Any vendor of The Contributor can accept VENMO as payment. Technology is a barrier to those experiencing homelessness. Many of our vendors don’t have phones or bank accounts, or use online commerce. Thus we simplified the VENMO process by using one account for all vendors. This means YOU MUST IDENTIFY YOUR VENDOR when using VENMO. Here is the skinny on how to do it right.
#1 You must have a VENMO account. Sign up at www.venmo.com if you haven’t already.
#2 SCAN THE SQUARE QR CODE in the top left corner of the cover of this paper using your phone or tablet camera. Then press the button that appears once it has been recognized.
#3 CLICK the blue “Pay or Request” button on the screen with The Contributor yellow and black logo.
#4 TYPE in the amount you wish to pay The paper costs $2. Tips are welcomed. Vendors get all the money you send and can pick it up the next business day at our office.
#5 Most importantly, TYPE YOUR VENDOR’S NAME AND BADGE # in the “What’s this for?” box. Then hit the PAY button. Their name and 4 digit badge #
should be written on the front cover of the paper below the QR code. You must identify them to insure they will get the money. First name, last initial and 4 digit badge # will ensure that a vendor with a similar name doesn’t get confused for your vendor. You can also leave feedback in this field. But always identify the vendor. If they didn’t write their name or badge # on the cover of this paper, please describe where they were and what they looked like. This usually can identify them.
#6 HIT THE PAY BUTTON.
#7 The FIRST TIME you pay anyone using VENMO you will be asked to enter the last 4 digits of their phone number. Type 6829 in this field. Our phone number is (615) 829-6829. Or, you can scroll down and skip this step. (VENMO wants to protect you from sending money to the wrong person with a similar name. The next time you pay a vendor using our account, you won’t be asked to verify again.)
#8 ALWAYS TAKE THE PAPER HOME WITH YOU. When vendors sell out, the satisfaction of having a business that sells out its products begins to sink in! Vendors who sell out, come back to our office to buy more. This helps our vendors meet their sales goals. And, it is there that we can meet with them, give them their VENMO payments or mail and work on solving their barriers to housing and life’s goals.
#9 Friend us on VENMO and leave feedback. Open the app and click on “Me” at the bottom. Then select “Transactions” to see your payments. Click on the payment to The Contributor in your transaction list and then click on our icon at the top of the screen to see all of those transactions between us. On this page you can “Friend” us and click on the speech bubble icons of all your payments to leave feedback on your experience. Constructive feedback and praise help encourage our vendors to do their best.
Amanda Haggard & Linda Bailey Co-Editors
Holly Bowman Director of Development
Jesse Call Operations Consultant
Ree Cheers
SOAR Manager
Will Connelly Executive Director
Bri Givens Case Manager
Chelsea Jackson Manager of Vending Operations
Cathy Jennings Director of Finance
Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus
Caroline Lindner Case Manager
Esther Mwandiko Kitenge Engagement Specialist
Raven Nye
Rachel Ternes Housing Navigator
Andrew Terry IV SOAR Referral Specialist
Carli Tharp
Justin Wagner
Tom Wills
Barbara Womack
Editorials
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PHOTO BY JUSTIN WAGNER
Anquenette S. and her husband Billy love movies.
“We watch a lot, a lot of movies … I like a lot of action, I like horror movies,” Anquenette said. “I love The Walking Dead We used to have a lot of movies.”
Billy used to have several shelves’ worth of DVDs at his mother’s house. But for years, the two were a hair’s breadth from living unsheltered on the street. Anquenette used her income from The Contributor to secure hotel rooms for the night, every night.
Last year, Anquenette’s name came up on a housing waitlist in Nashville, and she moved into her first apartment in over a decade. While it’s mostly furnished, she’s in the market for a bookshelf — after all, she and Billy have a big collection to rebuild.
“I was first homeless here back in 2009 … I said, ‘God, please give me a house.’ When He gave me a place, I thanked God for it. I just wanted to go home,” she said. “I love
BY JUSTIN WAGNER[the room]. The kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, it’s all so big.”
And after years adjusting to a rigorous schedule of constant vending, she’s happy to finally have the luxury of the occasional vacation day, she said — even if her instinct to be productive occasionally precedes relaxation.
“I can go across the street, have a good time, and walk outside,” she said. “But you know, I clean! I like to clean, I like to wash dishes. I wash everything, that’s my problem. Every time I come home, it’s like, ‘Baby! Baby, stop, when you get off of work, you always just wanna clean!’ I can’t help it. My mother always told me, ‘When you go to work, clean up. When you get back home, clean up.’”
Despite that, though, worrying about bills on a monthly basis rather than a nightly one marks a significant burden lifted.
“No hotel no more,” she said. “Thank God. No hotel no more.”
While not deeply religious herself, Anquenette was raised to put all her faith in God. She said the Christian rhetoric allowed her to carry forward a connection to her late mother and aunt she might have lost otherwise.
“I miss my momma … I can hear her voice in my head right now,” Anquenette said. “Church is in my family, that’s the way that I was raised. I love it because of my mother. That’s why I’m so strong, my momma always told me to stay strong. Her name is so powerful; her name is Faith. And faith is power.”
That power helped her through years spent scraping together the cash to get by. She earned a reputation in downtown Nashville for her sense of humor and constant presence, selling seven days a week.
“Yeah, I’m known [downtown],” she said. “Actually, I’m known everywhere … they love my spirit because I make people laugh.
I love myself, and I don’t wanna see people sad. I wanna see people smile and have fun.”
She explained that the environment downtown is sometimes dreary. Growing up in Nashville, she watched as it transformed over the last decade into something nearly unrecognizable. She said it had changed some for the better and some for the worse, but was focused on being a welcome presence and paying forward the kindness she’s been shown wherever possible.
Busy people shuffle to and from their workplaces against a backdrop of traffic and tourists, and while Anquenette encounters a lot of generosity and friendly faces — like the stranger who helped furnish her new apartment with cutlery and dishes — she also encounters a lot of indifference, racism and cruelty.
Anquenette said it’s best to offer them all the same grace she learned from her mother.
“Like I say: God bless ‘em.”
Are improvements to green technologies, like better batteries and more efficient solar panels, enough on their own to tackle climate change?
BY EMMA GARNETT AND CHARLOTTE A. KUKOWSKIRolling out the solutions to climate change (electric vehicles, solar power, heat pumps) will require confronting the enormous gulf in wealth and resources separating the richest and poorest people — both within countries and between them.
In our recent article for Nature Climate Change, we explain why inequality remains one of the biggest barriers to the net zero transition.
1. The very rich are very big polluters
Oxfam recently shone a spotlight on the gap in emissions between the richest and poorest people globally. According to their latest analysis, the richest 1 percent emit as much CO₂ as the poorest 66 percent combined.
To limit warming to 1.5°C, each person has a yearly carbon budget of about 1 tonne. However, the top 1 percent of emitters currently burn through more than 100 times the sustainable amount, each emitting on average a staggering 110 tonnes of carbon per year.
If we want to transition to net zero fairly and in time to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis, we need to slash emissions from the biggest sources.
2. Political solutions are limited
The political power of the rich prevents measures that could otherwise distribute emissions and energy use more fairly. This is because wealthy people can shape government policy to suit their interests.
Billionaires who have made their fortunes through investments in the fossil fuel industry have donated to groups that campaign against policy solutions to climate change, obstructing and delaying efforts to decarbonize.
With the ability to successfully lobby against climate policies, the super-wealthy have no compulsion to curb their highly polluting behavior. For example, private jet travel remains legal despite it being the most polluting transport mode of all and useful to just a tiny minority.
3. Carbon taxes could be more effective
No price attached to carbon emissions, in any country, accounts for their full damage to the Earth and to human health. This means that it is often cheaper for industries to pollute than switch to clean alternatives.
Carbon taxes are supposed to increase the price of emitting greenhouse gasses and pollution so that the greenest option is also the cheapest one. For example, taxing diesel and petrol vehicles (and investing the revenue in public transport) could make it cheaper for families to travel by train and bus instead of by car. If such taxes were widely introduced, research indicates that they could be effective at reducing emissions.
Instead, carbon taxes tend to disproportionately affect poorer people and countries by increasing the prices of goods and services that remain highly polluting, while wealthier people can afford to keep emitting. More equal societies, without extreme poverty or wealth,
could introduce carbon taxes that enable everyone to decarbonize.
4. Green options aren’t in reach for all
While carbon emissions are not priced at their true cost, some lifestyle changes (such as replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump) require a hefty upfront investment. If you’re one of the many people on a low income, then you may not be able to afford them.
In the UK, subsidies for energy-efficiency improvements like home insulation tend to be restricted to homeowners, leaving renters with little control over the building they live in — including its emissions. Similarly, tax breaks or grants to buy electric bikes are largely restricted to those in stable jobs that pay above the minimum wage.
Ensuring that subsidy schemes specifically support those on lower incomes could allow everyone to make the changes necessary for reaching net zero.
5. People need free time to go green
Beyond wealth and income, there are also inequalities in available time to consider.
Some low-carbon options take longer or are less convenient than the polluting alternatives, such as traveling long distances by train instead of flying.
Learning new skills, like how to cook plantbased recipes to cut down on your meat consumption, can take time that wealthy people can more readily afford by working part-time,
retiring early or paying others to take care of cleaning and childcare.
More equality in free time, such as a fourday working week, can help people to make lifestyle changes that benefit the planet.
6. Public services cannot meet their potential
Providing high-quality public services to all makes low-carbon choices easier for everyone. Universally available amenities also meet basic standards of human wellbeing while using less energy overall.
In the UK, London boasts the cheapest bus fares and the most comprehensive public transport network. Although rent and property prices can be lower in rural areas than in cities, the deregulation and subsequent privatization of the UK bus network in the 1980s — as well as austerity since 2010 — has led to more unequal access to public transport.
Fare increases and axed bus routes have put low-carbon public transport out of reach for many and made it harder to get around without a car.
The planet’s dwindling resources are being squandered by a rich minority. Reining in their emissions and redistributing their power and influence would help everyone to live more sustainably so that the planet can support a decent life for all.
Courtesy of The Conversation / INSP.ngo
Well, what can I say? Ever since I got hit by a car and broke my leg and then got surgery on my leg, I never feel good. I just wish I could make myself better. I think it's gonna be a real good four months until I'm walking better.
This has been a very long and painful battle. I thought I would be better by now. This all happened on Aug. 19 and I can barely walk still. But I get out there when I can and my husband helps me.
I hope and pray that I can walk
better one of these days. And feel better. I never feel good. Everything else wrong with me too. I worry that I might not live much longer. Sometimes I feel so bad I feel like I'm just waiting on the Lord to take me home. I guess God is not ready for me to come home yet though. But I just never feel good. I'm in so much pain.
My physical therapist says it could take a little over a year before I'm one hundred percent better. This is taking forever to heal.
Within the various games in and of life many different altercations bring about enormous bumps and bruises, and those bumps and bruises are those of mental as well as physical aspects. Trusting in the process of our Almighty Creator God's will, will allow the swellings to go down. Sure there are thoughts about scared tissues but the scared tissues are only additional beauty marks. The saying "time is of the essence," whereas the essence of time is the overall performance of all circumstances and situations/problems in and of life. To-wit makes the factor of "rehab" (rehabilitation) a must in every individual's verve in this existence. Rehab is no more than getting and staying on a firm set program that consists of an individual remaining on point because there are various amounts of triggers that will harm the betterment
of an individual's lifestyle. Whatever a person's lifestyle consists of has to have a firm programming for it to succeed positively. For instance, when a couple tries to commit within a relationship but rushes and ends up with a child then breaks up where a child surely needs both parents in which brings about major bumps and bruises in life for all the individuals involved, the female/mother as well as the male/father better yet the child. As the factor of rehab being the solution and the essence of time being the issue of healing making the bumps, the bruises as well as the beautiful scars those of remembrance that will have a person to become firm within the aspects of staying focused on doing what is best. To wit, doing what is best is what allows the swelling to actually go down whereas the healing process will continue.
Former District 29 Councilmember Delishia Porterfield decided to run for an at-large seat after serving one term as district councilmember. She took the risk of losing her seat on Metro Council and ended up receiving the most votes among the eight at-large candidates in the run-off election last September.
In an interview with The Contributor, Porterfield explained that while she deeply cares about her district, a district councilmember receives very neighborhood-specific requests. She felt she would be more effective if she could fully concentrate on fighting for working people by looking at employee wages, equity, and progress with a countywide focus.
You are the chair of the powerful Budget and Finance Committee. What is the role of that position?
Yes. I’m so excited and thankful for this opportunity. The chair facilitates all of the Budget and Finance Committee meetings. If there is new legislation coming before the Metro Council that has a fiscal implication, it goes before our committee. As chair, I’m the person who facilitates that. I’m frequently meeting with someone from our finance team to keep abreast of where we are in regard to the financial landscape of our city.
Metro has a multi-billion dollar budget at this point and the way our budget process goes is that the mayor proposes a budget, and the Metro Council proposes a budget. If the council cannot agree on a budget, the mayor’s budget passes. I believe it’s only been one time in history that a mayor’s budget passed.
Let me be clear, we have a strong mayoral system and most of our costs at Metro are fixed costs. The Metro Council’s substitute budget is based on the Mayor’s budget, and we’re making small changes to the Mayor’s budget. I believe historically it’s been less than 1 percent of the budget the council has been able to successfully move around. The budget chair is the person who facilitates that process. [To do so,] the chair will come up with an alternate budget to present to Metro Council for consideration that takes into consideration what the other 39 councilmembers are advocating for. The goal is to figure out how to do the most good with the finite money that we have and that we can reassign or reallocate.
Do you expect any significant changes in this first-year budget of the new Administration?
I don’t know about significant changes. We have fixed costs at Metro to ensure the departments keep their lights on and their employees get paid, and so on. We try to prioritize some of the programming, but we don’t have as much wiggle room as people think. But even 1 percent of a multi-billion dollar budget is a lot of money that we can move around.
BY JUDITH TACKETT
I definitely want to be as thoughtful as possible and make sure we get as much community input as possible, so that we can hear from people and hear what their priorities are and determine how many of those priorities we can weave into our city budget.
What are some of your main focus areas for this term?
I ran my campaign based on a heavy focus on working class people in our city, including our retirees. That’s been and still is the biggest focus for me. Our city is booming when it comes to tourism, and we’re very thankful for the money that tourism brings into our city. But you have to balance that piece with the people of Nashville.
When you have the people who are working to keep our city running, the people that during this past winter storm have been working around the clock to make sure the shelter stays open, to make sure roads were safe, people who responded to water main breaks, people who are picking up our trash. When those people can’t live in the city that they make such big sacrifices for, that’s a big problem. I want to help figure out how we bring some balance back to make sure that the people who make Nashville what it is are prioritized and taken care of. I want to make sure we look at employee pay, so people who make this city work can afford to live here. We also need to make sure schools are properly funded and that we get the levels of funding from the state that we need.
I want to look at what we need to do to address affordable housing in the city. While we have been addressing affordable
housing and making contributions to the Barnes Fund, we have not been able to keep up with the need and the demand, and we have to figure that out. I recently watched the documentary that Nashville Public Television aired (Aging Matters – Unhoused). It was amazing, and it was eye-opening. I believe many of our neighbors who are housed don’t fully understand the weight of the housing crisis in our city. So, one priority for me is making sure that we’re looking at and addressing housing to include our unhoused neighbors to make sure that we have accessible housing at various income levels.
Transit is another big focus area that I’m looking to support this year. How can we make transit more accessible for people to ensure it’s implemented in an equitable way to include people who don’t live in the core of the city?
To sum this up, my main focus for this term is on affordable housing, equity, transit, and how we can create a Nashville where marginalized communities, working families, retirees, people from lower socio-economic status can thrive in. And that we can all thrive in.
It’s only been a little over three months into this new administration. But where do you think you are most aligned with the O’Connell Administration?
The mayor has a heavy focus on transit right now and multi-modal ways of access in the community. I think we will have a lot of alignment there.
In what areas may you differ from the O’Connell administration?
That’s a tough question. I don’t think
Metro Council Committees
• Budget and Finance, chair
• Public Health and Safety
that the mayor has been in office long enough for us to really see the direction he will be headed in. When a new administration comes into office, there are a lot of initiatives they’re picking up from the previous administration. So, early in a new term, a lot of things that you’re seeing are things that may be wrapping up from the previous administration and are not necessarily what this administration will be focused on [moving forward]. So, at this point in time it’s too early to really see whether or where there will be division between this administration’s values and my values.
What is a strategy that you think Metro could implement to help alleviate poverty?
We received a report from Metro Social Services that talked about the upward mobility in Nashville. People born into poverty in Nashville are most likely to die in poverty. We don’t have a lot of upward mobility here. We need to figure out how to break the cycle of poverty people are born into. I’m interested in working with our Social Services Department to help determine what’s needed to make that change.
Another area I am focused on is making sure that Metro General Hospital has the proper funding it needs. I believe healthcare is a basic human right, and people should have access to healthcare. Metro General provides healthcare to people regardless of their economic status, regardless of whether they have insurance, and regardless of their ability to pay. General is the people’s hospital and needs a new hospital [building]. We are looking at what that means and where it should be located to make sure the community continues to have access to our city hospital.
What else would you like to add?
Councilmembers don’t have all the answers, but when we work with our communities to try to come up with strategies and policies to solve problems together, that’s when we work best. So many people have great ideas, but they don’t always bring those to councilmembers. For example, I sometimes see on Twitter (X) where a person posts a great idea, and I wish that person would have reached out to me or another councilmember and gave us this idea prior to a [final] vote when we could have [still] done something. Officials don’t have all the solutions. We try to do the best we can. But when we work together with the community as much as possible, we set ourselves up to have better outcomes.
1. An African Slave named Onesimus helped kick start the beginning of the end of the Smallpox epidemic in 1716. Onesimus told his owner/master Cotton Mather, a Boston Minister, that he knew how to prevent Smallpox and that he in fact had it and had been cured of it. Onesimus' cure was a process called variolation. This process involves gathering the infectious material from the blisters of those with smallpox and then this infectious material is injected in a healthy person thus creating immunity. Today, we use Variolation to eliminate diseases like the Flu and Covid.
2. Martin Luther King's birth name was Michael Luther King. King changed his name to Martin Luther King. After touring Berlin, King witnessed the beginning of Nazi Germany. Hitler had become chancellor the year before King's arrival. Germany is the birthplace of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, which led to a split with the Catholic Church. When King returned to Atlanta, he decided to change his name and his son's name from Michael to Martin Luther, after the German Protestant leader.
3. Nikki Giovanni, world famous African American poetess and Fisk University alum, was the keynote speaker at the 2023 MLK Day at Tennessee State University. In her speech, she explained how Nashville came to be known as "Music City". As Fisk University was dealing with financial difficulties, the Fisk Jubilee Singers decided to go on tour in order to raise money to save the university. When they performed in England, one of Queen Victoria's cousins was in the audience. After the performance he went up to them and told them that the Queen should hear their voices. He then set up an audience for the Jubilee Singers to perform for Queen Victoria in 1873. After the performance, the Queen asked them where they were from, they answered, "we are from Nashville, TN." Queen Victoria then said, "Nashville must be a musical city".It is because of the Jubilee Singers that Nashville, Tennessee is called "Music City." Hopefully, this will put an end to this dubious question as to why Nashville is called Music City.
4. John Henry Hale was a prominent surgeon, professor and philanthropist who played a prominent role in establishing the black medical community in Nashville. He performed over 30,000 surgeries, mainly at Meharry Medical College. He also taught at Meharry for 29 Years while mentoring hundreds of African American surgeons. So, when travelling down Jo Johnston Ave. in North Nashville, the housing project you will see is named after Dr. John Henry Hale.
5. Vonetta Flowers became the first African American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics.
6. Mississippi became the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution which abolished slavery.
7. Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run, surpassing Babe Ruth as major league baseball's all time homerun leader.
8. Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Color Purple in l983.
9. The Clotilda, the last known American slave ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, arrived in Mobile, Alabama with 110 African Captives in 1860.
10. The first African Americans to settle in Alabama were Moors that arrived with the Spanish in 1540-80 years before the Pilgrims.
11. To give a perspective that slavery was not
so long ago, Harriet Tubman died in 1913.
12. Evan B. Forde was the first African American Scientist to explore the deep ocean in a submersible vehicle in 1979.
13. Alkebu-lan Images, located at 2721 Jefferson St., is Nashville's only Black owned bookstore. Alkebu-lan Images was established in 1989 and has served the diverse, intellectual, spiritual and inspirational needs of African Americans in the Nashville area and beyond.
14. The only Tina Turner Museum in the world is located in Brownsville, Tenn., which is located between Memphis and Nashville. Brownsville is the birthplace of Tina Turner.
On Jan. 14, Middle Tennessee was struck by a rare class of cold snap, leaving roads frozen over and burying Nashville in over nine inches of snow. Flurries, sleet and temperatures hovering around zero kept most Nashvilliains inside their homes for the better part of the week.
Contributor vendor Cynthia Pritchard was far from her new apartment, though — she took refuge in the Village at Glencliff’s respite care offices, volunteering to stay onsite and ensure its residents were taken care of during the storm.
“It was a week and two days I was there, it was just so I could make sure none of the pipes in the house froze up,” Pritchard said. “I stayed with the two [residents] that were staying there, to make sure that they didn’t turn the water off all the way, in case of emergency to call an ambulance, and to make sure that they had food and everything.”
Pritchard said it was “[her] way of giving back” to an organization that helped her when she needed shelter.
“To me, it wasn’t nothing special … it was just helping out people that were froze in.”
This sort of individual care was the backbone of a citywide response to the harsh conditions, as volunteers, nonprofit workers and Metro staffers pulled long hours and took to icy roads to keep Nashville’s various shelters operational.
Harriet Wallace, Metro Social Services’ communications director, said that the city’s overflow shelter locations never hit full capacity or had to reject anyone in need of a roof overhead as the weather passed — even if it took opening a second location and staying open for over a continuous week of 24-hour days.
“There’s always been a plan in place for opening additional shelter sites as needed. When the primary shelters — Room in the Inn and the Rescue Mission — started to fill a lot of their beds, and when the overflow shelter started to feel the impact of people needing to come
BY JUSTIN WAGNERin from the cold, we did need to utilize that,” Wallace said.
“That’s the important part of planning … that you anticipate any needs that may arise and you plan accordingly. That’s what we did as a city,” she said. “There was no strain, there was no stress, there was no pivot, there was no ‘uh-oh, we didn’t anticipate this, let’s figure this out as we go,’ it really was, ‘let’s just do it and go.’”
“Was it easy? Of course not, that is a lot to take on, especially for the social services staff … [having to] stay for eight or nine days straight in the shelter, not knowing if their pipes burst, not being able to walk their dogs or feed them, not even take a shower or sleep in their own bed.”
Cold Patrols, made up of OHS employees and partner outreach teams, sought out people without shelter during the cold snap. Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management helped move in additional beds and blankets as numbers started to peak. Collaboration from WeGo and Nashville Mobility Solutions allowed for free transportation to the shelters that best suited their needs, and collaboration from the nonprofit SAFPAW ensured that guests at the overflow shelter did not have to fully separate from their pets.
“Was it a lot? Absolutely. But we were prepared for it,” Wallace said. “And everyone is OK, everyone was safe; even their fur babies.”
Nonprofit shelters like Room In The Inn and Safe Haven Family Shelter also remained active all week, implementing all-hands-ondeck strategies and taking the opportunity to enjoy the cold weather.
Jennifer Reason, chief operating officer for Safe Haven, echoed Wallace’s sentiments that preparedness was essential to providing necessary coverage. But with the volatile and persistent conditions, various shelter advo -
cates and members of the leadership team were clocking in and out all hours of the day to keep the shelter staffed, she said.
“All of our families are fine, but we have to be able to staff [our on-site shelter]. So that’s been the hardest part, is staff being able to relieve each other of shifts and get home and sleep, and get back with all the weather conditions,” she said. “We’ve planned ahead of time for meals, we even got sleds ahead of time to make sure our families had access to fun, but it’s the staffing piece of it that’s been the hardest.”
While staffing plans were made ahead of time just the same, the sheer volume of ice and snow made certain contingencies untenable as travel went from cumbersome to dangerous.
“I think we got quite a bit more snow than what we anticipated,” said Reason. “Some of those people who had been very confident that they could make it in for their shift, when the time came, they really weren’t.”
Melanie Ober, Room In The Inn’s community development director, agreed that the week was a blend of careful preparation, collaboration and long shifts.
“The biggest thing is just planning for the worst and praying for the best case scenario, you know. Nashville doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle clearing the back roads and all those kinds of things,” she said. “We know that some of our partnering congregations and volunteers who live outside of the city may have challenges in getting in. We planned that they would have to cancel or may not be able to make it. Our managers and leadership just sat down and planned out the different days.”
They also made sure to remain consistent with their typical fare of services and make time for art classes, board games, movies and other recreation to help pass the snow days.
“In a weather event like this, you don’t want to induce more chaos,” Ober said. “That’s what
our community deserves. They’re already in crisis, they’re unhoused. They’re looking to stay warm and safe and have overnight shelter. That’s kind of our goal — not just provide a safe space, but to provide those engagement opportunities throughout the day.”
“For a group of people who are already experiencing trauma, the chaos is their norm. The chaos of the streets. Anything we can do to bring relief … we want to make sure they have opportunities if they choose.”
Ober noted that despite the opportunities for togetherness, so many organizations working so intensely to meet the needs of Middle Tennessee’s homeless community is not reflective of a contented, flourishing Nashville. A lack of affordable housing stock and supportive services for those recovering from chronic homelessness make this labor necessary. In addition to shelter solutions, other volunteers were spanned out across the city on their own missions to get the folks still outside living in encampments propane and necessary supplies to stay alive.
Any successes in sheltering folks amid the cold snap are to be commended, but the affected people deserve permanent homes — not fleeting shelter.
“None of this is happy,” she said. “I think that’s the thing that is hard. At Room In The Inn especially, we really believe that people deserve better. They deserve better than to have to sleep outside in a tent or on a park bench, or to pile into a huge room with lots of bunk beds.”
“That is safety and we are doing our best, and that’s what our partners are doing as well, but we want them to be in housing. We want them to have that stability and that community. This is not the endgame. Our priority right now is safety, but we believe in and are working towards better for them.”
At first, Lorenzo Washington didn’t mean to become a curator. He just didn’t want his friends and colleagues playing music in and around Jefferson Street to be forgotten.
His friends were folks like Nashville’s Queen of the Blues Marion James, soul
BY AMANDA HAGGARDsinger Herbert Hunter and R&B singer and King of Beach Music Clifford Curry. They, and others featured in the museum, didn’t want to be forgotten either. Most have since passed away, but because of Washington, they’ll be remembered.
It started with a few small items: a photo
here, a record there, a chat with a player about what they remembered. And then Washington started buying small glass boxes to preserve and display photos and items in. When he started collecting items, he was allowing older musicians to jam in the rehearsal space and toting them across
Middle Tennessee for gigs here and there. “The next thing they know, and next thing I know, they were telling me that I was a curator, that I had become the new curator for Jefferson Street,” Washington said. “I said, ‘A curator? What's the duties of a curator?’”
He remembers a woman at the time who told him that “a curator preserves a legacy.”
“And that's what I started off doing, was preserving the legacy and keeping their names alive and their history in front of people as much as I possibly could,” he said.
The Jefferson Street Sound Museum, which is on historic Jefferson Street, is also part production studio and rehearsal hall, though the hall is largely also used for museum space right now. Washington founded the museum in 2011 and it is an equal part tribute to musicians and entertainers as it is to the clubbing scene around Jefferson Street, which Washington called “the destination” back when he was coming up and living in East Nashville. As he got older, he owned a barbecue joint, a record store and more, and often found that if you looked, you’d find something to be drawn to.
“This was the place to go,” Washington said. “If you had any entrepreneurial spirit, this was the place to come and be a part of. All that was going on over here. You could find something to be a part of.”
From 1935-1965, the area was thriving; Black-owned businesses flourished and folks like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald all took their turns performing either on Jefferson Street or near it.
But Washington wanted to note more than just the names folks already know. The mission of the nonprofit museum is to, “preserve the history, honor and educate people about the music and entertainment legacy of Jefferson Street in Nashville while bridging that legacy with education, grassroots programming and cultural interest through exhibits.”
Washington says he’s been surprised to learn his efforts to preserve the community mean so much to so many, particularly Black communities that often get missed in the greater scope of history. One of his prized displays is one that showcases the late Jackie Shane, a pioneering Black transgendered musician from Nashville who worked with folks like Little Richard and Muddy Waters.
“We just hold her in such high regard, along with Marion James,” Washington said. “It’s honestly an honor to be able to do this and show people who these people are and what they were about.”
The National Museum of African American Museum is currently honoring Washington with a Living Legends exhibit that opened on Jan. 20 — cementing his legacy as the curator of this treasured area. The museum is celebrating his passion and commitment to history and the pivotal role he’s played in ensuring musical pioneers that were popular locally and — and beyond — are given their due.
The Tennessee State Museum invited Washington to be part of its Black History Month programming, which is called Rhythm Revolution. The panel will be led by curator at the Tennessee State Museum Tranae Chatman, who has also planned a month of programming focused on Black musicians that are included in the state museum’s Tennessee Playlist exhibition. The events planned by Chatman focus on
the local people and places that made music what it was: from this event to another that focused on women and their usage of music as advocacy.
“Nashville and Memphis in particular have developed reputations as producing great music across many genres including blues, country and soul. Memphis’ location on the Mississippi River makes it a direct link between the Mississippi Delta and the North and Midwest,” Chatman said. "This has historically made it the perfect melting pot of deep south sounds and technological innovation.”
Washington will chat with the curator of the National Museum of African-American Museum Dr. Bryan Pierce and Pat Mitchell Worley, CEO of the Soulsville Foundation on Feb. 17 at the state museum. The three will dive into Black music genres and the historical implications they have for Black culture in Nashville and beyond.
“I didn't think that I was qualified or capable of standing beside the National Museum of African-American Museum or the Tennessee State Museum,” Washington said. “But they have evidently seen that I do have something that represents a part of the history that needs to be preserved, and stories that's being told here in Nashville. So all that they're doing to represent the artist and musicians doing their storytelling, I think it's wonderful. I think that whenever anybody tells a story about one of these artists or musicians, it's an enhancement to the legacy of that particular artist and to the whole community.”
Chatman says, of course, Nashville’s reputation as the stage of country music makes it an attractive destination for national stars from all genres.
“With all of these factors at play, the mix of local traditions and national interest keeps Tennessee relevant in the bigger conversation of American popular music,” Chatman said.
Though he says folks do largely come to town to be tourists in the country music world, he finds that once they get to the museum, they want to learn and they’re eager to hear every detail. Part of the history lesson, of course, is the excitement that took place in all the nightclubs with Little Richard being down the street, and with Jimi Hendrix walking up and down Jefferson Street and living about five blocks down the street here from where the building stands. But that’s a door he opens so he can invite them in to learn other things and to get a deeper education.
“When I said they're curious, they want to know what else happened,” Washington said. “They know Black folk live in this city. And we want to show what they did. We’ve heard people come in and say they were around town and heard that Black music in Nashville was popular and how great the clubs were and they want to know where to get that information. So I bring them in and give 'em a little bit of a little history lesson.”
Throughout February to celebrate Black History Month, the Jefferson Street Sound Museum is inviting the public in for “Black History in Music: Work, Worship, and Celebration.” The art exhibit aims to show the thriving Jefferson Street, both the businesses and entrepreneurs, in addition to the music scene.
In the future, the museum wants to work more on music production and containing the legacy by engaging modern, young musicians in an effort to “bring the blues back to Jefferson Street.”
“We know there are exceptional artists that can come here and do that,” Washington said “We haven't lost it over here on Jefferson Street and in North Nashville, but there’s some folks with a legacy we’ve now shown and been able to honor. We want to continue to do that, and years from now, want to see this place continue to show that.”
Chatman agrees that the best way to continue to evolve museums and storytelling in history is to actually tell stories while folks are still here and to continue to highlight the artifacts the museums and communities work so hard to preserve.
“It is important for us to teach the younger generations about the traditions that already exist in Tennessee so that they value them and continue their legacies into the future,” she says.
Chatman points to the Stax Museum as a great example of an institution in Memphis that is preserving history and continuing its legacy to the present.
“Although Tennessee Playlist addresses the importance of soul music, Stax Museum and the Soulsville Foundation maintain the connection to the community that the history is tied to,” Chatman said. “It is necessary for communities across the state to know that stories in their own communities have had a statewide and national impact.”
For the Jefferson Street Sound Museum, Washington designed a piece of art for the museum that he said shows the scope and legacy of Jefferson Street in the best way possible. He calls it the music tree, and it outlines the landscape of the area: the leaves are individuals, bands and entertainers. The branches connect to the leaves, showing affiliations to nightclubs like Ann’s Place and Club Baron and to educational institutions like Fisk and Tennessee State University as well as limbs showing the street names in the area. The trunk is Jefferson Street itself — creating a strong base to support the rest of it. The roots, Washington said, represent the community supporting all of it.
“It could’ve all been lost,” Washington said. “Nobody is going to reach back and grab the legacy, especially of the ones that didn't make it to major stardom like Aretha Franklin or Jimi Hendrix or Little Richard. We have to be the ones to keep that legacy strong for everyone who was involved.”
“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.
Por Guy Anthony, presidente y director ejecutivo de Black, Gifted & Whole @BGW_Org
Las cadenas de hospitales se están beneficiando injustamente de un programa destinado a ayudar a los pacientes de bajos ingresos a pagar sus medicamentos. Si los formuladores de políticas no reforman este sistema pronto, me preocupa que muchos de los pacientes marginalizados a quienes he dedicado mi carrera a proteger no puedan acceder a la atención que necesitan.
El programa, conocido como 340B, ofrece descuentos en medicamentos a hospitales de zonas desfavorecidas para que puedan servir mejor a sus comunidades. Sin embargo, con poca supervisión, los hospitales pueden desviar los ahorros a sus propios beneficios.
En resumen, el dinero destinado a ayudar a las comunidades marginadas se está canalizando en cantidades cada vez mayores hacia las ganancias de los hospitales. Habiendo pasado gran parte de mi carrera ayudando a hombres negros con VIH, esto me parece muy preocupante.
Todo comenzó hace tres décadas cuando los legisladores lanzaron un plan aparentemente benévolo: para ayudar a los hospitales sin fines de lucro de la "red de seguridad" en las comunidades pobres, la 340B exigía que las compañías farmacéuticas les vendieran medicamentos con grandes descuentos. La idea era que esto reduciría los precios de los medicamentos para
los pacientes de bajos ingresos y también ayudaría a los hospitales, de modo que pudieran reinvertir en instalaciones, equipos y personal para atender a los pacientes desfavorecidos.
Desafortunadamente, la ley de 1992 no codificó ninguna regla sobre lo que los hospitales deberían hacer con los ahorros, por lo que no se requiere prueba de reinversión. Muy pronto, incluso los hospitales que prestaban servicios a comunidades prósperas se dieron cuenta de que podían utilizar las lagunas legales para convertir 340B en un centro de ganancias.
Muchos hospitales tienen múltiples ubicaciones. Según las regulaciones actuales, un hospital puede utilizar sus instalaciones en una comunidad desatendida para calificar para el Programa 340B, recibir millones de dólares en descuentos en medicamentos y luego revender los medicamentos en vecindarios más prósperos.
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)
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
El beneficio de tales maniobras puede ser sustancial. Por ejemplo, hospitales bajo el 340B venden los mejores medicamentos oncológicos a una media de 4,9 veces su precio con descuento, según un informe de Community Oncology Alliance.
No es de extrañar que el 44% de los hospitales de EE.UU. informen ahora que el programa 340B es una fuente de ingresos sustancial.
A pesar de la rápida expansión del programa, hay poca evidencia de que esté beneficiando a los pacientes marginados. Un estudio publicado en el New England Journal of Medicine encontró que "las ganancias financieras para los hospitales no se han asociado con evidencia clara de una mayor atención o una menor mortalidad entre los pacientes de bajos ingresos".
De hecho, el 340B puede aumentar los costos de atención médica para los pacientes de bajos ingresos. Como los hospitales se benefician de la diferencia entre el precio de los medicamentos con descuento y el precio de venta, se ven incentivados a recetar medicamentos más caros, que generan mayores márgenes de ganancia que las alternativas genéricas de menor costo.
Esto parece estar sucediendo con los medicamentos PrEP (abreviatura de profilaxis previa a la exposición) que previenen la transmisión del VIH. Un informe del American Action Forum, un grupo de expertos, encontró que 340B probablemente incentiva a los hospitales a recetar PrEP de marca más cara en lugar de versiones genéricas. Esto significa que algunos pacientes están pagando más de lo que deberían por este medicamento que salva vidas.
El Congreso necesita reformar el inflado e irresponsable programa 340B lo antes posible. Los demócratas y los republicanos deberían poder ponerse de acuerdo en que se deben endurecer los estándares de elegibilidad y mejorar los requisitos de presentación de informes. Los hospitales deben utilizar las ganancias del programa 340B para ayudar a nuestros pacientes más vulnerables.
Guy Anthony es el presidente y director ejecutivo de Black, Gifted & Whole.
Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569
EILEEN SHARP @EJSSRB | BY WENDELL J., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR #5314
The sweetheart you are looking for is a Contributor customer!BY FREEPRESSGMA, CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR
I was selling the paper on a corner that I don’t stand on. My doctor appointment was nearby. This really sweet couple stopped off and gave me two care packages! One had foot powder, sunscreen, toothpaste, deodorant and
things like that. The other one had Lara bars, smoked sausage, And things that are easy to eat while on the street. But these little messages really melted my heart. I was in such a good mood all day and all week!
WRITTEN BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR
Regular Readers of The Contributor know
How I LOVE to write about the customers I meet from day to day
As well as others I encounter along the way
When I do I’m often asked
If it’s been a slow news week
With no more important stories to cover
To which I’m quick to say ‘no not at all’
I’m sure you’d agree
We are bombarded with SO much bad news EVERY DAY
Surely we could ALL use a little GOOD NEWS for a change
It is my sincerest hope that these stories do for you what they do for meHelp restore your faith in humanity
There are people who give me all kinds of food and snacks to fill the empty spot in my tummy
Some of them I must admit, taste quite yummy!
Especially when you’re REALLY hungry
Then I’m faced with another problem though I need something to wash it all down
Terry and John take the lead in this regard
Often bringing me coffee both hot and cold
Along with an assortment of Arizona Teas to quench my thirst
Others too offer a variety of drinks
Sodas of EVERY flavor, water, Gatorade and EVERYTHING in between
There are others too that I must mention
They give me useful things to keep me cool in the summer and warm i n the winter-
When given these things in abundance
I ALWAYS try to share them with others!
Every now and then there are ‘SPECIAL Occasions’
Breakfast with Jim Shulman
Was one of these
It was a rare treat, at least for me,
Conducting an interview
In hopes of giving my customers
Something new and interesting to read
Coming soon to a street corner near you
Be sure to get your copy when it comes out
To see what this story is all about
Last but certainly not least
There are the people who see
The REAL value of the paper for people like me,
They give money when they have the means
Though the amounts differ from one car to the next
Weather they give a large amount, a few dollars, or even less it makes no difference
Their intent is the same
To help others get the things they need without any shame
Many of them apologize wishing they could give more,
I remind them it's NOT the size of their gift that matters most,
It’s the fact that you cared enough to stop at all!
I encourage them to say this to their vendor instead:
‘I have this JUST FOR YOU!’
In my opinion It sounds SO much better
And oh SO sweet when it comes from the giver
The recipient too can feel extra special then
Knowing that this gift was meant just for them!
Why not give it a try and see for yourself
The joy that comes from helping someone else!
Groundhog Day
Release Date: 2/12/1993
Runtime: 1:41
Rated: PG
This is the funniest movie of Bill Murray's career. It's got romance, Sci-Fi, and comedy plus a whole lot of Bill Murray.
Stripes
Release Date: 6/26/1981
Runtime: 1:46
Rated: R
This movie is also funny, especially when Bill Murray replies, "Army Training Sir." There is quite a lot of female nudity, so no kids should watch this movie.
Meatballs
Release Date: 6/29/1979
Runtime: 1:34
Rated: PG
This is just a Friday the 13th movie but without the horror. This is a funny camp movie. Bill Murray went on to star in Where the Buffalo Roam and Caddyshack. Healso had a minor role in the Blues Brothers where he's in a Toys R Us store asking for a Miss Piggy doll. Check it out.
Occasionally I have time to get in the blessedly cool library and get online. Something in my FB feed startled me. It was a picture of a red bench with a story. A school in Ohio put a red bench in the playground. When a child is feeling lonely, they sit there. Then a child will come up and ask them to play. Those are just the accepted rules, and all the children do really well with it.
So how about we start this as adults? We could put a red bench in the pocket park across from the Main library, one in front of Police Central, where the Community Liaison Officers are headquartered, and in Community Centers around the city.
People could wear red bench buttons, signifying they are available to sit down and talk, or offer a cup of coffee, or just give a person the time of day.
Vendors could wear one, since we do that all day long anyway! We talk to other homeless people, friends we are making: patrons, businesses, workers, police officers, and really anyone passing by.
Here are some other ideas I have that I think will really help improve the quality of life for everyone, including the unhoused. Please consider them.
Install 5 to 10 tiny house pocket parks that contain 10 or so tiny houses with bath house and a deciduous tree or two around the city in areas that need a little more community bonding, providing a facelift to the curb appeal, or just provide cheap housing without having to remove trees, create huge foundations, or spend a lot of money. The tiny homes or shared bath house could have incinerating toilets and a self sustaining gray water recycling system that
either models after the TSU wet water filtration system, or implements another design that some brilliant engineer in our city comes up with!
1. Install more greenways in northeast Nashville.
2. Create a bus route to old Hickory State Beach. It could be a short bus that runs four times a day. It would really help provide respite for everyone in Northeast Nashville in these hot summer months.
3. Require all building owners that have a flat roof building on a main artery leading into town to install a green roof, green walls, trees , or Solar or Wind power. Create a city bond that will help owners pay for this, if they are a sole proprietor/ building owner. Note: All existing leases must be honored!
4. Install luxury coach rides into Nashville for commuters that are office workers or are willing to pay a bit more. Provide padded seats and stop less frequently. Airplane style fold out trays for Wi-Fi.
5. Plant trees along all main arteries.
Please look up the ideas on the participatory budgeting page @ nashville.gov. There are many ideas that involve installing sidewalks. I think in some instances where deep ditches exist on either side of the road, a boardwalk might be cheaper and more appropriate. However, everyone seems to be talking about live- ability. So let’s make it easier for people to stop driving, to start using public transportation, and hang out in spaces that are kind to humans, not cars.
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. First published in 1941, 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. 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
IN our repenting commonly we make such haste as we take away before the fruits come. But if there happen to come any, is not this even our case? Our tears, if any, dry straight; our prayers, if any, quickly tedious; our alms indeed pitiful; our fasts, fast or loose upon any the least occasion; and so our repentance, if any, poenitentia poenitenda, “a repentance needing of another, a new, a second repentance to repent us of it.” To repent us of our repentance, no less than of our sin itself.
Lancelot Andrewes: Sermon on Ash-Wednesday, 1624.
1st Thursday in Lent
LEAD us not into temptation . . . Power is given against us in two modes: either for punishment when we sin or for glory when we are proved . . . But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness in that we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself, lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or suffering as his own.
St Cyprian: On the Lord’s Prayer.
1st Friday in Lent
WHEN thou attackest the roots of sin, fix thy thought more upon the God whom thou desirest than upon the sin which thou abhorrest.
Walter Hylton: The Scale of Perfection.
WE know no Gospel without salvation from sin.
John Wesley.
1st Saturday in Lent
SOLOMON saith, “Man goeth to his long home.” Short preparation will not fit so long a journey. O let me not put it off to the last, to have my oil to buy when I am to burn it, but let me so dispose of myself, that when I am to die I may have nothing to do but die.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
HUMAN nature is so subject to deception that it can frustrate, by some pollution or other, almost every dispensation but death.
Sarah Grubb: Journal.
First Sunday in Lent
HE who will follow him must forsake all things, for he renounced all things so utterly as no man else hath ever done. Moreover, he who will come after him must take up the cross, and the cross is nothing else but Christ’s life, for that is a bitter cross to nature. Therefore he saith, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me, and cannot be my disciple.” But nature in her false freedom, weeneth she hath forsaken all things, yet she will have none of the cross, and saith she hath had enough of it already, and needeth it no longer, and thus she is deceived. For had she ever tasted the cross she would never part with it again.
Theologia Germanica.
IF you take away due fear, you take away true love.
Donne: Sermons.
.
THERE is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not His own, God gave His only begotten Son to be made man. God has no more wrath in Himself now than He had before the creation, when He had only Himself to love . . . And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary, because nothing but a life and birth, derived from Him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a selftormenting fire into an amiable image of the Holy Trinity as it was at first created.
William Law: Christian Regeneration.
THE darkness is not hidden even from itself; though it sees naught else it sees itself. The works of darkness follow it, and there is no hiding place from it, not even in the darkness. This is “the worm that dieth not”—the memory of the past. Once it gets within, or rather is born within though sin, there it stays and never by any means can be plucked out. It never ceases to gnaw the conscience; feeding on it as on food that never can be consumed it prolongs the life of misery. I shudder as I contemplate this biting worm, this never-dying death. I shudder at the thought of this being the victim of this living death, this dying life.
St Bernard: On Consideration.
SORROW for sin and sorrow for suffering are ofttimes so twisted and interwoven in the same person, yea, in the same sigh and groan, that sometimes it is impossible for the party himself so to separate and divide them in his own sense and feeling, as to know which proceeds from the one and which from the other. Only the all-seeing eye of an infinite God is able to discern and distinguish them.
Thomas Fuller: A Wounded Conscience.
. . THE trust by which this woman was tried is: to love her Saviour more than her sin. Ah, there was perhaps one who loved Christ more than fa- ther and mother and gold and goods and honour and reputation, and yet loved his sin more than his Saviour, loved it, not in the sense of willing to remain in it, to continue to sin, but in the sense of not being quite willing to confess it. Frightful this is in a sense, but it is true, and every one who has merely some little knowledge of the human heart can verify it: there is nothing to which a man holds so desperately fast as to his sin.
Kierkegaard: Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays.
MY will, therefore, He took to Himself, my grief. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine is the will which he called His own, for as man He bore my grief, and man He spake, and therefore said, “Not as I will but as Thou wilt.” Mine was the grief, and mine the heaviness with which He bore it, for no man exults when at the point to die. With me and for me He suffers, for me He is sad, for me He is heavy. In my stead, therefore, and in me He grieved Who had no cause to grieve for Himself.
St Ambrose: On the Faith.
Sponsored by Matthew Carver, publisher
Feast of St Matthias
THE kingdom of heaven suffers violence from warm love and living hope, which conquer the Divine Will, not as when man overcomes man, but conquer it because it chooses to be conquered, and, so conquered, again conquers by its own benignity.
Dante: Paradise.
JESUS does not regard in Judas his enmity, but the order of God, which He loves and admits, since He calls him friend.
Pascal: Pensées.
2nd Saturday in Lent
BLESSED whoso loveth thee, and his friend in thee, and his enemy for thee. For he alone loses none dear to him, to whom all are dear in him who cannot be lost . . . Thee none loseth but who leaveth.
St Augustine: Confessions.
JESUS, while his disciples slept, wrought their salvation. He has wrought that of each of the righteous while they slept, both in their nothingness before their birth and in their sins after their birth.
Pascal: Pensées.
HE seeth all our living here a penance, for kind loving in us is to him age-lasting penance in us; which penance he worketh in us, and mercifully he helpeth us to bear it . . . For this penance goeth never from us till what time that we be fulfilled.
Juliana of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love.
ALTHOUGH Christ died as man, and His holy soul was separated from His spotless body, nevertheless His Godhead remained unseparated from both—from the soul and from the body. St John Damascene: On the Faith.
IN suffering and tribulation there are really certain situations in which, humanly speaking, the thought of God and that he is nevertheless love, makes the suffering far more exhausting . . . For either one suffers at the thought that God the all-powerful, who could so easily help, leaves one helpless, or else one suffers because one's reason is crucified by the thought that God is love all the same and that what happens to one is for one's good . . . The further effort which the idea of God demands of us is to have to understand that suffering must not only be borne but that it is good, a gift of the God of love.
Kierkegaard: Journals
MEN perish with whispering sins, nay with silent sins, sins that never tell the conscience they are sins, as often as with crying sins: and in hell there shall meet as many men that never thought what was sin, as that spent all their thoughts in the compassing of sin.
Donne: Sermons.
LONG I mistook seeing the end for being in the way.
Patmore: Life.
THEME: LOVE
Love" song
26. First light of day
73. Volleyball court center
74. English homework assignment
DOWN
15.
1. Computer-related imaging acronym
2. CISC alternative
3. Capital of Norway
4. Single-cell protozoan
5. Bottom lines
6. Similar
7. One of the Tudors
8. Authoritative proclamation
9. Single pip cards
10. The Container Store purchase, pl.
11. "What ____ can I say?"
12. T-shirt, after tied
15. Chemical cousin
20. Homer's epic
22. Actor Lowe
24. Deviation from the norm
25. *U2's "In the Name of
27. Lemur from Madagascar
29. Damien's prediction
31. Ding-a-____
32. Convex molding
33. *"Love means ____ having to say you're sorry"
34. *"Love Actually" star
36. Hockey score
38. *True Love's ____
42. Feudal lord
45. Loafed
49. "Holy moly!"
51. Rant
54. "Peace" with fingers (2 words)
56. Phony
57. Teeth mark
58. Children's writer Blyton
59. Old, in Scottish
60. Three pointer
61. Heater outlet
62. Wooden pegs
63. Rigoletto's "La donna mobile," e.g.
66. Pool tool
68. One or some
If they don’t want, To put to Music, The things I’ve said. Than Lord, Let me be heard, By being read. Come up with stuff they love, That they never forget, And be more, Than enough, Than they ever expect. We’re well on our way, But we’re not there yet.
Well, time keeps on a moving, Right on along. And I’m still, Wasting time, Writing song after song. I might not be right, But I know, I’m not wrong. Inspiring others, To try to be strong. Cause getting there, Is half the fun.
When you’ve, Figured out enough, To remove all doubt, And you can share, What being there, And caring’s all about. I’m glad I got the chance, To still be hanging around, With words, Worth being heard, Without, Making a sound. Still stuck in the Lost and Found. Wherever it is we’re bound?
Now, every new beginning, Needs a place to start.
Can you hear?
The Spirit singing?
A New Song, In your heart?
I guess it’s safe to say, That I did my part.
Caring less about success, And more about my art. Very Articulate, But not very smart. Feel free to give them my regards.
Signed, “Silent Songwriter”
WRITTEN BY
CHRIS SCOTT FIESELMANCame upon this street performer, With a guitar in his hand.
Playing a song I used to like so well.
Looking at him, you’d never know, Never understand. Some things that appearances don’t tell.
So, I threw a dollar in his can, And listened to him play.
Wondered how with all that talent, He was here today?
Undiscovered Talent down on Broadway. Undiscovered Master of the Game. Came here thinking, It would be a short stay.
Nashville doesn’t even know, Their name.
The actors may be different, But the stories still the same.
Undiscovered Talent. Master of the Game.
Well, it didn’t take him long. He finished playing that old song. “Is there something special? You would like to hear?
Most of the people want, To hear the familiar ones, They’ve known and listened to, For years.”
But then before I could say a word. He played a song that I’d never heard. Felt just like a trip to paradise. It was a haunting melody, Filled with hope and honesty. Made me smile, And brought a tear into my eye.
“Now, many have come before. Probably be a whole lot more. Came here with a dream to chase, And then they fade away.
Can’t blame them all for trying, But the streets ain’t paved with gold, And in truth there’s no denying,” “It gets old.”
Undiscovered Talent down on Broadway. Undiscovered Master of the Game. Came here thinking, It would be a short stay. Nashville doesn’t even know, Their name.
The actors may be different, But the stories still the same.
Undiscovered Talent. Master of the Game.
Did you get my friend request, Aquarius? You probably just haven’t checked yet. I totally get it. I wish I could stay logged out that long. But did you get it, though? The friend request I sent? Maybe it went to spam since we don’t have a lot of friends in common. You probably just didn’t see it. Sure, we all want to be independent and self-reliant. But sometimes, Aquarius, we need a little extra reassurance that we’re still connected. It might be as easy as clicking a button. Could you maybe check?
PISCES
Somebody left their fancy sunglasses by the register where I work. It’s been a couple of weeks and they didn’t come back — so I thought I’d see if I like them. Well, Pisces, it turns out they aren’t regular fancy sunglasses. They’ve got a cushioned strap and built-in headphones and there’s some kind of plug coming out of the back. When I put them on, they synced with my phone and now they keep showing me 3D wraparound movies of my cat that died four years ago and I think I wrote this with my mind. Anyway, Pisces, it might feel like reality is more complicated than it used to be, but it’s really not. It’s really just you and the room you’re in and the thoughts in your mind. Augmentations are still optional.
ARIES
My financial advisor says I need a well-structured retirement plan. So I spent all night writing it out. A mysterious man with an eyepatch and a briefcase knocks on my door and hands me a letter from my great aunt Mavarine. “But I’ve never heard of such a person!” I exclaim. “Well, she’s passed away and left you everything.” he says without smiling in the slightest. As the tale develops, I uncover a byzantine web of family secrets and treasures that eventually lead me to realize I never needed the money — my true inheritance was inside me all along! My financial advisor said this narrative, though well-structured, does not count as a retirement plan and that she needs my social security number. Dream big, Aries. And invest moderately.
I hate it when I’m watching a new TV show and I get, like, three episodes in and suddenly there’s a torture scene. They put those scenes in there so they can establish just how terrible the bad-guy is — so we have to see him doing terrible things to some clerk or poet who’s just off camera and I always get really squeazy about the whole thing. What if we didn’t have to assume that everybody who does bad things also does the worst things? I think most villains, even the really villainous ones, are just people who have decided not to see the consequences of their own actions. Sometimes I do that. I’d like to do it less.
Dear Gemini, thank you for your interest in the open position within the zodiac. It’s been a difficult decision, but in the end The Stars have decided to fill the position internally. (To be more specific, Sagittarius decided not to leave for the Enneagram after all and the whole team was very much relieved.) This brings us to the point of your own dissatisfaction with your astrological position. We hope you know that we all feel as though you are doing the absolute best job at being a Gemini that the zodiac could hope for and because of this, The Stars would like to promote you to Gemini Class 2. Please see attached file for job description, rate, and benefits changes. Best.
How much for everything, Cancer? I mean all of it. Your shoes, your bed, your car, the pictures on your phone, your grandmother’s watch, your Must-See-TV bobble-head collection. How much would you take for all of that? If you say there’s no amount, no number, then what are the sticking points? What do you absolutely have to keep? Don’t worry, Cancer, it’s just a thought experiment. But could you live with a little bit less? Or could you share a little bit more? How much would that cost?
I know a guy who fell into the bear enclosure at the zoo. He called for help (quietly, as not to wake up the bear) but nobody came. After a while, he found two long branches that were as high as the enclosure walls. He took sticks and grass and bound them all together into a nine-foot ladder. He leaned it on the edge and climbed all the way out! It was heroic! Now he carries that ladder everywhere he goes, Leo. Always bumping into things and knocking them over. He can barely get inside most places. “It saved my life” he says. It reminds me, Leo, that the tools we once desperately needed may not be the best ones for the life we have now. If it’s in the way today, Leo, set it aside. Even if it saved your life.
I knew I was finally an adult when I bought my first DVD player. Only an adult could do that. Because DVD players allow you to play DVDs and playing DVDs unlocks the possibility of bonus content. There might be a director’s commentary or deleted scenes or — best of all — alternate endings! Like, the movie ends one way but the alternate ending shows you something completely different! So if even the ending isn’t set in stone, Virgo, then anything is possible! We could grow and change, even as adults! There might still be possibilities we haven’t thought of yet. If this week is ending all wrong, Virgo, don’t forget to check for bonus content.
There really aren’t enough days in a week, Libra. You’ve got your regular job and your side job. You’ve got your volunteer commitments and your hobbies. This weekend you’ve got that mini team-building retreat. And your neighborhood clean-up initiative which you did promise to be there for. And your sister is still waiting for you to bring over your post-hole digger for her new post-hole project. If you only had an extra day. Wait, Libra, there is an extra day this year! 366! But don’t you dare use it for any of those things we listed. Don’t let any of that own your extra day. That day is just for you.
I’m trying to practice living in the present, Scorpio. I’ve been listening to this podcast with a meditation teacher who says we’ve only ever got our breath and our five senses and our rootedness in place and..there was something else, too. Sometimes I have a hard time paying attention because when I listen to podcasts I like to play RayvenQuest III on my phone and right when they were listing the four principles of living in the present moment I was battling Corvida Talim of the 7th Rewst and then the microwave beeped that my noodles were done and my earbud fell out. It was pretty intense. Anyway, Scorpio, breathe, feel, know where you are, and…probably one other thing.
I can’t believe Part II is finally coming out, Sagittarius! It feels like forever ago since Part I. Wait, what do you mean you missed Part I, Sagittarius? How are you going to do Part II if you never…OK, OK. I think you still have time. Come by on Thursday. I’ll have Part I ready and we can get started. Hey! What do you mean you’re not really interested in either part? Oh, that’s right, Sagittarius! Not everybody cares about the same things but we can still care about each other! Thanks for reminding me. I’ll meet you back here after I check out Part II.
Well, you learn something new every day. At least, that’s what the bus driver yelled as he was driving away after I got off at the wrong stop and couldn’t find my bus pass which I’m pretty sure is still in my backpack which I’m pretty sure is still on the bus. Sometimes, Capricorn, we don’t need to learn something new. Sometimes we just need to be heard, trusted, and understood. Anyway, if you see me walking up New Airforce Avenue and you can stop and give me a ride, I’d really appreciate it and I won’t even try to teach you anything.
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The 2024 Academy Awards are already being criticized for their schedule. Lots of fans and critics are complaining that by the time the statuettes are handed-out on March 10, the movie conversation will have completely moved-on from 2023. They have a point, but this bloated awards season is also giving everyone a chance to catch up on overlooked films and surprising new conversations that have only recently come to light.
Before the Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 23, nobody was talking about Nyad . But, when Annette Bening was nominated for Best Actress in a movie about a senior citizen swimmer, it shocked Barbie fans who were already reeling after Margot Robbie didn’t get a nomination as the title character of a movie that earned over a billion dollars. Jodie Foster also got nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Nyad , and suddenly everybody’s talking about “that swimming movie.”
Nyad is a biopic focused on long-dis -
tance-swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim from Cuba to Miami beginning at the age of 60 years old. Nyad became a public figure when she swam around Manhattan Island in 1975, and when she swam from Bimini, The Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida in 1979. Nyad first tried to swim from Cuba to Miami in 1978. I can remember being a little kid in Detroit and listening to the radio when the shark cage Nyad was swimming in had been blown too far off course for the swim to continue. Nyad had been in the water for 42 hours before her team dragged her out. She was covered in jellyfish stings and unable to stand without assistance. That was the first time I’d heard the name Portuguese man o’ war. I didn’t know what that was, and I didn’t want to know.
After a life of overachieving, Diana Nyad decided she had to take one more shot at the Cuba swim in 2010. She’d started swimming in the seventh grade shortly after her mother was married to Diana’s stepfather who gave Nyad
her mythic name. A “naiad” is a water nymph in Greek mythology, and if it feels like Nyad’s life in the swimming is a matter of fate, nobody believes that more than she does. Nyad is obviously a world class athlete of exceptional physical capacities, but her superpowers are a tireless pain threshold (critics have compared Nyad ’s tortured physicality to The Passion of the Christ) and a sometimes dangerously delusional level of self-belief.
The reason why Bening is nominated for an Academy Award is because she manages to make the often unlikable Nyad completely compelling. Viewers get swept-up in her crazy confidence and stubborn insistence that the rules of time and physics somehow don’t apply to her and her obvious destiny to do things that normal people would never consider. Bening carries the film from scene to scene, from swim to swim. She’s tortured one minute and hilarious the next. And when you watch the effortless chemistry she has with Foster the movie
turns into a screen acting masterclass. Foster plays Bonnie, Nyad’s longtime friend and trainer, and the pair manage to fill-in the blanks of a decades-long career and personal relationship with every easy smile, eye roll, hurtful admission and tough love pep talk.
Nyad tries to shoehorn the swimmer’s experiences of overcoming sexual assault, but that part of the story feels out of place and even trivialized in a movie that’s paradoxically at its best as something I can only describe as Rocky with grandmas. Nyad is a deeply stirring sports film brimming with guts and pain. And the fact that Diana Nyad’s story is true only makes it seem more unbelievable, more like a myth, like a legend.
Nyad is 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.
