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2020 COMMUNITY NEEDS EVALUATION: NASHVILLE SENIORS
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existentes. Aun así existe mucha incertidumbre sobre el efecto o efectos secundario o consecuencias que estas vacunas, desarro- Por Yuri Cunza Editor in Chief lladas en un tiempo muy corto, puedan @LaNoticiaNews causar. Los estudios realizados hasta el momento, indican que son seguras, pero esto no es suficiente para convencer a los más escepticos. Debido a todo lo que no se sabe y a la existencia de variantes del virus que se esparcen mas facilmente, hemos preparado el siguiente contenido con información del CDC (Centro de Control de las Enfermedades) que esperamos aclare sus dudas.
Estar vacunad@ no significa que no puede contraer COVID-19 o una variante del virus. Tome precauciones siempre.
entornos de ensayos clínicos. Hasta ahora, los estudios que han observado cómo funcionan las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones reales (estudios sobre la efectividad de las vacunas) han demostrado que estas vacunas son efectivas.
Para que la protección sea máxima, las personas deben recibir todas las dosis recomendadas de una vacuna contra el COVID-19.
caciones de cuándo llamar a tu médico: - Vigila tus síntomas. - Llama antes de ir al médico. - Evita el contacto cercano con las otras personas cuando salgas. La mayoría de las personas que contraen el COVID-19 pueden cuidarse por su cuenta en casa. Si necesitas ver a un médico, toma precauciones para protegerte y proteger a los que estén a tu alrededor. Recomendaciones de los CDC: Vacúnese tan pronto como pueda. Para obtener la máxima protección, es necesario recibir todas las dosis recomendadas de la vacuna contra el COVID-19. Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 y las nuevas variantes del virus: Hay nuevas variantes del virus que causa el COVID19 en circulación en los Estados Unidos y en otras partes del mundo. Los datos actuales sugieren que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 autorizadas para usar en los Estados Unidos ofrecen protección contra la mayoría de las variantes que circula en los Estados Unidos. No obstante, algunas variantes podrían ocasionar que algunas personas se enfermen incluso después de recibir la vacuna completa. Lo que no sabemos: La evidencia se limita sobre cómo las nuevas variantes del COVID-19 afectarán la efectividad de las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones reales. Los CDC continuarán monitoreando el funcionamiento de las vacunas para determinar si las variantes tienen algún impacto en la efectividad de las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones del mundo real. Lee más: https://espanol.cdc.gov/enes/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/stepswhen-sick.html Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com
IN THE ISSUE
Por lo general, el organismo demora cerca de 2 semanas en generar inmunidad después de la vacunación. Usted está completamente vacunado dos semanas después de recibir la segunda dosis de la vacuna de Pfizer o de Moderna y dos semanas después de recibir la vacuna de dosis única de J&J/Janssen. Existe la posibilidad de que se infecte por COVID-19 inmediatamente después de la vacunación porque su organismo no ha tenido suficiente tiempo para generar una protección completa. Siga tomando las precauciones hasta estar totalmente vacunado.
Los CDC recomiendan que se vacune contra el COVID-19 apenas haya una vacuna disponible para usted. La investigación demuestra que todas las vacunas contra el COVID-19 autorizadas para ser utilizadas en los Estados Unidos brindan protección contra el COVID-19. Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 reducen el riesgo de infectarse por COVID-19 y sus posibles complicaciones graves. Todas las vacunas contra el COVID-19 que actualmente están autorizadas para ser utilizadas en los Estados Unidos ayudaron a proteger a las personas y evitar que se enfermen gravemente a causa del COVID-19 en
Los datos sobre la efectividad de las vacunas que están disponibles actualmente están relacionados con las vacunas de ARNm (Pfizer-BioNTech y Moderna) porque estas vacunas han estado disponibles durante más tiempo. Los CDC y otros expertos continúan estudiando la efectividad de las vacunas de ARNm y la vacuna Janssen de Johnson & Johnson en condiciones reales. Las investigaciones aportan cada vez más evidencia de que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 de ARNm ofrecen una protección similar en condiciones de la vida real. La vacunación contra el COVID-19 es una herramienta importante para ayudar a detener la pandemia del COVID-19.
Vacunarse contra el COVID-19 ayuda a las personas a protegerse de contagiarse o de enfermarse gravemente a causa del COVID-19, y también podría ayudar a proteger a las personas que las rodean.
Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 ayudan a evitar que los casos de infección en vacunados contra el COVID-19 se enfermen gravemente. Si bien las vacunas son efectivas, existe la posibilidad de que algunas personas se enfermen aunque hayan recibido la vacuna completa contra el COVID-19 porque ninguna vacuna es 100 % efectiva. A estos casos se los denomina casos de infección en vacunados. Los expertos continúan monitoreando y evaluando la frecuencia con la que esto ocurre, la gravedad de la enfermedad y la pro-babilidad de que una persona vacunada contagie el COVID19 a otras. Sin embargo, algunos datos sugieren que la vacunación puede aliviar los síntomas en las personas que están vacunadas, pero de todos modos pueden infectarse por COVID-19. Se ha demostrado que las vacunas de ARNm contra el COVID-19 brindan protección a las personas de todas las edades elegibles para vacunarse al evitar que sean hospitalizadas y que se enfermen gravemente. Esto incluye a las personas de 65 años de edad o más que corren mayor riesgo de tener resultados graves a causa del COVID-19.
Conoce tus derechos: ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada?
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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
Housing Spotlight
Tom Wills, Chair Cathy Jennings, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland, Kerry Graham, Peter Macdonald, Amber DuVentre, Jerome Moore, Erik Flynn
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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.
Moving Pictures
La Noticia + The Contributor
Vendor Writing
David Piñeros captures stunning portraits during the Norf Wall Fest on Saturday, June 12 on Jefferson Street.
La Noticia, one of the leading Spanish-language newspapers in the nation, brings Spanish content to The Contributor.
In this issue, vendors write about social media, the "unforgettable," and how one vendor found out she was pregnant.
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"I can make my own decisions. Think about where I want to go. If I don’t want to go anywhere I don’t have to go anywhere."
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Contributor Board
Contributors This Issue
Hannah Herner • Linda Bailey • Amanda Haggard • Ridley Wills II • Maggie Youngs • Joe Nolan • Yuri Cunza • David Piñeros • Jim Patterson • Mr. Mysterio • Norma B. • John H. • Jen A. • Tyrone M. • Maurice B.
Contributor Volunteers Joe First • Andy Shapiro • Michael Reilly • John Jennings • Janet Kerwood • Logan Ebel • Christine Doeg • Laura Birdsall • Richard Aberdeen • Marissa Young • Robert Thompson
Cathy Jennings Executive Director Tom Wills Director of Vendor Operations Hannah Herner Staff Writer
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
Jesse Call Housing Navigator Raven Lintu Housing Navigator Dymin Cannon Housing Navigator Carli Tharpe Housing Navigator Barbara Womack Advertising Manager
The Contributor now accepts Venmo!
Amanda Haggard & Linda Bailey Co-Editors Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus
Scan the QR Code to the left , 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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HOUSING SPOTLIGHT
HOUSING SPOTLIGHT: DANA GETS TO WORRY ABOUT DANA STORY AND PHOTO BY HANNAH HERNER “Welcome to my home!” Dana opens the door to her pristine efficiency apartment, complete with lit candles and a border of meticulously filled in coloring pages of pets in dress clothes, posted up with scotch tape. Dana finally gets to worry about Dana, after years of caretaking. “I’m free now. It’s all about me now” she says. “I can make my own decisions. Think about where I want to go. If I don’t want to go anywhere I don’t have to go anywhere.” If you frequent Downtown, you may recognize Dana, and you most definitely saw her with Jon “Pops,” a former Contributor vendor. For the last four years, the two of them lived on the streets there. He shunned homeless encampments, and for the most part, shelter of any kind. And she promised she’d take care of him until the very end. “He was so sick, I didn’t want to
leave him by himself, sitting there. Nobody would help him. They’d just walk by and ignore him. I promised him that I wouldn’t leave him, I’d be there until the day he died. And I was. I couldn’t go off and do anything. I had to be right there if he wanted to go to the bathroom or get something to eat,” Dana says. “He couldn’t do it on his own. That’s what stopped me from getting a lot of things. ” The pair had been together for 20 years, and she followed him as he tried to outrun paying child support. She supported them by cleaning hotels, at times when she was living outside herself. They’d lived in a lot of places, but Nashville was where she aspired to be, to “meet the stars.” Some of her favorites are Alan Jackson and Billy Ray Cyrus. Garth Brooks once walked by while she was living on the streets. After Jon died in the winter of 2019,
she went to her home state of Michigan to help a friend take care of her partner in the end stages of life. Then she came back to Nashville. She and Jon hadn’t sought out housing in years because he said he wanted to be on the streets, but now, she was ready. She worked with The Contributor’s housing navigators to make it a reality. “I just told myself, ‘I’m going to do it. I’m going to get me a place.’ That was one of my goals. And I’ve done it,” Dana says. The change couldn’t have come fast enough — she was in the hospital for dehydration and heat exhaustion just a few days prior to her move-in. The years on the streets had taken a toll on her kidneys, too. Now, she can lock her doors, away from the dangers of being a woman on the streets. “It’s nice and quiet, I can turn everything off, close my blinds,” she says
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“I got my nightlight in there, leave that on. I can just lay down anytime I want and go to sleep. It’s the nicest feeling. I can take a shower whenever I want, not having to pay 14 dollars at the truck stop to take a shower. I’m enjoying this, believe me. I’m not getting any younger. I’ll be 69 next month.” She’s back to singing along to gospel music at Robert’s Western World on Sundays, and hopes to get a keyboard to play, a double burner to cook, and eventually move into a larger apartment with a kitchen. She’s pondering going back to a Lutheran Church she used to attend, too. Plus, she’ll finish her border of art around the whole room. She’s taken to picking up the colored pencil instead of picking up a cigarette lately. That evening, she’ll make dinner for a couple friends she met on the streets, who now live in the same complex. Dana still has it in her to care for others.
NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER
GENY ALL STARS BY RIDLEY WILLS II In the 1920s, there was a Nashville amateur football league whose champion in 1927 was Oscar Geny and Sons All Stars. The team finished the year with a 12-0 record, climaxed by a 12-0 win over Louisville Bonnycastle, the defending national amateur champion. Although most who read this may not remember the Geny All Stars, the team was loaded with MBA players. Two Geny All Stars,“Chile” Hardin and Eugene “Chin” Johnson, were named as MBA stars to the fourth annual All Southern preparatory and high school team in 1925.
The next year, Robbie Worrall, a Geny All Star, and a junior at MBA, was one of two Tennesseans named to the fifth annual All Southern team. Robbie repeated as an All Southern running back in 1927. That year, the Geny All Star’s coach was Kirk Kirkpatrick, also the MBA football coach in 1925, 1926 and 1927, where his teams were undefeated. In 1928, Kirkpatrick moved to Sewanee, where he was assistant football coach. He took with him five MBA starters, including Worrall. Also on the 1927 Geny All Stars team was a
young Cathedral athlete, Wille Geny, who would in 1935, be football captain and an All Southeastern Conference end at Vanderbilt. Oscar “Butts” Geny, Jr., who had started for MBA in 1924 and 1925, was on the 1928 Geny team that defeated MBA6-0, giving the Maroons their first defeat since 1924. If that was not enough fire-power, the 1927 Geny All Stars also had future Vanderbilt coach Red Sanders as a team member. I believe the Geny All Stars played their home games at Sulphur Dell. The puzzle to me is that, in 1927, the Geny Coach Kirk Kirk-
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patrick and his star running back, Robbie Worrall, were also coaching and playing at MBA. In those days, rules for high school athletics were extremely lax. For example, MBA’s star tackle, Jay Patton, didn’t have any family in Nashville. Nevertheless, he started for MBA in 1927 and 1928, made possible because he lived in the attic of the new main building. MBA was, in 1926, 1927 and 1928, a member of the Tennessee Interscholastic Athletic Association (TIAA), among whose other members were BGA, Branham and Hughes, Duncan and Hume Fogg.
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COVER STORY
“It surprised me how low the fixed incomes are of so many seniors... So it makes for so many challenges. It's a shame, but not a surprise [that one in 10 live in poverty].” - GRETCHEN FUNK, CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER OF FIFTYFORWARD
Cover: Larry Collins and his dog. Image by Dan Heller. Above: Ms. Hester recieves wheat bread to her front porch. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FIFTYFORWARD
One in 10 seniors in Nashville live in poverty BY HANNAH HERNER One in 10 seniors live in poverty, according to the 2020 Community Needs Evaluation, a report put together by Metro Nashville Social Services. Local organizations look for ways to make fixed incomes stretch, and keep seniors independent for as long as possible, but there are limits to this help. “It surprised me how low the fixed incomes are of so many seniors when they get to a certain point, and that you know, you might have $700 per month, not in the workforce anymore, no ability to increase that amount,” says Gretchen Funk, chief program officer of FiftyForward. “So it makes for so many challenges. It's a shame, but not a surprise [that one in 10 live in poverty].” With that fixed income comes challenges with finding affordable housing, especially if the person has been evicted in the past or has a criminal record, or if they have a non-senior living with them. Add on top of that, add the unfamiliarity of using the internet for research and housing applications. “I think what happens with seniors, is that they have other barriers that relate to physical frailty or cognitive decline, and the limited resources that make it hard for them to even know what's out there to help them. So you have the issue, but how can you even connect? You know there's a lot of bureaucracy, we all know that, you know there are benefits that might be there but are hard to access,” says Funk. “So a lot of what we do is to be sure that we are up to date with anything that's available for seniors, so that when they get to us, then we can connect them to what's available.” That’s why the Greater Nashville Regional Council and FiftyForward both staff helplines.
Fifty Forward resource line 615-743-3416 Greater Nashville Regional Council Helpline 615-255-1010 These organizations help seniors cut through the bureaucracy and online forms to get affordable housing and other resources. Once they’re in housing, GNRC and Fifty Forward strive to get people the help they need to take care of themselves and their home, so they can stay there, and out of a nursing home. According to a study from AARP released in 2020, Tennessee ranks 43rd in the country for overall quality of long-term services and support for seniors. The state also ranks 43rd in supply of home health aides, according to the same study. This is something that comes up often for GNRC and FiftyForward. The organizations they contract with to provide the care don’t have the staffing they need. So waiting lists grow. And once on that waiting list, there’s a hierarchy, in an effort to ensure those the most in need get care first. “If they're on our waiting list, we try to contact them every so often,” says Sara Fowler, director of the Department of Aging and Disability with GNRC. “We have certain timeframes that we do follow ups, to see if their needs have changed, because maybe their eligibility has increased, or their priority has increased, their needs have increased. So we can find that information out and possibly provide services.” GNRC and FiftyForward often connect
folks with the TennCare-funded CHOICES and OPTIONS programs, which provide care in the home. The latter has a two-year-long waitlist, and the former requires that the person needs a very high level of care, like the level of a nursing home. Bonnie Peters, a participant in FiftyForward’s food delivery and day services at one of the organization’s seven area centers, says the program staff helped her figure out if she could get food stamps and helped her find affordable housing. Now she lives somewhere that’s based on her income. Through the FiftyForward Fresh program, the organization distributes pre-made meals to about 150 seniors each week, including Bonnie. She says it brings peace to her and her family that there are people from FiftyForward checking up on her. “If I don't make it here, one day that I'm scheduled to come, they will call and check. Are you OK? Is everything all right? I think it helps you to be able to stay independent,” Peters says. “The food, that helps a lot. Just the getting out is really big. But being able to socialize and meet other people and help out, it makes you feel needed and appreciated.” But not all people have the support of family like Peters. FiftyForward takes on conservatorship for about 30 people a year, an emergency
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court-ordered power of attorney for seniors who don’t have a trusted friend or family member to look after their affairs. For the conservatorship program there are fees, and while the nonprofit has taken on pro-bono clients in the past, its budget doesn’t allow for that at this time. There are 35 to 40 people in the program in any given year who receive 24/7 on-call support, but Funk knows the need is much higher. Seniors need help with tasks and companionship, but they’re also really vulnerable. So they don’t want to let just anyone help out. “We advocate with the court all the time and probate court realizes that there's a huge need for people to represent the needs of the disenfranchised, but it's a hard problem to solve, to find folks who really will always have the best interests of the person at heart, take on what is really a huge responsibility,” Funk says. Fowler would like to see organizations have more capacity and funds that are less regulated. This tends to be true of any government funding. Most of GNRC’s comes from the government’s Older Americans Act, which is designed to fund critical services for seniors. And as people age, the GNRC doesn’t want to take on more cases unless they know the funding will be there for years to come. “I would love the freedom of how to best serve people,” Fowler says. “A lot of times, any agencies that raise funding, you have to follow the eligibility of the funding, the contracts, you know, all those things. And that's hard for other people like outside people to see, it does feel like oh, they're, they're just not helping, or they're not doing enough. But a lot of agencies are limited by the constraints of the funding.”
NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS Affordable Housing Task Force report released On June 8, the city’s 22-person affordable housing task force released its report that detailed nine high-priority recommendations. This task force looks to address the fact that 65,000 households (just under half of the total) pay more than 30 percent of their income toward rent or a mortgage, meaning they are cost-burdened. To avoid a potential 50,000-unit affordable housing shortage by 2030, annual production of units should increase fourfold, from the current average of 1,350 to 5,250 units. The recommendations are: • Increasing the Barnes Housing Trust fund to $30 million with reliable revenue. • Increase capacity in data management, including adding a coordinated global housing strategy. • Pursue new revenue sources, including small ones, with the hope of having more reliable funding pools for affordable housing. • Start a Catalyst Fund to try and preserve expiring subsidized units and naturally occurring affordable housing. • Put to use underutilized public lands for affordable housing. • Partner with statewide allies to work on solutions. • Expand Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to support Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) developments and Non-LIHTC developments to fund longterm housing options with the help of nonprofits and private developers. • Reduce zoning barriers to making appropriate density that also includes affordable housing. • Invest in the MDHA Envision re-design of public housing and improve the impact
of housing vouchers, with an emphasis on people with very low income and people experiencing homelessness. “Nashville must be a city that works for everyone,” Mayor Cooper said in the release. “And – in a city that works for everyone – everyone who works here should be able to live here. That includes our teachers, first responders and food service workers – the essential workers who got us through this past year.”
Metro to participate in new overdose spike text notification pilot program The Metro Public Health Department will now participate in a new text notification pilot program to alert the public of spikes in overdose activity. MPHD is one of five jurisdictions in the U.S. and the only one in Tennessee that will be part of the pilot project developed by Partnership to End Addiction. The MPHD Opioid/ Overdose Response and Reduction Program continuously monitors data about drug use and outcomes across the community. These text notifications will be used by public health officials in hopes of reaching those who are at risk of suffering an overdose and their families when indications of increases in overdoses are recognized. High levels of drug overdoses continue to be reported in Nashville and Middle Tennessee. More people have died of a drug overdose in the first 19 weeks of 2021 than in the same time period in 2020, according to a Metro release. The total number of suspected fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses have remained largely in line with 2020 numbers, a year that saw more suspected overdoses and overdose deaths than any prior year. Drug overdoses have risen steadily over the past five years. The MPHD Opioid/Overdose Response and Reduction Program uses several data sources to detect acute increases in overdoses occurring in the community, including the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, according to a release. If an increase is detected, those who have opted in to receive text messages will receive an alert about what was detected. Those who are interested in receiving text updates can text “SPIKE” to 1-855-963-5669 and complete the automatic response form.
Metro offers new vaccine incentives Mayor John Cooper announced a new “Shots on Goal” vaccination campaign in Nashville. The campaign will incentivize residents to get their COVID-19 vaccine shot so Nashville can reach the goal of herd immunity — currently around half of Nashville’s population is vaccinated. Recipients of the vaccine at five pop-up vaccine clinics in June will receive a coupon booklet with 11 different incentives with a total face value of $100. Twenty local businesses and Nashville Soccer Club are participating in the “Shots on Goal” campaign. To receive a coupon booklet, you must receive your first vaccine shot at one of the pop-ups listed below: • Saturday, June 26 at Nissan Stadium before/during Nashville SC match: 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. • Sunday, June 27 at 12 South Taproom 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Deals in the Coupon Booklet: • One free Bavarian pretzel at Von Elrod’s Beer Hall and Kitchen • $5 in value to spend at Barista Parlor
June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9
• One free slice of cake at the Café at Thistle Farms • QR code for a discounted ticket to a Nashville Soccer Club match in June or July • $5 in free play at Tito’s Playland at Plaza Mariachi • One free Nashville Style Sandwich at Edley’s Bar-BQue • One free workout class at one of the following gyms: 80/20 Fitness, Booth Camp, QNTM Fit Life • $10 in value to spend at either 8th & Roast or Gram’s Coffee • One free beer at one of the following: Tennessee Brew Works, The Listening Room Café, Rudy’s Jazz Room, Third Coast Comedy Club • One free beer at one of the following: Fleet Street Pub, Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Sinema
LOCAL ACTIVISM
Portraits of people attending the Norf Wall Fest on Saturday, June 12 on Jefferson Street. Artists painted and performed, as muralist Jay Jenkins (Woke3) painted a huge wall that will depict social leaders, community members, and perspectives of the future in North Nashville. This will serve as "a public art intervention to embrace the beauty in North Nashville and transform the neighborhood." Photos By David Piñeros
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DALE ANN BRADLEY
DALE ANN BRADLEY GETS SERIOUS BY JIM PAT TERSON Dale Ann Bradley, an artist better known for casual virtuosity than outspokenness, found herself motivated to take on social issues on her first album since the pandemic. “You knocked me down, you just can't let it be/You think you've got the right to,” Bradley aggressively opens the Things She Couldn’t Get Over album on Pinecastle Records. “When you push me to the ledge, it's plain to see/You think nothing's wrong with you.” Is the song, “Living on the Edge,” a response to physical abuse? It could be, but not necessarily, said Bradley in a telephone interview with The Contributor from her Kentucky home. “I think it’s any kind of bullying, abuse, any kind of manipulating,” said the bluegrass veteran, whose career stretches back to the early 1990s when she started out as a member of the New Coon Creek Girls. She recently ended a long stint with the Sister Sadie, who was named best entertainer and vocal group in 2020 by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Bradley has won five IBMA Awards for best female vocalist. “You’re not going to bully me anymore, or smack me a bit with your opinions about
anything,” Bradley added. With three songs written or co-written by Bradley, the album covers the mistreatment of Native Americans, mental illness and Vietnam War veterans. There’s a touch of confessional singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne on the album, along with folk. “I’ve never been a big activist, but I certainly have the consciousness to say something when I feel it needs to be said,” Bradley said. Her warm, comforting voice and subtle acoustic backing from her band Moon Runner allow the messages to go down easy. On “Lynwood,” written by David Morris, Gordon Roberts and Donate Gardner, she weaves in instrumental allusions to Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” before singing a snippet of that song’s chorus at the end. The song chronicles the decline of a war veteran. “Bluegrass resembles its larger cousin, country music, in the way that it’s dealt — or hasn’t dealt — with current issues,” said Jon Weisberger, a bluegrass songwriter and award-winning music journalist. “Oblique references, or the casting of themes in a sort of general light, rather than
treating specific events, policies or socio-political trends, tends to be the order of the day. Work and social or cultural or economic environments are more likely to appear as background ‘facts of life’ than as focal points for lyrics.” The album’s tone was set with the first song recorded for the project, “Things She Couldn’t Get Over.” The only selection solely penned by Bradley is an autobiographical look at a mentally ill woman’s struggle to cope. Bradley went to high school with the woman who inspired the song. School officials let the afflicted girl wander the halls most of the day since she wasn’t able to settle down in a classroom. “After a few episodes of trying to handle the situation wrong, because they didn’t know what to do, they would just let her go,” Bradley said. “She had some pretty crippling issues.” On most of her solo albums, Bradley records a cover song as a bluegrass romp. In the past she’s done hits by Journey (“Wheel in the Sky”), Stealers Wheel (“Stuck in the Middle With You”), Fleetwood Mac (“Over My Head”) and Tom Petty (“I Won’t Back Down”).
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“Dale Ann’s something of a unique figure in bluegrass, insofar as her personal roots are so deep in rural southeastern Kentucky soil — an area that has leaned strongly toward the ‘mountain’ style of bluegrass exemplified by the Ralph Stanley sound, not to mention a pretty conservative kind of culture,” Weisberger said. “(At the same time) her musical tastes and interests have been relatively eclectic, as exemplified by the variety of rock, pop, folk and country songs she’s covered over the years.” This time around, she didn’t find room for one of those. “I think it was maybe the way society and we all have been the past year and a half (because of the coronavirus),” Bradley said. “As a person, I feel like I’ve grown from singing the lyrics (on the new album),” she said. “I hope it brings about positive and good and loving change.” The album ends appropriately with “In The End” written by Jill Gilliam, about what’s really important in life. “Did you do your best?/Did you love your most?” she sings. “That’s what matters in the end.”
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: UNITED STREETS OF AMERICA
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE STREET SHEET
THE UNITED STREETS OF AMERICA
San Francisco’s ‘The Street Sheet’ has a Phil Collins origin story BY MAGGIE YOUNGS The Street Sheet is the street paper of San Francisco, designed to empower the unhoused in the city. The paper was birthed out of the Coalition of Homelessness in San Francisco in 1990 during a Phil Collins’s concert where he performed his song, “Another Day in Paradise.” Collins contacted the coalition, asking if they would set up a table for the event. The coalition agreed and printed a newsletter about The Coalition of Homelessness, but struggled to move the product on the day of the concert. Then, an idea sparked –– to have the unhoused distribute the paper, allowing vendors to keep any profits earned. The Street Sheet was born. The paper is currently lead by editor Quiver Watts, assistant editor TJ Johnston and vendor coordinator Emmett House, empowering 200 hundred active vendors in the city. I had the opportunity to join Johnston on Zoom as he shared about his experience with The Street Sheet, particularly over this last year. How did you become involved with The Street Sheet? Why? I became involved around 2001. I decided
to attend a local workshop held in the city. I assumed that it was going to be about short stories or something, but instead it was about journalism. In the workshop, we investigated nonprofits that help the impoverished while receiving extensive salaries. The final project was published by The Street Sheet. I became assistant editor in 2015. When becoming editor, I had been involved with the coalition in various capacities for about 20 years. California has been particularly prominent in the news over the last year. What would you say have been the biggest challenges and victories of the homeless community in San Francisco? There have been many of the same problems that there have always been, but now they’re more visible. Before the pandemic, the shelter reservation wait list was about a thousand people long, meaning it could take six months for someone to get on the list. There’s a scarcity of accessible services for unhoused people and those living unhoused are well aware of it. When people refuse services, it’s often
not that the people are service-resistant, but that the services are people-resistant. In other words, there are often long wait lists and additional restrictions that make it difficult for people to receive proper services. When the emergency order came down in San Francisco, the focus was on the public health emergency — making sure that unhoused people stayed healthy. The coalition’s efforts were to make sure they had access to hygiene items. We also saw the pandemic as an opportunity to get people housed. We had to push the mayor to open up hotel rooms, but we were able to get about 2,000 people housed in shelter in place hotels. How did The Street Sheet have to pivot? We printed our last issue in March of 2020. We were still able to publish articles online, but this posed a problem for vendors of the paper, particularly those for whom it was their only sense of income, so we had to rethink our distribution model. A lot of our focus was on protecting unhoused people and making sure they stayed alive and healthy. One way to keep vendors
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afloat was through a vendor grant program where we fundraised to help vendors get money. We started distributing physical copies of the paper again in January of 2021, but are currently issuing once a month instead of twice. What are your hopes and expectations for The Street Sheet and those experiencing homelessness in San Francisco moving forward? The hotel program is currently being phased out and will end sometime in the fall. The current challenge is figuring out how to move people into actual housing instead of back into encampments and shelters. It’s like the old saying that crisis equals opportunity. We are hoping that the city sees the opportunity in this crisis to house as many people as possible, finding viable exits out of homelessness and opportunities for the unhoused to regain status in the community. Myself and the coalition believe that housing is a human right, and it’s up to the city and country to recognize and grant those inherent rights. Regarding the paper — fingers crossed that it will go back to being printed more.
MOVING PICTURES
‘A complete catalog of my entire mythological world...’ THE BELCOURT THEATRE’S FELLINI FESTIVAL HITS THE ROAD WITH 'LA STRADA' BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC
Federico Fellini began his film apprenticeship in the 1940s after director Roberto Rosselini discovered him at the Funny Face Shop — the storefront where Fellini and Italian comics artist Enrico De Seta survived the post-war recession in Rome by selling caricatures to American soldiers. Fellini took quickly to Rosselini’s signature style of neorealist filmmaking, and he and Sergio Amidei received an Academy Award nomination for their Rome, Open City (1945) screenplay. Fellini was poised to make a breakthrough in 1954 after the hit-and-miss receptions received by his first films as a director. Fellini called La Strada, “a complete catalog of my entire mythological world,” and the film brims with clowns, circuses, parades, images of the seaside, and figures suspended in the sky. All of these visual elements recur throughout the director’s filmography, and La Strada is the first emblematic example of what we talk about
when we talk about “Fellini-esque” cinema. La Strada — “The Road” — is one of Fellini’s simplest stories. It’s a fable-like tale about an itinerant strongman who buys a widow’s daughter to cook his meals, clean the wagon that serves as their house, and to act as his sidekick in his strength stunt performances. Gelsomina is mentally disabled and rarely speaks. Zampanò, the strongman, is abusive and dishonest, but an unlikely bond develops between the two, bringing a complicated twist to a heartfelt story about art and love and vagabond life on the road. Italian neorealism cast the aftermath of World War 2 as a backdrop, but La Strada reads more like a fairytale yarn that twists through small villages and the Italian countryside just like the winding road where Zampanò and Gelsomina live their lives and perform their acts. There’s a timeless quality to La Strada, and the surreal magic of circuses and carnivals
punctuate this tale with moments of unexpected mystery and magic: Gelsomina gets lost in a Catholic procession in the tight streets of a village. When she stumbles across another stunt performer in the midst of his high-wire act it reads like a miracle. When Gelsomina performs her clown act for a sick boy at a convent he’s speechless as if he can’t believe she’s real. That scene with the misshapen boy features lighting and camera work that reveal Fellini moving away from the raw immediacy of neorealism towards the stylized, fantastical films he became known for. At the beating heart of La Strada are the pair of performances by Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina. Quinn is brutish and nearly feral in his
portrayal of Zampanò. Quinn growls and bellows his dialog when he’s not breaking chains or drinking wine. Zampanò is always hungry for more meat, thirsty for more alcohol, and on the lookout for another woman to share the night with before pushing off to the next town. Quinn staggers and swaggers from scene to scene full of selfishness and cruelty without ever becoming merely a macho cartoon. Masina is miraculous as Gelsomina. The “simpleminded” girl has nearly no dialog and Masina manages what amounts to something like a silent movie performance full of physical comedy, dancing, and countless stares, smiles, smirks, grimaces and pouts from her ceaselessly expressive face. Masina wears a bowler hat while
June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 13
performing in Zampanò’s act and her timeless performance in La Strada has rightly been compared to Charlie Chaplin. La Strada was the first Fellini film I ever saw, and it’s a great pick to kick-off the Belcourt Theatre’s Essential Fellini program which includes the director’s lesser-known early films as well as classics like 8 ½ and La Dolce Vita. La Strada opens at the Belcourt Theatre June 25. Go to www. belcourt.org for times, tickets and discounted passes for the entire series
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.
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...
L a N ticia 2021
GRATIS
Junio/2
Escanee esta imagen para ver La Noticia newspaper edición bilingüe digital
www.hispanicpaper.com
Año 19 - No. 332
“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”
Nashville, Tennessee
¿Funcionan las vacunas contra el COVID-19?
En los Estados Unidos tenemos la fortuna del acceso gratuito y la abundancia de las tres mejores vacunas existentes. Aun así existe mucha incertidumbre sobre el efecto o efectos secundario o consecuencias que estas vacunas, desarro- Por Yuri Cunza Editor in Chief lladas en un tiempo muy corto, puedan @LaNoticiaNews causar. Los estudios realizados hasta el momento, indican que son seguras, pero esto no es suficiente para convencer a los más escepticos. Debido a todo lo que no se sabe y a la existencia de variantes del virus que se esparcen mas facilmente, hemos preparado el siguiente contenido con información del CDC (Centro de Control de las Enfermedades) que esperamos aclare sus dudas. Por lo general, el organismo demora cerca de 2 semanas en generar inmunidad después de la vacunación. Usted está completamente vacunado dos semanas después de recibir la segunda dosis de la vacuna de Pfizer o de Moderna y dos semanas después de recibir la vacuna de dosis única de J&J/Janssen. Existe la posibilidad de que se infecte por COVID-19 inmediatamente después de la vacunación porque su organismo no ha tenido suficiente tiempo para generar una protección completa. Siga tomando las precauciones hasta estar totalmente vacunado. Los CDC recomiendan que se vacune contra el COVID-19 apenas haya una vacuna disponible para usted. La investigación demuestra que todas las vacunas contra el COVID-19 autorizadas para ser utilizadas en los Estados Unidos brindan protección contra el COVID-19. Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 reducen el riesgo de infectarse por COVID-19 y sus posibles complicaciones graves. Todas las vacunas contra el COVID-19 que actualmente están autorizadas para ser utilizadas en los Estados Unidos ayudaron a proteger a las personas y evitar que se enfermen gravemente a causa del COVID-19 en
¿Crees que podrías tener el COVID-19?
Estar vacunad@ no significa que no puede contraer COVID-19 o una variante del virus. Tome precauciones siempre.
entornos de ensayos clínicos. Hasta ahora, los estudios que han observado cómo funcionan las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones reales (estudios sobre la efectividad de las vacunas) han demostrado que estas vacunas son efectivas. Los datos sobre la efectividad de las vacunas que están disponibles actualmente están relacionados con las vacunas de ARNm (Pfizer-BioNTech y Moderna) porque estas vacunas han estado disponibles durante más tiempo. Los CDC y otros expertos continúan estudiando la efectividad de las vacunas de ARNm y la vacuna Janssen de Johnson & Johnson en condiciones reales. Las investigaciones aportan cada vez más evidencia de que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 de ARNm ofrecen una protección similar en condiciones de la vida real. La vacunación contra el COVID-19 es una herramienta importante para ayudar a detener la pandemia del COVID-19.
Vacunarse contra el COVID-19 ayuda a las personas a protegerse de contagiarse o de enfermarse gravemente a causa del COVID-19, y también podría ayudar a proteger a las personas que las rodean.
Para que la protección sea máxima, las personas deben recibir todas las dosis recomendadas de una vacuna contra el COVID-19. Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 ayudan a evitar que los casos de infección en vacunados contra el COVID-19 se enfermen gravemente. Si bien las vacunas son efectivas, existe la posibilidad de que algunas personas se enfermen aunque hayan recibido la vacuna completa contra el COVID-19 porque ninguna vacuna es 100 % efectiva. A estos casos se los denomina casos de infección en vacunados. Los expertos continúan monitoreando y evaluando la frecuencia con la que esto ocurre, la gravedad de la enfermedad y la pro-babilidad de que una persona vacunada contagie el COVID19 a otras. Sin embargo, algunos datos sugieren que la vacunación puede aliviar los síntomas en las personas que están vacunadas, pero de todos modos pueden infectarse por COVID-19. Se ha demostrado que las vacunas de ARNm contra el COVID-19 brindan protección a las personas de todas las edades elegibles para vacunarse al evitar que sean hospitalizadas y que se enfermen gravemente. Esto incluye a las personas de 65 años de edad o más que corren mayor riesgo de tener resultados graves a causa del COVID-19.
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 juaneseUSA@gmail.com
PAGE 14 | June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Si crees que estás enfermo, sigue las indicaciones de cuándo llamar a tu médico: - Vigila tus síntomas. - Llama antes de ir al médico. - Evita el contacto cercano con las otras personas cuando salgas. La mayoría de las personas que contraen el COVID-19 pueden cuidarse por su cuenta en casa. Si necesitas ver a un médico, toma precauciones para protegerte y proteger a los que estén a tu alrededor. Recomendaciones de los CDC: Vacúnese tan pronto como pueda. Para obtener la máxima protección, es necesario recibir todas las dosis recomendadas de la vacuna contra el COVID-19. Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 y las nuevas variantes del virus: Hay nuevas variantes del virus que causa el COVID19 en circulación en los Estados Unidos y en otras partes del mundo. Los datos actuales sugieren que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 autorizadas para usar en los Estados Unidos ofrecen protección contra la mayoría de las variantes que circula en los Estados Unidos. No obstante, algunas variantes podrían ocasionar que algunas personas se enfermen incluso después de recibir la vacuna completa. Lo que no sabemos: La evidencia se limita sobre cómo las nuevas variantes del COVID-19 afectarán la efectividad de las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones reales. Los CDC continuarán monitoreando el funcionamiento de las vacunas para determinar si las variantes tienen algún impacto en la efectividad de las vacunas contra el COVID-19 en condiciones del mundo real. Lee más: https://espanol.cdc.gov/enes/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/stepswhen-sick.html Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com
The New Christian Year Selected by Charles Williams
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
4th Wednesday after Trinity NOR do all these, youth out of infancy, or age out of youth, arise so, as a phoenix out of the ashes of another phoenix formerly dead, but as a wasp, or a serpent out of carrion, or as a snake out of dung; our youth is worse than our infancy, and our age worse than our youths; our youth is hungry and thirsty after those sins which our infancy knew not, and our age is sorry and angry that it cannot pursue those sins which our youth did. Donne: Sermons.
Feast of the Nativity of St. John, The Baptist THE precursor (John the Baptist) confirms Christ as being he who is expected. But . . . that is not a respectful relationship, for in order to confirm something one must oneself be the stronger. It is therefore John the Baptist who sends disciples to Christ in order to ask him whether he is the one who was to come—so that it is Christ who after having answered the disciples ends by confirming John the Baptist, saying he is quite truly the precursor; it is not Christ who confirms himself by the authority of the precursor . . . no, it is he who draws the precursor within the sphere of his authority and by virtue of his authority confirms him as being the genuine precursor. The word of the precursor, that Christ is the expected, is only to be believed after Christ has confirmed the fact that the precursor really is the precursor. Kierkegaard: Journals.
4th Thursday after Trinity LORD, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning. Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times. IF thou knewest thy sins, thou wouldst lose heart. Pascal: Pensées.
4th Friday after Trinity ABBA John used to say, "We relinquish a light burden when we condemn ourselves, but we take upon ourselves a heavy burden when we justify ourselves." The Paradise of the Fathers. I LOVE thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine abominations. Pascal: Pensées.
4th Saturday after Trinity THE ten Commandments, when written by God on the tables of stone and given to man, did not then first begin to belong to man; they had their existence in man, were born with him, they lay as a seed and power of goodness, hidden in the form and make of his soul and altogether inseparable from it, before they were shown to man on tables of stone. And when they were shown to man on tables of stone, they were only outward imitations of that which was inwardly in man, though not legible because of that impurity of flesh and blood in which they were drowned and swallowed up. William Law: The Spirit of Love.
Fourth Sunday after Trinity WHAT is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in the foreknowing, and predestinating us; but that joy was not in us,
because then we did not exist: it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed; which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again. St Augustine, quoted in Aquinas, Catena Aurea.
5th Monday after Trinity THOUGH he were innocence itself, and knew no sin, yet there was no sin that he knew not, for, all our sins were his. He was not only made man, and by taking (by admitting, though not by committing) our sins, as well as our nature, sinful man; but he was made sin for our sakes. Donne: Sermons. THY conversion is My affair; fear not, and pray with confidence as for Me. Pascal: Pensées.
Feast of St. Peter [OF the Cross] Its breadth lies in the transverse beam on which the hands of the Crucified are extended; and signifies good works in all the breadth of love: its length extends from the transverse beam to the ground, and is that whereto the back and feet are affixed; and signifies perseverance through the whole length of time to the end: its height is in the summit, which rises upwards above the transverse beam; and signifies the supernal goal, to which all works have reference, since all things that are done well and perseveringly, in respect of their breadth and length, are to be done also with due regard to the exalted character of the divine rewards: its depth is found in the part that is fixed into the ground; for there it is both concealed and invisible, and yet from thence spring up all those parts that are outstanding and evident to the senses; just as all that is good in us proceeds from the depths of the grace of God, which is beyond the reach of human comprehension and judgement. St Augustine: On I John.
5th Tuesday after Trinity CONSIDER that Jesus suffered in His heart with all the knowledge of a God, and that in His heart there was every human heart and every form of suffering from Adam until the consummation of the world. Ah yes, to suffer for others can be a great joy if one has a generous soul, but to suffer in others is to really suffer! Léon Bloy: Letters to his Fiancée. THE Jews, in testing if he were God, have shown that he was man. Pascal: Pensées.
5th Wednesday after Trinity THERE is a moving absurdity about all human categories when they are applied to Christ; for if one could talk absolutely humanly about Christ one would have to say that the words: "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" are impatient and untrue. They can only be true if God says them, and consequently also when the GodMan days them. And indeed—since it is true, it is the very limit of suffering. Kierkegaard: Journals. NO single teardrop lieth hid from thee, my God, my Maker, my Deliverer, no, nor any part thereof. The Orthodox Liturgy: Prayers of St Simeon.
5th Thursday after Trinity THE greatest exercise at once of the Divine goodness, and wisdom, and power, is to bring good out of evil. St Clement: Stromata. MAN must be lenient with his soul in her weaknesses and imperfections and suffer her failings as he suffers those of others, but he must not become idle, and must encourage himself to better things. St Seraphim of Sarov.
5th Friday after Trinity THE only remedy for having given up a habit of recollection is to recommence it, otherwise the soul will continue to lose it more and more every day, and God grant it may realize its danger. St Teresa: The Interior Castle. WE make an idol of truth itself; for truth apart from charity is not God, but his image and idol which we must neither love nor adore, and still less must we love and adore its opposite—namely, falsehood. Pascal: Pensées.
5th Saturday after Trinity THREE kinds of men see God. The first see him in faith; they know no more of him than what they can make out through a partition. The second behold God in the light of grace but only as the answer to their longings, as giving them sweetness, devotion, inwardness and other such-like things which are issuing from his gift. The third kind see him in the divine light. Eckhart: Sermons and Collations.
Fifth Sunday after Trinity YOU must not reckon with sin, from the nativity, but the conception; when you conceived that sin in your purpose, then you sinned that sin, and in every letter, in every discourse, in every present, in every wish, in every dream, that conduces to that sin, or rises from that sin, you sin it over and over again, before you come to the committing of it, and so your sin is an old, an inveterate sin, before it is born, and that which you call the first, is not the hundredth time, that you have sinned that sin. Donne: Sermons.
6th Monday after Trinity LORD, often have I thought with myself, I will sin but this one sin more, and then I will repent of it, and of all the rest of my sins together. So foolish was I and ignorant. As if I should be more able to pay my debts when I owe more: or as if I should say, I will wound my friend once again, and then I will lovingly shake hands with him: but what if my friend will not shake hands with me? Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
6th Tuesday after Trinity SCARCELY is there any man that hath delight in worship,
but that he is either in great peril of falling, or else fully fallen down into the pit of deadly sin, as we may see by many reasons: first, for also much as he that hath great delight is busy all times in his mind how he may keep his worship and made it more . . . Also he that loveth worship is busy to procure and get him friends that may keep him in his worship, and also further him to greater worship . . . Also commonly he hath indignation of others that be in worship and backbiteth them to make himself more worshipful and more worthy. And so he falleth into hate and envy of his brother.
June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 15
The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, trs. by Nicholas Love.
FUN
HOBOSCOPES CANCER
For the last 64 years, we’ve been launching rockets into space. And in that relatively short period of time, we’ve managed to create a layer of trash that floats around the earth. The U.S. Department of Defense currently tracks 23,000 pieces of space junk. They’re little bits of rockets and broken satellites that travel around the planet at thousands of miles an hour. Everything we do has unintended consequences, Cancer. Sometimes it’s worth it. Sometimes it’s not. But pay attention to what sort of debris your big project is leaving behind. If nothing else, you want to make sure you don’t collide with it next time you launch.
LEO
The first zoos were collections of exotic animals kept by emperors, kings and generals. More than 5,000 years ago, elephants, baboons and antelope were housed in cages in Egypt for the enjoyment of the pharaoh. In ancient Rome, strange animals were pitted against each other in battle to the cheers of crowds. In 18th century Europe, zoos became places for academics to study and observe wildlife in habitats resembling their own. Today I bought a churro and a $40 sun-hat that I’ll never wear again so I can take part in this great human tradition. We’re not that different then our ancestors, Leo. Looking into the past is like looking at ourselves in cages. What you’re doing has been done before, and that’s OK. You can pay attention to the past without letting it capture you.
VIRGO
Whoa! Was that a firecracker or a gunshot, Virgo? It sounded like it was right at the end of the block. My heart is racing, but I don’t know whether to run or cheer. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between excitement and danger. It’s fine to take a pause and let your brain catch up with your body’s response. These sensations and emotions wash over us, but they don’t stay. So when you see that spray of red sparkling lights in the sky and you realize it’s all for fun, Virgo, see if you can let go of the fear.
LIBRA
Maybe I never learned to get angry. I’m so afraid of what anger might do, that when I feel it, it quickly turns to fear. But I know what to do with fear. I’m used to it. And when the fear passes, I feel shame for having felt anger in the first place. But I know how to push down the shame. I’ve done it before. But then I never find out what the anger was for. What was it trying to tell me? When the feelings come up that you don’t like, Libra, spend a little more time with them. Ask them what they’re doing here. Ask them what they want. It’s uncomfortable at first. It might not ever get easy, but you’ll get better at it.
SCORPIO
I was watching the orangutans in the orangutan enclosure and something strange happened. A possum got into their cage. I’m not sure where it came from, but the orangutans got really excited and chased it around until it went into a hole in the ground. One of the orangutans stuck her hand in the hole and then yanked it out like she had been bitten and the orangutan next to her put his arm around her and put her wounded finger in his mouth for comfort. I told you it was strange. Anyway, Scorpio, it made me think about how at our core we’re curious and collaborative and caring. Don’t try too hard to be anything more human than an orangutan encountering a possum.
SAGITTA R IUS
I think it’s great you’ve learned to have sympathy for the villains, Sagittarius. You understand that they’re just people working with bad information and deficient self-understanding. Every Lex Luthor and Wicked Witch used to be a kid trying to figure out how to get love. But I’ve noticed that you don’t always give yourself as much credit as you give them. You hold yourself to some higher standard. I think that’s partly because you still imagine that you’re a badly broken hero. Pretend instead that you’re just the villain. What did you think you needed? What did you think you had to do to get it? Don’t you think you should be forgiven for that? Don’t you think you could?
CAPRICORN
I’m grilling out tonight! Who wants a veggie burger? And I’ve got some of that vegan cheese that tastes good, but doesn’t really melt right. Could you pick up some buns on your way over? And maybe a bag of ice for the lemonade? I’ve missed this, Capricorn. Spending time together out in the yard. Watching the fireflies light up as the sun goes down. Let’s do this again soon, but next time try it in real life. Don’t overplan it. Don’t overthink. Just find a reason to be with people laying in the grass and watching the stars appear.
AQUA RIUS
My favorite thing to do at the zoo is watch the capybaras in the capybara corral. I could just sit there for hours, Aquarius. They’re so calm and they don’t seem to have a care in the world. Sometimes they get in the water with just their ears and their nostrils sticking out and I always just think that’s the summer life I want to live. But I recently learned that the reason they do that is because in South America capybaras are often eaten by jaguars and hiding under the water is their only defense. You can’t assume you know
why anybody is doing what they’re doing, Aquarius. A life that looks easy to you may have challenges you know nothing about. Manage your own jaguars in your own way. Be kind to everybody else.
PISCES
Looks like you got a little sun there, Pisces. It can be a hard thing to balance. How much of a good thing is too much? You’ve got to get out there and make some vitamin D, but you don’t want to get completely toasted. This season, Pisces, I’m going to say err on the side of too much of a good thing. You’ve been stuck inside in so many ways lately and, yes, getting out there might get you a little burned, but staying in here just hasn’t been working.
ARIES
There’s some little green tomatoes and some shiny, skinny peppers hanging off the plants in my garden, Aries. They don’t look like much yet, but I’ve got big salsa-colored plans for their future. What’s hanging in your garden this week, Aries? It might not be time to harvest yet, but don’t ignore what you’ve got growing. Give it some water. Make sure it’s got light. Mix in a little fertilizer if you’ve got time. You’ve got good things coming, Aries, if you just pay some attention to what’s on the vine today.
TAURUS
There’s that little room in the zoo where they keep the bats. And they put it under black light to make the bats think it’s nighttime so they’ll stay awake and clean their faces and fly around. And sometimes I wonder if we’re like that, Taurus. We’re just so responsive to circumstances whether they’re real or not. If it looks like daytime we go drive and eat and spend money. But who is running the black light and who is watching from the other side of the glass? Who benefits when you act the way you think you’re supposed to act? Is it you, Taurus? I think it should be you.
GEMINI
What was life like before air conditioning? Did people just give up? I think I would have. I’m sitting here in my fully air conditioned room and I’m considering giving up just thinking about it. It’s an amazing time to be alive, Gemini. We have advantages our ancestors couldn’t have imagined. But we don’t all have them, do we? As William Gibson said, “The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed.” When we’ve got so much, we’ve got a lot to share. You know how to keep cool, but how could you cool your neighbor?
Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a trained dermatologist , or a licensed capybara 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
PAGE 16 | June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
VENDOR WRITING
What NOT To Do When You’re Expecting BY NORMA B. Most if not all women remember when they found out they were pregnant with their first child. I’m no different, but like so many aspects of my life, mine was well, different. For starters, I’d been told for as long as I could remember that due to my disability I’d probably never have children. Obviously they were wrong! I have two. One girl and one boy. Not wanting to take any chances, I took all the usual precautions, but it turns out that birth control pills can be rendered ineffective by antibiotics. Who knew? Not me. Ironically my mother-in-law figured out I was pregnant before I did! How? She caught me mixing peanut butter and chocolate syrup in a bowl for a midnight snack. In my mind, I thought what’s wrong with that? Hasn’t anyone heard of a Reese’s peanut butter cup? Then, there was the time I ate an entire pound of bacon. Again, I didn’t understand why that was such a big deal — I was hungry and I like bacon! Perhaps most convincing of all was when I could no longer drink coffee, and I do love my coffee! Even with all this “evidence” piling up, I still was not convinced. So what did finally change my mind? Would you believe it was getting shot at? You see, our neighbor Harold was doing my husband and me a favor by cutting down dead trees on the fami-
ly’s property when Uncle Jack stopped by for a visit. He’d clearly had plenty to drink before he got there and went ballistic because Harold was cutting down trees on our side of the property line and began shooting his .22 caliber pistol aimlessly at anything that moved. As we crouched down for cover, I was understandably hysterical, and my husband was trying to reassure me that everything was going to be OK. I began to cry and I told him, “No it’ll never be alright again, because I’m pregnant!” Shocked, he said, “Why would you say that now?” (Remember, I’d spent a considerable amount of time denying it to his mom.) I told him, “If I am ever going to start my period it would be now and it’s not happening!” After all the excitement was over, I began to have stomach cramps, so we went to the ER where it was determined I was 11 weeks pregnant! I got to hear a heartbeat and everything! What was my mother-in-law’s reaction when she’d heard about all the commotion her brother had caused? After making sure we were alright physically, she asked, “How far along is she?” I have to give credit where credit’s due —she was wise beyond her years! I guess sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. I mean you really can’t make this stuff up!
No place in his Kingdom BY JOHN H. You know, everytime I think about this subject I laugh. I look at people everyday who has this heart of hate (racism-prejudice) white and black, and I wonder what could they possibly know that I don’t, about getting into God’s Kingdom when they die. Do they think they can buy their way? Many Americans spend 12 to 20 years in school, from first grade to degree. But what I don’t understand is, some of God's Word he wanted us to think about it, but some of it was very simple, even a second grader could understand if they were told. I mean do you seriously believe when you go to that throne of Grace for judgement that God’s gonna turn that hatred you’ve carried in your heart all
your life, to Love. Are you out of your mind? Get off that high horse people, “Hell Ain’t No Joke.” Then we lead the children too! My advice is, get into your closet, and barricade yourself in and pray without ceasing. Take a flashlight and Bible. The Bible says love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love thy neighbor as theyself. These were the most important commandments that he commanded of us. Somehow we Americans think that God don’t see the bad things they do everyday or the power they may have on earth will work at the Throne of Judgement. Please! Please! Don’t be mistaken, Love while you can. I love Yall! Cause “Love” is the Key.
THEME: SCR EEN-FR EE PL AYTIME ACROSS 1. Ivory, in the bathroom 5. Letter of the ____ 8. Kiln for drying hops 12. Marine eagle 13. Muffin Man's Drury 14. Zest 15. Landlord's collection 16. Chieftain in Arabia 17. Frequently precedes "nonsense" 18. *Tabletop fun (2 words) 20. Passage in a coal mine 21. Clear the whiteboard 22. Sean's mom Yoko 23. Alpine structure
26. Slabbered 30. Clothing border 31. Incense burning container 34. Gauche or Droite, in Paris 35. In a frenzy 37. Unagi 38. Fancy necktie 39. Eye protection, sing. 40. Not dangerous to health 42. Dwight the President 43. Worked the dough 45. *Screen-free message 47. Hairpiece, slangily
June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 17
48. Libra symbol 50. Buenos ____ 52. *Dirty hobby? 56. African prairie 57. Like family lore 58. Don't let it hit you on your way out 59. *Ten-pin establishment 60. Challenge 61. Purse to match a gown 62. Lake of Scottish lore 63. *Between 'game' and 'match' 64. Deliver a tirade DOWN 1. Belgrade native 2. Dessert sandwich 3. Pavlova, e.g. 4. Tube-nosed seabird 5. Tibetan priests 6. Japanese cartoon 7. Used to be 8. *Explore the great ____ 9. ____ spumante 10. Editor's mark 11. Craggy peak 13. Official emissary 14. Bird-deposited fertilizer
19. Same as schlock 22. Famous Bobby, on ice 23. *Sidewalk art medium 24. Macho man 25. *Tell jokes, e.g. 26. Sub station 27. Permissible 28. Extract a memory, e.g. 29. Try to prevent 32. It's not a want 33. ____ Bernie Sanders, abbr. 36. *Guessing game 38. Administer an oil 40. "Don't make me ___!" 41. With pleasure 44. Full of bunnies? 46. Full of gentleness 48. Ranee's wrap 49. *Macrame or wood carving, e.g. 50. Expunge 51. Bodily disorders 52. Hermes and Apollo 53. 'I' in Greek alphabet 54. Person, place or thing 55. John Wayne's "True ____" 56. Delivery vehicle
VENDOR WRITING
UNFORGETTABLE JEN A.
He slowly opened his eyes that morning And he could still feel himself inside her She wasn't there next to him She often slid out early To tend to her bird feeders in the yard He buried his face in her pillow And took a deep, intoxicating breath To fill his senses with her dulcet balmy scent
WHO ARE YOU? JEN A.
Feeling all alive, buoyant with their love Lost in his love dream He nearly floated to the shower He moved into the strong stream And let the water beat down on his face He heard the door click open and She gently embraced him from behind He felt her warmth press against his back Her hands softly caressed his breasts Ecstatic chills shot down his spine When she tenderly kissed The back of his neck and He felt her firm, full lips and Her soft cheek brush against his skin When she left to get ready for her day He quickly shaved and dressed Blood still streaming down his wet neck From another nasty knick on his chin He rushed out to try to catch her Before she left for work But she was gone He wandered through the suffocating emptiness Of the rest of the house But stopped transfixed in front of the fireplace He was blind to the shattered shards Of his phone and laptop Lying there on the hearth A voice came from his plutonic core Muffled and distant almost imperceptible "Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!" "Stay alive until I can be with you!" Over the blurry, dim image of a gaping mouth And another voice dripping with sympathy "I'm sorry. Your wife has..." He quickly turned away to break the spell Grabbed his coat and keys
You've forgotten who you are Cast adrift in a sea of Fear and loathing You watch and listen But you do not see or hear Buffeted by wave after wave
DIVINE
Of cruelty and despair You taste the bitter brine
TYRONE M.
You struggle for breath You grasp at the
1. Morning came blessedly rushing in
Most convenient straw
And I just laid there debating whether to fight off satans deceptions
You used to be so cocksure
or wait until evening.
You captained your ship Confidently performing
2. Evening came / I fought against Satan’s deception with prayer
Complicated fiduciary tasks
and faith.
Loop the loops
But the snake momentarily distracted me but I gained by faith-ness
Acts of kindness
back and rebuked him.
Detached from your Purpose driven life
3. Night came galloping in like a race horse / I refused to let sleep
You've lost your sense of touch
kidnap me again
You're cowed
Finally I fought off his evil schemes, vile ways, and rested in pro-
By a swatch of cloth
tected armor
A slight jab in the arm That community relies on
(God)
To prove your will Your power As you struggle To find firm footing In your bottomless pit of Suffocating quicksand You've lost your faith You've lost all hope
THE ONE GOD FAVOR JOHN H.
You've lost one of another Who are you?
Read your Bible and you will see When you die, hell is not a place you wanna be
For a trip to the garden store
Love God and Love your neighbor
To pick up the mulch she needed
In the end, you’re be the one God favor
For her glorious perennial beds She'd be delighted when she got home from work He slowly opened his eyes the next morning And could still feel himself inside her
PAGE 18 | June 23 - July 7, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
VENDOR WRITING
A Powerful Place: "Social media" BY MAURICE B. As we examine the many things that we are made of, we must also look at what we make. When it comes to social media, we must consider the ways we make it and the entrance of how we do what we do to connect ourselves. The powers that lay ahead in a few days, a few weeks, a few years are all how we conduct the past paths that we have taken towards our futures. Yes the majority of circumstances of the mass of people have been changed by our mental departments or capacities, and then we can see that there are some that haven't gotten the grasp by their concepts of not being as quick as the others within the mass of society. Social media refers to the means of
interaction among people in which they create, share and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Some do not understand the definition of purpose; there are many that choose not to be connected to "networks" because of fear. Fear is the well known actions of and unpleasant emotion caused by the beliefs that someone or something has or had done that is figured to be dangerous or likely to cause pain or threat. Social media is such a powerful player in today's means of life that it brings about that fear. Now there are two types of fear. One is good and the other is a bad fear. Social media has broken barriers and brought many individuals and
different races, as well as nationalities together in many avenues of life. Yes, there still needs to be work done, "a fine tuning" here and there, but in all things there needs to be some kind of work. A concept of togetherness (it takes not only a mother and father to raise a child) has been brought about through social studies whereas the media "the network" system has assisted in a variety and a wonderful means of ways. The adoption of the modern concept of networking is how we can expect to accommodate this upcoming future of ours whereas to think that things will return to the ole fashion ways is like a host or better yet a ghost. Yes the old ideas of trade and sales will always
stand, but the new and improved ways to orchestrate them is by networking in which stands alone and that way is by socially gathering. The new world-wide pandemic of the Coronavirus has held many apart from one another and from individuals going about and from doing their daily bids of things, but through the new and improved networks brought about by social media individuals are able to check up on things and order and pick up things, as some would say in a better manner. Yes there is work to be done to better the formats, but by networking which stands for all to communicate and add their input things can get better.
Does the Post Pandemic Pivot Point Us to the Past or a Future? The eighteen months of the pandemic have found most people wanting for change. Many are changing jobs. Others are changing personal priorities. Many are focusing on relationships. In Nashville, our city is growing at a dizzying pace. There is so much noise of change around us that we can struggle to hear ourselves. Let us listen to our HOPE.
Faith in God, duty to country and love of our neighbor are elements of the American dream for many. How do we extend the strengths of the achievements of our community for those who are not thriving in the same dream? How do we hope that the quality of life of our community may be the quality of life of all?
Hope arises from a sense of moral and social order embodied in the expression of key cultural values: faith, family unity, service, effort, morals, and honor. These values form the bedrock of resilience, drive social aspirations, and underpin self-respect and dignity.
This is our Hope for families struggling with the toxic stress of the pandemic.
However, economic impediments, social expectations, and cultural dictates also combine to create entrapment, as the ability to realize personal and social aspirations is frustrated by structural inequalities injurious to health and wellbeing. Hope is a catalyst of the American Dream - Andrew Delbanco recognized in The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope, that hope is central to the romance of American nationhood, and to individual identification as an American. Delbanco noted, “’Expectation of fulfillment,’ is there in represented by the ideal of the self-making individuality, which in turn is fused with a nation as a site of special possibility.
This is our Hope for children struggling with pandemic learning loss. This is our Hope for men who have given up on employment. This is our Hope for women living in tents. This is our Hope for friends wanting belonging. This is our Hope for you. Reflecting the quality of community in the lives of others increases the quality of life of all. This is the hope for us. Major Ethan Frizzell | SalvationArmyNashville.org
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