New
TUR FEA
ES
THE GANG’S ALL HERE
BUST A MOVE!
Jake, Marvin, Lynn, Bob, oh my!
Student council ‘dances’ toward Music City
SEE PAGES A-6 and A-7
SCHOOLS, A-10
BEARDEN
Vol. 5, No. 6 • February 7, 2011 • www.ShopperNewsNow.com • 10512 Lexington Drive, Suite 500 37932 • 218-WEST (9378)
Going
‘Against the Grain’
By Wendy Smith
J
oe Tolbert thinks there are a lot of young people like him – socially conscious and active in the community – who are overlooked by the world. So he recruited a couple of likeminded friends to help him create an online show called “Against the Grain,” which is meant to encourage young adults to speak up and make a difference. The show is produced at Knox ivi Studios, and the pilot episode can be viewed at www. knoxivi.com/against_the_grain. The show is remarkable because it features smart, artistic young people who rap, write poetry and discuss topics that seem beyond the interest of college students, like financial planning. But it’s also notable that it exists at all, given that the hourlong show is the brainchild of three busy UT undergraduates. Carter High School graduate Tolbert is a journalism student, West High School graduate Jonathon Clark works full time and studies psychology, and Memphis native Lauren Fitzgerald majors in African studies and theater. They are willing to give up their time and take a financial risk to change how their generation is perceived. “I feel like the older generation has given up on us. They don’t respect our work ethic,” says Clark. “They don’t see what we’re working on.”
UT students Lauren Fitzgerald, Jonathon Clark and Joe Tolbert, creators of the internet show “Against the Grain,” consult with technical director Roman Karpynec at Knox ivi Studios on Market Square. Photo by Wendy Smith The “older” generation might miss the younger one altogether if they’re not streaming, tweeting and linked in. “Against the Grain” is an example of new media, a term that has come to define the many forms of electronic communication that are now available through computer technology.
The trio was inspired to create the show when they learned about the services offered by Knox ivi, an Internet broadcasting company located on Market Square. Knox ivi offers a variety of local programming, from their flagship “11 O’clock Rock!” to special coverage of UT signing day Feb. 2.
While the platform is still developing, it’s being used all over the country, says Tolbert, and he thinks it offers a “new and fresh take.” The show falls under the category of “edu-tainment.” The pilot episode sandwiches an interview with Alex Oliver, spokesperson for ORNL Federal Credit Union’s Young & Free Tennessee program,
New show demonstrates possibilities of new media between live music and poetry. The next episode will feature an interview with a member of the Knoxville-based Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking. The students struggle to keep up with their hectic schedules, so they’re pleased with how easily the show comes together with the help of technical director Roman Karpynec. The most time-consuming aspect is “people-wrangling,” says Tolbert. It took less than a day to shoot the pilot, and work has begun on the second and third episodes. New episodes will air every third Thursday. Tolbert says the group has relied heavily on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to generate interest in the show. They’ve gotten positive feedback, he says, but need advertising to keep “Against the Grain” alive for the long term. Most sponsors on Knox ivi shows are local, but he plans to target national advertisers. He’d also like to partner with nonprofit groups who could benefit from the exposure. Knox ivi Business Development Manager says the show exemplifies the type of programming the company wants to offer to the Knoxville community. The intro to “Against the Grain” is a good description of the show’s creators, as well as their intended audience. “In a room full of nouns, it’s evident – we’re the verbs.”
Donna Young drives greenway expansion Townsend, the director, agreed that we could go through Ijams. That happened because of her. Donna’s been a real credit to the city and greenway development.” Young worked closely with former mayor Victor Ashe, whose parks and recreation chief Sam Anderson hired her. Ashe is proud of her successes. “I may be the only Republican Donna ever placed a bumper sticker for and I love her for it. She is dedicated. She is passionate. She lives, eats and breathes greenways. She could drive some city higher-ups nuts in the pursuit of more greenways, but I was always thankful she was there and worked hard each day to make my vision of connecting greenways across Knoxville a reality.” When asked if she has a biggest failure, Young doesn’t hesitate: “Fort Dickerson. I’m still sad that we couldn’t put a greenway around that beautiful park. We spent more money dynamiting the back of the Gateway Center (in the city-owned space near Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse), where they put in fake rock. I hate fake rock.” Young almost got fired from the U.S. Forest Service for complaining about fake rock in the Ocoee River prior to the Olympics. “It was the first time they’d put a course on a natural river, and we didn’t want
By Betty Bean When Donna Young came to Knoxville in 1994, the city had fewer than five miles of greenways. This year, as she prepares to retire as greenways coordinator, Knoxville boasts 50 miles of trails, all of which are paved except the one down the middle of Cherokee Boulevard. Young has met and exceeded all but one of her ambitious goals. Her vaulting aspirations are limitless and unquenchable and stretch like the trail she hopes will one day run from here to the Smokies and beyond. When asked to name her proudest achievement, she thinks a quick minute and then answers with no hesitation: “My two goals when I started the job, and they were arbitrary, were to complete 50 miles of greenways and to create connections. The Project for Public Spaces says there’s only one city, and that’s in Colorado, that started with parks in disparate places and worked from the outside-in, like we have done.” Will Skelton credits Young with being “the consistent face of greenways development in the city. If you met her in a grocery store, she would start talking to you about greenways. She was also really good at the visionary thing – the best example of that is the Forks of the River to Ijams Wildlife Management Center. She suggested that and Bo
“They had to send him back on another ship and tow the hulk of the USS Aaron Ward back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was an odd coincidence since our family’s farm was located there.” She counts Humphrey Bogart and Michael Douglas among the distant relatives. Young grew up near Atlanta and attended a Waldorf school where she learned “to view the world through art and nature. And kindness. Always kindness.” That reminds her of another failure: “Not connecting East Knoxville across the South Knoxville Bridge. TDOT wouldn’t allow it.” When Young moved to Knoxville, her daughter, Cameron Broome, now 29, was a student at Bearden Middle School. Young says she’s never regretted settling here. “I’m totally grateful to Victor Donna Young volunteers at Knoxville Green’s free bulb giveaway. Photo by S. Clark Ashe, who gave me my job and inspired me with his America Outany fake rock in there. But we had fine arts from UT and a master’s in doors experience. And Will Skelton to compromise with those SOBs and landscape architecture from UGA, was a great influence. He had this let them put fake rock underneath she long ago fell in love with the great idea – ‘Let’s put a greenway and real rock on top.” work of Frederick Law Olmsted, in every part of the city, then we’ll She jumped topics: “When I whose most famous work was New connect them.’ ” retire, don’t name anything after York’s Central Park. In retirement, look for Young me. Spend the money on putting a Young was born in Long Beach, in green politics. “A friend said greenway around the quarry. All the Calif., June 19, 1945, and went un- to me years ago that I have three way around it.” named for two weeks until her fa- agendas: education, environment A one-time college professor with ther returned from the war after his and taking care of those less fora bachelor’s in fine arts from the ship was sunk by a kamikaze attack tunate than myself. Those are my University of Georgia, a master’s in off the coast of Okinawa. credos.”
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