works, but the film runs the gamut of genres. The framework of The Grand Budapest Hotel is that of

a Russian nesting doll, inside of which is the tale of the titular hotel’s concierge, Gustave H (Fiennes giving one of his “fiennest” performances), and his devoted lobby boy, Zero Moustafa (the excellent Tony Revolori). Gustave’s “Rushmore” is working at and for the hotel, and he does so with enough gusto and panache for the entire staff, all

GAME SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH 3

South Park: The Stick of Truth is basically an interactive 15-hour episode of the hit TV show. If you are a fan, then there is no question you should pick up this game. However, those of you who are not fans or on the fence about its gaming credentials, then I have excellent news. South Park: The Stick of Truth is excellent. M’kay. Picking up where the end of Season 17 left off, The Stick of Truth has you playing the part of the silent protagonist who is the new kid in town. Like so many fantasy-based tales, you hold a secret power and are RATINGS:

being hunted by secret people. Thankfully, the creators manage to inject South Park’s brand of humor into this tale. The very fantastical setting itself is just a concocted role-playing game by the kids in town who are ﬁghting over a literal stick, which they hold as the stick of truth. There are all kinds of callbacks, references and neat spells and items that are a A CLASSIC

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OUTSTANDING

AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

Gals Displaced

hese ladies simply had to move on, and go. Truly wonderful dialogue also unites these three ﬁlms.

Blue Jasmine (2013) is written and directed by Woody Allen. A once wealthy sister moves in with her sibling after losing almost everything, including some of her grip on reality and truth. Blue Jasmine could easily hold its own as a mere study in eclectic casting. Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins are absolutely superb, and the comedic choices of Andrew Dice Clay and Louis C.K. for their dramatic roles seems a stroke of genius. The inspiration is obvious, and welcomed.

Frances Ha (2012) is written and directed by Noah Baumbach. A young lady in New York struggles with reconciling her dreams as a dancer with her overwhelming ﬁnancial obligations, and the nuances that her personality plays in friendships. It’s a really smart and funny script.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) is directed by Elia Kazan. This is the masterful ﬁlm rendition of the renowned play by Tennessee Williams. A troubled woman moves in with her sister and her boorish brotherin-law, who is not very pleased by her presence. The performances by Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh stand the test of time.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD

BOROPULSE.COM

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MOVIES

PREVIEW by JUSTIN STOKES

The 2014 Nashville Film Festival will be held at the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16 April 17–26. Here’s a look at some of the films playing at this year’s festival. 

UNDISCOVERED GYRL Starring Christian Slater, Britt Robertson, Justin Long, Robert Patrick, Martin Sheen Directed by Allison Burnett — Rating: 4 Caught between the rock of high school graduation and the hard place of adulthood, a young woman takes a break from education to learn more about herself. Her addictions to attention lead her to publishing her experiences about sharing her body through the popular blog “Undiscovered Gyrl.” It is through the communication with complete strangers that she can spill her deepest secrets and problems while maintaining her image for friends and family. Katie Kampenfelt, my heart goes out to you. Here is a young woman whose desires were not organically created. She is the end result of a horrific chain of events that robbed her of a normal childhood, which she always seems to be chasing. For her, every move is another attempt to gratify, and really quiet the demons of the past. The worst part is that she seemed to be a victim of location, really lacking people who would give her moral guidance. Undiscovered Gyrl is a testament to the lost art of opening up and listening. Many have been in Katie’s position, and that’s what makes it so sad.

FIGHT CHURCH Directed by Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel — Rating: 3.5 The warrior’s spirit is a credo that is applicable to different pieces of the human puzzle. Church and gym—the spiritual and the physical—can both provide outlets for the conflicts in which many face. So what happens when people apply the fighting mentality across the board? Are these two antithetical concepts that can never meet? Or can the values of physical strength and faith coexist? Fight Church is a examination of the tension between peace and violence. As a small contingent of ministries across the country explore the benefits of “fighting ministries” and mixed martial arts programs, many critics ask how the body is expected to be both a temple and a weapon. The auteurs of the film don’t glorify fighting here, but simply show how the members of these communities are affected physically and emotionally from their commitments to both. The only real flaw I could find within the film is that it limits its ethos. People have been claiming physicality as a path to inner peace for quite some time. It’s understandable that the storytellers wanted to stick to Christian fighters, as a waterway any more open could not have been navigated. But even within that community, there are more experts whose opinions could have been consulted. Jason David Frank, for instance, would have made an excellent resource, as he is an accomplished MMA fighter whose celebrity and faith-based clothing company have quite an influence. Or, what about the soldiers who fight oversees? Are they not a testament to the compatibility of spiritual and physical strength? Still, Fight Church boasts lean and solid storytelling that facilitates interesting discussion. 8 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

BÉLA FLECK: HOW TO WRITE A BANJO CONCERTO Directed by Béla Fleck — Rating: 2 Many of the elements that made country music popular in Nashville were once criticized for being “too yokel.” Now, as bluegrass, country and blues grow past their once-provincial natures and into the hearts of music lovers on an international scale, musicians are working to get mainstream audiences to take it seriously. Béla Fleck, master banjo picker and frontman of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, has provided a video diary of his energies to utilize the tones of bluegrass in a concerto for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center presented in late 2011. The film spans the period between 2010 and the actual performance of Fleck’s concerto. I wanted to like this movie. A lot more. It’s a “hometown heroes” kind of story that, had it been done differently, could have been an important piece of music history. But the problem is that Fleck is distracted, focusing his attention on the concerto debut date, not fully bringing the audience along for the ride. The low-quality aesthetic doesn’t add the unfiltered, groundzero charm fans might hope. Here we have the aesthetic of cellphone footage, very jumpy edits, and a lack of focus in both camera and content reminiscent of college video projects. Captions seem to cheat across the screen, telling us things rather than showing them. We are given engaging bits where Fleck cracks jokes or discusses with other musicians what makes great music. But to hear this great creative wisdom, one must wait for the train of B-roll footage to pass. Give us more Earl Scruggs, Future Man and Steve Martin and less chitchat and jogging at the beach. Still, the concerto itself, toward the film’s end, is worth a view.

Starring Jordan Kenneth Kamp, Larisa Oleynik, Paul Scheer, Eddie Steeples Directed by Jeff Rosenberg — Rating: 4

OJ: THE MUSICAL

A thespian with lofty aspirations, Eugene relocates to L.A. to incorporate old friends into a new theater project. Agreeing to take a stab at it, the friends find themselves in Eugene’s re-imaging of Othello that has famous athlete and infamous murder suspect O.J. Simpson as the sympathetic lead. Will the young director’s latest vision come to life on the stage? Or will his dream and mental health unravel before the production’s eyes? It’s funny, clever, absurd and, at times, pulls back to refrain from getting in your face. I found that admirable, but I don’t think that people are going to get from this film what they were anticipating. Rather, the subdued humor and mockumentary style lend itself a tad more to The Ofﬁce without being obnoxious, playing on the disappointments and reactions of the players. It’s an entertaining little gem that doesn’t mind playing the asshole at times, and can do so without being so over-the-top about it. Directed by Nadine Mundo & Rena Mundo Croshere — Rating: 2.5 American Commune is a look into those who survived the struggles inside the subsistence farming community that once enjoyed a fruitful harvest but is now simply a memory. We follow the accounts of those who remember the movement to unplug from the Volunteer State and choose to live a life that made them an easy target for adversaries of alternate lifestyles. This is a great concept for a documentary that chooses to frame accounts of unique people who would not have otherwise been immortalized. My problem is with the lack of digging. We’re offered what starts out as a harmless look through a photo album, taking a decent chunk of time to get to the parts where the conflicts begin, which is unfortunately midway through. When things go sour, when we’re finally treated to the tour of an abandoned dream, we’re not given much. These people start out with good hearts, good plans, and all the things necessary to create a utopia, and are denied their dream because of external meddling. Your anger should be at a full boil by the time you get to the credits, learning that children were allowed to fall below the poverty line due to sabotage. It’s an interesting enough account to warrant a view, but lacks comparison accounts of other similar social experiments or validation from third-party sources.

AMERICAN COMMUNE

THE IDENTICAL Starring Blake Rayne, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Seth Green — Directed by Dustin Marcellino Rating: 1 SPOILER ALERT: This is a film about Elvis. In a tale that’s bound to create suspicious minds, one of two baby twin brothers is given to a preacher after the young family couldn’t handle double trouble. After the given twin grows up, he becomes all shook up when he discovers Drexel Hemsley, a legendary rocker whose look and music are not unlike his own. I . . . don’t even know where to begin with this film. There is no conviction here, and nothing of any redeeming value. We’ve got achingly bland direc-

tion, characters so flat and wooden you’d think they were part of the set, forgettable music, and the lowest amount of jargon from Christianity and Nashville required to somehow qualify this as a family film shot in Music City. This is a very talky tale that could benefit from a little less conversation and a lot more action. It’s ultimately a long, road to nowhere that should have been called “3,000 Miles to Disgraceland.” Why was Wade not informed he had a brother? There’s no reason for this dishonesty, considering he was raised by a preacher and his wife (who later shares that it’s a man’s job to learn to stand in his truth). The message of the story is a doozy: “Drop out of school. Don’t make an honest living as a man of God or a mechanic. Instead, be your own man. Do that by following the dreams of your brother. From there, you can go into show business. It’s known for integrity. You won’t have any time for your friends or family, but you can get lots of money for covering someone else’s songs and dressing just like him.” For God’s sake, Bubba Ho-tep has stronger moral fiber this. And the name “Drexel Hemsley.” Did a 1940s Batman villain come up with this? Creativity has left the building in this lackadaisical attempt to piggyback on the majesty of the King. BOROPULSE.COM

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BOOKS A Trio of New Books for National Poetry Month with an examination of love, relationships, and interior lives. Inspired by images from the National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection, this slim volume of verse carries substantial weight in the questions it poses: What tune should we choose to soothe a galaxy of uncharted fears? The collection carries comparable heft in the truths it reveals: We always arrive somewhere, whether we have the courage to name it, or not. Whether the scene is an ocean, a mountain summit, a distant planet or simply home, Latham is a bold and dedicated explorer, adeptly observing beauty, wondering at mysteries and pausing to discover emotional truths.

published by Tennessee’s own Iris Press in 2013. Coffman’s second collection is remarkably provocative in probing those circumstances and abstractions that can dominate our lives. In odes to concepts such as beginnings, pain and even the past tense, Coffman’s words— such as those below, from “Time”—are both relatable and startling: Our clocks exhaust themselves counting what you offer In “Balance,” she warns against the yardstick spine, the tightly laced ankles. More applause when given less and less to stand on. In another poem Coffman confesses, I wish I could share my heart like bread. She does share her heart, and sometimes breaks ours, through her seductively worded truths.

What is it to live wild? asks Lisa Coffman in her poem “The Grebe.” Her response, Not by, estabseparate from what you are ruled by lishes a theme for Less Obvious Gods,

More than 120 poets with ties to the state, including Coffman, appear in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee (Texas Review Press,

by KORY WELLS

People don’t go to church anymore and they don’t know how to sew on buttons So writes Irene Latham in her poem “Ghost Town.” Nor do many people read poetry, this enthusiast concedes, and that’s why we have National Poetry Month. Whether you’re a regular reader of poetry or haven’t touched it since you grumbled through your junior year of high school English, April is the perfect time to sample the delights of this often succinct, soulful art form. Here are three books, all published in the past six months, offering contemporary voices with ties to the South. In her third collection of poems, The Sky Between Us (Blue Rooster Press, 2014), Alabama author Irene Latham marries her appreciation for the natural world

2013). Edited by Jesse Graves, Paul Ruffin and William Wright, the book offers well over 200 pages of poetry as diverse as the geography and demographics of the state itself: Bill Brown celebrates creation through poor Adam and his job of naming; Jane Hicks remembers Beatle bangs Ryman; Melismixed with brush cuts at the Ryman sa Range laments mountaintop removal in “Flat as a Flitter;” Jeff Baker parses history through the Loosed breath of a drowned/Nation; and Kevin O’Donnell imagines, as have many of us, a drama on an interstate runaway truck ramp along the edge/of nightfall and dark. Readers will find this anthology gives them new appreciation for life in Tennessee, and for the quality poetry being written, read and celebrated in the state year round. Kory Wells is a Murfreesboro poet and member of the One Book committee of Read to Succeed.

The Grumpy Bookpeddler: The ’Boro’s Book Nook Packed with Exploration and Adventure by RACHEL BROOKS MY TRIP TO THE GRUMPY Bookpeddler one recent morning was refreshing. No tacky signs or adult easy-listening music turned up one notch too high, just a cozy little shop where one can get lost in a maze of books. But it wasn’t just that; this used bookstore that buys and trades has its own little imaginative facets that indeed make it one of the more unique spots in town. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the door-dog, Darby, and then set off to my own accord where, indeed, I did get wrapped up in the winding shelves of literature, encyclopedias, history, science and more. Shelves were sagging, emanating that familiar smell that any bookworm can affiliate with comfort—old pages and stories just waiting to be read. Winding from the front of the store down the stairs to a little corridor, and then opening up into another 10 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

room facing the front, they’re categorized by Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi (I was ecstatic at the huge collection of these), a decent-sized Kids section (complete with toys), Phi-

losophy, Religion, Nature, Pets, Math, Tarot Readings and Dreams, and so much more. Little collectibles can be found lying around various shelves, as well, which just added to the store’s “hole-in-the-wall” coziness. After making a few rounds across the store (where indeed, I still couldn’t take it all in), I purchased a couple books of my own and accessed a “loyal customer” card, a punchcard offering a tally for every $10 spent. After six visits, you can receive 10 percent off your next one. So, the next time you set off in a bookfinding frenzy, save yourself some trouble and stop by the Grumpy Bookpeddler. The best place to start for some relaxing summer reading is here. The Grumpy Bookpeddler is located at 1111 Memorial Blvd., Suite C. For more information, check out the Grumpy Bookpeddler’s Facebook page: facebook.com/thegrumpybookpeddler.

World Book Night: Spreading the Love of Reading, Person to Person by MICHELLE PALMER FOR AVID READERS LIKE ME, the new year brings with it a special kind of anticipation. During February, people all across the world opened their e-mail to find that they were selected as a World Book Night giver. For those of us passionate about reading, there are few things that will measure up to the excitement of giving away free books on April 23, known as World Book Night. World Book Night (WBN) began in the U.K. and Ireland in 2011, developed as a way to encourage adult readers. The books’ authors waive their royalty fees, and publishing companies pay the costs to produce the editions specifically designed for World Book Night. There is no cost to either the giver or the lucky recipients: it’s just a free, lovely, untouched book. The first WBN was such a success that in 2012, the United States as well as Germany joined in, with a million copies of books being given away worldwide. Three members of Read to Succeed’s One Book committee were chosen again this year to be givers. More than 30 books made the list of WBN selections, with everything from young adult to nonfiction. Two of us will give away Maria Semple’s bestseller Where’d You Go Bernadette, a novel about an agoraphobic mom who turns up missing, and her brilliant daughter’s search to find her. The third member of our team will give away Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, a tale of a pilot and his faithful dog who have somehow survived a super-flu that has wiped out most of the population. “I’ve really enjoyed being a part of World Book Night,” says One Book Committee member Shawna Jackson. “It is a chance for me to share my love of reading with my community. I love being able to give away books to people who might not otherwise pick one up.” So, if you’re out the night of April 23, keep an eye out for the three of us—wearing our World Book Night badges and handing out books with pride. For more information and to see what other great books made this year’s list of selected titles, visit worldbooknight.org. BOROPULSE.COM

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GET TO KNOW YOUR 2014 CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

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urfreesboro city elections will be held Tuesday, April 15, and voters will head to the polls (and have been heading to the polls, as early voting continues through April 10) to select who will lead our town for the coming years. In addition to mayoral and city school board elections, voters will decide who will fill three Murfreesboro city council seats. Get to know the city council candidates below. They bring up some great issues as they thoughtfully plan for a better future for all in Murfreesboro. Find more information about polling locations and local elections at rutherfordcountytn.gov/election. Read extended interviews with the candidates at boropulse.com.

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RICK LaLANCE How do you feel about the city of Murfreesboro’s $250 million-plus debt, and the way it is structured? Would you like to see the amount of city debt rise or fall in the next four years? Obviously, I would like to see it fall. I think we all agree that we wish the city had less debt. It is important to note that even with the enormous growth in the last 15 years, the city has over $50 million in cash assets and around $1 billion in total assets and the amount of debt we have is less than half of what the state allows. We have to be able to look at the big picture sometimes and not just stay focused on one number on one side of the ledger. If you were an individual with $1 million in assets, $50,000 in the bank, and making $100,000 per year, $240,000 of debt would probably be a very manageable number. Like anyone, the city just has to make sure that the number doesn’t grow every year and get beyond control. The idea is to make strides to cut down the debt over time. We can do that by planning well, prioritizing our needs well, and attracting the right types of jobs to our city. Previous councils have provided city taxpayer funds for MTSU athletic and academic facilities and road improvements. Is this an appropriate use of city taxpayer dollars? In my opinion, there are certainly times when it is appropriate to use city funds to help fund MTSU projects. The Middle Tennessee Boulevard road project is clearly a good example. The student traffic issue deserves some investment 12 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

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into that infrastructure to improve traffic flow. There are also cases where facilities at MTSU could provide a boost in our sales tax revenue. If we can show that there is a good return on our investment, I would support some uses of taxpayer funds for those projects. We need to work with MTSU and other higher ed programs to foster an educated workforce here in Murfreesboro. Currently, our population has a good high school graduate level but a very poor college graduate level.

and flooding issues for decades. While it is a state roadway and falls completely under state funding priorities, our city government has not made those improvements a priority for lobbying efforts to our state leaders. I would also like to see sidewalks extending along Main Street from Middle Tennessee Boulevard all the way to the MTSU rec fields. I think the greenway underneath Main at Broad would be a wonderful place to utilize local artwork to cover up an ugly eyesore. I would like to see swing sets installed at our parks that don’t already have them. Previous councils have provided city taxpayer funds for MTSU athletic and academic facilities and road improvements. Is this an appropriate use of city taxpayer dollars? MTSU is the single most important social, economic and cultural entity in our city. The university contributes more that $350 million dollars every year into our local economy. The city has allocated approximately $15 million dollars over the past decade to MTSU for capital projects that provided an immediate economic return. Those funds weren’t a cost. They were an investment.

BRIAN PATTERSON

What is the biggest challenge facing Murfreesboro over the next four years and what is your plan to overcome it? I believe that improving citizen engagement in our government is a tremendous opportunity for improvement in Murfreesboro. When fewer than 10 percent of residents vote in city elections, I believe it speaks to a feeling of alienation and detachment. It means that either voters don’t care about city government or that voters don’t feel like government cares about them. I can’t do much to meet the needs of the first group but I am passionate about engaging the public, listening to their concerns and ideas and acting upon their input.

How will you make Murfreesboro an attractive place to do business, for large and small operations? The first step towards creating a more business-friendly environment is to pay down our debt. If we do, we will be able to lower our local sales tax rate of 2.75%, which is higher than the rates of Nashville, Franklin, Brentwood and Mt. Juliet. The second piece of the puzzle, would be to lessen the amount of regulations we are currently placing on businesses. I have talked to hundreds of business owners about their interactions with the city. Sadly, many have had problems with local bureaucrats. From overbearing sign ordinances to overly complicated processes for pulling building permits, inconsistent instruction from the city’s planning and codes department, to simply rude bureaucrats, all of these things lead me to believe that our city is suffering from a customer service problem.

What areas of town or city facilities do you feel are in the most need of repair and renovation? The Bradyville Road corridor, where I live, is desperately in need of improvement. That corridor has faced the same issues of road dangers

The City is planning to build a “Westside Park” to serve the Cason Lane/840 area. Is this park really needed? At this point, I would say no to that park, as it is estimated to cost $26 million. Currently, it is a 10-minute drive from the furthest corner

STEPHEN SHIRLEY

of Blackman to Old Fort Park, and maybe a 15-minute drive to Barfield Park. We need to be considering privatization of parks, or at least public/private partnerships to make sure we are building and maintaining them as efficiently as possible, and that there is an actual consumer demand for them. One thing in particular that bothers me about the Westside Park plan is the golf course that it includes. I don’t think it is fair that private courses in and around the city should have to compete with taxpayer subsidized golf courses. How would you handle situations where residents don’t want to sell their property to accommodate city plans? I am opposed to the city using eminent domain for non-essential projects. The McCurry family’s nightmare that unfolded this past summer was one of the reasons I decided to run for city council. That family came within one vote of losing their home because the city wanted to build a sidewalk next to the river. It was shocking to me. The concept of private property is fundamental to the American way of life, and it should be treated as such by the City Council.

MADELYN SCALES HARRIS What is the biggest challenge facing Murfreesboro over the next four years and what is your plan to overcome it? We are challenged to keep our community safe while maintaining a good economy, great schools and being good stewards of our tax dollars. We have to find a balance between these things along with making sure all citizens feel part of our great city and they have a voice. The baby boomer population is now exploding and we don’t do enough for them. Our veterans are another segment I feel we can do more for. We have to continue to bring in sound industries while at the same time not smother out the small business owners who have played a huge role in our city being so vibrant. We need to make our city more of a white-collar neighborhood, keep taxes down while providing excellent services, and our customer service must be second to none. The city is planning to build a “Westside Park” to serve the Cason Lane/840 area. Is this park really needed? With the progressive rate our city is growing the western park is needed. I was and still am amazed at the revenue our parks contribute to our city. With our growth we must be able to provide services that will continue to provide a good quality of life for all.

Do you think that the city employees are adequately paid? Do we have adequate police and ﬁre protection? I have always fought for our employees to have adequate pay. Right now a study is being done and once we get the results we need to act on the findings. We also need to compare ourselves in the study to cities that look like we do all over the country to get a good base to act upon. As our city continues to grow, we have to continue to keep up with the growth by making sure we are adequately staffed.

AXL DAVID What is the biggest challenge facing Murfreesboro over the next four years and what is your plan to overcome it? The biggest challenge is getting citizens to the polls. The municipal election has a dismal voter turnout of 6.8%. The low turnout is largely attributed to the municipal election not coinciding with any other election. This makes it easy for special interests to dominate the city council election, which is why we’re in the current situation we’re in. Fortunately, there will be a referendum on the ballot to adopt Ordinance 14-O-01, which would move the municipal election to coincide with the August general elections beginning in August

2016. I support the adoption of this ordinance. Best of all, if passed, it will save the city of Murfreesboro $50,000 every two years. How will you make Murfreesboro an attractive place to do business for large and small operations? Businesses want to operate in a stable city, and they don’t want to invest in a city that is a quarter of a billion dollars in debt. I think stabilizing our finances would be the most important thing the city council can do. The city makes $5 million in interest payments alone each year. A serious reduction in nonessential spending is crucial. A close second would be to not pass ordinances such as the Secondhand Dealers Ordinance that are proven to be a job and small business killer. What areas of town or city facilities do you feel are in the most need of repair and renovation? First and foremost, I think our sidewalk situation is in dire need of examination, particularly in the downtown and MTSU areas. There are no sidewalks on East Main Street on the south side of campus. The sidewalk on Greenland Drive on the north side of campus is not ADA compliant. I think a safe, pedestrian-friendly environment should be a priority. Previous councils have provided city taxpayer funds for MTSU athletic and

academic facilities and road improvements. Is this an appropriate use of city taxpayer dollars? MTSU is a statefunded school. Giving MTSU millions of dollars for academic and athletic facilities is, essentially, giving the state of Tennessee a handout. There’s no reason for it.

CANDY JOYCE How will you make Murfreesboro an attractive place to do business for large and small operations? Working within the available budget and Destination Rutherford funds, recruiting more white-collar jobs should be a major focus. Small businesses thrive with employed communities. Keeping the business start-up costs low, maintaining a stable and affordable property tax base, having prepared utilities to accommodate new business will be the best invitation for any corporate or entrepreneurial investor to choose Murfreesboro. How do you plan to accommodate the rapid growth of Murfreesboro? We need to stay ahead of the growth with the essential services, making easement and drainage purchases well in advance of the growth patterns establishment. Sometimes being visionary is hard to see that far down the road,

but it is better to build infrastructure in obvious future growth areas than after the roads, homes and cars are already starting to pop up. Like any business or personal budget, you have to look further down the road than what is needed just for today, leverage your income, debt responsibilities and current assets to make purchases that will pay off in the future. How do you feel about the city of Murfreesboro’s $250 million-plus debt, and the way it is structured? Would you like to see the amount of city debt rise or fall in the next four years? While we all would be delighted to be debt-free in our personal and city budgets, realistically we have to utilize our strong creditworthiness and rating to afford the long-term costs of infrastructure when it is needed and while funds are more affordable at lower interest rates. Over time, the market for lending has swung from very liberal in accessing debt to a very narrow definition of qualified borrowers. Our city leaders have been mindful of accessing loans for important projects that have high consumer return and demand—water, sewer, schools, and parks—and we were quite sure we could repay the debt long before the useful life of the project is over. As long as each debt consideration has an excellent return on investment for our citizens, and we are maintaining a bond rating that is superior and strong on repayment history, we have to consider it as a usable reserve opportunity. 

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GET TO KNOW YOUR 2014 CITY SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES

t this month’s election, voters will determine three members of the Murfreesboro City School Board, the elected group charged with overseeing 12 elementary schools in the Murfreesboro City Limits. Get to know the candidates here, and feel free to grade their work. Early voting is currently underway, and Election Day is Tuesday, April 15. For more information on Murfreesboro City Schools and the school board, visit cityschools.net. Here, candidates provide answers to two questions: 1 What are the school district’s greatest capital needs right now, and how do you think those needs should be addressed? 2 Some parents are concerned that Common Core Curriculum isn’t the right approach to reforming education in Tennessee. What are your thoughts on Common Core and Race to the Top? Read extended interviews with the candidates at boropulse.com.

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KEVIN FISHER 1 We have several needs in

the city school system. From a financial standpoint, the city school system is not prepared for the growth most experts are anticipating this community will face in the next few years. To avoid a situation where we will have overcrowded classrooms and teacher/student ratios that we all agree are unacceptable, we should be planning now for issues which may present themselves, and at this point seem likely, down the road. Already, this community has seen tremendous growth, and many schools—some that just opened— are already nearing capacity levels. We should be proactive, by putting plans in place which will control the growth, rather than waiting for the problem to come to us,

2 Common Core was and remains a bad idea. I support the efforts by our legislators who are working tirelessly to halt and repeal it, and I have joined their ranks, to work towards this goal. Race to the Top was an unconstitutional overreach by the federal government into states and local affairs. It was created from stimulus money, meaning it wasn’t permanent; it wouldn’t last forever, and wasn’t intended to. Yet, by agreeing to accept it, the state and local boards completely revamped its evaluation system for teachers, and paved the way for standards like Common Core. In fact, no one at the state level was even involved in the Common Core Standards draft for Tennessee, nor were any members of the Tennessee 14 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

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Education Department even involved in the Race to the Top application. As a parent, think for a moment. How does that make you feel, knowing that you, your community, and even your elected leaders, had little to no input in setting a standard which will now be used to educate your children and your grandchildren? I am grateful we have strong leaders from both sides of the political aisle in Congress who are working to correct this terrible situation.

WESLEY BALLARD 1 I believe that going forward the capital needs will be in brick and mortar need for the growing student population. Murfreesboro is a growth city and it is mandatory that we are ready and in the action mode rather than reaction to that growth. Also, technology needs will advance at light speed and the student will need the tools to study using new technology, so capital money will be needed to equip the classrooms. Lastly, we will need the technologies for school security. Student safety is first, and advances in security must be optimized in our schools—this will require money. Having said this, spending needs to be included in the forward planning, it can be done without going to the taxpayers for a tax increase. The school system can be examined for inefficiency and waste and those areas can be streamlined. Those savings go back into the funding of classroom needs. 2 I support Common Core for the reason of having a federal standard of achievement

measurement. Without some national standard, we cannot know how we are doing as compared to Seattle or Dallas. We can’t just say that Murfreesboro is doing great without some common national measurement of such. I am not supportive of the principal and teacher evaluations of Race to the Top and I am concerned for the number of programs overlapping and requiring too much/many testing days in the classroom schedules. Too much testing and only testing leads to massaging the system for results.

NOVONDA LILLY 1 Technology and growth are the greatest capital needs. Technology is being addressed by the implementation of computers in the City Schools at a 2:1 student ratio. The Murfreesboro city school system currently has a five-year plan, with a focus on growth opportunities. The growth needs assessment is reviewed yearly and a comparison of year one and year three are assessed to determine growth opportunities. This current practice allows the school system to monitor growth over a specified time frame, which allows the board to make appropriate recommendations to build new schools. 2 Common Core implementation has been

in process for the last three years. The question is not do you agree or disagree with what has been implemented, but the focus should be on providing teachers, parents and students with the resources needed for a successful implementation. If we move in a direction to discontinue Common Core, then the focus would be on the implementation of the new standards and my response would be the same: providing teachers, parents and students with the resources needed for a successful implementation. Race to the Top is an initiative that was implemented to reward school systems for designing and implementing the most effective and innovative approaches that meet the needs of their educators, students and families.

COLLIER ANDRESS SMITH 1 Building our thirteenth school, Overall

Creek, is a $20 million-plus expenditure. It is a beautiful new facility off Veterans Parkway and will relieve the overcrowding primarily at Scales Elementary. Expenses to move classroom supplies around the district as a

part of our rezoning effort will add up but will be a great deal less expensive than building another $20 million facility. With regard to annual budgets, as a present member of the school board, I am no stranger to going item by item to streamline the budget. Hiring and rewarding good teachers for our system is a priority, and I will continue to work to achieve lower costs for items purchased by the system in order to provide our children the very best educations around.

2 Common Core was adopted by Governor

Haslam and is an issue for the state legislature. Common Core is already in Murfreesboro city schools and has been phased in over the last three years. It is a list of goals of basic knowledge, “standards” students should know at different grade levels. For example, “(I) can tell who, what, when, where” in a story is a 2nd-grade standard. If a student moves out of state, he or she is prepared to be at the same grade level as they are meeting the same standards. Tennessee has had “standards” for quite some time, they are just more consistent with other states now.

NANCY RAINIER 1 This is a year of growth

for the Murfreesboro city schools, so our greatest capital need is our new school, Overall Creek. City council allocated the funds to build the school. We will need to furnish it, supply needed text and library books, and deal with staffing the new school through our budget. Our finance director has been diligently working on it to present to the board for our review next month.

2 I still think there is misinformation about Common Core; Common Core is actually a set of standards that are being used by our teachers. We have always had standards that we used in forming our curriculum. For those of us who have been around for years, we used to call our standards “The Blue Book.” Yes, these standards may be a little more rigorous, but they are teaching our children to think. I know, as a child, I studied hard for tests. I know I remember lots of those things, but I wonder how much more I’d remember if I’d been challenged to think of the processes involved in math equations. I had a terrible time memorizing multiplication facts. I think teachers now have the liberty to show more than one way to “get to” an answer. We hear so much now about the fact that we have hundreds of unclaimed jobs here in Rutherford County because we have an untrained workforce. Learning this way may help students better prepare for their future. I

am in the schools frequently and I see great things happening as small groups of children work together to solve problems. No longer are our students sitting in little rows of desks working independently all day long. They are learning to get along with one another and to value another’s opinion or pathway to solving a problem.

GEOFFREY HERRING 1 Capital needs are amazing. And the op-

portunity to save substantial dollars can occur when considering all capital needs of MCS. As Murfreesboro continues to enjoy economic prosperity so too will it be challenged to meet the increasing demands placed on its infrastructure, including educational demands. In planning ahead we should consider not just site and location, but also efficiency. We should plan ahead for larger campuses but with mini-campuses. Here, we could meet the educational demands of more children at one site, but with the appearance and function of multiple schools. Imagine two, or even three, mini-schools on one campus, meeting the needs, and wants, of our educational consumers—children, teachers, administrators, and parents—all while saving millions of dollars in brick and mortar costs alone.

Imagine teachers having the ability to share their talents with other teachers because we build a system designed to capitalize—no pun intended—on the talents of teachers, not just the prescribed skill set—minimum standards, not a good idea. Here we can also work to improve our teacher/student ratio so as to better serve all students. Imagine a system where we had fewer EAs and MDAs and simply more teachers. There are few that would argue that more teachers and thus better ratios will improve the entire educational experience for everyone!

2 The premise behind Common Core is

well founded; however, implementation has clearly been challenging at best. I have had teachers and administrators tell me that Common Core is or is not a curriculum. As I respect each perspective on this sensitive subject, I believe strongly that a system that builds upon itself, year after year, has strong merits. I support Common Core but feel that the RTI2 and Assessment process is not adequate in measuring progress on an individual basis. We must recognize that every student is unique. We must consider that there are external parameters in place of which we have limited, or no, control. We must understand that like adults, each child brings a unique set of skills and talents to the table and that one testing system cannot adequately measure. 

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LIVING

THE LOVE OF BIKE story by JESSICA PACE photos by SARAH MAYO

orn-and-raised Murfreesboro resident Andrew Logan is a self-proclaimed “child of the ’80s,” which, he says, means he rode and raced bikes. “That was our form of transportation. We had a group of guys that rode everywhere. We ran the tires out around Murfreesboro, going to Collector’s World to get comics and baseball cards. It always brought me my fondest memories,” he says. Logan, now 38, used those fond memories: he has since become a fixture in Murfreesboro over the past five years through his business, Smoopy’s Vintage Bicycles. Though Smoopy’s has only been at its East Main Street location since 2009, the business is actually nearly a decade old. “I was doing repair and restoration work for another gentleman, Steve Wright, and he had a lot of bike parts. When he retired, I bought all his inventory and said, ‘Why not try to move some parts and start catering to someone who needs a good bike on the cheap?’” Logan recalls. Starting in 2006, Logan ran the business from the Woodbury Flea Market for about three years until, realizing the core customer demographic consisted of MTSU students, he moved to the current location in Murfreesboro. The name Smoopy’s was handpicked by Logan’s first daughter Adellay, 3 years old at the time, who goes by that nickname. “That was fine with me,” Logan says of 16 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

his daughter’s name choice. “I grew up with Skedaddle Bicycles, run by Hap Harrington. I spent a lot of money there. Anyone who’s been in Murfreesboro a long time knows Skedaddle. Years from now, I hope people say the same about Smoopy’s.” In addition to vintage and used bikes, Smoopy’s assembles custom bikes, offers repair services and sells new and vintage parts. Vintage, Logan says, is just better. “In the ’70s and ’80s, stuff was mostly made in Japan . . . it was lower-end, but Japanesemade was much better. Nowadays, the way lower end things are assembled, it’s more assembly-line, not a lot of care to it. What people

don’t realize is, the old bikes were expensive in their day. We can get bikes in here that were $1,000 in their day,” he says. As a pinnacle of his childhood, bikes and a love for them has been a constant for Logan. He remembers his first bike was a Huffy, and his favorite was a GT Pro Nora Cup series. “My dad bought me a Pro Lightning, Stu Thomsen edition. I still have that one,” he says. Logan has about 12 bikes for riding, but also two storage sheds to house a growing bike collection. In all, Logan has somewhere between 50 and 60. The business owner is hardly the only one in Murfreesboro who shares the same affection

for biking. In fact, Murfreesboro is about to celebrate a fourth year of bike culture and music culture with Boro Fondo, April 25–27. “We pride ourselves on being with those guys from day one,” Logan says. “Those are my customers and clients, so that’s who I want to support. To me, it promotes not only cycling, but having a good time and enjoying it with friends.” At this year’s Boro Fondo, Smoopy’s will again offer free repair services and will give away a single-speed fixed gear bike through a raffle. Visit Smoopy’s at 2602 E. Main St. in Murfreesboro or at smoopysbicycles.com.

OVER 75 BANDS are on the roster this year for the second annual Boro Fondo, a two-day mass community bike ride and music/arts festival. Though it’s only the second year that the event (which will take place April 25 into the wee hours of April 27) has held the title Boro Fondo, this is actually the fourth year for the musical cycling event in the ‘Boro. Locals Asher Johnson and Phillip Maloney took over the event in 2013 and rechristened the festival with its current moniker. Kicking off Friday, April 25, at 5 p.m., music venues on the downtown Murfreesboro square including 3 Brothers and Wall Street will feature participating bands. In addition to music, there will be one-act plays, visual art, poetry readings and stand-up comedy. Maloney said there will be some additional festival features still in the developmental stages. “We’re working on a couple other things that aren’t deﬁnitive enough to mention,” he said. Maloney was scant on other details as well. “We’ll be having a pizza breakfast at Eisenhouser for the Saturday kickoff; pizza will be from Marco’s. We’ll also have a bouncy castle and a Meth Dad Bounce-Fest after-party for Saturday. The location is going to be secret, though,” he said.

In addition to an earlier start than last year, Boro Fondo will also follow a new route, and participants will have the option to camp out Friday night. The major bike ride will be Saturday, covering several miles of Murfreesboro with stops at venues and house venues. The schedule and map might still be tweaked slightly and have not yet been released. Maloney said applications are still being accepted for acoustic acts, standup, plays, poetry and art. Some featured bands include Mantra Mantra Mantra, Crayons and Antidotes, Roman Polanski’s Baby, Meth Dad, Tennessee Scum, TronAteMyBaby, The Most Amazing Century of Science, Creature Comfort and Gnarwhal. To view the full Boro Fondo 2014 lineup, visit borofondo.com.

TOUR DE FUN PHOTOS BY RYAN GREEN

Second Annual Boro Fondo Kicks Off April 25

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ART

Black and white photograph by Robert Gerhardt; paintings by Steve Matthews.

Painting From the Soul: Oliver Langston OLIVER LANGSTON HAS CREATED art for nearly his entire life. Ever since he was a child, he has painted from the soul. Throughout his professional career in decades past, working as a building project manager and engineer, he still created in his spare time, and even managed back then to sell a dozen or so paintings every year. Today, he’s not so much retired, but has entered a new phase of his life. “About three years ago I decided to go into art full time,” Langston said. “My life revolves around art, and I love every minute of it.” Painting from his Smyrna home studio, Langston considers his passion his full-time gig. He often wakes up well before sunup, in the wee hours of the morning, to resume painting; says Pink Floyd is his favorite music to listen to while creating; hangs as many of his works as possible in area restaurants and cafes and posts them to Facebook for viewing and sale. “But I don’t do it for the money,” Langston said. “I paint to transpose my mind’s visions, ideas, and anything else that comes to me . . . into a visual form. “I am not held within any boundaries because I do not have to depend on art as a living. I paint to create something different . . . not to conform,” he said. And his artistic vision is not only what is in his own mind’s eye; he wants to promote the local art scene as a whole, see all artists, galleries and creative outlets succeed, and for Middle Tennessee to be known as a place where art thrives. Langston said he will paint on “anything that doesn’t move,” including pumpkins and glass. He even created a snowman in the fashion of Yoda a few years ago. He includes a photo of himself and the snow-Yoda on his business card. “So many people react to that; so many people are into Yoda,” he said. He said he loves it when others view and appreciate his paintings, but “when I sell a piece of my work, it is like losing a child; but as in real life, children grow up and go out on their own, to create their own life and reach for their goals.” Langston also said he refuses to sell prints. “Everything I sell, they’re the only one who will have it,” he said. “I do originals; I don’t do prints. People say, ‘You can make money doing prints.’ Again, I’m not in it for the money.” This month, view a collection of some of Langston’s work at JoZoara Coffeeshop; other area businesses with his work on display include Earthsoul Gallery, Carpe Cafe, Dunn Brothers Coffee, Boro Town Cakes, The Bedford County Art Gallery and more. — BRACKEN MAYO

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(Clockwise, from above): Mom’s Pit Bull Casey; The Beatles; a colorful ship made from melted crayon; Old Grist Mill at Cannonsburgh; Storming in The Murfreesboro Square; Long Hunter State Park.

Langston with Yoda snowman (left), and just after finishing the recent Kegs and Eggs 10K.

MTSU Baldwin Gallery Hosts 60 Years of Country Music A NEW EXHIBIT SHOWCASING photos from six decades of country music captured by the lenses of three distinguished photographers will run through Thursday, April 17, in MTSU’s nationally renowned Baldwin Photographic Gallery. “Images of Country,” which features the work of Harold Baldwin, Jim McGuire and Russ Harrington, is on display in the Baldwin Gallery’s new quarters on the second ﬂoor of the Bragg Mass Communication Building, Room 269, on the MTSU campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public; a searchable campus map with parking details is available at www.tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap13-14. Baldwin established the photography program at MTSU in 1959 and established the photo gallery ﬁve years later, donating $100,000 in 2012 to sustain the gallery that bears his name. It reopened in January with a gala 50th anniversary celebration featuring a lecture and exhibit by photographic artists Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor. Baldwin, a celebrated photographer in his own right, has works featured in this exhibit that were shot backstage at the Grand Ole Opry between 1969 and 1971. His complete Grand Ole Opry collection is housed in MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, which is located downstairs from the gallery. You can learn more about the collection at popmusic.mtsu.edu. McGuire learned how to use a camera in Vietnam in the Air Force in 1964 and later began shooting bluegrass music festivals in Northern Virginia, which led to shooting album covers. McGuire has spent the last 40-plus years in Nashville in a small storefront studio, shooting album covers for major labels and now-legendary names including Marty Robbins, Barbara Mandrell, Waylon Jennings and Bill Monroe. His body of black-and-white images of musicians is now known as “The Nashville Portraits”; learn more about them at nashvilleportraits.com. Harrington, who studied photography with Baldwin at MTSU, established a photography practice in Nashville and has captured revealing images of the world’s mostphotographed musicians and performers, including Loretta Lynn and Jack White, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Brad Paisley. His portfolio features a who’s who of the music business, including Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Al Green, Tim McGraw, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. Learn more about Harrington’s work at russharrington.com. The Baldwin Photo Gallery is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays while classes are in session at MTSU. The public can schedule a visit by contacting MTSU photography professor Tom Jimison, who has curated the gallery since 1991, at tom.jimison@mtsu.edu. Learn more about the Baldwin Gallery at baldwinphotogallery.com. BOROPULSE.COM

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FOOD Left: A bun never contained anything as good as a Batey Farms Swiss cheese Käsekrainer; Right, The Batey Farm Store

FARM FRESH Preserving the Past, Feeding the Future: Batey Farms’ Opens Store on Property

Strawberries from Batey’s Berries

Batey’s pork sausage patties and (below) bone-in pork chop, rubbed and fried.

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eggs, jellies, baked goods, beef, cheese and more for sale. The Batey offerings even include some more obscure, but equally delicious, porky items, such as Andouille, Canadian bacon and the Käsekrainer, an epic type of bratwurst-like sausage stuffed with Swiss cheese. These are phenomenal, alone or on a bun, sliced in cabbage or kraut, or as an addition to soup, shrimp and grits or other dishes that just need a little sausage and cheese to be complete. All of these natural, meaty items bring in customers from all walks of life. “Food connects us all,” said Brandon Whitt, who married into the Batey family and is keeping the farming traditions alive. “We have country folks, we have city folks (who shop in the store). . . . It makes a really good community.” Long before there were sterile modern stores with fluorescent lights shining down on rows of shrink-wrapped cuts of meat, families in the area would put great effort into raising, slaughtering and cooking animals. “Pork is a big part of our pioneer history,” Batey said. The methods of smoking and salting would preserve meat long before the days of electrical conveniences. And the hog-killing tradition would be an important event in

many families’ lives. An event, timed just right in the year, so it wasn’t too hot, nor too cold, that required a lot of work, but yielded a great amount of meat. But nowadays, the Batey family is raising hogs—and having them killed and processed into the products your kitchen needs, so you don’t have to. Shop local. The Batey Farm Store is located at 5331 Baker Rd. in the Blackman community of Rutherford County, and open from 2–6 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m.–1 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, visit bateyfarms.com or call (615) 848-4178. Also, Whitt is preparing the strawberry patch for this year’s berry season; Batey’s Berries is located at 3250 Medical Center Pkwy. (across from Embassy Suites), and will be open in May.

NAME: Batey Farms LOCATION: 5331 Baker Rd., Murfreesboro PHONE: (615) 848-4178 HOURS: Friday, 2–6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. PRICES: Käsekrainer, 4 for $5 Bacon, $7/pound Sausage, hot or mild $4.25/pound Bone-in Pork Chops, $4/pound

PORK CHOP BY CHRISTY SIMMONS

Rutherford County family is keeping history alive, and making sure present and future generations in the Murfreesboro area have access to pork products and strawberries from a local source. The Batey family has worked its land for over 200 years, and in 2013 opened a farm store to offer the public its finest products, including delicious bacon, sausage and pork chops. The store just opened last year, but there’s already a great deal of history in its walls. Literally. The store building is made from wood taken from homes and barns from generations of past Bateys. “The old smokehouse is still there,” said John L. Batey, as he stood outside of the store talking with a customer, pointing to the smokehouse across the road. “My great-greatgranddaddy, Thomas Jefferson Batey, that was his smokehouse.” The original house that stood next to it for most of the 1800s is long gone. But wood from it, as well as from a still-standing barn built around 1870, were used in the construction of the farm store. The store, open on Fridays and Saturdays, has added to its shelves many other products from other local farms too, including milk,

THE DISH

story by BRACKEN MAYO • photos by SARAH MAYO

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MINOR MUSIC

WITH A

SOUNDS

MAJOR MESSAGE

Former MTSU student reaching the multitudes with records, concerts

THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS have gone through MTSU’s recording industry and music business programs, most with dreams of superstardom; if not to be a famous recording artist themselves, to at least have their hands on the controls for a gold record or two. Expectations are often tempered—“It’s hard to get a foot in the door”; “There are only so many jobs”; “There’s lots of competition out there.” But at least one is living out his dream of “making it.” Just a few short years ago, Derek Minor (born Derek Johnson Jr.) was one of many MTSU music business students with a passion for music, and, like plenty of other aspiring musicians throughout the Murfreesboro creative community, was making homemade music. “I put my mic on the edge of the bunk bed in my dorm room; I couldn’t afford a mic stand. I made a pop filter out of a coat hanger and a stocking,” the former MTSU student told the Murfreesboro Pulse, just hours after performing in front of 20,000 people at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena as part of the massive traveling musical ministry that is Winter Jam, including Newsboys, Plumb and many others. Minor, who performed under the name PRo until 2012, has come a long way since his days at Cummings Hall. “I did a lot of open mic nights at Cyber Cafe . . . I’m going to be in front of half a million people by the end of this tour,” Minor said with a trace of disbelief during the Tennessee stop. But that’s not the end game for him. Many hip-hop artists would be satisfied with just being able to say they have been in front of half a million people. Mission accomplished. But Minor says getting in front of the people is only the beginning; he wants to use his music as a gateway to talk to people from all over about the Gospel. “I get the opportunity to consistently encourage people,” Minor said, seeming more 22 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

joyful about this than any amount of wealth and riches. “Music is just a vehicle, my passion is people.” He said he sees a lot of destructive behavior and heartache, but tries to take a “judge not” approach to life, and music. “I don’t have much interest in modifying anyone’s behavior,” Minor said. “I want to introduce them to God. Once Jesus Christ gets involved, I have enough faith in God; he will show you how to modify your behavior . . . your behavior is modified because your heart is changed.” Not the other way around, he said. That would be backwards, putting the cart before the horse, in a way. Backwards, like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. We are saved through faith, not works, after all. “It starts in the heart,” Minor said. With faith, an individual will make positive, healthy, loving choices; it’s not like skipping the faith and simply making the choices makes one saved, he said. “First, there must be a change of heart, then the behavior will follow,” Minor said. “I’d love to sell a million records,” Minor said. “But I approach things with the question, ‘How can I help a community?’” Why, take them to Minorville. Minorville, the title of Minor’s record released in September 2013, is a place where “there are no problems or conflict . . . racism and classism do not exist,” where “it’s illegal for fathers not to be in their kids’ life.” The music has a message: it’s designed to be a force for positive change, but it’s not all

story by BRACKEN MAYO

sunshine and holding hands. Don’t get the impression Minor plays hymns with the choir. There are certainly some slower jams, but there’s also the bass thumpin’, fist pumpin’ bouncy beats, stylistically comparable to the gangsta rap and hip-hop pioneers. Minor delves into some dark elements of real American culture in his music: violence, materialism, broken homes, drugs, poverty, crooked preachers . . . Minor faces them all head-on. So, how did he get his break? Minor, who hails from Columbia, Tenn., earned his degree in 2006. “I was working at Dell Computers,” he said. But he poured his spare time into his music, recording mix tapes and selling them on the MTSU campus and in downtown Nashville. “I was doing all of this, I wound up getting married,” he said. “My wife got accepted to pharmacy school at UT Memphis. “This girl at church (in Murfreesboro)

“I DON’T HAVE MUCH INTEREST IN MODIFYING ANYONE’S BEHAVIOR. I WANT TO INTRODUCE THEM TO GOD. ONCE JESUS CHRIST GETS INVOLVED, I HAVE ENOUGH FAITH IN GOD, HE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO MODIFY YOUR BEHAVIOR . . . YOUR BEHAVIOR IS MODIFIED BECAUSE YOUR HEART IS CHANGED.”

would always come up to me and say, ‘My brother raps. He’s in Memphis.’ I kind of blew her off; ‘Yeah, yeah, everybody raps,’ I thought. But I get to Memphis, I call him like five times, he’d never pick up.” This Memphis rapper turned out to be LeCrae, himself on the verge of national prominence in the Christian rap sound. “Somehow by happenstance, my fiancée ended up in LaCrae’s church,” Minor said. “I meet LeCrae, this is right before his Rebel album came out, and it went to the top of the charts. . . . LeCrae was all about ministry, building lives.” He got plugged into the Reach Records circle, where the men were showing him how to be a godly man and husband. Although Reach relocated to Atlanta, Minor received the opportunity to go on the Unashamed Tour with LeCrae and others. The tidal wave seems to be picking up momentum from there, culminating with the recent Winter Jam tour, which hit major cities in the eastern half of the U.S. the first three months of 2014. When asked about his favorite part of touring across the country, Minor replied: “I converse a lot with people who follow my career online; when I get to meet them at shows, they’re no longer just an avatar, they’re a real person.” His least favorite part: “I have two kids, and a wife, just not being there with them. [We] had a baby on Dec. 16— that’s my birthday—and then two weeks later I had to go on tour for three months. “And everyone sees the tour bus and thinks it’s cool. . . . The tour bus is cool, but wait until there’s 12 other people on there and you have to sleep on it.” After the Winter Jam tour ended on March 30, Minor said he was going to take a couple of weeks to unwind, and then it’s back to work, with hopes to drop an EP in late summer. For more on Minor, visit derekminor.com.

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JAZZ FEST ANNOUNCES MAIN STAGE LINEUP

SOUNDS MUSIC NOTES CONCERT, SEMINARS, WORSHIP SERVICES OFFER HOPE TO COMMUNITY A TWO-DAY MURFREESBORO EVENT with activities ranging from live music to kickboxing to a worship service will aim to empower women and benefit the local charity Way of Hope. Beginning the morning of Friday, April 11, and going on into Saturday afternoon, the 2014 Day of Hope event will open at 7 a.m. on April 11, with and hour of prayer at the north side of the Rutherford County Courthouse. New Vision Baptist Church will then host seminars on CPR and first aid, kickboxing and self defense, sex trafficking information from Last Call 4 Grace and more; followed by a 7 p.m. worship event.

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Saturday, April 12, the programming will move back to the Murfreesboro Public Square. THE EIGHT O’ FIVE JIVE BAND The day kicks off with a family fun run at 8:30 a.m. An arts and crafts fair will begin at 9 a.m., and the event will wants to do more than simply shelter the homeless; his vision includes educating those culminate with an all-day concert. Live music who need it in areas such as hygiene, GED will begin at 10 a.m. with rockin’ contemporary Christian sounds from Reigndance and Friends. courses, self defense and many others, and promote health, education and justice. Saturday’s music on the square ranges from For more information on the event, or The Eight O’ Five Jive Band’s high-energy, swingin’ sounds from the ’40s and ’50s to Chas- on the Way of Hope, call Blomgren at (615) 653-8027, visit rutherfordwayofhope.com or ing Lovely’s alt-country style, and more. e-mail hypeeventsinc@gmail.com. The celebration is all about raising awareness and money for the Way of Hope, and the organization’s desire to build a homeless shelter in Murfreesboro. SATURDAY, APRIL 12 “There is more shelter space for homeless MURFREESBORO PUBLIC SQUARE dogs, cats and men in Murfreesboro than for 10 a.m. – Reigndance and Friends women and children,” according to a mission 11 a.m. – Reigndance statement letter on rutherfordwayofhope. 12 p.m. – Stop Motion Radio com. “It is the vision of the Way of Hope 1 p.m. – Chasing Lovely founders for every homeless woman and 2 p.m. – Penny Rae child in Murfreesboro to have food and a 3 p.m. – Feedback Revival warm, safe place to sleep.” 4 p.m. – Who Shot JR Way of Hope Director Brad Blomgren 5 p.m. – The Eight O’ Five Jive Band

WOMEN’S DAY CONCERT LINEUP

MAIN STREET MURFREESBORO and the Jazz Fest committee has ﬁnalized Saturday's line up for this year's Jazz Fest, an annual celebration of jazz held the ﬁrst weekend each May on the Murfreesboro Public Square. The weekend additionally features performances by area high school combos on Friday night, May 2, two stages of jazz on Saturday, May 3, children’s activities, food and more. Vocalist Kevin Whalum will lead a clinic on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and some of the downtown area businesses will also host jazz music throughout the weekend, offering jazz artists many more venues than the two outdoor stages. Stay tuned to the Pulse for more information on Jazz Fest 2014. To view the tentative lineup, visit boropulse.com/jazzfest.

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MUSIC NOTES

 FIGHT CANCER, PLAY MUSIC: THE BORO TO HOST APRIL 5 BENEFIT SHOW CANCER IS A BATTLE. Those with the disease fight it, their families fight it, and many great organizations and charities fight it. Murfreesboro woman Sonya Nobles Dukett is throwing everything she has into the fight. The fight may be the thing that keeps her going. Dukett has organized and promoted the upcoming Rocking The Boro Cancer Benefit, to be held from 4-11 p.m., Saturday, April 5, at The Boro Bar and Grill. Her own band, Glass Emblem, will share the bill with Anne-Marie Perry, Lady E & the Black Light and Throwback. In addition to the musicians donating their services for the cause, Dukett has amassed an impressive roster of local businesses and individuals co-sponsoring the event and donating items to raffle. She has also had T-shirts printed that will be for sale at the event, recognizing both local cancer survivors and sponsoring businesses. She is confident thatt he project will raise thousands of dollars for local cancer patients and charities. Dukett said the first $2,500 raised will go to the Triple-B Relay for Life team, participating in the upcoming event to be held at Siegel High School. She wanted to make one goal of the benefit to raise awareness for the Relay; Siegel’s Relay for Life will be held May 30–31, and is part of the American Cancer Society’s nationwide network of Relay for Life events. During these events, teams field walkers and runners to circle a track for a 24-hour period, raising

SONYA NOBLES DUKETT

sponsorship dollars for the ACS. For more information on Relay, visit relayforlife.org. Dukett will then donate the next $1,000 from the April 5 event to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, another American Cancer Society project. The remainder of the funds raised will go directly to cancer patient Heather Maze Hall. “They have removed about everything from her they can from a woman’s body,” Dukett said of her friend Hall. She stresses that she doesn’t want to embarrass the Hall family, that they are doing all they can to pay the bills, but Hall is unable to work much, has now been cut out from receiving any more SSI benefits from Social Security, and faces enormous treatment bills, in addition to the sickness. “The government has failed her,” Dukett said of Hall. “Her family hasn’t failed her. Her husband works so hard; but they have thousands of dollars of medical bills.” Dukett herself is having having a double mastectomy on April 14. She had to postpone the devastating surgery, which will remove both of her breasts, until after she can play a rock show, and raise money for others battling cancer. Think about that. “I just thought I’d spread the word,” Dukett said. Call it positive thinking, determination, faith, maybe a little mix of them all, but Dukett has poured her heart into the benefit, and said when she keeps her mind focused on a goal, rather than her illness, she can cope; she can do amazing things. “If people treat me like I’m sick, I feel sick,” she said. For more information on the event, search “Rocking The Boro Cancer Benefit,” or find Sonya Nobles Dukett on Facebook. BOROPULSE.COM

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MUSIC NOTES  HIPPIE HILL ANNOUNCES EARTH DAY LINEUPS HIPPIE HILL CONTINUES ITS MUSIC festival series with the upcoming Earth Day Weekend Celebration, held April 18–20 up on the Hill. Flux Capacitor, which recently won its seventh straight Tri-State Indie Jam Band of the Year award, will be making its third appearance on Hippie Hill for this show; the Pennsylvania band will headline Friday night, April 18. Coming in from Kansas City, Mo., Brother Bagman will bring its bluesy rock sound to the Hill to headline Saturday, April 19. The pickin’ and grinnin’ continues on Easter Sunday, April 20, with a surprise special guest. The weekend’s lineup also includes Middle Tennessee artists Sugar Lime Blue, Wheathouse, Anthony Adams, Daphne Culver of the Granny Whites, Coyotes in Boxes and Whyte Noise, as well as Brasstaxx from Weston, W.V., All About Autumn from Salem, Va., and Jerry on the Moon, Double Wide Soul, Soundtrust and Conscious Collective, all from Alabama. Tickets for this festival are $25 (camping included). Additionally, Hippie Hill is planning for the 12th annual Afteroo, to be held June 16–21. This six-day party with an all-star lineup will include legendary rockers Black Oak Arkansas, former keyboardist and songwriter for the Allman Brothers Band Johnny Neel, Strung Like a

FLUX CAPACITOR

Horse, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Spongecake & the Fluff Ramblers, Husky Burnette, and Hippie Hill favorites The Corbitt Brothers. “There is only one reserved parking spot on Hippie Hill and that is for the Corbitts,” said Hippie Hill music promoter Richard Thornton. Hippie Hill is located at 8627 Burks Hollow Road, Christiana. For more information, find Hippie Hill TN on Facebook, or visit hippiehilltn.org. FRIDAY, APRIL 18 5 p.m. – Coyotes in Boxes 6 p.m. – All About Autumn 7 p.m. – Soundtrust 8:30 p.m. – Flux Capacitor 11 p.m. – Brasstaxx 12 a.m. – Conscious Collective SATURDAY, APRIL 19 12 p.m. – Anthony Adams & the Nite Owls 2 p.m. – Jerry on the Moon 4 p.m. – Double Wide Soul 6 p.m. – Wheathouse 8 p.m. – The Stagger Moon Band 9 p.m. – Sugar Lime Blue 11 p.m. – Brother Bagman 1 a.m. – Whyte Noyse

 EXCESS-O-RAMA: THE MOST EXCESSIVE SHOW IN ROCK TFG PRESENTS AN INTENSE CLUSTER of energetic excess, a concert of epic proportions, at Brew U on Saturday, April 5, billed as Excess-O-Rama 2014. There’s never been anything like it before, 25 bands, playing overlapping 20-minute sets on a split stage. This show is so over-the-top, even the Guinness Book of World Records is creating a category just for this night. Each band will be playing nothing but their hardest, loudest, fastest songs. “Total energy! Total chaos! This is the show all the others wish they could be!” said show promoter Rachel Rosson. The opening ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. on April 5, and the music won’t stop for hours. Artists performing include: The Acorn People, Arkansas Elvis, Bad Ideas, The By Gods, Chasing Charlie, The Dapper Dan Man, Band, Echoes and Amplifiers, The Empress, Iroquois, Jukebox Chemistry, Minona, Navaeh, Neptune The Mystic, The New Industry Standard, NuAugustine, Oh Grandpa, One Nation Under Control, Resistance House Band, SkeetZo N’ Krysis, Specter, Static Calm, The 28 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

TOMATO FACE

OH GRANDPA

Strumms, Tomato Face, The Water Fight, Whiskey Angel Brew U is located at 127 S.E. Broad St., Murfreesboro, and the show is 18 and up. Admission is $5. For more information, contact Rachel Rosson at bohemian.artista@yahoo.com.

ALBUM REVIEWS

MOUTH READER

MITCH GALLAGHER

Mouth Reader

Mitch Gallagher

3.5 44

2.5 3.5

Mouth Reader, in its messy, snotty and slipshod glory, is really the sound of my coming-of-age when there was little to do for entertainment other than go to some basement house show where you were sure to get sprayed by a popped-open beer, maybe hit with the can or kicked in the head by an unsteady crowd surfer, all the while listening to a yowling group—likely a duo or trio—hammer and bang away at their instruments in some nuanced variation of this thing called garage rock. Mouth Reader is that, with some colorings of psych-rock and more than a touch of punk, emulating a range of some of the most notorious musical bangers and snarlers including, but not limited to, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, The Stooges and sometimes The Replacements. A split by Mouth Reader has only been out for about a minute, and so has this fledgling band that dropped its debut eponymous EP in January of this year, followed by a two-track release in March. With Kyle Frary, also the band’s cover artist, on guitar and vocals, and Ethan Rose on drums and bass, “Slave” has a scuzzy, thunderous bite that brings to mind Deep Purple. Frary’s falsetto as the song opens is the perfect, iconic hard rock contrast paired with his guitar riff. It has the distortion of a 60-year-old TV set—fuzzy, static and thick enough to choke on. “Uncontrollable Urge” is track two, jumpstarted by Frary’s far-off rebel yell followed with shredding vocals reminiscent of Paul Westerberg. Mouth Reader’s release early this year is much of the same, only with room for much more variation over six tracks and a stronger surf-rock influence in addition to a bit of ’60s pop influence missing in their most recent recording. Both releases are great, the music is well suited to a place like the Springwater, it’s a dose of nostalgia to lots of Nashville kids, and it feels like the scuzzy brain residue left in the wake of a PBR. To hear Mouth Reader, visit mouthreader.bandcamp.com. — JESSICA PACE

RATINGS: AVERAGE

As a salute to a growing love from a young man’s heart and eyes, Mitch Gallagher, an independentlyproduced country singer/songwriter playing out of Nashville, released his five-track, self-titled debut last year, and has been pushing along ever since. Gallagher croons and strums the tunes that emote growing up, love and reflection, making homes and driving favored back roads. All the while, he maintains his charming and simplistic Southern roots, and his firm hold on the modern Nashville country sound heard in the likes of Brad Paisley or Blake Shelton. Along with those qualities and tight production value, Mitch Gallagher landed within the Top 50 on the iTunes Top 100 country albums chart shortly after its release last year. The lead-0ff track and current single from the record, “What Makes Love Go Round,” is a good representation of growing into a young love with a companion and making a home with her, while a mandolin/guitar intro leads into a tambourinedriven mid-tempo rhythm backed by running fiddle riffs and electric guitar, all pulling together a heart-warmer of a song. “Meant for Coming Back,” is a good example of his sentiments on reflection and nostalgia for, at the least, driving back roads. A little slower than “What Makes Love Go Round,” both songs were seemingly written with an innocent sweetness, while retaining the composition style and big sound currently the rage on country radio. The homey, feelgood listen offered on Mitch Gallagher makes it worthy enough to emanate from any country station in the nation, an acceptable addition to Music City’s repertoire, provided one’s musical tastes land in that area. The Mitch Gallagher EP can be ordered through iTunes and CD Baby. His upcoming April shows include Luke Caccetta’s EP release concert, Wednesday, April 23 at The Rutledge in Nashville. For more information, visit mitchgallaghermusic.com. — BRYCE HARMON

A CLASSIC BELOW AVERAGE

OUTSTANDING AVOID AT ALL COSTS

DEAD BOROPULSE.COM

* APRIL 2014 * 29

Murfreesboro’s Music Through the Decades

Parlor, Plantation, Pews and Patriotism: 1850-1870

ords in song have power: the power to create or destroy, power to define a generation and move history. Lyrics convey the way we think and feel. Perhaps over the generations, we have one commonality—“We feel the way we feel because we think the way we think!” In America, the decades between 1850 and 1870 were perhaps the most profound in clearly defining and blending musical styles into what would later become America’s popular music. The antebellum period’s minstrel tunes, parlor songs, marches and reels would blend with hymns, carols and spirituals. American musical styles would move from Classical European and evolve into identifiable sound fusing influences that migrated from Scotland and Ireland, the Italian, French and English. Tunes written for the piano, brass instruments and drums, along with string instruments like the banjo, guitar and fiddle, would reflect this era in American history. With the emergence of melodious songs from Stephen Foster, the “father of American popular music,” the American culture began to convey its heartfelt emotions and sentiments in song. Songs such as “Camptown Races,” “Jenny With the Light Brown Hair,” “Oh! Susanna” and the warm sound of “Beautiful Dreamer” were favorites of both Northerners and Southerners, eclipsing every other composer of that era. Although Foster’s sheet music may have appeared on the melodeons and pianos of Murfreesboro’s privileged, the lyrics may be considered derisive both then and now. In many ways, having come out of the minstrel tradition, these songs began to unravel the racial bigotry and the tragedy of slavery embedded in antebellum America. More than any other influence, the very first spirituals inspired by African music elevated spirits and enlightened faith and hope. In the fields, their blissful, sometimes mournful work songs were expressive, sending implied hidden messages to fellow slaves. Songs like “The Gospel Train” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” all referred to the Underground Railroad. Syncopated, segmented melodies, along with “shouting” gospel lyrics, clapping,

30 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

by GLORIA CHRISTY foot tapping, stomping and dancing, would later influence rock ’n’ roll styles of the 1950s. Cotton pickin’ produced achy backs and rough hands. But then the songs emerged audaciously, perhaps from an attitude of accomplishment driven by a victorious battle for freedom. The American Civil War had a profound impact on America’s music, spurring the publishing of patriotic songs on both sides. The North and the South had their own versions of “Dixieland” (Dixie); the song remains a vivid example of lingering Confederate mythology and Southern culture. Both Yankee

house with wide gowns and fancy crinolines, parasols and frilly lace. On Christmas Eve of 1862, a grand ball sponsored by the First Louisiana and the Sixth Kentucky regiments was held in the courthouse. Candles illuminated the large hallways, and behind each candle was a bayonet reflecting the light of the festive scene. A pyramidal chandelier of bayonets and candles hung from the ceiling, and trees of greenery and jars of flowers decorated the dance hall. Two B’s entwined in evergreen on the side of the wall represented the two Confederate Generals, Bragg and Breckenridge.

(Above) Oaklands Mansion, site of a Battle in July, 1862, and the Union encampment; (below left) this songbook, circa 1860, belonged to Adeline Maney; (below right) portrait of Adeline Maney, mistress of Oaklands Mansion.

and Confederate soldiers carried small songbooks in their leather satchels: The Guiding Star Songster, 1865; Songs of the Soldiers, 1864; and Beadle’s Dime Pocket Songster, published between 1865 and 1867. The war brought the use of brass instruments and drums into common use. Also, the migration of African-American slaves brought cultural diversity, mixing musical styles across the land. Although Murfreesboro’s affluent were completely Southern in ideology and mannerisms, most had become acclimated to the finer things in American life both in fashion and music. Often, the women would adorn the balls held in the Rutherford County Court-

Yankee flags captured by John Hunt Morgan were on display. With tunes of a musical blend of strings and brass, the revelers danced the stately cotillion and the graceful waltz. The jubilance of a possible victory and the holiday spirits had taken an unpleasant turn on Dec. 31, 1862. The Army of Tennessee, under the command of General Bragg, and the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Union General Rosecrans, faced each other on the banks of the Stones River in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. How sad and disastrous! Only a few decades before all Americans were united, Red, White, and Blue through and through! Now we were tinged with gray, devoted patriots

and ideological rivals driven asunder in a once-united America. As the sun went down on the evening before the battle, Dec. 30, 1862, the sadness prevailed over the wintry landscape. Perhaps, in that moment, all were once again united by the possibility that tomorrow there would be a violent struggle. On the edge of the open fields in the cedar glades were darkened camps with clusters of soldiers around amber firesides. A peculiar circumstance occurred. Soldiers from both armies crossed the lines and began swapping tobacco and conversing around each other’s campfires. When one of the army bands struck up the tune “Home, Sweet Home,” the opposing band joined in and together they played the nostalgic melody. Obviously, this gesture was a diversion away from the terror ahead and the homesick loneliness. The music floated over the cedar thickets and pastureland, a dismal, surreal scene, for the next day that field would be littered the dead and the dying. This story poses the questions “Why war?” “Where does it begin?” Perhaps, war originates in our minds—negative thought patterns, seemingly uncontrollable antagonism, resentment and hostility that erupts into the vehemence of war. Could it be that this progression occurs, our thoughts produce words, our words produce action, our actions produce the future? If war begins in our negative mindsets (how we feel), then how can we change the way we think? The battle to change our minds begins as we realize how powerless we are to change anything without God’s help. God will partner with us to make the necessary changes in our thought patterns when we quit making excuses and blaming others for our bad behavior. It is never too late to begin again. Our past does not have to dictate our future. Apparently, as we begin to change our mindsets more positively, we become aware that it takes a lot more energy to entertain destructive thought patterns than positive ones. While we get control of the war waging in our minds, love begins to transform us into vessels that can be used in a different way. “Out with the old and in with the new!” Passionately, we proclaim the words in this old plantation gospel tune: ain’t gonna study war no more, ain’t gonna study war no more. . . study war no more! BOROPULSE.COM

* APRIL 2014 * 31

IF YOU GO:

SOUNDS APRIL CONCERTS

Send your show listings to listings@boropulse.com

THURS, 4/3

SUN, 4/6

3 BROTHERS

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Fighting for Air

BUNGANUT PIG

Jon Gambino

GREEN DRAGON

Uncle Don Clark

JOZOARA

Rik Gracia

ROOSTERS BBQ

Open Mic Night

Katie Kelly, trumpet; Chelsea Kanicsar, oboe; Nicholas Sipe, percussion

MON, 4/7 WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Stones River Chamber Players

ROOSTERS BBQ

Zone Status, Mike Oldham

THE BORO

Thumper, Boyfriend

WALL STREET

Copper Into Steel, Backup Planet

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

Lost Dawgs

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Dina Cancryn, soprano; Karla Grove and Tracy Phillips, piano; H. Stephen Smith, tenor; Lynn Rice-See, piano

SAT, 4/12 BUNGANUT PIG

SOCIAL

TUES, 4/8

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

BUNGANUT PIG

GEORGIA’S

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

JOZOARA

Skinny B

Shane and Lenny MTSU Spring Choral Concert

FRI, 4/4 3 BROTHERS

John Cochran Quartet

Justin Martin, trombone; John Sells, horn; Catherine Thomas, tuba

WED, 4/9

Corbitt Brothers Band Monkey Wrench Creative Writing Night

THE BORO

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

ROOSTERS BBQ

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

Rockslide, Drew Johnson

THE BORO

Culture Cringe Throwdown

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

The Minority Band

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Caleb Hawkins, Yong Goo Kim, piano

SAT, 4/5 BREW U

Excess-O-Rama

Sammy Baker Blues Night Shane and Lenny, VDJ Mikey Mike

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Ben Miles, tuba; Sarah Miles, flute

THURS, 4/10 3 BROTHERS

Easy Roscoe

BUNGANUT PIG

Under Great Lights, Cool Head, Easy Rosco

Greez Monkeez

Joey Fletcher and Co.

First Avenue Band

BUNGANUT PIG

Cancer Benefit featuring Glass Emblem

GEORGIA’S

Double Image

MAYDAY BREWERY

MTSU Jazz Artist Series, saxophonist John Ellis

MILLER’S GROCERY

THE BORO

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Marshall Creek

The Entertainment Live Island Wren

THE BORO

My July, Cory Peden

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

Behold The Slaughter

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

The Southern Belles, Masseuse

FRI, 4/25

Junkyard Funk

Skinny B

Mouth Reader

Shane and Lenny

MTSU Women's Chorale

3 BROTHERS

Boro Fondo

Nacho's 2962 S. Rutherford Blvd. 907-2700

Readyville Mill 5418 Murfreesboro Rd. Readyville 563-MILL Rooster's Lonestar BBQ 223 W. Main St. 867-1836

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

ROOSTERS BBQ

SAT, 4/26

CJ Vaughn Trio

SOCIAL

BUNGANUT PIG

MTSU Symphony Orchestra featuring H. Stephen Smith, tenor; "Opera arias of Bizet and Puccini"

MTSU Guitar Ensembles

THE BORO

GEORGIA’S

MON, 4/28

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

JOZOARA

SUNDAY, 4/20

MAYDAY BREWERY

TUES, 4/29

THE BORO

READYVILLE MILL

BUNGANUT PIG

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

MTSU Concert Band

Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night

BUNGANUT PIG

Martin Rodriguez and the Rectifiers

SOCIAL

Real Wednesday Rap Battle

THE BORO

Sammy Baker Blues Night

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

VDJ Mikey Mike

THURS, 4/17

Glade City Rounders

BUNGANUT PIG

JD Shelburne

JOZOARA

Rik Gracia

32 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

Honeyboy and Boots

READYVILLE MILL

MON, 4/14

Aubryn

View Concert Listings Online:

SOCIAL

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

MAYDAY BREWERY

ROOSTERS BBQ

Earth Day Celebration

MTSU Wright Music Building 1439 Faulkinberry Dr. 898-2469

MAYDAY BREWERY

3 BROTHERS

Open Mic Night

JOZOARA

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

FRI, 4/11

Rik Gracia

ROOSTERS BBQ

Wall Street 121 N. Maple St. 867-9090

WED, 4/16

Johnny B and the Balladeers

JOZOARA

Mayday Brewery 521 Old Salem Hwy. 479-9722

WALL STREET

Alex Escudero, horn; Tabitha Atchley, flute; David Williford, saxophone; MTSU Chamber Orchestra

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

MTSU Wind Ensemble

North2South Band

HIPPIE HILL

JOZOARA

The Worried Minds

The Hoodoo

BUNGANUT PIG

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

GEORGIA’S

READYVILLE MILL

Main St. Music 527 W. Main St. 439-6135

3 BROTHERS

SUN, 4/13

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Shane and Lenny

THURS, 4/24

The Boro Bar & Grill 1211 Greenland Dr. 895-4800

SOCIAL

Lydia Laird

Liquid Smoke #2 Public Square 217-7822

MAYDAY BREWERY

BUNGANUT PIG

Skinny B

HIPPIE HILL

MTSU Percussion Ensemble

GEORGIA’S

ROOSTERS BBQ

Rodeo Gypsy

Atomic Trunk Monkeys

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

GEORGIA’S

FANATICS

Open Mic Night

GEORGIA’S

VDJ Mikey Mike

JoZoara 536 N. Thompson Ln. 962-7175

Sammy Baker Blues Night

BUNGANUT PIG

Stephanie Sams, clarinet; MTSU String Studio 1

TUES, 4/15

La Fever

The Pilots

Real Wednesday Rap Battle

Hippie Hill 8627 Burks Hollow Rd. (615) 796-3697

BUNGANUT PIG

Rik Gracia

BUNGANUT PIG

Russell Jackson Benefit

SOCIAL

Bunganut Pig 1602 W. Northfield Blvd. 893-7860

SAT, 4/19

JOZOARA

Zone Status

Josephine and the Wild Front, Tomato Face, Sheep Shifter, Gutterspice, The Dark Mike, Sir Curls

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

MAYDAY BREWERY

Rebecca Roubion

3 BROTHERS

FarCry, Clark Hudgens

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

Crossroads Band

FRI, 4/18

WALL STREET

SOCIAL

Real Wednesday Rap Battle

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

Johnny B and the Balladeers

GEORGIA’S

Franklin and Farris

MTSU Singers

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

THE BORO

ROOSTERS BBQ

Miranda Louise

THE BORO

Day of Hope Concert

BUNGANUT PIG

Vicki Reid Band

Shane and Lenny

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

ROOSTERS BBQ

FANATICS

Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night

BUNGANUT PIG

MURFREESBORO PUBLIC SQUARE

Planet Ink, The GoldRoom

Writers Night

Dee Robert and the Half Truths, Opposite Box, Flying Tinis

MAYDAY BREWERY

READYVILLE MILL

BUNGANUT PIG

WALL STREET

MAYDAY BREWERY

3 BROTHERS

Jake Leg Stompers

3 Brothers 114 N. Church St. 410-3096

Casual Exchange CSX Band

Earth Day Celebration Chad King

Mize and the Drive Johnny B and the Balladeers Fender Benders, North2South

Burning Las Vegas Specter

Stoopid Kool

Scott Fernandez, The Hardin Draw, The Radio Symphonic, Silent Monolith, Holiness Movement, Soliam

MON, 4/21 WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Matt McCown, tuba; MTSU Flute Choir

TUES, 4/22 BUNGANUT PIG

John Cochran Quartet

ROOSTERS BBQ

WED, 4/23

SOCIAL

3 BROTHERS

Open Mic Night Skinny B

Ryan Coleman’s

Gravel Road Gypsies Liberty Valance

Judah and the Spoox, The Radio Symphonic, The Waterfight Boro Fondo

Gypsy Rose

Nelson Moore, saxophone

3 BROTHERS

Boro Fondo

Southern Spyce

The Entertainment Live MTSU Jazz Voice Dept "Cup of Songs" The Stoves

Johnny B and the Balladeers

ROOSTERS BBQ

The Crusty Veterans

THE BORO

Boro Fondo

WALL STREET

Willie’s Wet Spot 1208 S. Lowry St., Smyrna 355-0010

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Anna Morgan, piano; Jared Staples, percussion

Tim Bogle

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

MTSU Symphonic Band

WED, 4/30 3 BROTHERS

Ryan Coleman’s Writers Night

Boro Fondo

BUNGANUT PIG

Evil Twin

SOCIAL

Nathan O'Connell, vocal; Amy Livingwood, vocal; Elizabeth Elliott, vocal; Lynn Rice-See, piano

THE BORO

WILLIE’S WET SPOT WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

SUN, 4/27 WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

Sabrina and Tony Real Wednesday Rap Battle Sammy Baker Blues Night

WILLIE’S WET SPOT

VDJ Mikey Mike

WRIGHT MUSIC BLDG.

MTSU Commercial Music Ensemble

KARAOKE, TRIVIA, BINGO & DJ NIGHTS IN MURFREESBORO  MONDAYS

 WEDNESDAYS

BREW U Live Trivia, 7 p.m.

CAMPUS PUB Karaoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

BUNGANUT PIG Live Trivia, 7 p.m.

MELLOW MUSHROOM Live Trivia, 8 p.m.

THE POUR HOUSE DJ, 7–11 p.m.

NOBODY’S Live Trivia, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

ROOSTER’S LONE STAR BBQ AND STEAK HOUSE Live Trivia, 7 and 8 p.m.

SAM’S SPORTS GRILL Live Trivia, 8 p.m.

 TUESDAYS IGNITE Karaoke, 8 p.m.–12 a.m. 3 BROTHERS Live Trivia, 7 p.m. OLD CHICAGO Live Trivia, 9 p.m.

 THURSDAYS NOBODY’S Karaoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m. THE POUR HOUSE Karaoke, 9 p.m.–1 a.m. CAMPUS PUB Live Trivia, 8:15 p.m.

COCONUT BAY CAFÉ Live Trivia, 7:30 p.m.

WALL STREET Live Trivia, 8 p.m.

THE POUR HOUSE DJ, 7–11 p.m.

 FRIDAYS

NOBODY’S Bingo, 7 p.m.

NOBODY’S Karaoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m.

MT BOTTLE Karaoke, 9 p.m.–3 a.m. BREW U Karaoke, 7 p.m.-10 p.m.

 SATURDAYS NOBODY’S Karaoke, 9:15 p.m.–12:30 a.m. CAMPUS PUB Karaoke, 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m.

 SUNDAYS O’POSSUMS Live Trivia, 8 p.m. WALL STREET Team Bingo, 5–7 p.m. SAM’S SPORTS GRILL Live Trivia, 8 p.m.

To be included in the listings, or for information on setting up your own Karaoke night, contact zek@tnkaraoke.com

SPORTS

FOOTBALL'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE, CUBAN

how he likes it.” I guess when you’re looking s always, the Train Daddy is at a possible 3-5 year sentence, you do whatback with the pain, daddy and ever to rebuild the image, Ray Rice is ready to deliver some sports a women beater, none the less. knowledge in a unique So what does the Train have way that only the Train in store for you this issue? Well Daddy can deliver. Life is movit’s been way too long and ing way too fast. April showers I have to do a Tennessee will surely bring May flowTitans breakdown, besides ers and the NFL draft on that, a little insight on Mark May 8, can’t wait! Cuban’s rant on the NFL. One truth I have learned Let’s talk some football. over the years is when a I am sure if Mark Cuban person enjoys and truly emcolumn by Z-TRAIN was reading my article he braces life, it moves way too titanman1984@ yahoo.com would say “Train Daddy, you fast and there aren’t enough need to focus on basketball, hours in a day. The 5 F’s because the NFL is dying.” Cuban, the billionis something I have always wrote and spoke aire tycoon, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, about, it’s my way of life, and in this order: and also a shark on the television series Shark Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends. Always Faith and Family stay at the top of the Tank is making predictions. He claims the NFL will implode in 10 years. Cuban stated list; the other three can be shuffled depend“I’m just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get ing on your mood. slaughtered, and they’re getting hoggy.” Well, I received a lot of comments and CBS recently reached a deal to broadcast opinions on last month’s column on Obama and Putin doing the Double Luge and ESPN’s some Thursday night games and this only means more football. In the past, football has special on the N-word. As always, I appregenerally been played all day Sunday and ciate my loyal readers and I tend to speak on Monday night. Now the NFL is planning and write from the heart. Some agree, some on hitting us with football Sunday, Monday, disagree, but as I always say, the Train Daddy Thursday and even some Saturdays. I’m sure delivers sports knowledge in a unique way; Cuban is somewhat bitter that the NBA can’t like it or not, it’s real talk baby! rival the NFL, and now the big bully NFL So, Ray Rice knocks out his fiancée at a wants to broadcast a game almost every night casino, there is video evidence of him dragging of the week. Last year, after Labor Day, 34 of her limp body around, then a day after being the 35 top-rated television shows were NFL indicted he marries her. Torrey Smith says the games, with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Pacouple is in a good place; former teammate rade stealing a spot on the list. I reckon Cuban Brandon Spikes stated otherwise saying “How is thinking too much football will eventually can anyone respect him, the women that had turn us fans away, and we will get sick of it. I your child. Someone should choke him out, see

SPORTS TALK

34 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

Jake Locker

doubt it. All I know is Cuban doesn’t need to worry about the NFL imploding; rather, worry about the United States of America imploding. If pro football were on television almost every night of the week, this country would fall apart. We would all be glued to televisions and smart phones all day, every day and fantasy football would become a full-time job.

SOME NEW PIECES FOR THE TITANS

Onto Titans football and the upcoming 2014 season. The Titans have a new head coach, a quarterback in the last year of his rookie contract, and a fan base that is hungry for change. Coach Whisenhunt stated recently of Jake the Snake Locker “He knows what’s at stake, he has to perform.” That sounds like a Get-’Er-Doneor-you’re-fired comment to me. I hope Jake stays healthy. Locker recently removed his walking boot and states his leg feels awesome after undergoing Lisfranc surgery. For a team that was unsold on picking up the final year of his $13 million contract, it’s now or never in Tennessee. After missing 16 games in two seasons, the big question is: can Jake stay healthy for a full season? So the Titans dumped Ryan Fitzpatrick for, give me a drum roll, Charlie Whitehurst. Many people would agree Ryan turned the ball over a bit too much, but he was a solid second-string signal caller. Here is Charlie’s bio for anyone who has no clue: he is a 31-year-old drafted in ’06 by the Chargers out of Clemson who has started only four games with 805 total passing yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions for his career. Sure he knows Coach Whisenhunt’s system from their time together in San Diego, but it’s scary to think with Jake’s health concerns that Charlie Whitehurst could be the gunslinger at some point this upcoming season. Awful move Titans! Fitzpatrick completed 217 passes last season; Whitehurst has completed 84 passes in eight years. Wonder why Houston grabbed Fitzzy so fast? The real diagnosis will come after May’s draft. Do the Titans draft a quarterback early, or do they roll the dice with Jake and Charlie? The Titans made a lot of moves in free

agency re-signing six of their own and signing five other players around the league. So what was my favorite move the Titans made this season? The re-signing of Bernard Pollard for two more years. The talented strong safety is a run-stopping, pass-blocking machine. Sure, he cost the Titans some yards via penalties, but he is a player to watch and fear. One of the top newcomers, Dexter McCluster, should be fun to watch, similar to the play of Darren Sproles. Dexter will primarily line up as a running back, but he will be deployed all over the field. The Titans also signed a famous movie star, Michael Oher (the subject of The Blindside). This move I didn’t like much; he was a star in college, but has been no more than average in the pros at Baltimore. They paid him starting money, so start he will, but he will be no where near the player David Stewart was. The return game will be much improved after a dismal 2013 where the Titans ran with Reynard and Wylie. The Titans now have three Pro Bowl return men in McCluster, Leon Washington and Mark Mariani; it’s up for grabs. They also re-signed Jackie Battle to be nothing more than a battering ram, and Chris Johnson should be gone soon. This article hits the stands April 3; I imagine he will be released soon after. Still, there will be a need to address the running game, there is no clear starter, just a little scat back in Dexter and a couple battering rams in Battle and Greene. They need to start a search for a superstar. I am very excited to see how the wide receivers progress, so young, so talented, so hungry. The Titans have a very promising group of receivers, and Kenny Britt is soon to be Jeff Fisher’s problem again. Amen! Also look to Wesley Woodyard, a very productive linebacker out of Denver. His leadership should be as valuable for the team as his play on the field. He was voted a captain each of his six seasons in Denver. So there’s a new coach, new faces and a new look. I hope the draft goes well and the Titans make some noise this upcoming season. I hope Jake is the answer but they need a security blanket if things go wrong, and Whitehurst is not a blanket, he is a rag. So it’s time to wrap this thing up my friends. Congrats to the men’s Tennessee basketball program after a slow start to the season and ending strong. They put up some big wins down the stretch in the tournament and just barely lost to Michigan. Coach saved his job. Nobody won Buffett’s Billion Dollar Challenge and my Kansas Jayhawks sucked it up. I am a True Blue Bleeding Titans Fan, and I see some good and bad. I hope the good is what shines next season. I always say, it’s fans like myself and others that make this team. We will stay true, and someday we will be blessed with a championship. Stay the course my friends!

MTSU pitcher Zac Curtis

MTSU SPORTS QUICK-CAP Olivia Jones, Ebony Rowe, KeKe Stewart and the Lady Raiders took the C-USA tourney title.

for the season and tallied 63 blocked shots for the year. Jones was also named to the 2013-14 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District First Team.

LADY RAIDERS WIN C-USA TOURNEY But fall to Oregon St. in ﬁrst round of Big Dance. IN THE CONFERENCE USA women’s basketball tournament championship game, Middle Tennessee’s explosive offense helped the Blue Raiders prevail 84-55 over Southern Miss, giving the Blue Raiders their ﬁrst Conference USA Championship title. The win gave MTSU its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Shawn Jones

2014 Conference USA Player of the Year, Ebony Rowe, poured in 23 points and the Raiders forced 20 turnovers to slow down the high-powered attack of Southern Miss. Rowe was additionally named the 2014 C-USA Tournament MVP. Conference Freshman of the Year, Olivia Jones, contributed 18 points and 14 rebounds in the contest. Knowing they had secured an automatic bid to the Big Dance, MTSU learned the following week they would travel to Seattle to face Oregon State in the NCAA tournament. There, the Beavers of Oregon State were too much for MTSU, as they won that contest 55-36, putting an end to the Lady Raiders’ season and tournament hopes. Oregon State never trailed in the contest, as MTSU managed to make only 14 shots from the ﬁeld. Senior Ebony Rowe led the Blue Raiders in scoring in the game, and posted her 26th double-double of the season. Though her career as a Blue Raider is now over, she sits atop the MTSU women’s basketball record books as the all-time top scorer.

BLUE RAIDER FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS ON SALE The MTSU athletic department knows August is right around the corner, and has already made 2014 football season tickets available to Blue Raider fans. This coming season, the Blue Raiders will host Savannah State, Western Kentucky, Southern Miss, Alabama-Birmingham, Brigham Young University and Florida Atlantic at Floyd Stadium. For more on MTSU athletics, visit goblueraiders.com.

UPCOMING HOME GAMES BASEBALL April 8 - Belmont, 6 p.m. April 11 - Miss. Valley State, 6 p.m. April 12 - Miss. Valley State, 4 p.m. April 13 - Miss. Valley State, 1 p.m. April 25 - Old Dominion, 6 p.m. April 26 - Old Dominion, 4 p.m. April 27 - Old Dominion, 1 p.m. April 30 - Austin Peay, 6 p.m. SOFTBALL April 5 - Marshall, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. April 6 - Marshall, 12 p.m. April 16 - WKU, 5 p.m.

SHAWN JONES NAMED CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR The MTSU men also put together a solid 2013-14 campaign but could not make it past the C-USA tournament semi-ﬁnals. Losing to Tulsa 76-69, the team would not get the opportunity to see what it could do in the Big Dance. In a bright spot for the team, MTSU senior Shawn Jones was named the Conference USA Player of the Year. He averaged over eight rebounds per game BOROPULSE.COM

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OPINIONS

La PALABRA Una columna del idioma español por

CAMERON PARRISH

Of Jesus and the Easter Bunny Jesucristo y el Conejito de la Pascua IN ENGLISH: This column is often about exploring mysteries that other writers won’t dare touch. I’m finding out that this is often for good reason. You see, I recently spent some time researching and trying to find answers to explain the popularity of the Bigfoot erotica genre of e-book literature for an article I was going to call “50 Shades of Sasquatch.” But after spending more time than any decent human should spend investigating the realm of monster-porn, I feel compelled to repent and instead write about bunnies and Jesus. The Easter holiday is approaching and we’ve already seen our share of chocolate bunnies and candy eggs filling the stores. We who were born in America are also aware that many children wake up on Easter morning to find many of these same items in baskets which were delivered by a magical rabbit called the Easter Bunny. I’m still unclear as to how one tiny rabbit travels the entire Christian world so quickly, transports such a large quantity of candy or how he enters a locked home when he has no thumbs. Santa’s methods have been known for a while but the ways of the bunny still remain a mystery. The origins of this Rabbit O’ Easter are equally mysterious but I’m about to share with you what I know which isn’t much. Ready? iAdelante! It’s well-known that many Christian holidays were set to coincide with pagan festivals because in the ancient world it was easier to change the reason for the season than to change the date or tell people they couldn’t party at all. So the celebration of Christ’s resurrection was held about the same time as the Eostre festival which honored the Teutonic goddess of the dawn and fertility and other pre-Christian deities. The rabbits (or hare to be precise) and eggs have long been symbols associated with these things. The hare image was transmitted to Christian Germany as the Oschterhase or Easterhare. As early as the 1500s German children believed that if they were well-behaved the Osterhase would leave them a nest (basket) of eggs in the garden which they could trade for chocolate. Thanks for the chocolate idea, Germany. But a hypersexual animal who steals food from gardens and puts holes in my lawn has no room to judge anyone’s behavior. For Christians the rabbit was a logical symbol because people once believed rabbits were hermaphrodites and could reproduce without losing their bunny virginity. Thus early Christians associated this with the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. Many ancient Cathedrals also contain imagery of rabbits carved into prominent places. But something that you might not know is that there’s also an early Christian legend that ties Jesus to the 36 * APRIL 2014 * BOROPULSE.COM

Easter Bunny. It goes something like this. A young rabbit, for three days, waited anxiously for his friend Jesus to return to the Garden of Gethsemane, little knowing what had become of Him at the Crucifixion. On Easter morning, Jesus returned to His favorite garden and was welcomed by His animal friend. That evening, when Jesus’ disciples came into the garden to pray, they discovered a path of beautiful flowers, each blossom bearing the image of a rabbit in its center as a remembrance of the patience and hope of this faithful little creature. I want to be clear about the fact that this story is not anywhere in the Bible. But I certainly feel better now having replaced the other terrifying images in by head with images of bunnies, Jesus and chocolate eggs. Hopefully I’ve also enlightened you a little about the connection that all of these symbols have to one another and how they came to us in the 21st century. Semper Explorandum

EN ESPANOL: Esta columna va sobre, explorando misterios que otros escritores no se atreverán a tocar, aunque ahora sé que a veces esto es por razones válidas. Digo esto porque recientemente pasé algún tiempo investigando y tratando de encontrar respuestas para explicar la popularidad del género literario Bigfoot erotica de ebook para un artículo que yo iba a llamar “50 Shades of Sasquatch”. Pero después de pasar más tiempo que cualquier ser humano decente debe pasar investigando el género porno de monstruo, me siento obligado a arrepentirme y en cambio escribo sobre conejitos y Jesucristo. Las vacaciones de Semana Santa (Pascua) se acercan y ya hemos visto los dulces conejitos y huevos de chocolate en las tiendas. Nosotros, los que nacimos en los Estados Unidos somos también conscientes de que muchos niños despertarán en la mañana de Pascua con la emoción

de encontrar muchos de estos dulces en canastas, que fueron entregadas por un conejo mágico llamado el Conejo de Pascua. Todavía no está muy claro de cómo un pequeño conejito se desplaza por todo el mundo Cristiano tan rápidamente, transporta una gran cantidad de dulces o cómo entra en una casa cerrada cuando él no tiene pulgares. Métodos de Santa Claus hemos conocido por un tiempo, pero las maneras del conejito siguen siendo un misterio. Los orígenes de este Conejo de Pascua son igualmente misteriosos pero estoy a punto de compartir con ustedes lo que sé que no es mucho. ¿Listo? iAdelante! Es bien sabido que muchos días sagrados cristianos coinciden con fiestas paganas porque en la antigüedad, era más fácil cambiar la razón de la ocasión que cambiar la fecha o decirle a la gente que no podían celebrar en todos. La celebración de la resurrección de Cristo tuvo lugar aproximadamente al mismo tiempo que el festival de Eostre que rindió homenaje a la diosa Teutónica de la aurora y la fecundidad como otras deidades pre-cristianismo. El conejo (liebre para ser más exacto) y huevos han sido símbolos asociados a estos homenajes desde hace miles de años. Luego, la imagen de la liebre fue transmitida a Alemania como Oschterhase o Easterhare (en inglés). Tan pronto como los años 1500, niños alemanes creían que si se portaban bien el Osterhase les dejaría un nido (canasta) de huevos en el jardín, utilizando así el chocolate para negociar. Agradecemos a los Alemanes por esta idea. Pero un animal hipersexual que roba comida de jardines y hace agujeros en mi césped no tiene lugar para juzgar el comportamiento de nadie opino yo. Para los cristianos el conejo era un símbolo lógico porque la gente una vez creyó que los conejos eran hermafroditas y que podían reproducirse sin perder su virginidadito conejito. Así los primeros cristianos habían asociado esta a la Inmaculada Concepción de la Virgen María. Muchas catedrales antiguas también contienen imágenes de conejos talladas en lugares prominentes. Pero algo que no sabes es que también existe una leyenda cristiana temprana que conecta a Jesús con el Conejito de Pascua. Un conejito durante tres días espero ansiosamente a su amigo Jesucristo, para volver al huerto de Getsemaní, sin saber lo qué había pasado por él en la Crucifixión. En la mañana de Pascua, Jesús volvió a su jardín favorito y fue saludado por su amiguito animal. Esa noche, cuando los discípulos de Jesús entraron en el jardín para orar, descubrieron un camino de flores hermosas, cada flor con la imagen de un conejo en su centro como un recuerdo por la paciencia y la esperanza de esta pequeña criatura fiel. Quiero ser claro sobre el hecho de que esta historia no es en cualquier lugar de la Biblia Santa. Pero sinceramente me siento mejor ahora que he reemplazado las otras imágenes aterradoras de mi cabeza por imágenes de conejos, Jesús y huevos de chocolate. Espero que mi artículo le haya ayudado un poco, en saber acerca de la conexión que todos estos símbolos tienen entre si y cómo llegaron a nosotros en el siglo XXI. Semper Explorandum

Welfare Dollars Should Not Be Used for Junk/Entertainment

tate social services officials in Louisiana have decided to enact new limits for welfare recipients. No longer will you be able to use your welfare card at lingerie shops, tattoo parlors, nail salons, jewelry stores, video arcades, bail bond companies, cruise ships, psychics, adultentertainment businesses, nightclubs or bars. Which begs the question, why in the world were you ever able to use your welfare card at these places?

there are grocery stores all over the place. So what’s the answer to why so many poor people are obese? This is the obvious answer the liberals try to keep hidden. People getting free food make poor choices. Now, in all fairness, junk food is generally cheaper because it’s subsidized through the farm bill. Oh, yeah. A lot of the junk food consumed in this country comes from corn, soybeans and wheat, three crops that get huge subsidies from the federal government. Your vegetable farmer gets virtually nothing from the government. The answer is not to subsidize the vegetable farmer but to stop subsidizing everyone else. If lettuce and carrots were cheaper, then perhaps more people The Louisiana legislature is trying to would buy them. but don’t bank on it. A codify the changes into law. How many large part of it is taste. Poor people seem other states are allowing our tax dolto be suckers for junk food. They love it. lars to pay for a cruise Heck, I love it but I know for some deadbeat? It’s VIEWS OF A it’s not good for me so I absolutely infuriating. limit my intake of it. State officials say there’s And now we’re getting column by only so much they can to the crux of the probPHIL VALENTINE do about the abuse lem. How do you solve philvalentine.com because the cards can be obesity among the poor used at ATMs to get cash. Hello! This is and save the taxpayers a ton of money? the easiest thing to fix I have ever seen. First, no more cash advances from your The leftist think tanks and advocacy welfare or food stamp card. That’ll keep groups do their level best to shroud the welfare recipients from buying things obvious but there’s no denying that poor they don’t need to be buying, like beer, people in this country are the fattest. The cigarettes and lottery tickets. Anything you liberals claim all sorts of nonsense like need to purchase can be bought at stores “food deserts” and “food insecurity.” The with the card. fact of the matter is there’s no excuse for Second, items need to be coded so anyone to be food insecure. They hand that you can only buy essentials with the out EBT cards like candy, especially if you cards. No lobster. No steak. No chips and have children. And food deserts? Please. cookies and soft drinks. You buy hamThe poorest people live in the cities and burger and chicken and fruits and veggies. Did you know that Papa Murphy’s Pizza now accepts EBT cards? And you wonder why poor folks are fat. If Michelle Obama really cared about the obesity problem she’d be all over this idea but you’ll never hear her advocate limiting the food you can buy with an EBT card. Why? Because that’s how Democrats get re-elected. Why do you think the food stamp rolls have exploded since Barack Obama got into office? Yeah, it’s all about keeping that base constituency satisfied. You talk about a riot, take away the junk food from the food stamp crowd and see what happens. Fat and happy means one thing: Democrat votes. And they’re buying elections with your money.

CONSERVATIVE

“(J)unk food is generally cheaper because it’s subsidized through the farm bill. Oh, yeah. A lot of the junk food consumed in this country comes from corn, soybeans and wheat, three crops that get huge subsidies from the federal government.”

Phil Valentine is an author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host with Westwood One. For more of his commentary and articles, visit philvalentine.com. BOROPULSE.COM

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OPINION

Know What You Don’t Know by DR. PHILLIP FOSTER IT IS ONE THING TO KNOW that you don’t know, and entirely different when you don’t know that you don’t know. When I first engage with a new client I assess the organization’s strategic team and their internal culture among followers. These assessments allow me to examine the alignment between the C-suite executives and lower level managers as well as the way followers perceive how things are in a company matched against their preference in the future. These assessments allow me to build a values framework to better interpret a variety of organizational phenomena such as core values, assumptions, inter-

pretations and so forth. These assessments allow me the first insight into what is happening underneath the flashy exterior of the organization’s first impressions. In fact, these assessments have exposed indicators of problems. Case in point, a client engaged us to conduct a corporate culture assessment. The assumption was that all of the followers within the organization were happy and that the assessments would prove that they were on the right track. In fact, the assessment exposed a glaring problem within a division of the organization. There appeared a respondent who was unhappy and seemed to indicate that the management was not interested in the follower’s well-

being. This came as an utter surprise to the stakeholders. In fact, it bothered them so much that they asked me to please expose who the respondent was because they wanted to fix the problem. As it turned out, the individual in question was considered the company’s best employee and was up for a promotion. The assessment process showed that sometimes we don’t know that we don’t know. In other words, the organization didn’t realize that they had a perceived problem with this individual. The individual felt overlooked and left out of the process and rightly so. The leaders didn’t realize that their star employee was in fact disillusioned. This permitted leadership within the organization to reevaluate how they communicate internally, and they were able to turn this problem around. We, as leaders, must understand that focusing on what is in front of us is only half the process of leading. We must be aware of the hidden things within our organizations. There are many assumptions people make about what is happening around them. Sometimes we think we know, but in fact we don’t know what we don’t know. Dr. Philip A Foster is considered a thought leader in Business Operations, Organization and Strategic Leadership. He is a proliﬁc writer, published author and lectures internationally. Philip is certiﬁed in both leadership and coaching and serves as adjunct professor at MTSU. He is the Founder and CEO of Maximum Change Leadership and Business Consulting, serving clients from around the world. For more information, visit maximumchange.com.

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