The Contributor: Feb. 2, 2022

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Vo l u m e 16 | N u m b e r 3 | Fe b r u a r y 2 - 16 , 2 0 2 2

RICH GETTING RICHER As the pandemic devastates the poor, the world’s 10 richest have multiplied their wealth into trillions

IN THE ISSUE

Contributor Board

Tom Wills, Chair Cathy Jennings, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland, Kerry Graham, Peter Macdonald, Amber DuVentre, Jerome Moore, Annette McDermott, Drew Morris

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

GRATIS

4 Vendor Spotlight

Febrero

2022 Año 20 - No. 343

L a N ticia

16

Escanee esta imagen para ver La Noticia newspaper edición bilingüe digital

www.hispanicpaper.com

“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

17

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville honra trayectoria y contribuciones de empresario, periodista, Eliud Treviño Multifacético profesional de medios de comunicación fallece a los 77 años por complicaciones relacionadas a Covid-19

Numerosos lideres continúan recordando al carismatico y multifacético comuicador y empresario de medios, Eliud Treviño, quien falleciera debido a complicaciones por Covid 19, luego de pasar internado varias Por Yuri Cunza semanas en el Editor in Chief Centennial hospital @LaNoticiaNews de esta ciudad.

Eliud Gonzalez Treviño, fue presidente y editor de El Crucero de Tennessee; fundador de Radio Melodías, WNQM-1300 AM (incorporada como Metromex Entertainment LLC el 13/03/1996); y creador y presentador de Hey Nashville 15/10/2019: Reconocido comunicador social, Eliud Treviño, recibe el premio “Ganas” en reconocimiento TV, un animado programa de variedad a su larga trayectoria empresarial de parte de la Cámara de Comercio Hispana del Area de Nashville. en redes sociales.

2805 Foster Ave. No. en Tennessee; y de la junta de directores Nacido el 10 de enero 207 en South del Condado de Davidson para el de 1945 de padres Nashville.

Servicio de Comunicaciones de mexicanos, Cruz y Emergencia (ECD) de Nashville. Fue Eliud falleció a los 77 nombrado miembro de la Junta de María Treviño, Eliud años, el domingo 23 de Normas de Adquisiciones Metropolitana creció en Odessa, enero pasado a las en enero del 2000, durante la adminisTexas y llegó a 10:53 am por compli- tración del alcalde Bill Purcell.

Nashville alrededor de caciones de Covid-19.

1994. "Comenzó alqui“Eliud Treviño siempre estuvo lando tres horas de Treviño fue un pio- donde la ciudad de Nashville y su estudio por la noche nero en la radiodi- gente lo necesitaba. Siempre acogeen -una estación de fusión en español y dor e inclusivo, empático y exubegospel durante el día partidario de muchas rante, vio lo mejor en nosotros y para tocar su música causas locales. Un siempre trató de hacernos mejores”, favorita", y eventualgran conector y tenía, dijo el ex-alcade Purcell al enterarse. mente expandió su transmisión diaria según muchos de los Eliud respaldó en sus inicios a muy exitosa desde las que lo conocieron, Unamonos, organización cívica local 6:30 pm hasta la “una personalidad fundada por el líder comunitario y abomedia noche y toda la más grande que la gado de inmigración Mario Ramos, y noche los fines de sevida”, haciendo ami- también en la formación de la filial de mana, para deleite de gos donde quiera que LULAC en Tennessee (Liga Nacional de sus oyentes. Según un fuera. Recibió los Ciudadanos Latinoamericanos Unidos). artículo del diario The Premios a la Eliud, sirvió en la junta de la Asociación Tennessean (10 de abril de 1999) Radio Alcalde de Nashville, John Cooper se suma a Excelencia en Medios de Salud Mental (2001-02), entre muchas de parte de la Cámara otras actividades comunitarias, incluido Melodias contaba con los numerosos lideres y miembros de la commu15,000 a 20,000 radio nidad en prestar sus respetos ante la noticia del de Comercio Hispana el apoyo a la iglesia de su barrio, St. la muerte del conocido profesional de medios. del Área de Nashville Edwards, en el sur de Nashville. escuchas cada noche. y el premio "Ganas" Eliud inició el periódico en español, El al Emprendimiento en 2006 y 2019 Siempre inclinado a las actividades de Crucero de Tennessee, con su primer respectivamente. entretenimiento en servicio a la comunúmero el miércoles 29 de septiembre de nidad, fue invitado a ser maestro de ce1999 (incorporado como El Crucero Eliud fue miembro del Comité Asesor de remonias para Al Menah Shrine Circus Entertainment LLC. el 30/10/2000) en la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Civiles del Shrine Temple, en su 57 aniversario.

"That's what this paper gives you a chance to do, is an opportunity to meet people and to grow with them."

David Plazas, periodista y editor de Voces Latinas de Tennessee para el diario The Tennessean, escribió: “Una de las últimas veces que vi a Eliud Treviño en pe-rsona fue en un evento sobre liderazgo patrocinado por Tennessee Immigrant and Minority Business Group en Antioch en el verano de 2021. ...Hablamos de un tema de gran interés para él: el acceso universal a las licencias de conducir. Antes del 1 de julio de 2004, los inmigrantes indocumentados podían obtener licencias de conducir, asegurándose de que conocían las reglas de tránsito y podían comprar un seguro. Sin embargo, los temores de seguridad nacional después del ataque del 11 de septiembre en 2001 persuadieron a los legisladores en numerosos estados para que pusieran fin a esa práctica. Treviño nunca tuvo miedo de desafiar a los poderes existentes y abogó por los miembros más marginados de la comunidad.”

“Lamentamos profundamente el fallecimiento del señor Eliud Trevino, destacado comunicólogo y fundador del periódico 'El Crucero de Tennessee".

Hacemos llegar nuestas mas sentidas condolencias a sus amigos y familiares” lee el comunicado emitido por el Consulado General de Mexico en Atlanta.

A través de sus cuentas oficiales en medios sociales para @elcruceronews, se dió a conocer dos misas de cuerpo presente para este sábado 29 de enero en las iglesias St. Edwards y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Nashville.

Le sobreviven sus hermanos Zulema, Eleazar, Luis, Derly, Juan; sus hijos Fabian Alonso Trevino 38 de Odessa TX, Eliud Benito Trevino 37 de Odessa TX, Adrian Trevino 34 de Murfreesboro TN, Rosalinda Trevino 32 de Odessa TX, Anthony y Miggie Trevino de San José, CA y su pareja y compañera de mucho años, Aida Hughes, de Nashville, Tennessee.

Al cierre de la presente edición, la consejal, y única representante hispana en el concilio municipal, Sandra Sepulveda, estaba gestionando una Resolución sobre Eliud, a ser leída en la reunión del consejo el martes 1 de febrero próximo.

Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569

La Noticia + The Contributor

Conoce tusNoticia, derechos: one of the La ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada?

leading Spanish-language newspapers in the nation, brings Spanish content to The Contributor.

1. Mantenerse callado 2. Sólo dar nombre y apellido 3. No mentir 4. Nunca acepte/lleve documentos falsos 5. No revelar su situación migratoria 6. No llevar documentación de otro país 7. En caso de ser arrestado, mostrarla Tarjeta Miranda (llámenos si necesita una)

por

Basados en la Quinta Enmienda de la Constitución, los derechos de guardar silencio y contar con un abogado fueron denominados Derechos Miranda luego de la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos en el caso Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966.

23

Vendor Writing

Moving Pictures

In this issue, vendors discuss God, getting help, and Maurice B. shows the range of people who use backpacks.

'Trash White' takes contemporary monologue performance

by Storm. (Now streaming on Netflix!)

www.juanese.com juanese@usa.com

Contributors This Issue

Hannah Herner • Amanda Haggard • Linda Bailey • Ridley Wills II • Judith Tackett • Thalif Deen • Morgan Housel • Alvine • Yuri Cunza • Maurice B. • John H. • Julie B. • Mr. Mysterio • Daniel H. • Joe Nolan

Contributor Volunteers Joe First • Andy Shapiro • Michael Reilly • John Jennings • Janet Kerwood • Logan Ebel • Christine Doeg • Laura Birdsall • Richard Aberdeen • Marissa Young • Ezra LaFleur • Rachel Stanley Cathy Jennings Executive Director Tom Wills Director of Vendor Operations Hannah Herner Staff Writer

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Carli Tharp Social Services Intake Specialist Dymin R Cannon Section 8 and E&T Specialist Ree Cheers SOAR Manager Rachel Ternes Housing Navigator Catherine Hardy Housing Navigator Jesse Call Operations Consultant Raven Nye Director of Housing Initiatives Barbara Womack Advertising Manager Amanda Haggard & Linda Bailey Co-Editors Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus

The Contributor now accepts Venmo!

Scan the QR Code above, or find us: @The-Contributor Make sure to include your vendor’s badge name and number in the description. If you bought this version digitally, you can still leave your regular vendor a tip.

Email Cathy@thecontributor.org for more information or with questions!

Will Connelly, Tasha F. Lemley, Steven Samra, and Tom Wills Contributor Co-Founders Editorials and features in The Contributor are the perspectives of the authors. Submissions of news, opinion, fiction, art and poetry are welcomed.

The Contributor reserves the right to edit any submissions. The Contributor cannot and will not endorse any political candidate.

Submissions may be emailed to: editorial@thecontributor.org Requests to volunteer, donate, or purchase subscriptions can be emailed to: info@thecontributor.org Please email advertising requests to: advertising@thecontributor.org

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February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 3

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO BY HANNAH HERNER

WHEREVER DANIEL H. IS, THAT’S WHERE HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE

BY HANNAH HERNER Daniel H. has an uncanny memory. He remembers each person he crosses paths with, what they said to him, what they’ve given him, who has bought his art, what he’s given to others. There are countless stories filed in his brain.

“I always remember the people who look out for me,” he says. “And even if they don't, I see that they did something for someone else. That's what I do. I make sure that I'll never forget them because that's what people are supposed to be about. That's what this paper gives you a chance to do, is an opportunity to meet people and to grow with them.”

At The Contributor, Daniel is known for his artwork. He’s an active part of the nonprofit artist community Daybreak Arts. He’s completed around 110 works of art, and is working toward 500, to get to master level. Originally from Baltimore, Md., he started drawing as a child, portraits of his television idols. His mother used to refer to

him as a “walking TV guide.” His favorites were I Love Lucy, Lost in Space and if he was lucky and got to stay up late, Hawaii Five-0.

Over time, he graduated from portraits of people to landscapes, and then from drawing to painting. Acrylic paint is his favorite, because you can make mistakes and paint over it.

Through his art, he hopes to introduce people to things they’ve never seen before. He’s drawn snow in the Sahara desert, a ship that wrecked and was never found. He remembers pieces of folklore or poems that will inspire his paintings.

A recent project that he’s excited about is an imagining of an Egyptian Queen whose tomb was found recently. He loves when real historic events entwine with his drawing, and is very interested in ancient Rome and ancient Greece. With all of this, he tries to draw attention to women in history.

“I usually portray women artists, because they're not known, not

Daniel H., is an artist with Daybreak Arts and writes poetry and stories for The Contributor. Find some of his previously published work on Page 21. well sought out in the world. So I don't try to do it about myself, I try to do about other people,” Daniel says. “Trying to bring out stories or people that are not known or just something interesting, something that someone doesn't get to see everyday in their life.”

Daniel grew up in a tight-knit community with his adopted parents, in a town called Kill Devil Hills, in North Carolina. He spent a lot of time at his father’s bowling alley. It was the kind of community where kids could have meals and stay the night at neighbors houses interchangeably. Neighbors took care of his mother in shifts when she fell ill with cancer, too. He looked for a community like that in his adult life, and seeks out opportu-

nities to help people.

“It wasn't really a community of individual homes for people. It was actually a community of a family.

So our whole neighborhood worked together to help each other out.” he says. “My mother raised me with good values, and she said, ‘look at the people around you. Assess their needs.’ She says, ‘your needs don't always come first.’”

Daniel loves television and movies. On the screen, he likes to see teams working together, close friends. He says one example is NCIS. “I love the show because they're like a family,” he says. “They know each other so intimately that they can, literally walk in a you know, they know what they will eat that day they know where they go to, they know where they smoke, they know where they drink. And it's like, you don't meet people like that. So that's why I like these type of shows.”

Daniel sells The Contributor near the Kroger at Greenfield and

PAGE 4 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Gallatin Pike. He likes this spot because people can pull over and talk for a while. He has lots of detailed stories to tell, if given the time.

“I don't consider this a job, I consider this like a family,” he says.

“And I think that's one of the most important things that can be said.

We establish ourselves with the community, to branch out who we are, and to learn from other people, not them learning from me, but me learning from them, because they have so much valued information.”

Daniel says that pointing a finger to a map with his eyes closed is what made him decide to come to Nashville. His faith is strong that he’s where he’s meant to be and crossing paths with who he’s meant to at any given time.

“God put me here. In the course of my life, whatever I find along the road, whatever it is that comes up, is where I'm at, is where I'm supposed to be.” Daniel says. “Like, right here.”

IN MEMORIAM

LONGTIME ‘CONTRIBUTOR’ VENDOR DAVID BURKE DIES AT 55

BY AMANDA HAGGARD AND HANNAH HERNER Contributor alum David Burke died on Dec. 21, 2021 while in hospice care. He would often sell The Contributor at the Downtown Arcade. He was 55 years old.

In a Vendor Spotlight of David in 2014, he said selling downtown was like being in one of his favorite televisions shows.

“It’s like Cheers,” Burke says. “Seriously, everybody knows my name. And most everybody is friendly.”

Burke sold The Contributor on and off for more than a decade. He sold the paper early on and was vendor No. 29.

Contributor Director Cathy Jennings said Burke sold almost 24,000 papers during his tenure. He always wanted to go to France because he could speak some French.

“David recently got into housing,” Jennings says. “David was one of those quiet people who can slip through the cracks. He was always pleasant and smiling — makes

me realize we have to watch out for those people more.”

Raven Lintu, director of housing initiatives for The Contributor, says. “I will always remember David with his wide smile, and laughing along with his jokes. I remember he would always come in the vendor office back in the day and would make the day feel brighter.

Thank you David for the laughs and smiles.”

Co-editor for The Contributor Amanda Haggard says Burke was the first vendor she ever bought a paper from.

“Before I began working and contracting with The Contributor, David said hello when I was walking downtown, struck up a conversation and then asked if I wanted to buy a paper,” Haggard says. “I remember how warm and friendly he could be and how easy he was to talk to.”

Co-editor for The Contributor Linda Bailey says she would always see David downtown

when he regularly sold the paper in front of the Walgreens in The Arcade.

“In my early years working at The Contributor, I would always pass David on my way to get coffee. I’d try to stop by for a quick chat and David would make a joke or tell me how things were going in his thick Northeastern accent,” Bailey said. “He always had a smile, even when I knew things going on in his life were difficult.”

Volunteer Michael Reilly said that David bore his many burdens with a positive attitude.

“He was a gentle soul,” Reilly says.

Another volunteer, Andy Shapiro said David was a good man, who could sometimes have a short fuse because he “knew the world was passing him by without recognition.”

In the spotlight from 2014, he also spoke about losing three other jobs before he started selling The Contributor because he had a

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 5

history of epileptic seizures. Everytime he would have a seizure, he would lose a job, and the stability that came with it. He described selling The Contributor as a “lifeline” that allowed him to buy his medication and meet other needs and work on his own time.

“I count my successes by whether I can get the things done that I need. That almost always works out,” Burke said.

Director of vending Tom Wills remembered David as a resilient and faithful vendor for years at the entrance to the Arcade by Walgreens and at the KFC at Murfreesboro and Bell Rd. “Even when he broke his ankle he had the willpower to get out and meet his customers,” Wills says. “Over the pandemic he got out of his routines, dealt with illness and eventually found housing. I miss his smile and steadfastness. The Arcade will always remind me of David.”

NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER

NASHVILLE’S THIRD WATER SYSTEM

BY RIDLEY WILLS II In 1888, Nashville decided to locate a new pumping station at the Upper Island, adjacent to the natural filtering system. The new plant had three 10-million gallon pumps, and eight steam boilers, six of which had 110-horsepower and two had 400 horsepower. A new 20-million gallon pump was ordered for delivery in 1908.

A 36-inch main led from the pumping station four miles to a new reservoir on Kirkpatrick’s Hill and then to Eighth and Broad. It crossed Brown’s Creek on a stone, arched bridge constructed by Foster and Creighton. In 1892, a circular stone intake was built in the Cumberland above the upper island because the water from the old filtering galleries was insufficient due to clogging of the collector pipes with mud and silt.

The system also included 110 miles of water mains. The new reservoir on Kirkpatrick’s Hill beside the Franklin Pike was the former site of Fort Casino. J. J. Jewitt, the city engineer, prepared the specifications and plans for the new reservoir. Whitsett & Adams submitted the lowest bid and was given the contract. Work began on Aug. 24, 1887, and was completed Aug. 24, 1889. The total cost was $64,525.21.

Rock for the reservoir walls had been quarried from the nearby hill later called Rose Park.

The reservoir was elliptical in shape, with a major axis of 603 feet and a minor axis of 463.4 feet in the interior. The ashlar masonry wall is 22.9 feet wide at the bottom and 8 feet wide at the top. The outside wall is 33-feet high. A cross wall cuts the reservoir in half. Each compartment has a capacity of 25.5 million gallons. A gate house was built on top

to hold the valves and a shelter for the custodian was erected. There was also a nine foot wide walkway with sidewalls that circled the reservoir.

Before the reservoir was closed to visitors in 1917, boys raced their bicycles on the oval walkway.

Water from the pumping station entered the reservoir in the west basin. The water that came from this intake was unfiltered. It remained in the west basin until the mud settled out of it. Then, the clear water at the top flowed through a weir (channel) in the stone wall to the east basin. From there the water flowed to the distribution system. Each year, this plan was

reversed so the mud at the bottom could be removed by city prisoners.

The old pumping station and reservoir at General Hospital remained available for emergency use until April 1891.

On June 26, 1908, chemical treatment of the water was begun. One twentieth of a grain of hypochlorite of lime per gallon of water was added as an oxidizing agent. This treatment was recommended by Dr. William Litterer, professor of bacteriology at Vanderbilt University, and director of the Litterer Laboratory in South Nashville. Tests made by him after this treatment of the water showed

that typhoid and B-Coli germs were completely eliminated. This treatment of the water, along with sulfate of alumina, was continued until 1920, when liquid chlorine replaced hydrochlorite of lime. Liquid chlorine was used until a modern filtering plant was completed in 1930.

Unfortunately, the reservoir on Kirkpatrick’s Hill rested on poor bedrock on the southeast quadrant. The rock there consisted of thin ledges of limestone with thin strata of clay between them. The wide reservoir wall spreads the load sufficiently to support the structure.

What the designer didn’t take into

PAGE 6 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

account was the effect of leaks.

For some time in the fall of 1912 a considerable stream of water was running down the gutter on Eighth Avenue South. Major W. F. Foster, formerly city engineer, was asked to investigate the situation. He found that the stone on the southeast side of the reservoir had badly weathered, causing the leaks. Major Foster had opposed putting the reservoir on Kirkpatrick’s Hill, and had supported putting it on Todd’s Knob in Donelson. His suggestion was declined because it was thought that Todd’s Knob was too far from town. The major predicted that the reservoir wall would fail. His prediction came true on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1912, when at 12:10 a.m., a section of the southeast quadrant of the reservoir broke, allowing 25 million gallons of water to pour out in a southeast direction across Eighth Avenue South toward the fairgrounds. Many houses were washed off their foundations and much property damage was done but no one was drowned. This was miraculous because the reservoir was full and most people were in bed. The consensus was that water seepage dissolved the clay between the limestone ledges causing the stone to settle until the wall broke.

The gaping hole was filled with concrete and the walls were rebuilt using the same stone as in the original wall. The work was done by Gould Contracting Company at a cost of $70,000. In 1921, the entire interior of the reservoir was relined with granite and waterproofed.The Water Department took levels each year to detect any further settlement and, as of 1969, no leaks had been found. The reservoir still remains functional today.

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 7

Tennessee’s

gift to you.

Free Admission. This, and Every Season.

Free Parking, Too.

Rosa L. Parks Blvd (at Jefferson St.) 615.741.2692 | TNMuseum.org

PAGE 8 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

EDU CATION

The Year Back Homeless families fell off the map during the pandemic, MNPS is trying to get them back on the radar

BY HANNAH HERNER When school buildings shut down during the 2020-2021 school year, thousands of homeless students went “missing.” School liaisons lost touch with students in precarious housing situations, or didn’t get the chance to identify them to begin with. Some moved out of the district altogether.

Metro Nashville Public School’s H.E.R.O program has identified 2,501 students experiencing homelessness so far in the 2021-2022 school year. At the end of last school year, that number was 2,659. But those numbers are both unusually low compared to the 201920 school year, with 3,964 students receiving support from the program.

“Certainly it's not because homelessness was still not an issue,” says Catherine Knowles, homeless education program coordinator for MNPS. “It's because when students were not present, in person in the school building, it was a little bit harder for staff to do that identification. We still had our standard way of identifying students through paperwork and enrollment process, but you know, every year about 40 percent of the kids we ended up helping are because someone at the school notices or has a conversation with the student and realizes that their situation has changed and then makes a referral.”

The drop in identified students experiencing homelessness was a national issue. A report prepared by SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan found that 420,000 fewer youth have been identified as experiencing homelessness in the 2020-21 school year. That’s a 28 percent decrease in fall of 2020 compared to the fall of 2019. Under-identification was a problem even before this, as the report estimated that schools were failing to identify one million students even before the pandemic.

FINDING “LOST” STUDENTS The 2020-21 school year involved a lot of delivering supplies to families, and bringing social workers, school counselors and volunteers in on the mission.

MNPS’ Navigator program, which began in the fall of 2020, built on that collaboration.

Staff members throughout the school were assigned families to check in with throughout the year. This gave families another staff member who wasn’t their classroom teacher to call on. It was offered not just to homeless families, but to all families in the district. The goal was to refer these families to available services if needed, ensuring that fewer slipped through the cracks. MNPS has presented the Navigator program at a national conference and hopes it can be duplicated at other school districts, Knowles says.

“I think the pandemic pushed us to really find a different way to engage with students

Image courtesy of MNPS. and families,” Knowles says. “The idea was, principals would use every available staff person in their building. It wasn't just classroom teachers, it was front office, it could be hall monitors, people from a variety of school roles, but just to get that staff number up as high as possible so that they were communicating just with small groups of students.

Just to engage with students and parents, to have another person in the school building to connect with and to relate to and reach out to for help and support.”

Project Reconnect is another program introduced in an effort to help students who missed the start of this school year, too. If students miss the first 10 days of school, typically they’re automatically withdrawn. With nonprofit partners, MNPS reached out to families that had missed those first 10 days.

Working one-on-one helped lower barriers of the complicated paperwork required to enroll a student, Knowles says.

The CARES Act gave $14 million to K-12 education, and that could have been used for McKinney-Vento students, but it wasn’t specified or suggested. Only 18 percent of districts measured specified that the funding was being used for homeless students, the University of Michigan report found.

The McKinney-Vento Act provides homeless students with certain federal protections, including being able to stay in the same school if their housing situation changes or they move out of the district, free meals and having access to transportation in that event as well. The H.E.R.O. program is part of this guarantee.

Knowles says the H.E.R.O. program ben-

efitted from CARES Act funds and they’re using it to invest in more staff positions, specifically six family outreach positions.

Smaller caseloads will allow staff members to spend more time reaching out to families, especially those who are homeless and tend to be transient.

“A one size fits all approach certainly does not work. I can give you a resource list or I can give you Where To Turn In Nashville guide, but someone really needs to be able to take the time to learn a bit more about your individual story, and then best map those resources and things that will improve the likelihood of success for you,” Knowles says.

JAMIE’S STORY One family that was able to stay in touch throughout the pandemic was Jamie Daugherty and her three daughters. Now ages 9, 11, and 13, they’ve been a part of the H.E.R.O program since they were in Pre-K. The program has provided toiletries, food boxes, and arranged transportation from the hotel they’re living in, to school.

In the year away from the school building, her daughter was asked to do jumping jacks as a part of gym class, but in a hotel it would have disturbed neighbors. Her daughter got a C in the class. Connectivity issues also posed a problem.

“Living in a hotel, you don't have internet access all the time. And if you didn't have it, you had to pay extra for it which is like, two extra dollars a day. My kids did miss a lot of school because of that. Of course Catherine [Knowles] knows about it. It didn't fall back on me at all because they knew my circumstances

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9

and my situation,” Daugherty says.

In the beginning of 2021, after nine years of staying in shelters and hotels as a family, Daugherty found a place for her and her daughters to stay. Less than a year later, they could no longer afford it. She lost her job at iHOP after 15 years working there. In those 15 years she had 11 surgeries. A full knee replacement sidelined her most recently, and she wasn’t able to earn enough money for rent.

As a single mother, Daughtery says she could comfortably afford $800 per month in rent. The place where she was renting was a stretch at $1,400. Now she’s paying $459 per week, which adds up to $1,836 per month. It’s the taxing cycle where paying week to week prevents families from saving up enough for a down payment on a new place. She’s on waitlists for public or income-based housing, but she said at times her income was actually too high to qualify, while still not high enough to pay market-rate rent.

“The fact of it is, is not having enough money to afford a place because rent is so high. When you live in hotels to try to make it, you still don't get ahead,” Daugherty says.

“I feel like, no matter what I do, how hard I work, I can't get ahead with my kids.”

A Fairview native, Daugherty’s housing precarity started at 19 when she aged out of the foster care system. She was on the streets for around five years before she had her first daughter and started in shelters and hotels. When her youngest daughter was just 3 months old, she was evicted, and went into a hotel for seven years, because that’s how long an eviction stays on one’s record.

Moving out of Nashville isn’t on Daugherty’s radar. Two of her daughters are on Individualized Education Plans and she worries they won’t get the same support elsewhere.

Plus, without the support of family in Nashville, the H.E.R.O team is her main support system.

“I like the support that Miss Catherine Knowles and the school gives my kids because they love them to death and they know our situation and they support us regardless of our circumstances,” Daugherty says.

The H.E.R.O program doesn’t directly get people into housing, but it can try and make families feel connected through the transience that homelessness already was, and the pandemic exacerbated.

“I think the story that so often doesn't get told or maybe that the community misunderstands. Its' once you get the housing, that's not necessarily the end of the journey of the struggle,” Knowles says.

This story is the second in a series on how students and families are fairing during the pandemic.

NEWS

A Few Questions with Ginny Welsch, District 16

BY JUDITH TACKETT

C

ouncil Member Ginny Welsch met me at a coffee shop in District 16. Welsch chairs the Metro Council Human Services Committee — she shared that the committee wants to put a special focus on homelessness issues this year. (Editor’s note: Welsch invited Tackett to attend her committee meetings as a subject matter expert due to Tackett’s experience working with the community on building a system to implement solutions to homelessness.

Most recently Tackett served as the former director of the Metro Homeless Impact Division.)

Welsch said that when she ran for council, she did not fully understand how powerful a council member could be. In local government, it is the council member who controls all zoning in the district. She said as a first-term council member she was still trying to find the right balance for her constituents, but she has enjoyed helping individuals get things done that they could not do on their own.

“It’s a lot of work,” Welsch said. “It’s interesting. It’s fun. And it’s satisfying if you can help someone solve their problem, however big or small.”

What would you like to achieve with the Human Services Committee this year?

Metro Council has consolidated several different committees to pare down the committee structure. The Human Services Committee is new this year and basically looks at bills that support the work of the Metro Action Commission, Metro Social Services, and Veteran Affairs.

What I would like to see is that we focus on homelessness. That’s an area touched by all three agencies, and I’d love for us to figure out new ways of how we can use our influence to intervene before people get into situations where they are unhoused. The question is how do we effectively identify people who need services and connect them to services and support services?

The committee has started to identify a few things. For example, we are asking whether there is an opportunity to link a social worker with the Office of the Trustee, which collects taxes on behalf of Davidson County, to identify households that need support services. Would this help with early intervention before people are becoming homelessness? Or we know that veterans experience homelessness at a higher rate than the general population.

Are there policies that we can help create to support veterans?

METRO COUNCIL COMMITTEES SHE SERVES ON: Human Services, chair Affordable Housing Planning and Zoning

Obviously, this one committee is not able to solve this issue but maybe stem the tide by doing things a different way.

Looking at District 16, what are the top issues your constituents are concerned about right now?

Our issues in District 16 are probably not much different than in any other district: traffic, speeding, lack of amenities that help improve the well-being of the community like sidewalks. People are also worried about trash, and then there is a subset of constituents in our district that is very worried about crime. Another subset in the district is very worried about the increase in population and they are worried that they’re not getting what they are entitled to in terms of their share of the property tax increase.

are moving in, and they want to see an increase in density. They don’t want cars; they want to be able to walk to places. They think it’s wasteful not to do multifamily housing, and their concern is how do we bring more amenities to the district.

We are talking a lot about infrastructure in District 16. So, if I had to pick a top priority it is growth in the district and also in the city. But the two fractions of my constituents have very different vision of what that growth should look like.

It makes it very difficult because I am very pro-density, but I focus on what’s in line with the city’s Nashville Next plan where people have identified how they would like the city to grow countywide.

I campaigned on the idea that growth is coming regardless of whether we want it or not, so we have to be intentional about it.

What do you think is the number one topic on people’s minds?

I am not sure if this is unique in my district, but there is a definite line between the old guard and the new guard. District 16 hasn’t really increased in population.

There were 87 new houses built in the past five years. The old guard doesn’t want any change. They feel they speak for the majority. The new guard are young people who

In regard to homelessness, what are the main concerns you hear from your constituents?

The feedback I am getting is ugly. The concern is that people are sleeping on the side of the road and leave trash. I get calls to clean up, and the caller means cleaning up in terms of the people.

Again, there seems to be a divide between the old guard and the new guard.

PAGE 10 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

The former wants me to clean up in terms of getting rid of people experiencing homelessness, the new guard seems to be more interested in investing in longterm solutions.

What are solutions you would like to see from the city and the community?

I would like to see the city take a more expansive approach. I think we need to be utilizing the land bank that we have, getting people to donate properties that we can build on, we have surplus properties and surplus land that we could use — if we can’t build housing on those in terms of infrastructure, maybe we can utilize them for service centers where people can go to shower, wash clothes, etc., until we can find them the housing they need.

I’m a real neophyte in knowing comprehensively what we can do to address homelessness, but we have to have a broader approach. I don’t think we have necessarily utilized all the expertise that we have access to. And as a city, we need to put our money where our mouth is.

This Q&A is the first in a series where Judith Tackett will interview members of Metro Council about the most pressing issues in their districts.

www.JudgeJones.com www.JudgeJones.com

@TheJudgeJones

www.JudgeJones.com

www.JudgeJones.com

.JudgeJones.com

@TheJudgeJones

@TheJudgeJones

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 11

COVER STORY

RICH RICH GETTING GETTING RICHER RICHER As the pandemic devastates the poor, the world’s 10 richest have multiplied their wealth into trillions

BY T H A L I F D E E N The numbers are unbelievably staggering: The world’s 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day, according to a new study from Oxfam International.

These phenomenal changes in fortunes took place during the first two years of a COVID-19 pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall, and over 160 million more people forced into poverty — 60 million more than the figures released by the World Bank in 2020.

“If these 10 men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet,”

said Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher. “They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”

“It has never been so important to start righting the violent wrongs of this obscene inequality by clawing back elites’ power and extreme wealth including through taxation — getting that money back into the real economy and to save lives,” she said.

According to Forbes magazine, the 10 richest people, as of 30 November 2021, who have seen their fortunes grow, include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve

Ballmer and Warren Buffet.

The pandemic has hit the poorest people, women and racialized and marginalized groups the hardest. For example, in the US, 3.4 million Black Americans would be alive today if their life expectancy was the same as White people —this is directly linked to historical racism and colonialism, according to the study titled ‘Inequality Kills’ 17 released January, ahead of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) online Davos Agenda.

The report finds that a new billionaire is created every 26 hours while inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds.

PAGE 12 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

COVER STORY

Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash

The pandemic has set gender parity back from 99 years to now 135 years. 252 men have more wealth than all 1 billion women and girls in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean combined.

During the second wave of the pandemic in England, people of Bangladeshi origin were five times more likely to die of COVID-19 than the White British population.

Black people in Brazil are 1.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than White people.

Inequality between countries is expected to rise for the first time in a generation. The proportion of people with COVID-19 who die from the virus in developing countries is roughly double that in rich countries.

Other findings include: • The pandemic has set gender parity back from 99 years to now 135 years.

252 men have more wealth than all 1 billion women and girls in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean combined.

• During the second wave of the pandemic in England, people of Bangladeshi origin were five times more likely to die of COVID-19 than the White British population. Black people in Brazil are 1.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than White people.

• Inequality between countries is expected to rise for the first time in a generation.

The proportion of people with COVID-19 who die from the virus in developing countries is roughly double that in rich countries. Asked for his comments, Ben Phillips, author of How to Fight Inequality, said the new report: “Confirms four vital truths about inequality are now proven beyond doubt. Firstly, inequality kills. Inequality is not just inefficient and unfair. As the data shows, it is deadly.

Secondly, inequality is spiralling. The driving cause is neoliberalism, but it has now been supercharged by the pandemic.

Thirdly, inequality is a political choice.

The rise in inequality is not inevitable.

Governments can reduce inequality if they decide to do so. Fourthly, policy-makers will only shift if we make them do so. A reversal in inequality depends on us, ordinary citizens, organizing to push our leaders to make them do their job and put in place the policies that will deliver a fairer, safer, world.”

Striking a hopeful note, Phillips said: “Though the crisis has made inequality even worse and even harder to bear,” he said, “the crisis also, paradoxically, has generated an opportunity for transformational shift to tackle inequality, if we seize this moment”.

“We know the policy mix needed – get the vaccine to everyone by sharing the rights and recipes, drop the debt, expand public services like free health and education, raise up ordinary people’s wages and worker’s rights, tackle discrimination, put money in the hands of ordinary people, and properly tax, and restrain the economic and political power, of big corporations and the super-rich.”

Change depends on ordinary people, Phillips said. “The myths of equal opportunity and rising tides have been busted, but the truth alone will not set us free. Left to itself,

the rigged economy will continue to worsen inequality. Left to themselves, politicians will allow it, even enable it, to do so.

Only pressure from below can secure a reversal of rising inequality. The good news is that around the world, frustration is increasingly being channelled into a resurgence of organizing that has potential to shift the balance of power.

Unions, community organizations, women’s groups, progressive faith organizations and social movements are standing up and standing together. This is the source of hope.

This is our chance – if enough people join in. Inequality defines this moment but need not be our fate,” declared Phillips.

According to the Oxfam report, billionaires’ wealth has risen more since COVID-19 began than it has in the last 14 years. At $5 trillion dollars, this is the biggest surge in billionaire wealth since records began. A one-off 99 percent tax on the 10 richest men’s pandemic windfalls, for example, could pay: • to make enough vaccines for the world; • to provide universal healthcare and social protection, fund climate adaptation and reduce gender-based violence in over 80 countries; • All this, while still leaving these men $8 billion better off than they were before the pandemic.

“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to billions of people. The result is that every kind of inequality imaginable risks rising. The predictability of it is sickening.

The consequences of it kill,” said Bucher.

Extreme inequality is a form of economic violence, where policies and political decisions that perpetuate the wealth and power of a privileged few results in direct harm to the vast majority of ordinary people across the world and the planet itself.

Oxfam recommends that governments urgently: • Claw back the gains made by billionaires by taxing this huge new wealth made since the start of the pandemic through permanent wealth and capital taxes.

• Invest the trillions that could be raised by these taxes toward progressive spending on universal healthcare and social protection, climate change adaptation, and gender-based violence prevention and programming.

• Tackle sexist and racist laws that discriminate against women and racialized people and create new gender-equal laws to uproot violence and discrimination. All sectors of society must urgently define policies that will ensure women, racialized and

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 13

other oppressed groups are represented in all decision-making spaces.

• End laws that undermine the rights of workers to unionize and strike, and set up stronger legal standards to protect them.

• And rich governments must immediately waive intellectual property rules over COVID-19 vaccine technologies to allow more countries to produce safe and effective vaccines to usher in the end of the pandemic.

Antonia Kirkland, global lead for Legal Equality & Access to Justice at Equality Now, said the socio-economic fallout of COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted women, compounding pre-existing inequalities in the home and workplace. Women have been more likely to shoulder an even greater burden of responsibility for unpaid childcare and household chores in comparison to men.

“Women have lost paid work and had to take on more unpaid work, and of particular concern is how mothers have been pushed out of the workforce because of a lack of affordable childcare options. The expectations put on mothers in particular to take on the lion’s share of childcare and manage their children’s remote schooling forced many women to reduce their working hours, be furloughed, or drop out of the labour force altogether. Unequal pay because of gender discrimination means women in heterosexual family households have been more likely to leave employment if their spouse or partner brings in more income.”

She said the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic should be seized upon as a catalyst for positive change and business recovery planning needs to prioritize attracting and retaining women within the workplace. This includes fostering flexible, inclusive working policies and practices, and supportive hiring and promotion processes that benefit women and families.

“As this startling report – Inequality Kills – shows, income inequality and gender inequality are intimately linked. And to stop COVID related inequality from killing women and other vulnerable people and instead put both gender and income equality first, States must get rid of all discriminatory laws.

Sexist laws and gender stereotypes during the pandemic have perpetuated economic violence against women and exacerbated physical domestic violence,” Kirkland declared. Download the ‘Inequality Kills’ report and summary and the methodology document outlining how Oxfam calculated the statistics in the report.

Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the very richest in society come from Forbes’ 2021 Billionaires List. Figures on the share of wealth come from the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s Global Wealth Databook 2021. Figures on the incomes of the 99 percent are from the World Bank.

Courtesy of Inter Press Service / International Network of Street Papers

LOCAL ACTIVISM

Odessa Kelly (right) speaks to a crowd that gathered on MLK Day to protest the redistricting plan proposed by the Tennessee General Assembly. The new congressional map splits Davidson county into three separate congressional districts that will dilute the county’s minority vote. Kelly is running for U.S. Congress and said at the event, “We ain’t ‘defending democracy’— we're out here to build the democracy we all want to live in.” PHOTOS BY ALVINE

PAGE 14 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

LOCAL ACTIVISM

Meredith Montgomery (top right), executive director of Walk Bike Nashville speaks to those gathered to remember and honor the 38 pedestrians killed in 2021 in preventable traffic crashes.

PHOTOS BY ALVINE

At least five of those remembered werre experiencing homelessness when they were killed. Those remembered were: Andrew Miller, Jason Ferguson, Ellen Abbott, Danielle Decesare, Brittany Lewis, Reginald Christian, Richard Bond, Orlando Rodriguez Carrillo, Preston Woods, Oliver Williams, Jazmin Swain, Christopher Stewart, Richard Farliss, Ronald Lindsey, Alaa Alhashimi, Dillson Gasca, Ronnie Kirby, Lashawn Williams, Simone Pierson, Amy Elkins, Stephen Carmon, Walter Johnson, William Tucker, Jr, Bradly Mckelvy, Julian Echevarria-Luna, Eric Stavropoulos, Steven Carney, Armando Salazar-Guevara, Javier Basilio-Chanito, Preston Skinner, Kathy Vasichek, Martin Holt, Hyman Miller, Richard Reed, Joe Franklin, Milicent Manning, Mary Basgall and Chancy Merrel.

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 15

LA NOTICIA “The Contributor” está trabajando con uno de los principales periódicos en español La Noticia para llevar contenido a más lectores en Middle Tennessee. Nuestros vendedores de periódicos han pedido durante mucho tiempo que nuestra publicación incluya contenido que apele al interés de residentes de habla hispana en nuestra comunidad.

“The Contributor” is working with one of the leading Spanish-language newspapers La Noticia to bring content to more readers in Middle Tennessee. Our newspaper vendors have long requested that our publication include content that appeals to the interest of Spanish-speaking residents in our community.

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

GRATIS

Febrero

2022 Año 20 - No. 343

L a N ticia

Escanee esta imagen para ver La Noticia newspaper edición bilingüe digital

www.hispanicpaper.com

“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville honra trayectoria y contribuciones de empresario, periodista, Eliud Treviño Multifacético profesional de medios de comunicación fallece a los 77 años por complicaciones relacionadas a Covid-19

Numerosos lideres continúan recordando al carismatico y multifacético comuicador y empresario de medios, Eliud Treviño, quien falleciera debido a complicaciones por Covid 19, luego de pasar internado varias Por Yuri Cunza semanas en el Editor in Chief Centennial hospital @LaNoticiaNews de esta ciudad.

Eliud Gonzalez Treviño, fue presidente y editor de El Crucero de Tennessee; fundador de Radio Melodías, WNQM-1300 AM (incorporada como Metromex Entertainment LLC el 13/03/1996); y creador y presentador de Hey Nashville 15/10/2019: Reconocido comunicador social, Eliud Treviño, recibe el premio “Ganas” en reconocimiento TV, un animado programa de variedad a su larga trayectoria empresarial de parte de la Cámara de Comercio Hispana del Area de Nashville. en redes sociales.

2805 Foster Ave. No. en Tennessee; y de la junta de directores Nacido el 10 de enero 207 en South del Condado de Davidson para el de 1945 de padres Nashville.

Servicio de Comunicaciones de mexicanos, Cruz y Emergencia (ECD) de Nashville. Fue Eliud falleció a los 77 nombrado miembro de la Junta de María Treviño, Eliud años, el domingo 23 de Normas de Adquisiciones Metropolitana creció en Odessa, enero pasado a las en enero del 2000, durante la adminisTexas y llegó a 10:53 am por compli- tración del alcalde Bill Purcell.

Nashville alrededor de caciones de Covid-19.

1994. "Comenzó alqui“Eliud Treviño siempre estuvo lando tres horas de Treviño fue un pio- donde la ciudad de Nashville y su estudio por la noche nero en la radiodigente lo necesitaba. Siempre acogeen -una estación de fusión en español y dor e inclusivo, empático y exubegospel durante el día partidario de muchas rante, vio lo mejor en nosotros y para tocar su música causas locales. Un siempre trató de hacernos mejores”, favorita", y eventualgran conector y tenía, dijo el ex-alcade Purcell al enterarse. mente expandió su según muchos de los Eliud respaldó en sus inicios a transmisión diaria muy exitosa desde las que lo conocieron, Unamonos, organización cívica local 6:30 pm hasta la “una personalidad fundada por el líder comunitario y abomedia noche y toda la más grande que la gado de inmigración Mario Ramos, y noche los fines de sevida”, haciendo ami- también en la formación de la filial de mana, para deleite de gos donde quiera que LULAC en Tennessee (Liga Nacional de sus oyentes. Según un fuera. Recibió los Ciudadanos Latinoamericanos Unidos). artículo del diario The Premios a la Eliud, sirvió en la junta de la Asociación Tennessean (10 de abril de 1999) Radio Alcalde de Nashville, John Cooper se suma a Excelencia en Medios de Salud Mental (2001-02), entre muchas Melodias contaba con los numerosos lideres y miembros de la commu- de parte de la Cámara otras actividades comunitarias, incluido 15,000 a 20,000 radio nidad en prestar sus respetos ante la noticia del de Comercio Hispana el apoyo a la iglesia de su barrio, St. la muerte del conocido profesional de medios. del Área de Nashville Edwards, en el sur de Nashville. escuchas cada noche. y el premio "Ganas" Eliud inició el periódico en español, El al Emprendimiento en 2006 y 2019 Siempre inclinado a las actividades de Crucero de Tennessee, con su primer respectivamente. entretenimiento en servicio a la comunúmero el miércoles 29 de septiembre de nidad, fue invitado a ser maestro de ce1999 (incorporado como El Crucero Eliud fue miembro del Comité Asesor de remonias para Al Menah Shrine Circus Entertainment LLC. el 30/10/2000) en la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Civiles del Shrine Temple, en su 57 aniversario.

Conoce tus derechos: ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada?

1. Mantenerse callado 2. Sólo dar nombre y apellido 3. No mentir 4. Nunca acepte/lleve documentos falsos 5. No revelar su situación migratoria 6. No llevar documentación de otro país 7. En caso de ser arrestado, mostrarla Tarjeta Miranda (llámenos si necesita una)

por

Basados en la Quinta Enmienda de la Constitución, los derechos de guardar silencio y contar con un abogado fueron denominados Derechos Miranda luego de la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos en el caso Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966.

www.juanese.com juanese@usa.com

PAGE 16 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

David Plazas, periodista y editor de Voces Latinas de Tennessee para el diario The Tennessean, escribió: “Una de las últimas veces que vi a Eliud Treviño en pe-rsona fue en un evento sobre liderazgo patrocinado por Tennessee Immigrant and Minority Business Group en Antioch en el verano de 2021. ...Hablamos de un tema de gran interés para él: el acceso universal a las licencias de conducir. Antes del 1 de julio de 2004, los inmigrantes indocumentados podían obtener licencias de conducir, asegurándose de que conocían las reglas de tránsito y podían comprar un seguro. Sin embargo, los temores de seguridad nacional después del ataque del 11 de septiembre en 2001 persuadieron a los legisladores en numerosos estados para que pusieran fin a esa práctica. Treviño nunca tuvo miedo de desafiar a los poderes existentes y abogó por los miembros más marginados de la comunidad.”

“Lamentamos profundamente el fallecimiento del señor Eliud Trevino, destacado comunicólogo y fundador del periódico 'El Crucero de Tennessee".

Hacemos llegar nuestas mas sentidas condolencias a sus amigos y familiares” lee el comunicado emitido por el Consulado General de Mexico en Atlanta.

A través de sus cuentas oficiales en medios sociales para @elcruceronews, se dió a conocer dos misas de cuerpo presente para este sábado 29 de enero en las iglesias St. Edwards y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Nashville.

Le sobreviven sus hermanos Zulema, Eleazar, Luis, Derly, Juan; sus hijos Fabian Alonso Trevino 38 de Odessa TX, Eliud Benito Trevino 37 de Odessa TX, Adrian Trevino 34 de Murfreesboro TN, Rosalinda Trevino 32 de Odessa TX, Anthony y Miggie Trevino de San José, CA y su pareja y compañera de mucho años, Aida Hughes, de Nashville, Tennessee.

Al cierre de la presente edición, la consejal, y única representante hispana en el concilio municipal, Sandra Sepulveda, estaba gestionando una Resolución sobre Eliud, a ser leída en la reunión del consejo el martes 1 de febrero próximo.

Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569

VENDOR WRITING

BACKPACK USA MAURICE B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR On the backs of the youngest to the oldest, from the homeless to the well-off backpacks are found. One can say that yes there is that common ground fount here through the majority of residents in Smashville, Cashville, Nashville, Tennessee: just about everyone has so much of something that a backpack is well used and well needed in this marvelous city.

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 17

VENDOR WRITING

“LOVE OF THE WORLD OR JESUS” WHOM DO YOU SERVE?

BY JOHN H., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

THEME: VA LENTIN E'S DAY ACROSS 1. Fantasy sports data 6. Accounting acronym 9. Stark daughter on "Game of Thrones" 13. Branch of economics 14. All talk, no action type of service 15. Relating to symmetry, in geometry 16. Base-8 numeral system 17. "____ the land of the free..."

18. Lots and lots 19. *Actor Ryan of "Blue Valentine" 21. *Desdemona's suspicious husband 23. Big fuss 24. Nose-in-the-air type 25. Uber alternative 28. One on a pedestal 30. Moderately wide 35. Eye layer 37. Twelfth month of Jewish year 39. Cheese-covered chip

40. Popped relief?

41. *"Love, ____" movie 43. Splints site 44. Muhammad's teachings 46. Orchestra instrument 47. Past of heave 48. Avoids work, in British slang 50. Give off 52. Dose of sunshine 53. Back seat 55. Hair-raising product 57. *____ valentine, an opposite of love note 61. English author perhaps best known for "The Canterbury Tales" 65. Like Mary-Kate and Ashley 66. Pooh's "wise" friend 68. Bring to an end 69. Potassium nitrate 70. Farm sound 71. Arm bones 72. Back talk 73. Uniting conjunction 74. Imposter

DOWN 1. Smoke plus fog 2. Comes in hard or soft shell 3. Parts of a play 4. ____-____-la 5. Plural of solidus 6. Heidi's shoe 7. *Sweetie follower 8. Cook's cover 9. Wheel holder 10. Cambodian money 11. Two-masted vessel 12. "The Sun ____ Rises" 15. Trash can for fireplace (2 words) 20. Source of lymphocytes, pl.

22. Pull along 24. Dormant state 25. *Famous archer 26. Dispatch boat 27. "____ and whistles" 29. Hodgepodge 31. Mr. and Mrs. Incredible's son 32. Blood of the gods, Greek mythology 33. Seven days postmortem 34. *Hive-related endearment 36. Unfortunately, exclamation 38. Rumpelstiltskin machine 42. Stallion's cry 45. Business combination 49. Old Man's turf, according to Hemingway 51. Darjeeling server 54. Smell, usually pleasant 56. Calms 57. Ford Transit and such 58. Pelvic parts 59. Lice eggs 60. Augments 61. Oaf 62. Scoop holder 63. Biblical twin 64. Donna or Lou 67. Got a blue ribbon

1 John 2: 15-17 says Love not the world, neither the things that are in that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Many Americans in this day are very much lovers of the world. To the point they love pets, animals more than they love human beings. They love the world and what the world has taught them. They pride of life, the lust of the eye.

You know I got up yesterday and I saw two dollars laying on my dresser and I was more happier than if it was two thousand. Many in this day can’t understand these words because Hearts are different. Ya see, many hearts has been alienated by the world and not the word of Jesus.

Their Hearts are weak. No only they live in this world but they have to be of it too. Most live life according to others and not how God wants us to live. Many times I don’t understand but it’s just the Truth, and I find that many Tennesseans have a great problem with the truth, especially if it involves the world enclosed around them.

They hate it when their hearts convicted not to mention people like them. The Truth must be told though. Every once in a while, I see myself putting God’s word to the sideand speak the truth. Many times I find it necessary.

We may be poor, but see just like Jesus. No need to defame a person’s character or their family’s, because we know neither. Only the truth is what matters. The World or Jesus. You make the choice.

WE NEED TO START DOING THIS

BY JULIE B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR As people we need to look at the world not as it is, but as it should be. We take everything for granted. We look at the world through rose-colored glasses and we think of ourselves and not of others. We need to start helping the people that need it, like me, that have nowhere to go and are freezing in the cold weather. We need to start doing for our homeless the way we do for ourselves, and we should treat the homeless the way we want to be treated.

Think about if that was you, would you want someone to help you or have them pass you by like you were nothing?

Think about that when you pass a homeless person the next time you’re out.

PAGE 18 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

FUN

HOBOSCOPES AQUA RIUS

How are you today, Aquarius? How’s it going? What’s up? Don’t you think it’s weird that we often ask such broad and important questions of people and then we expect a quick, pleasant, two-word answer? But I’d like to encourage you to answer those questions today, Aquarius, first just for yourself, and then find somebody to tell. How are you? No, seriously.

How are you?

When’s the last time you wrote a Valentine, Gemini? Not one of those heavy “I love you till the end of time” numbers.

I’m talking about a light and easy “You rock!” or “Our class wouldn’t be the same without you.” This time of year, people like to go all out for their one person, and that’s great. But maybe this is a good chance to write an encouraging note for everybody in your class, Gemini, even if you haven’t been in class for a while.

LIBRA

I’ve been playing that online game where they give you six chances to guess a five-letter word. It was fun at first, but now every time I finish I just stare at those words — all the letters in the little squares — and I wonder if it all means something. Like, are my guesses a message from my own subconscious trying to tell me something important?

Or is it just a bunch of letters? Today I guessed “PEACE, TAKES, QUIET, BRAIN, RELAX, LIBRA.” Do you think it means anything? (I’m not very good.)

CANCER

PISCES

When I was a kid, I had a rope-swing on a tree next to a wobbly, wooden fence.

I’d swing out and let go and see how far I could fly before I crash-landed in the dirt. Then I’d get up and try it again. Yesterday, I walked out of the house and realized I’d forgotten my lunch and I turned around too fast and sprained my neck.

Bodies get older, Pisces. We change. And sometimes it makes us too cautious. Take care of yourself. But don’t forget you used to fly. Try it again when you can.

ARIES

Sometimes it’s just like solving a jigsaw puzzle, Aries. You see some pieces that are the same shade or the same brightness. You see some pieces that go on the edge. You see a word that starts on one piece and finishes on another. You can put some things together so quickly.

But somewhere around the middle it all gets gummedup. Keep pushing through, Aries. Keep sorting. Keep doing the work and finding the fit. It may not flow right now, but all progress is progress.

TAURUS

GEMINI

The James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful and advanced infrared telescope ever created. It took over 25 years and nearly 10 billion dollars to develop and build and at the end of last year, it was finally launched into space. As it left the atmosphere, the ground team began checking off a list of 344 potential points of failure. 344 opportunities for the Webb telescope mission to fail before it sends back it’s first image. Sometimes it feels like there are just too many things that can go wrong, Taurus, but it’s not as fragile as it seems. You’ve got a great start and a great team. Just get out there and unfold.

I love that video of the dog running up to the porch with his tail wagging, but he can’t get inside because he’s holding an entire tree branch in his mouth. He’s so excited to show off the big stick, but the stick won’t fit through the door. What are you holding onto, Cancer, that keeps you from getting where you want to be?

LEO

I never know what to do with my hands when I’m in a conversation, so I got myself a Yo-Yo. I wanted to let you know, Leo, because when we were talking earlier, I could tell you thought I was distracted. But I really was paying attention. You were telling me how hard things have been while I was doing “the sleeper.”

You said you were afraid nothing would ever change and I was “walking the dog.” You asked if I knew what it was like to feel so lost. I was “rocking the baby” and I guess that’s when you left. I do know what that’s like, Leo. And I hope we can talk again soon. I might still be practicing “around the world,” but I’m listening.

VIRGO

Remember your first job, Virgo? You showed up so early on the first day that it was still dark and the office was locked.

So you walked around to the back of the building and behind the dumpster was your new boss and the director of HR loading some kind of large, strange, softly glowing orbs into an ice-cream truck. They told you to tell no one. They told you to go home and never come back. They still send you a paycheck every month. Wait, Virgo, that wasn’t your first job, it was a dream I just had. Still, your dream job could be just around the corner. Maybe back by the dumpster, in the pre-dawn black.

SCORPIO

Remember when you carved a heart into that tree, Scorpio, and you carved those initials in the middle? And the tree grew and the shape of that heart stayed in the bark. But the initials you carved didn’t turn out to be the ones that stayed. It’s funny that we think anything is permanent, Scorpio. We’re born into a world that’s changing and it changes as long as we live. But we keep looking for something to last. Carve a heart around the change, Scorpio. Love the growing tree and the shifting sky.

And it will draw a different heart around you every day.

Love the change.

SAGITTA R IUS

I have a friend who knits. He says it gives him something creative to do and it keeps him off his phone. He showed me a scarf and a hat and a little pillow cover and then he told me the most important thing he’s learned from knitting. He said that sometimes he realizes he’s made a mistake. And sometimes he realizes he just doesn’t like the pattern he’s working. He said as soon as you know, you have to stop. You have to rip back the yarn to where things went wrong. And you have to start again. You can make it right, Sagittarius, but you have to go back.

CAPRICORN

The targeted-ads on my phone keep trying to sell me hamster supplies. Hamster cages. Hamster food. The little plastic ball that hamsters can run around the house in. But I don’t even have a hamster, Capricorn. These targeted ads don’t work! But maybe I should get one. They do look pretty cute going for a run on that little stationary wheel. We’re all susceptible to influence, Capricorn.

Keep an eye on who’s influencing you.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a registered yo-yoer, or a trained knitter. Mr. Mysterio is, however, a budding intermediate podcaster! Check out The Mr. Mysterio Podcast. Season 2 is now playing at mrmysterio.com. Got a question, just give Mr. M a call at 707-VHS-TAN1

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 19

Thank you to all supporters and providers for serving our friends in the community who are experiencing temporary homelessness.

Open Table Nashville, People Loving Nashville, ShowerUp, Project Return, Park Center, The Contributor, Mental Health Cooperative, Room in the Inn, West End United Methodist, Councilman Sean Parker, Clencliff Village

*Paid for by Friends to ReElect Lynda Jones, Cathy Werthan, treasurer

PAGE 20 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

VENDOR WRITING

HOMELESS TIME

nuance of touch, if you

DANIEL H.

have not taught me.

You see me, and yet you do not

I wish to taste life as

know me.

you have only known it,

You hear me, but don’t listen

but somehow cannot bring myself

to my cry for help.

up enough to enjoy it.

You reach out to touch

I too know the familiar smell

the familiar nuances, and

of home, food, and family, but

hope that others will share

like a dream slowly forget

your experience.

as you hold the only key to

You taste the flavor of

the door you locked me out of.

that which others have not yet experienced.

Finally we see each others differences

You smell the odor of

and set them aside.

what life has not afforded

We listen in turn as our needs

others to have.

are addressed.

We share a moment of touch

Daniel H., is an artist with Daybreak Arts and writes poetry and stories for . His painting above was featured on the cover of The Contributor's wrapping paper edition in November 2021. Read more about Daniel in this week's Vendor Spotlight on Page 4.

Here I stand to remind

as we reach to one another in

you I see the potential

an embrace in hope of lasting

of what you have to offer.

friendship.

I hear you when you

We commune when food is offered

ask me for direction and

in love not desperation.

are lost.

Last I remember again the

I cannot share your

smell of you who was kind to

Prosperity’s Choice

By Major Ethan Frizzell, The Salvation Army - 615.933.9305 Nashville is at a pivot point of pain. Let’s Change the Future.

Seeing those experiencing homelessness reduces the quality of life of those who have to see it. No doubt, and it leads to; Reducing property values. Reducing tourism. Reducing taxes. Reducing services.

Increasing people entering homelessness. Increasing people staying on our streets. Increasing people living outside being seen.

Individuals experiencing homelessness have virtually no voice, so the story of the problem is only told by tourists and downtown communities. The negative cycle generates a negative story, which is retold over and over, so that the fault lies firmly on the one without a voice. Bias increases.

One person out of work turns to panhandling, and is now making more money than the guy working at the restaurant. They then talk others into making “more money”. Their misery is balanced with behaviors.

The practice is bad for business. Sales reduce. Tourism reduces. Property values reduce. Taxes reduce.

Now the other scenario. A person becomes unemployed. His housing is supported until he quickly finds employment. He pays taxes. The business owner has employees. Income increases. Tourism increases.

Property values increase. Income from taxes increases. Restoration costs are but a small percentage of the increase of business, tourism, property values and taxes.

The challenge is that when there is a problem, i.e. “the homeless”, the fault lies on the person experiencing homelessness.

Systems are perfectly designed for the problems they create.

Twelve (12) months ago, our system was designed to increase homelessness.

We all take – The strong take whatever they want The weak take whatever is left The strong take from the weak The weak take their revenge; And so we wither.

If we all give – The strong choose to take less The weak give thanks for their fill The strong give power to the weak The weak give their support to the strong; And they stand together as us And so we prosper.

Today, a person has lost their job, without support, and lost their housing. Tomorrow they will increase their income from panhandling and, in reasonable response to COVID-19, will move into an encampment.

We are improving on an imperfect system to decrease homelessness.

Today, an outreach worker will meet that person. Hopefully, tomorrow there will be pressure to reduce the encampment through proven practices. Ideally, there will be less poverty extending charity. Prayerfully, our faith community will increase plausible paths to housing.

In 18 months, the city could be...should be different? If we can gather the public will.

Give me a call if you want to create a different future. Let me buy you a cup of coffee.

Stand together...

Homelessness... 18 Months to Change the City?

a stranger and did not judge.

Athol Williams

Social Philosopher

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 21

The New Christian Year Selected by Charles Williams (1941)

Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886–1945), the editor of the following selections, is today probably the third most famous of the famous Inklings literary group of Oxford, England, which existed in the middle of the 20th century, and which included among its ranks the better-known and longer-lived Oxford Dons J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis—but he was arguably the most precocious and well-read of this eminent and intellectually fertile group. He was also known to have influenced Dorothy Sayers, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden.

Lacking a proper degree unlike his fellow Inklings, this genius Cockney-speaking author, editor, critic, and playwright was eminently well-versed in both philosophical and theological writings of the remote past as of the present day (the mid-20th century) and used this familiarity to good effect in his poetry, supernatural fiction and his lesser-known devotional selections designed for the spiritual benefit of the faithful in the Church of England. This series of profound quotations, encompassing all walks of life, follows the sequence of the themes and Bible readings anciently appointed for contemplation throughout the church's year, beginning with Advent (i.e., December) and ending in November, and reaches far beyond the pale of the philosophical and theological discussions of his day. It was under his hand, for instance, that some of the first translations of Kierkegaard were made available to the wider public. It is hoped that the readings reproduced here will prove beneficial for any who read them, whatever their place in life's journey. — Matthew Carver

FEAST OF THE PURIFICATION OF ST MARY WHEN love is the spirit of your life, it will have the freedom and universality of a spirit; it will always live and work in love, not because of this or that, here or there, but because the Spirit of Love can only love, wherever it is or goes or whatever is done to it. As the sparks know no motion but that of flying upwards, whether it be in the darkness of the night, or in the light of the day, so the Spirit of Love is always in the same course; it knows no difference of time, place or persons; but whether it gives or forgives, bears or forbears, it is equally doing its own delightful work equally blessed from itself.

William Law: The Spirit of Love.

4TH WEDNESDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY CONSCIENCE is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ, a prophet in its informations, a monarch in its peremptoriness, a priest in its blessings and anathemas, and even though the eternal priesthood throughout the Church should cease to be, in it the sacerdotal principle would remain and have a sway.

Newman: Letter to the Duke of Norfolk.

O LORD our God, grant us grace to desire thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and seeking find thee; and so finding thee may love thee; and loving thee, may hate those sins from which thou has redeemed.

Amen.

St Anselm.

4TH THURSDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY THERE is a temporal unsatiableness of riches, and there is a spiritual unsatiableness of sin.

John Donne: Sermons.

ONE of the old men said, “When a man saith unto his companions, ‘For- give me,’ and at the same time humbleth himself, the devils are consumed.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

5TH FRIDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY MOREOVER, I did pray all creatures (seeing how that I had offended them inasmuch as I had offended the Creator), that they would not accuse me before God. Thus did it appear unto me that all creatures and all the saints did have compassion upon me, wherefore with a greater fire of love did I apply myself to praying unto God more than was customary.

Angela of Foligno: The Book of Divine Consolation.

THIS also is Thou; neither is this Thou.

Unknown.

rowed for kindness and love. For as long as he was passible he suffered for us and sorrowed for us; and now he is uprisen and no more passible, yet he suffereth with us.

Juliana of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY COULD you like anything in your own heart, or so much as fancy any good to be in it, or believe that you had any power of your own to embrace and follow truth, this comfortable opinion so far as it goes, would be your turning away from God and all goodness, and building iron walls of separation between God and the soul. For conversion to God only then begins to be in truth and reality when we see nothing that can give us the least degree of faith, of hope, of trust or comfort in anything that we are of ourselves.

William Law: Letters.

5TH MONDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY FAITH appears to be the first inclination towards salvation: then follow fear and hope and repentance, which growing up together with temperance and patience, lead us on to love and knowledge.

St Clement: Stromata.

TEN thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.

Newman: Apologia.

5TH Tuesday AFTER THE EPIPHANY WHEREVER thou goest, whatever thou dost, at home or abroad, in the field or at church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in imitation of His tempers and inclinations, and look upon all as nothing but that which exercises and increases the Spirit and life of Christ in thy soul. From morning to night keep Jesus in thy heart, long for nothing, desire nothing, hope for nothing, but to have for all that is within thee changed into the Spirit and temper of the holy Jesus.

William Law: The Spirit of Prayer.

5TH WEDNESDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY “I WILL reprove thee and set before thine eyes what thou hast done.” It is the Lord who thus spoke; all that opposes Him must of necessity op- pose itself; so that at last there will be the complaint, “O thou watcher of men, why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I am a burden to myself?” . . . Nothing can contradict God and be consistent with itself; on the contrary, whosoever shall be reproved by God shall be reproved also by himself.

St Bernard: On Consideration.

5TH THURSDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

5TH SATURDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY THE highest point that may be seen in the Passion is to think and know that he is that suffered. And in this Shewing he brought in part to mind the height and nobleness of the glorious Godhead, and wherewith the preciousness and the tenderness of the blissful Body, which be together oned; and also the lothness that is in our kind to suffer pain. For as much as he was most tender and clean, right so he was most strong and mighty to suffer.

And for every man’s sin that shall be saved he suffered: and every man’s sorrow and desolation he saw, and sor-

EXPERIENCE makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness.

Pascal: Pensées.

IT is impossible that God should ever be the end, if He is not the beginning. We lift our eyes on high, but lean upon the sand; and the earth will dissolve, and we shall fall whilst looking at the heavens.

Pascal: Pensées.

5TH FRIDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY HE is a good time-server that improves the present for God’s glory and his own salvation. Of all the extent of time, only the instant is that we can call ‘ours.’

Thomas Fuller: The Holy and the Profane State.

IF God gives us masters from his own hand, with what willingness we ought to obey them! Necessity and events inevitably follow.

Pascal: Pensées.

5TH SATURDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY THOU hast commanded, and so it is, that every inordinate affection should be its own punishment.

St Augustine: Confessions.

MERCY is born of that love which we ought to exercise towards each oth- er. If we do not, God will require it of us at the Judgement Day; and, where He findeth not the requisite mercy, He will refuse mercy, as He Himself has said.

Tauler: Sermons.

SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY THE commandment of God is, that we love our Lord in all our heart, in all our soul, in all our thought. In all our heart; that is, in all our understanding without erring. In all our soul; that is, in all our will without gainsaying. In all our thought; that is, that we think on him, without forgetting. In this manner is very love and true, that is work of man’s will. For love is a wilful stirring of our thought unto God, so that is receive nothing that is against the love of Jesus Christ, and therewith that it be lasting in sweetness of devotion; and that is the perfection of this life.

Richard Rolle: The Commandment.

SEPTUAGESIMA MONDAY YOU are under the power of no other enemy, are held in no other captivity and want no other deliverance but from the power of your own earthly self. This is the one murderer of the divine life within you. It is your own Cain that murders your own Abel. Now everything that your earthly nature does is under the influence of selfwill, self-love, and self-seeking, whether it carries you to laudable or blamable practices; all is done in the nature and spirit of Cain and only helps you to such goodness as when Cain slew his brother. For every action and motion of self has the spirit of Antichrist and murders the divine life within you.

William Law: The Spirit of Love.

SEPTUAGESIMA TUESDAY . . . OUR soul as soon as ever she enters on this new and hither too untrodden path of life bends her gaze on the highest good as the goal, and therefore believes that everything she sees which appears to contain some good in itself is that highest good. And because her knowledge is at first imperfect through inexperience and lack of instruction, small goods appear great to her, and therefore her desires are first directed to these.

Dante: Convivio.

Sponsored by Matthew Carver, publisher

PAGE 22 | February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

MOVING PICTURES

‘this isn’t standup comedy’ NETFLIX 'TRASH WHITE' TAKES CONTEMPORARY MONOLOGUE PERFORMANCE BY STORM

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC I randomly watched Moses Storm: Trash White just after it debuted on Jan. 20. I’m a student of stand-up comedy. I have a large shelf of books by and about the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. I consider stand-up comedy to be an extreme form of acting/performance, stripped of musical instruments, sets and props, other actors, plots and characters. The fact that the special is produced by Conan O’Brien — Storm has toured with the comedian/show host — was also intriguing. In this age of slow comedy death we’ve always been able to count on Team Coco.

But, here’s the thing: this isn’t stand-up comedy. Trash White is better described as a monologue or a one-man-show — it’s the kind of thing we’re used to seeing in a black box theater or on a PBS special instead of on a stage at Zanie’s or in a Netflix stand-up stream. Fans of Hannah Gadsby will recognize this format. When Gadsby’s Nanette special streamed on Netflix back in 2018 it was hailed as a standup comedy revolution. It wasn’t.

It was the revival of an long-established form of dramatic theatrical presentation that was ripe for a comeback on the heels of the recent popularity of other

theatrical workhorses like the traditional musical form, which has been re-invading screens big and small for a decade.

Nanette was an intriguing one-person-show offering some laughs and introducing American audiences to a talent mostly unknown outside of Australia.

Storm frames his special like a Nanette-style monologue that’s focused on confessional and intimately revealing storytelling.

Storm’s tales are often nuanced and detailed in a manner that few comedians normally afford themselves unless they’re specifically choosing to create long, unfunny sections for some unexpected laugh-filled payoff.

Storm’s show also makes use of images and videos on screens to aid in his biographical narrative that — like Gadsby’s — includes plenty of intimate details of personal trauma.

Storm’s special is definitely more of a one-man-show than a stand-up comedy special — and post-Nanette reviewers seem to understand this new/old format for its own sake this time around.

That said, Storm’s show leans much more heavily into the rapid-fire jokes format we normally expect from a comedy performance. Storm has married the best of Gadsby’s dra-

matic, intimate storytelling to a much more high energy character that can also veer into pure comic entertainment. I love a well-written monologue when it’s not shoehorned into the stand-up category, and Nanette earned its backlash for craven marketing, not for failed artistry. I also revere actual pure raw stand-up as one of the performing arts’ riskiest tricks. I’m not sure Storm’s blending of the two is viable over the long run, but it makes for a very watchable stream on Netflix right now.

Trash White is truly laughout-loud funny at times, but what makes it most unique is its focus on poverty. Richard Pryor grew up in a brothel and his comedy always included storytelling peppered with intense details about the chaos of a childhood below the poverty line. But Pryor’s tale-telling was intrinsically hilarious and his actual punchlines were phrased to cut and timed to kill. Storm is a more dramatic storyteller — more like a theater actor. But, his relating of the crushing absurdities of

February 2 - 16, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 23

growing-up in the wake of the bad decisions of the adults caring for him are moving, disturbing, confusing, and maybe even familiar all at once.

Moses Storm: Trash White is currently streaming on Netflix

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.