Vendor Writing: Jen A.

Vote for a Better America

BY JEN A., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

The primaries are over and it's almost time for Tennessee voters to make decisions that will affect the lives of citizens for years to come. Each race is important in it's own way. But because of political skullduggery, the choices we have to make for each congressional race couldn't be more consequential.

The Republican supermajority in our legislature gerrymandered our US congressional districts to help eliminate the chance for Democrats to hold on to a seat that had been reliably Democratic for decades. The candidate who won the crowded Republican primary for the newly gerrymandered 5th congressional district isn't even a Republican. I believe a great deal of dark money and negative, unsubstantiated attacks against his opponents led to his win. Whatever happened to: "If you can't say something nice...?"

He's a libertarian. At his victory party he said that his priorities would be to impeach Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and remove the director of the Office of Homeland Security because he listens to too many people? And, oh, he said that he wants to get DC out of Tennessee? How is any of that going to help us here in Tennessee? It might help him and his libertarian buddies who want to abolish the Dept. of Education, the Dept. of Labor, the IRS, and now, the FBI and the Justice Department. Those eliminations won't do anything for the Tennessee folks who do all of the heavy lifting here in our state.

Libertarians don't believe in our government. They want unregulated private enterprise to rule over us. They want us to pay to educate our children. They want corporations to own our roads and bridges using government tax funds and then charge us tolls each time we use them that they will profit from. They want unregulated, self-interested corporations to profit from everything we do. They want oligarchs to rule over us like they do in Russia.

Republicans have done everything they can to put as many guns as possible in the hands of Americans. They say they're hoping to foment a civil war. I am amazed when they say this as if everyone on the right is bulletproof. They must grossly underestimate how many guns they have loosed onto the streets of our towns and villages. Maybe they haven't noticed because they are all standing around exposing their testicles to red lights so they can be considered real men.They're living in an alternate reality of scam artists and snake oil salesmen who spew alternate facts. The rest of us have to live in the real world of consequences.

Let's send these delusional politicians packing. Vote this November for a better America. And if you live in the 5th congressional district, please consider a vote for Heidi Campbell. She is the only one in the race who has experience and a proven track record of actually serving the people she has been elected to represent. She'll stand up for our union and the good folks of Tennessee — no snake oil required.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

BY JEN A., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

It was a late-season night game at Yankee Stadium when baseball hero, Aaron Judge walked to the plate. In itself, the game wasn't really consequential. The Yankees had a lock on the best win/loss record in their division. With just two weeks left in the season, their spot in the playoffs was guaranteed. In the bottom of the 9th inning, the Yankees trailed the Pirates by four runs, 8-4.

Leading off, Judge took his stance in the batter's box. It had not been one of his best nights. He was 0 for 3. The eagle-eyed center fielder took the first pitch for a strike. Then Pirate's pitcher, Will Crowe, missed the strike zone with 3 straight balls. Finally, came the pitch Judge had been waiting for all game: a 96mph fastball right down the heart of the plate. He made solid contact and the ball flew in a high arch toward the outfield bleachers. The crowd erupted with an explosive roar knowing this otherwise ordinary night at the ballpark was anything but ordinary. Aaron Judge had just made baseball history.

By hitting his 60th home run of the regular season, Judge tied the record of the legendary Yankee home-run-king, Babe Ruth. Only six players in the history of baseball have hit 60 home runs in a single year. The American League regular- season record of 61 home runs is currently held by former Yankee, Roger Maris who accomplished the amazing feat in 1961. With two weeks left in this season before the playoffs, Judge is on pace to blow by Maris' record with a few runs to spare.

I've always been a huge baseball fan. Growing up just outside Cincinnati, it was the hottest ticket in town. One of the earliest memories I have is being at a ballgame with my dad at old Crosley Field as a toddler. We were outside the park and he was talking with a group of his buddies. I kept tugging at his pant leg trying to get him to take us into the park already.

I took my boys to the ballpark when Johnny Bench played his last game with the Reds. Children were going to be allowed to go on the field to meet him. But it turned out that "meet him" was a euphemism for walk silently by him as he stood at home plate. They were instructed not to touch him or speak to him. A long line of hundreds of children were dutifully doing as they were told until my Matthew Michael stopped in front of him and held out his right hand. To Bench's credit, he took Matt's hand and gave it a sincere shake. All these years later, Matthew still walks to the beat of his own drummer.

My brother, John, loved the Cincinnati Reds. When he died, they were building a new stadium and offered diehard fans the chance to buy a personalized brick to be installed in the walkways. Without discussing it as a family, all of my brothers, my mom, my dad, and I, all bought tribute bricks for our dear John. We had a good laugh when we discovered that all of us had chosen to memorialize him in the exact same way. John has at least seven bricks dedicated to him at the baseball shrine in Cincy. Knowing how much he enjoyed being at the ballpark, I'm convinced he willed us to do it from the great beyond.

I have a gazillion stories like that: a treasure-chest of memories from my own history that intertwine with the history of baseball. It's as though I was gifted a special strand of baseball DNA to bring me joy throughout my life. Baseball has been very, very good to me.

Aaron Judge is a bonafide baseball superhero. But perhaps the best thing about him is that he's not worried about breaking long-standing records. He's a genuine team player. When he was asked after the game what he thought about when he hit the blast into the bleachers, he said he felt bad that it hadn't happened earlier in the game when there had been teammates on base. A solo shot wasn't doing the team any good.

But he was wrong about that. His lead-off home run ignited, what manager Aaron Boone, said was a "magical spark" that enabled his teammates to load the bases and caused struggling power-hitter, Giancarlo Stanton, to come to the plate and blast a lazer-shot into the stands for the 9-8 walkoff Yankee win. It's all about the team, stupid. This Yankee team believes in Aaron Judge magic — and so do I.