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que abarcó tanto el sector público como el privado, asumió su puesto actual en septiembre de 2019. Bob Mendes se unió a la administración de O'Connell como Director de Desarrollo. Mendes, abogado y miembro de Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC, también había servido como miembro del Consejo de Metro durante los últimos ocho años. El Alcalde O'Connell nombró a Katy Varney como Directora Interina de Comunicaciones. Varney, ex socia de MP&F Strategic Communications, también había trabajado con el ex gobernador Ned McWherter y había sido asesora de la campaña electoral de Megan Barry. Alex Apple fue nombrado Subdirector de Comunicaciones y Secretario de Prensa. Anteriormente, había sido Director de Comunicaciones de la campaña de O'Connell. Kathy Floyd-Buggs y Bonita Dobbins fueron algunos de los miembros del personal
que conservaron sus puestos. Mientras continuaba el proceso de contratación y entrevistas de personal, el Alcalde O'Connell prometió presentar a más miembros de su equipo en las próximas semanas y meses. Esta inauguración privada marcó el comienzo de una semana de celebraciones que culminó en un gran evento público el sábado 30 de septiembre. La celebración pública, adecuadamente titulada "Nashville Coming Together" (Nashville Uniendose), fue un espectáculo de todo el día, llena de festividades diseñadas para celebrar la unidad, vitalidad y diversidad que definen a Music City. A pesar de que acababa de regresar, esa mañana, de conferencias consecutivas en Florida, tuve el privilegio de asistir a este evento. El día comenzó a las 9:00 a.m. con "One City, Many Faiths" (Una Ciudad,
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Muchas Creencias), un encuentro celebrado en la Congregación Micah. Este evento exclusivo invitaba a representantes de las diversas comunidades multiculturales de fe de Nashville para destacar la creciente diversidad de la ciudad. Aunque el evento estaba destinado exclusivamente a invitados del público, se concedió acceso a representantes de los medios de comunicación para presenciar la celebración. A las 11:30 a.m., el Alcalde O'Connell se unió al Vicealcalde y al Consejo de Metro para una celebración de inauguración en la Plaza Diane Nash. El evento incluyó actuaciones musicales, una variedad de camiones de comida (food trucks) y una "Celebración de los Servicios de la Ciudad" en la que diversos departamentos y organizaciones de la ciudad presentaron la amplia gama de servicios y oportunidades que Nashville ofrece a sus residentes. Las festividades del día incluyeron puntos de encuentro designados en toda la ciudad, lo que permitió a los habitantes de Nashville emprender viajes en transporte público hasta el lugar de la inauguración. Después de la ceremonia, el recién juramentado Alcalde saludó personalmente a los ciudadanos de Nashville en el histórico Palacio de Justicia, reafirmando su compromiso de servir a la comunidad. Las celebraciones del sábado reflejaron una ciudad que se unió de diversas formas para resaltar cómo funciona, se mueve y prospera Nashville. Los eventos enfatizaron la unidad y vitalidad que hacen de Music City un lugar excepcional, estableciendo un tono positivo para el mandato del Alcalde O'Connell como líder de la ciudad. Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569
Vendor Writing
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 vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966. Conoce tus derechos: ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada? jj 9/30/2023: Mayor Freddie O'Connell's Inauguration: A Celebration of Unity and Diversity Photo: Yuri Cunza/ La Noticia Newspaper Nashville. Por Yuri Cunza Editor-In-Chief @yuricunza
HOW TO PAY A VENDOR WITH VENMO
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#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 both help encourage our vendors to do their best.
Amanda Haggard • Linda Bailey • Ridley Wills II • Justin Wagner • Judith Tackett • MAZE • Jim Patterson • Sara Beth West • Yuri Cunza • Gail D. • Jen A. • Daniel H. • John H. • Lisa A. • James "Shorty" R. • Mr. Mysterio • Chris Scott Fieselman • Wendell J. • Joe Nolan
Cathy Jennings Executive Director
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To Contributor vendor Lyndon Vetetoe, there’s nothing so potent as a small kindness. Whether a wave hello, a brief smile, or something more altruistic, well-meaning gestures can ease the mind like nothing else.
For those surviving on the streets, this is doubly true. When self-reliance is key to survival, the luxury of friendly company is never a guarantee, Vetetoe said. But that doesn’t affect the desire to be acknowledged.
“We’re out there selling the papers to make money. That’s the bottom line of why we’re out there, to make a dollar. But I’m as uplifted by the ones that never give a dollar, but will smile or roll their windows down, ask ‘how are you today?’”
“It’s about more than the dollar. You’re accepted as somebody, as a real person,” said Vetetoe. “Then you’ve got the ones that do give, to where I can pay a phone bill, to where I can put gas in my tank. This world’s all about people. I realized a long time ago – and this is from when I was first homeless a long time ago – never ever underestimate the power of a kind word.”
After all, any kind word may be the only kind word someone hears for that day, that week – or much longer.
“You don’t think about that if you’ve got your friends all around you, or your family all around you,” Vetetoe said. “But what about all the people that are alone?”
Vetetoe just moved into his first apartment in 13 years. But when he first became homeless – aside from brief stints in motels or staying with relatives – he did so alone.
“I got to workin’ a decent job, then the job kind of fell, so first thing, I lose the place. Then I’m drinking more and more, and not making good decisions. The depression, a little bit, set on me. I just wasn’t handling things right.”
His struggles with alcohol denied him a stable life for years, but life outside was
too harsh for even the habit.
“Anytime I was out and about, I never did do any drinking. I always felt like, whether at the mission, or out on the street, or in the van, I need to be as much aware of my surroundings as I can be. I couldn’t be that way if I was intoxicated.
I could go inside a motel room and lock the door, I’m protected from the outside world. I’m not protected like that outside. Being on the streets, if it didn’t do anything, it kept me sober.”
Through it all, the small kindnesses he was shown made a “world of difference.”
After all, he had family he needed to pass them on to.
“Survival is something everyone’s got to do in their own way, I suppose. But I’ve got granddaughters I’d like to live a little while longer for.”
But despite what he’s overcome, there are no fewer challenges in 2023 than when he first struck out on his own.
Vetetoe has seen Nashville change from a small, historic town into a sprawling, tourist-hungry metropolis. He’s also seen the city become increasingly hostile to its unhoused citizens, with benches sheared into thirds and public camping outlawed by the state.
“That stuff isn’t easy to do anymore. You used to could pull up in a Walmart parking lot and rest, relax. You can’t hardly do that anymore. There’s very few places you can park. There’s a lot to it, but yeah,” Vetetoe recalled.
When Vetetoe first signed up for the Contributor, he hoped he could get away from it all. When he came up on a housing waitlist several weeks ago, that same hope flickered.
When he moved in, it was a victory 13 years in the making.
“My feeling was elation. That’s one of those things where I’m sitting back last week, last month, the month before. Phew, I hope things can work out like that. Things don’t ever work out like that for me, it seems like. But I’d like for it to work out like that! And it worked out. So yeah, elated.”
As he settles into his new apartment in the city, he’s hoping to hold the lessons he’s learned close and pass them onto his grandchildren as they grow older.
“This opens up so many possibilities. I can get up in the morning, I can take a shower. I can be clean. I can brush my teeth … this opens up an opportunity for me to, well, I’m 62, to live the rest of my life. I’m very thankful.”
I had a very good experience with Girls Write Nashville (GWN). I enjoyed spending time with my mentors. They were encouraging and taught me some good writing strategies.
I learned to time myself for five minutes and write whatever comes to mind. For example, when you do the writing strategies you shouldn’t worry about spelling or writing complete sentences. Also, I scheduled to write ideas and edit them to my liking.
In the program, I also made some
good friends and learned how to support others in their art. I was always enjoying the other girls' work that they shared with the group. They all impressed me with their play on words and the vocals they were giving. Everyone was very helpful when others needed help with a problem they were having. I loved how everyone gave great constructive feedback on everyone's works. I also learned how to give supportive feedback and how to take constructive criticism.
Girls Write Nashville’s annual fund-
raising concert on Oct. 8 gives mentees a chance to be in the spotlight on stage. The concert also gives the mentees the opportunity to show their mentors that their work was not in vain. We as mentees and the mentors worked together to work on our writing skills and build up confidence for everyone. I saw that a lot of mentees and mentors help anyone who had writer's block. I had mentees help me build my writing into what I envisioned. I also saw the mentors help each other when they needed help with coming up with new
ideas to help mentees with brainstorming, writing, singing and more.
I think that groups like Girls Write Nashville are important for teens because they help them meet people their age that share the same passions. They also create a positive environment for socializing. Having this group is very healing as a person with a passion to write and sing. The reason I say this is because you have people to share your work with and get great feedback that will help you improve your craft.
In June 2022, Metro Council approved a bill sponsored by then-Councilmember Freddie O’Connell to create the Office of Homeless Services, which launched officially on July 1, 2023. This is a significant opportunity to finally consolidate homelessness coordination among the community considering that the Nashville-Davidson County Continuum of Care (CoC) has undergone some significant changes and restructuring since 2016.
The Metro Budget document for the 2024 fiscal year shows that the new Office of Homeless Services has a budget of $5,524,900, which includes funding for 29 full time positions. In addition, there currently seem to be three grant-funded positions. The office was mostly created by transferring Metro Social Services’ Homeless Impact Division to the new office and adding some staff positions and service funds.
Today, I would like to provide some history of the past 20 years that lead up to the creation of an Office of Homeless Services in Metro government. For full disclosure, I first began covering homelessness as one of the first reporters for The City Paper more than 20 years ago. In 2004, I started covering a new task force created by Mayor Bill Purcell, which produced The Strategic Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Nashville 2005-2015. I ended up in Metro government, first at the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission and left Metro in 2021. All that to say, over the years I have kept track of the dates and facts as I present them here.
Let’s start with a timeline:
• 2004 – Mayor Bill Purcell created a task force that resulted in the 10 Year Strategic Plan to End Chronic Homelessness 2005-2015.
• 2005 – The 10 year Plan was published and the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission was formed under the Metro Social Services (MSS) Commission. A staff coordinator was hired as part of MSS’ Planning and Coordination unit. The Metropolitan Homelessness Commission was housed within MSS and functioned similarly to a committee because the plan was to sunset it by 2015.
• 2007 – The Metropolitan Homelessness Commission was moved to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA). The 10 Year Plan was amended to end all homelessness (not just chronic homelessness). The Homelessness Commission hired an executive director and staff. It took on the task to implement a
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which had been started and worked on for about four to five years by Metro IT and then the Metro Health Department (or vice versa, my documents are unclear on that point).
• 2008 – The Key Alliance was formed as the nonprofit arm of the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission with the goal to raise significant private funds (same staff).
• 2009 – Congress signed into law the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009, which amends and reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The HEARTH Act required the creation of a Continuum of Care (CoC) Governance Board, which was done under MDHA. This resulted in two separate boards/commissions tasked to build a comprehensive homelessness response system in Nashville: the CoC Governance Board and the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission. Nashville decided to appoint the chair of the Homelessness Commission as the chair of the CoC Governance Board to link the two governance entities.
• 2012 – The Metropolitan Homelessness Commission and its staff moved back under Metro Social Services with the exception of the management of HMIS, which remained at MDHA. MDHA had been serving as Nashville’s collaborative applicant/CoC lead and the CoC appointed it as the HMIS lead agency as well. At this time, The Key Alliance dissolved its board and functions as Metro determined that Metro staff cannot fundraise for and work on behalf of a nonprofit. (The Key Alliance officially dissolved as a nonprofit in 2016).
• 2014 – Metro Council passed 2014-BL777, which removed plans to sunset the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission.
• 2015 – A national consultant called Focus Strategies was hired for $25,000 and produced a report that, among other things, recommended that Nashville unify its homeless governance structure. (That report essentially said the same thing but provided more guidance than the most recent Homelessness Report the prior administration produced in 2022 under a $500,000 contract.)
• 2016 – MDHA as the CoC’s collaborative applicant requested technical assistance from the
BY JUDITH TACKETTHUD describes it as follows, “The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.” (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/)
In essence, the CoC is three things:
1. A designated geographic area, which in our case is Nashville-Davidson County;
2. An organized community effort to build a system that is capable of preventing and ending homelessness for people in a collaborative way; and
3. A competitive federal funding stream to support this work.
The Continuum of Care is governed by a community board (not a city/Metro board, but a COMMUNITY board). Nashville has consolidated the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission and the CoC Governance Board into a model which consolidated our previously bifurcated homelessness governance system by creating the Homelessness Planning Council (HPC). The HPC serves as the CoC Governing Board for the NashvilleDavidson County Continuum of Care (there is no Metro CoC, even though recent documents released by the new Office of Homeless Services referred to it as such).
This is important to understand as that HPC members (eight of the members are appointed by the Mayor, three by the Vice Mayor, and 14 are elected by the CoC membership body) have the power to present the Mayor with three candidates for the director position of the Office of Homeless Services, with the Mayor appointing that position from those three candidates.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The request was granted and HUD deployed a consultant group called Cloudburst to work with the CoC and the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission. The result was a recommendation to unify the local homeless governance structure.
• 2017 – Metro Social Services pulled out from being considered as the CoC collaborative applicant, which did not permit the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission to move forward and resulted in MDHA remaining in that role (which it still holds at present). However, with support from MDHA, the CoC voted to make the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission the HMIS Lead Agency.
• 2018 – The CoC adopted a new charter and Metro Council approved BL2018-1199, which eliminated the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission and
established the Nashville-Davidson County Continuum of Care Homelessness Planning Council. The staff of the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission were renamed as the Homeless Impact Division of Metro Social Services.
• 2019 – The HPC adopted a threeyear Continuum of Care Strategic plan, which was reviewed and an update delivered to Metro Social Services and the Mayor’s Office in 2020.
• 2021 – Metro Homeless Impact Division director (full disclosure that was me) resigned citing a lack of support from Metro due to the leadership structure in place, which buried the division under Metro Social Services and kept leadership from Metro decision-making tables related to homelessness. This prompted a renewed attempt by Councilmember Freddie O’Connell to create an Office of Homeless Services.
• 2022 – Metro Council approved
the creation of the Office of Homeless Services.
• July 2023 – The Office of Homeless Services started its work and all staff from the Homeless Impact Division was transferred to the new office.
I would like to add that Mayor O’Connell has served on the Homelessness Planning Council for years, and as a prior chair of the HMIS Committee, he was instrumental in helping improve HMIS and make it a useful data tool for Nashville.
With a new mayor, who intimately understands this history, and a new Office of Homeless Services in place, Nashville is poised to focus on systems building and provide solid leadership around this critical issue. The only thing missing, and Nashville-Davidson County CoC is on its way to remedy this, is for the collaborative applicant to shift from MDHA to the new office without losing the support of MDHA as the public housing authority.
Merrill’s Marauders (named after Gen. Frank Merrill) or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit, which fought in the Southeast Asian theater of World War II, or China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). The unit became famous for its deep penetration missions behind Japanese lines, often engaging Japanese forces superior in number.
The Marauders were an all-volunteer unit, initially consisting of 960 jungle-tested officers and men from Army ground forces and 674 battle-tested troops from the South Pacific command.
The volunteers were first sent to India, camping in Bombay on Oct. 13, 1943. In India, they went through strenuous training in jungle warfare and were reinforced with Air Corps and Signal Corps personnel along with mules and experienced muleteers.
In early 1944, Lt. Meredith Caldwell joined the Marauders. He was ideally suited for the assignment, having worked with mules at his father’s Union Stockyards in Nashville as a teenager. Also joining was Col. Campbell Brown, of Franklin, Tenn., a veteran of World War I. They participated in the organization of the marauders into a light infantry assault unit with mule transport, 60 mm mortars, bazookas, jungle gear and supplies. They also had 14 Japanese-American intelligence service translators.
On Feb. 24, the marauders began a 1,000-mile march over the Patkai range and through some of the harshest jungle terrain in the world to Burma, behind Japanese lines. A total of 2,700 Marauders entered Burma, the remaining 247 stayed in India as headquarters and supply support personnel.
While in Burma, the Marauders were usually outnumbered by Japanese troops
from the Eighteenth Division, but always inflicted many more casualties than they suffered. Led by Kachin Scouts, and using mobility and surprise, the marauders harassed supply and communication lines, shot up patrols and assaulted Japanese rear areas. They also fought in five major battles.
Gen. Joseph Stilwell, deputy supreme Allied commander of the Southeast Asia Command, ordered the marauders to launch a final assault to capture the Japanese airfield at Myitkyina. On the march there, the Marauders killed 400 Japanese soldiers at Nhpum Ga, suffering losses of 57 killed in action, 302 wounded and 379 incapacitated due to illness and exhaustion. Of the unit’s 200 mules, 75 were killed.
On May 17, 1944, after a grueling 62 mile march over the 6,600 foot Kumon Mountain range, the 1,300 remaining Marauders , along with elements of the 42nd and 150th Chinese Infantry regiments, attacked the unsuspecting Japanese at Myitkyina airfield.
After being reinforced by an air-landed Chinese Army Division, the town of Myitkyina fell to the American-Chinese forces on Aug. 3. The Japanese commander escaped with about 600 men. One hundred eighty seven were captured and the rest, some 3,800, were killed in combat.
In this, their final mission, the Marauders suffered 272 killed, 955 wounded, and 980 evacuated for illness and disease. Of the 2,700 to enter Burma, only two were left alive who had never been hospitalized with wounds or major illness. None of the horses and only four mules survived.
The men of Merrill’s Marauders enjoyed the rare distinction of having each soldier being awarded the Bronze Star. In June 1944, the 5307th Composite Unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.
The vivid painting, called “The Inner Child,” is a cubist rendering of a fierce central figure surrounded by garish greens, reds and blues.
“This is like the inner child in me trying to get away from everything that abused him,” says Ash-Shahid Muhammed, 47. Muhammed, who lived on the streets in Nashville during a time of active addiction,
BY JIM PATTERSONis now a busy artist in New York. His story includes both dealing drugs in Memphis and using drugs like crack and heroin in the streets in Nashville.
“One of my favorite sayings in recovery is, ‘If someone did to me what I did to myself, I would want to kill them,’” says Muhammed, a gregarious man full of plans for the future.
“So the inner child in me witnessed everything
that I've done to myself… but if you look at the picture, it looks like a little warrior.”
“Now that I'm clean, I can go back and be friends with this inner child.”
Muhammed spoke to The Contributor two weeks before the death of Nashville activist Father Charlie Strobel, who played a part in turning around the artist’s life. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Before we talk about your years in Nashville, can you tell me about your life as an artist in New York?
Before COVID, I invested in a camera. I decided to use the drive I had to create a community on social media. I would walk up to artists and interview them. I wanted to network with them, plus I wanted to learn from them. I would upload it to social media, so they helped me plus it made them feel good. I studied them, seeing how they’re doing things like marketing on social media.
You made a name for yourself with comic books, but now you’re back to traditional painting. What caused that shift?
When I went to (Nossi College of Art in Nashville), I drifted away from original drawings and paintings because in this day and time, everything is digital, right? But in New York and the art world, original art is still valuable. So I started back getting into painting a lot. When I came to New York, I started traveling to different places, like where Andy Warhol and (Jean-Michel) Basquiat worked. Before COVID, I was hanging out in the galleries, and that motivated me. But once COVID hit, I was more on the computer. But I realized that I’ve got to have canvases, so that's why I started back painting and telling my story that way.
What was it like waiting out COVID in New York?
There were like 900 people dying a day in New York. People don't believe it, but there were so many bodies from COVID they were putting them in 18-wheel trailer trucks. The
funeral homes didn’t have any room for the bodies. Family members were crying and complaining on TV about they got their parents in an 18-wheeler truck. A lot of places shut down, and to this day, if you're not vaccinated, you can't go into certain places. So I'm not vaccinated. One of the reasons why I didn't want to get vaccinated was because I'm blind in one of my eyes due to me being shot in the head. I know a lot of people had complications with the vaccine, and I was afraid because we don't know the after-effects of the vaccine.
How do you sell your art?
I sell art on the streets. Central Park, Times Square, things like that. I never sell the original, always prints. Then there’s grants to do our art in the community. I've done that several times in the community. I'm on Staten Island, and it’s called Staten Island Arts.
And you do workshops teaching children about art?
We would paint pictures of how we would like to see ourselves in five years. It helps people a lot of times. I ask the youth where they see themselves, what do they want to do in life? A lot of them are like, ‘I don't know, I haven't thought about things like that.’
Do you have good memories of Nashville, considering you were homeless for some time?
I was in Room In The Inn and Nashville Rescue Mission. I was 37 or 38 and in the drug program. Mainly I just wanted to get off the streets, man. It was cold out in Nashville. I remember the counselor asking me about a
plan for the future. By me speaking it into existence, things started to develop. I got an apartment in Donelson and then got my GED. Then I went to college, so it was mind-blowing to me. Coming from using drugs, sleeping outside, being homeless, feeling lower than human. When I was homeless, I would paint and draw. I had a portfolio with me at Room In The Inn and the rescue mission. That was something that helped me escape the reality of my situation.
You’re originally from Memphis, and you spent the ages of 13 to 19 imprisoned, then lost sight in your right eye after being shot. Would you tell me about those dark days? I sold drugs and I hustled. When you're a drug dealer, you're arrogant. (I got) shot and become homeless and started doing crack and shooting heroin. I went from a drug dealer living a luxury life having whatever I wanted — cars, money — to being paralyzed for like a good six months. I used to draw only when I went to jail. If I went to jail, I would pick up the pencil and draw, but when I was selling drugs, I was just selling drugs. When I got shot, I fell into homelessness, smoking crack and sleeping on the streets, being in shelters and rehabs. What I learned was, this is what I did to other families … I began to see the effects of what a drug dealer does to a person’s life.
How did that affect you?
Being homeless on drugs softened my heart. It gave me passion for the people, as well. Now, if I see a homeless person, I won't give them a lot of money. But if I give them
something, I give some food or nice shoes. If I have three, four or five shirt pair of shoes that I haven't worn in a while, I've taken them to the homeless spot and given them to them.
You speak with children a lot about art and life at community centers, juvenile detention centers and on Zoom. What do you tell them?
I share my story. I tell them what I’ve been through, what it was like dealing drugs, sleeping outside, incarcerations. I realized that I have to have courage to share those things with people because people are going to judge or look down on you. I know there's somebody coming behind me and I want to be a blueprint. It may not be everybody’s blueprint, but I want people to see if I could come out and change and do something different, then they can.
You ask children where they want to be in five years. Where do you want to be in five years?
The first thing is to be more spiritual. Without the spiritual side of me, I'm not going to make it. And from there being more responsible, learning to heal more and helping other people in the community. I want to help people either on the streets or rehabs or shelters. My goal is to help the struggling people, because depression is real, man. You don't have to have drug problems to not know how to cope with life.
Jim Patterson is a freelance writer in Nashville. See more of his work at https://muckrack.com/ jim-patterson
Nashville welcomes the crisp embrace of autumn with a series of enriching events this October. From Oct. 12-15, the 45th Annual Tennessee Craft Fair takes center stage at Centennial Park, inviting patrons to explore the intricacies of handmade crafts and engage with the artisans behind them. Meanwhile, the Southern Festival of Books transforms downtown Nashville from Oct. 15-22 into a hub of literary exploration, drawing
authors and book enthusiasts from far and wide.
Get into the historical fabric of Tennessee at the Lunch and Learn event on Oct. 19 at the Tennessee State Museum, where historian David Britton unravels the mysteries of the Bell Witch, shedding light on the state's enigmatic past. At Long Hunter State Park on Oct. 2021, the Tennessee Indian Education Pow Wow offers a unique opportunity to immerse in the cultural heritage
of American Indian communities through traditional dances, demonstrations, and educational exhibits.
And then the Haunted Museum marks its 25th anniversary on Oct. 28, providing a safe and engaging Halloween experience for all ages and capping off October’s list of events. Explore the fascinating blend of history, literature, and culture that defines Nashville this fall.
Oct. 13-15 | Centennial Park, 2500 West End Avenue
The 45th Annual Tennessee Craft Fair is a free annual event on the lawn in Centennial Park. It supports American handmade craft pieces and requires the actual artisans to be on site so that shoppers can meet the folks who make the craft. Featured vendor artists will share what inspires them and how they take raw materials like clay, wood, metal and glass and transform them into fine craft. In addition to the market, visitors enjoy fun hands-on activities for children in the kids’ tent, food from local vendors and educational demonstrations of various kinds.
Oct. 15-22 | Bicentennial Mall, Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Library
The Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word is among the oldest literary festivals in the country, annually welcoming hundreds of authors and thousands of visitors to downtown Nashville each October. The Festival is free, and includes performance stages, food trucks, and loads of publishers and booksellers all throughout downtown at the Bicentennial Mall, Tennessee State Museum, and Tennessee State Library. See page 14 for a Q&A with Margaret Renkl, who will have various appearances in Nashville in October.
LUNCH AND LEARN: UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF THE BELL WITCH
Oct. 19 | Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd.
The story of the Bell Witch, first brought into local lore by Martin Van Buren Ingram in a book published in 1894m, is one of the most famous tales in the American South. The museum utilizes the story here to reveal a wealth of information about early 19th-century Tennessee. This presentation will discuss how people attempted to explain the unexplainable and show how the Bell Witch is rooted in real events that profoundly shaped the South. David Britton is a public historian and the Park Manager for Port Royal State Historic Park in Adams, Tenn., and Dunbar Cave State Park in Clarksville, Tenn. This Lunch and Learn event led by Britton is in-person in the Museum’s Digital Learning Center at noon. It will also be livestreamed at TNMuseum.org/Videos.
HAUNTED MUSEUM 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Oct. 28 | Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd.
On Saturday, Oct. 28, the Tennessee State Museum will celebrate its 25th annual Haunted Museum Storytelling Festival. The day includes a free, fun and safe Halloween event for children of all ages. The museum will be decorated for Halloween and there will be presents, games, crafts, stories and prizes. Kids can wear their costumes and settle in to hear spooky stories from Tennessee’s past or go through a Ghost Trail in the museum that leads folks through a familyfriendly strange and not-so-scary story tour. The museum’s frontier printing press will also be set up to create commemorative posters for the occasion.
TENNESSEE INDIAN EDUCATION POW WOW
Oct. 20-21 | Long Hunter State Park, 2910 Hobson Pike
The annual Tennessee Indian Education Pow Wow is a gathering of American Indians who come to dance, celebrate, pray, laugh and socialize at Long Hunter State Park. The three-day festival offers the opportunity to experience the culture and spirit of the American Indian people — the festival welcomes folks from all over the country for the celebration. There will be food, demonstrations, dancing, performances, educational booths and more.
Once you read this paper, we have the perfect thing you can do to reuse it. Go buy a ticket to The Contributor’s Masquerade Ball and then get going on this project to make your mask before the event on Oct. 27.
1. Mix together 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of warm water and place in a large bowl. Mix with a whisk until incorporated. Sift the flour for a smoother texture and add water if the mixture seems too thick.
2. Cut or rip 10 sheets of newspaper into long strips. They should be about 1⁄2 inch long and 4–6 inches wide.
3. Cover the face that the mask will be molded on with petroleum jelly or aloe vera. This keeps the paper mache from sticking to the face and allows the mask to come off when ready. Keep the paper mache mixture away from hair as much as possible.
1. Make sure that each strip is completely covered in the glue mixture before putting the strips onto the face.
The Contributor is hosting a fundraiser that will celebrate our vendors and the Halloween season. On Oct. 27, The Standard will host the nonprofit for Masquerade Ball, a night that embodies the spirit of community and compassion.
The event aims to raise funds crucial for The Contributor’s efforts working with its newspaper vendors on housing. Attendees can anticipate an enchanting evening featuring tarot readings by Moon Witch Tarot, magical moments with Amory Hermetz during the cocktail hour and the chance to capture memories at the photo booth. The event also hosts live and silent auctions, showcasing a range of items from local passes to signed sports memorabilia.
The Contributor’s Development Director Holly Bowman says the event is a chance to enjoy a fun night while supporting a great cause.
“Our vendors work hard every day and we’re here to support them along the way,” Bowman says. “Events like this Masquerade Ball make it possible to continue our mission and to create a
place where people move from working a job to having a roof over their head and getting the necessary support they need to sustain that.”
Bowman answered a few questions about the event and what to expect.
Tell me about The Contributor's goals for this event.
Our goal is to raise money to continue to support our vendors through selling the paper and connecting them to other resources like housing, mental and physical health care and more. We would also like to make this an annual fundraiser, so we want to set the bar high with our first one this year.
What should guests expect the night of the masquerade?
Guests should expect a magic-filled evening with tarot card readings from Moon Witch Tarot, cocktail hour magic with Amory Hermetz, and a photo booth to take memories home with them! They also have the opportunity to participate in our live and silent auctions. Guests
will also hear a little bit more about our mission and how their attendance directly supports our operations.
What all is included in the ticket price?
Each ticket for admission includes one drink ticket, complimentary appetizers, a tarot card reading and access to the photo booth.
What items are in the silent auction?
We have several items from passes to local activities like Cheekwood, Climb Nashville and the Nashville Zoo to collectibles (hello signed Preds jersey), to art made by our vendors and staff! All proceeds from the auction go directly to supporting our organization.
How can folks help if they can't make it to the masquerade?
If you can’t make it, you can still participate in our silent auction online! If you are not interested in any items and would still like to support, donations of any kind are always appreciated by our staff and vendors.
2. Place one layer of strips along the jawline, forehead and nose, ensuring that each lays flat. Layering will happen later in the process. These areas need to be strongest to create the mask shape. Do not block mouth or nose holes.
3. Then cover the cheeks and chin with the strips. Fill in any missing sections with paper mache until the whole portion of the face you’d like to create is covered. Don’t worry if there are overlapping sections. There should be approximately three layers when you finish.
1. Let the mask dry for around two or three hours: the mask should feel firm and slightly wet still. feels firm and only slightly wet.
2. Remove the mask from the face once it is firm. Be gentle when removing the mask working from the outside to the inside.
3. Rest the mask on a flat surface to dry. Make sure that the mask is completely dry before you begin shaping or decorating it.
1. Build up areas of your mask with more paper mache; places like cheekbones, chin and eyebrows will help fill in the mask.
2. Create molds with crumpled up paper, tape it to the mask and use the paper mache to paper over those items if you want to add horns or other bumps and lumps. Wait an additional two days if you create large additions before adding any additional decoration.
3. Use your imagination to decorate the mask with paint, glitter, fabric and whatever else you have around.
Essayist and New York Times columnist Margaret Renkl brings her keen eye and tender observations to her Nashville backyard in The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
Starting in winter, Renkl seeks — and finds — a remarkable clarity as she moves week by week through each season of a difficult year of change.
As the world around her tilts, Renkl grounds herself in the natural world of fox, bluebird, and toad, urging her readers to stop and notice the beech trees and the snakeroot, “to consider the deep hollows of the persimmon’s bark, the way the tree has carved its own skin into neat rectangles of sturdy protection.” She knows that only those who love this fragile world will work to protect it, noting, “the world is burning, and there is no time to put down the water buckets. For just an hour, put down the water buckets anyway.” The Comfort of Crows is both praise song and elegy — for this world, for time passing, and for the unique chance to experience both.
Margaret Renkl answered questions by email.
The Comfort of Crows chronicles a year in your Nashville backyard, starting in win-
BY SARA BETH WEST AND CHAPTER16.ORGter, a season you explain has shifted from “least-favorite” to welcome, asking, “Who could fail to embrace a season so beautiful and so fragile?” Are beautiful things always fragile?
They don’t always seem fragile to me, but I suspect they’re always ephemeral. Even beautiful things that appear to be solid and everlasting really aren’t — the mountain will always fling itself into the sea given enough time.
In “Metamorphosis,” you describe the toad habitat you and your brother, Billy Renkl, built as children, explaining, “I am not interested in the plants — or, it must be said, in beauty — but Billy is an artist, and he arranges the plants around a piece of slate.” How has your opinion on beauty changed since then?
Billy’s capacity for perceiving beauty is still more comprehensive than mine is, and he is far more interested in beauty for beauty’s sake than I am. In his garden, for instance, extravagant beauty is the central goal, while I am mainly feeding my wild neighbors. At least half the flowers in my garden have “weed” as part of their names, and decades of seeing the world through that lens has formed my
concept of beauty. Seeing a bumblebee feeding from a flower’s nectar, or a goldfinch tearing the flower apart to reach its seeds, is what makes the flower beautiful to me.
Billy’s art accompanies this book, as it did for Late Migrations. How does that creative partnership work for you? How do your two art forms speak to each other?
Gardens aside, Billy and I have always had a similar aesthetic, and Billy’s work is often grounded in or inspired by a written text. I urged him to think of the art he was making for The Comfort of Crows as not fundamentally different from the way he would think about making any other body of work that is grounded in the natural world. What he came up with exceeded my wildest hopes. His images aren’t illustrations. They’re works of art.
How has climate change affected your relationship with the land and its creatures?
We moved around a lot when I was child, but the woods were always nearby. The creeks were always running, and the birds were always singing, and the toads were always catching moths beneath streetlights. I think that’s part of why I’ve always thought of the natural
world as my most reliable home. But the ravages of climate change, among many other human-wrought depredations, have made it very clear that the natural world isn’t steadfast at all. The natural world is in convulsions, and I am in a state of nearly constant grief.
What advice do you have for our younger generation, who might find it all too easy to despair?
I hope younger people will tell themselves the same thing I tell myself every single day: despair never saved a single bird or a single turtle or a single grasshopper or a single toad. It certainly never saved a river or an ocean or a planet. We don’t have time for despair. The natural world needs us fired up and furious and fighting like hell to save it. Despair is for when the battle is lost, and the battle to save this green and gorgeous world is not yet lost. It is nowhere near lost. But it will take everything we have to save it.
To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.
“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.
Año 21 - No. 381
“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”
S e vivió un momento histórico cuando el Alcalde Freddie O'Connell asumió el cargo en una ceremonia de juramento privado el lunes 25 de septiembre pasado, en el venerado e historico Palacio de Justicia en Nashville. Esto marcó un hito significativo en la historia de la “Ciudad de la Musica”, ya que Freddie O'Connell asumió la alcaldía de la ciudad, convirtiéndose en el décimo alcalde. La decisión de llevar a cabo una toma de posesión privada tenía como objetivo garantizar una transición sin contratiempos entre administraciones. Este enfoque permitió que el equipo del Alcalde O'Connell se preparara para sus responsabilidades antes de la primera reunión del Consejo del Metro programada para el 3 de octubre. El énfasis en la eficiencia aseguró una transición sin problemas de responsabilidades de la administración saliente.
Al día siguiente, el martes 26, el nuevo Alcalde Freddie O'Connell hizo importantes anuncios sobre su personal.
Wallace (Wally) Dietz fue retenido como Director Legal del Gobierno de Metro, un cargo que ocupa desde junio de 2021. Dietz había servido previamente como Abogado de Cumplimiento e Investigaciones Gubernamentales en la firma legal Bass, Berry, y Sims.
Marjorie Pomeroy-Wallace fue nombrada Jefa de Gabinete, habiendo gestionado previamente la campaña de O'Connell como directora de campaña.
Kristin Wilson continuó en su papel como Jefa de Operaciones y Desempeño. Después de una carrera
que abarcó tanto el sector público como el privado, asumió su puesto actual en septiembre de 2019.
Bob Mendes se unió a la administración de O'Connell como Director de Desarrollo. Mendes, abogado y miembro de Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, PLC, también había servido como miembro del Consejo de Metro durante los últimos ocho años.
El Alcalde O'Connell nombró a Katy Varney como Directora Interina de Comunicaciones. Varney, ex socia de MP&F Strategic Communications, también había trabajado con el ex gobernador Ned McWherter y había sido asesora de la campaña electoral de Megan Barry. Alex Apple fue nombrado Subdirector de Comunicaciones y Secretario de Prensa. Anteriormente, había sido Director de Comunicaciones de la campaña de O'Connell. Kathy Floyd-Buggs y Bonita Dobbins fueron algunos de los miembros del personal
que conservaron sus puestos. Mientras continuaba el proceso de contratación y entrevistas de personal, el Alcalde O'Connell prometió presentar a más miembros de su equipo en las próximas semanas y meses.
Esta inauguración privada marcó el comienzo de una semana de celebraciones que culminó en un gran evento público el sábado 30 de septiembre.
La celebración pública, adecuadamente titulada "Nashville Coming Together" (Nashville Uniendose), fue un espectáculo de todo el día, llena de festividades diseñadas para celebrar la unidad, vitalidad y diversidad que definen a Music City. A pesar de que acababa de regresar, esa mañana, de conferencias consecutivas en Florida, tuve el privilegio de asistir a este evento.
El día comenzó a las 9:00 a.m. con "One City, Many Faiths" (Una Ciudad,
Muchas Creencias), un encuentro celebrado en la Congregación Micah. Este evento exclusivo invitaba a representantes de las diversas comunidades multiculturales de fe de Nashville para destacar la creciente diversidad de la ciudad. Aunque el evento estaba destinado exclusivamente a invitados del público, se concedió acceso a representantes de los medios de comunicación para presenciar la celebración.
A las 11:30 a.m., el Alcalde O'Connell se unió al Vicealcalde y al Consejo de Metro para una celebración de inauguración en la Plaza Diane Nash. El evento incluyó actuaciones musicales, una variedad de camiones de comida (food trucks) y una "Celebración de los Servicios de la Ciudad" en la que diversos departamentos y organizaciones de la ciudad presentaron la amplia gama de servicios y oportunidades que Nashville ofrece a sus residentes.
Las festividades del día incluyeron puntos de encuentro designados en toda la ciudad, lo que permitió a los habitantes de Nashville emprender viajes en transporte público hasta el lugar de la inauguración. Después de la ceremonia, el recién juramentado Alcalde saludó personalmente a los ciudadanos de Nashville en el histórico Palacio de Justicia, reafirmando su compromiso de servir a la comunidad.
Las celebraciones del sábado reflejaron una ciudad que se unió de diversas formas para resaltar cómo funciona, se mueve y prospera Nashville. Los eventos enfatizaron la unidad y vitalidad que hacen de Music City un lugar excepcional, estableciendo un tono positivo para el mandato del Alcalde O'Connell como líder de la ciudad.
Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569
Sitting in a doctors office waiting on test results finally the doctor comes in and apologizes sorry for the wait
Good news he says, your numbers look GREAT!
You graciously smile and nod and shake his hand
Still you find yourself wondering
Why do I feel SO bad?
Looking out the window before you leave, and what do you see?
In the distance there’s a small grove of trees
Most are lush and green
But in the midst of these
There stands one stripped of its beauty, sapped of its strength, completely barren, with no leaves
Nothing to protect its branches from the days scorching heat
It’s as though the other trees and greenery round about were draining this once majestic centerpiece of glorious crown
Exposing the frailty of its boughs
What once stood tall, rock solid, immovable, and proud, with roots that ran deep into the ground
Is now left tired, weak, fragile, falling down, A shell of what once stood in its place
How long will it continue to stand against the elements until it breaks down you wonder
How long before it is completely sawed asunder
The heat, the cold, the wind, and the rain, that come against it each and every day, How long can it last?
There’s no way to know for sure
I wrote the first part of this poem at a time when both people and doctors were telling me I was “looking good,” and all my medical test results were great, but I didn’t feel that way, and I honestly didn’t know why. I mean, I’d been through much worse in my life than what I was going through at that time.
As is often the case with me, just when I had reached my breaking point, something or someone showed me there was indeed a light at the end of the long dark tunnel I’d found myself in, and the poem went into my drafts folder where it remained until the day I met Kristen.
She was walking down the sidewalk as so many others do.
As she passed by, I simply said, “Hi, how are you? ” She smiled and softly said, “I’m fine.” But there was something about her demeanor that spoke louder than her voice that said she was anything but fine.
I said to her, “ Yeah I’ve been that kind of ‘fine’ before too. The kind where you hope no one can see through the mask you’re wearing, the kind where you hope you can hold on to that smile just long enough to get around the corner and out of sight before you burst into tears.”
Then I said, “ You know, I’m gonna be out here ALL DAY selling papers IF you wanna talk.” With that away she went.
She returned a few minutes later. No words were spoken at first. She just cried.
Once she calmed down she explained she was in an abusive relationship, and had three small children.
She went on to say that she’d tried several times to leave, but each time he ALWAYS finds them, and now she has nowhere else to go.
As she talked I could see her start to relax a bit, that is, until her phone rang.
An angry male voice on the other end
of the line said, “ So you think you can just walk out on me?! ” She tried to explain, her voice now trembling, “ I just went to get something from the store.”
His response?
“I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson! ”
I knew EXACTLY what that meant, and so did she.
I tried to convince her NOT to go back. That’s when she told me, “ I have to go back. My kids are there, but don’t worry he won’t hurt them, just me.” She said it crying once again.
With that comment, I realized either she’s relatively new to this type of abuse or she’s in denial.
In reality, one in 15 children in that type of situation become a victim of domestic violence themselves and 90 percent of the children witness the abuse of their loved ones firsthand (according to the National Coalition Against Domestic
Violence), leaving these innocent victims with emotional scars that can last for a lifetime — even damaging future relationships.
Sadly, I don’t know what happened to Kristen. I haven’t seen her since that day. I ask for prayers for this young woman and her children in the hope that they do not become just another statistic in the ugliness that is domestic violence.
If you are having a mental health crisis or are feeling suicidal PLEASE call/text 988 to speak with someone 24/7.
If you are experiencing domestic violence
PLEASE contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline @ 1-800-799-7233 to speak with someone 24/7 or text START to 88788.
I'm sick! I have COVID! I picked it up last week when I went a few places I don't usually visit and have been paying the price ever since. I'm generally not prone to sickness. But even though I'm very careful when I go out, COVID hooked on to me and doesn't seem to want to let go.
From the outside, folks would probably say I had a very good past month. That's at least what all of these folks in the unfamiliar places I visited kept telling me. Their eyes sparkled and they looked at me with big smiles on their faces. But I couldn't relate to their upbeat manner.
I think it was David Olney who said, "When
you're sad, the world knows it immediately. You might as well have a girl walk behind you playing a tuba everywhere you go." I am definitely sad — orphan sad — but I can't get anyone else to go along with the program. I always thought that Olney knew what the heck he was talking about. Now I don't even have that.
So maybe it's a good thing that I'm sick. I can isolate here in my room and be as sad as I want. Maybe that's why I got sick in the first place. The mind is a mysterious, powerful force. I just need some time to be sad. And that's OK! Hope y'all are taking the time to be what you need to be.
Recently, I have been given the privilege of being selected as a card maker by Second Story Cards. Being homeless, you experience few oppurtunities to receive services from the community that surrounds you unless you personally hear of them and seek them out. People are blessed with what is around them, and yet they forget that it’s not permanent.
Second Story Cards was created to better the lives of homeless people. It is a boutique social enterprise that elevates the creative talents and voices of people who have experienced homelessness. We believe that one element of our lives—certainly not our housing status—does not define us. We can write a second story. Our business model is simple: create beautiful
greeting cards and help our neighbors most in need. The cardmakers recieve 15 percent of each sale. Additionally, 10 percent is donated to a nonprofit of the artist's choice in an effort to give back to the organizations that have helped people overcome the challenges they’ve experienced.
“Homelessness is not a reflection of a person’s worth, but rather a reflection of a society’s collective failure to provide basic human needs,” stated Reed Sandridge, the founder of Second Story Cards.
“I am thankful for my health and amazing wife, Ellie, my friends, and the fact that we have housing. I’m thankful, also, that people like my cards,” said Daniel Cline, a cardmaker from Nashville.
BY JOHN H., CONTRIBUTOR VENDORA lady asked me this question the other day. I told her “Let me get back to you on that.”
But to tell you the truth, I don’t think so. If a husband doesn’t love his wife do they stay together? No. Even though spouses hurt one another sometimes, they still love eachother and they stay together.
Many say they love God, but God may think differently. God said in His word that if a man doesn’t love his neighbor he doesn’t love God. This can get a little tricky; we must mind our P’s and Q’s. We’re all guilty of falling short. Start reading God’s word and learn before it’s too late. Satan, unfortunately, has stolen many hearts in our country. You see, many of us want to give excuses for ourselves. God said in His word that we either love or we hate. There’s no in-between, no gray area.
It’s also very important that we don’t follow in the footsteps of the rich man (Luke 16). I am mentioning this because I see so much of it every day. It strikes a nerve in me when I see supposed Christians who act in a greedy, arrogant manner. It isn’t that they don’t know the word, but that they become too comfortable following the ways of the world. They have their priorities wrong, constantly worried about what others may think of them.
We must love God. We must love our neighbor. We can’t fool God, no matter how hard we may try. And oftentimes we can’t fool our neighbor either, because God puts them at the right place and time, enlightening them on what they need to know. So get it together people, while we still have time. Love God. Love your Neighbor.
BY LISA A., CONTRIBUTOR VENDORThe Gatlinburg fire of November 2016 is still seared in my brain. Why? Because I function very efficiently under stress … at the cost of PTSD later on. My family was military. The ethic was “suffer silently.” The cost was high. The fire shot hundreds of feet into the atmosphere, showering burning embers for miles. The smoke was choking us. My small community in Gatlinburg managed to improvise an effective evacuation plan. While I was at the top of the mountain cramming people’s pets into my truck, others were cutting away the dozens of downed
trees (resulting from the high winds that preceded the fire), that were in our way. Still others were making sure the elders in our area were at the head of the evacuation line, along with children and asthmatics. We made it out, putting out a few small start up fires as we went.
Many of us workers were left without a home, shoddy as they may have been. For years, I couldn’t tell the story. But I did record an answer to my prayers at that time.
I offer it to all those still without a safe and caring home.
BY JAMES "SHORTY" R., CONTRIBUTOR VENDORWhere does it go?
Next 30 seconds, the next minute, or one hour or 24?
Time is everything to you to me. Time is very precious to everyone you meet on
your journey that you're taking. Don't take it for granted it will pass you up in a blink of an eye.
Just remember time is patience.
The other day a UPS driver told me I have the best Halloween decorations! I was flattered, so I didn’t explain that I don’t have any Halloween decorations. I just like to keep the spiderwebs on the porch. Of course, the spiders only hang out there because my porch light attracts so many little flying bugs that get caught in their webs. So I just let them do what they do. Sometimes, Libra, letting well enough alone is a fine strategy. But other times you need to take some action. Maybe I’ll dust the webs off the door after the first freeze.
Deadly dolls! Nefarious nuns! Killer clowns! The quickest way to make a horror villain is to take something that’s supposed to be kind and harmless and give it an edge. Let’s try a few, Scorpio. Creepy capybaras! Demented daisies! Murderous manatees! Are these working? In any case, Scorpio, I just want you to remember that you can make a monster out of almost anything. What’s even scarier is to try to find the ways you may be responsible for your own outcomes. Boo!
I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when I saw you at the post office, Sagittarius. It’s hard to talk with these plastic vampire teeth in my mouth, and sometimes if I smile too big I drool a little bit. But I made a commitment to myself that I would wear this set of Dracula chompers all month long and I’m not going to break that over pleasantries. If I can manage this, Sagittarius, then I think you can probably stand to keep doing that uncomfortable thing that you know will make your month better. Hopefully your burden is easier to eat with.
I couldn’t see much through the fog this morning, Capricorn. I stepped off my porch and headed for my car but I just kept not finding it. When I turned around, the porch was gone. Just fog in every direction. Lucky for me, that’s right when you called so I just followed that Vanilla Ice ringtone back to my front door (luckily I’d left my phone on the porch chair). Sometimes it’s hard to see which way to go, Capricorn. It may be a good time to stop, collaborate and listen.
There are a lot more exorcist movies than there used to be. There’s all the brand-name Exorcist ones and then a whole slough of generics. In general, they all work the same way: somebody is possessed by an otherworldly force and somebody else wants to get them un-possessed. I think I understand why we keep telling this story. If there’s somebody you love who is full of the wrong ideas, Aquarius, it’s natural that you’d want to get the bad ideas out and put your good ones in. But it doesn’t often happen by yelling the right words at the right time. It usually just happens by being present, interested, available and caring.
My neighbor got one of those decorative 12-foot-tall skeletons and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. An enormous seasonal reminder that the things we’re most afraid of are precisely the things that are already inside of us is just what this neighborhood needed. But remember, Pisces, that as our fears of mortality and the unknown become bigger, it gets harder to see them as a part of us. Enjoy the giant skeletons this month, but keep your own fears person-sized. They’re more manageable when we remember that everybody has them.
Think about the jack-o-lantern cookies at the grocery store. The ones in the bakery section where the cookie is a little too soft and crumbly and the frosting is a little too thick and orange. If you imagine biting into one you can taste a little bit of the bitter of food-coloring at the back of your tongue. But if you stay with the sensation, you’ll also remember the sweet. If you’re stuck in a memory about a time that you found bitter, Aries, chew it over just a little longer. What was the sweetest thing about then? Almost everything has both.
This house is for-sure haunted, Taurus! The floorboards creak when nobody is around. The eyes of the paintings follow as you pass. The windows open by themselves while a howling wind blows the curtains all around the bed. I’ve seen it before and this is the real deal. But this time, Taurus, I don’t think it’s your job to get the ghosts out. I think all you have to do is walk out the front door. That’s somebody else’s house to clean.
Imagine you wake up trapped in a box! No, wait, that’s too scary. Imagine you wake up next to a box. Just a regular cardboard shipping box. It’s got your name and address on the top. And you know that inside the box is the thing you need to fix all your problems. You peel up the tape (Unless you want to imagine a box cutter, but those are pretty sharp.) and you pull back the flap and you see the thing you need. What is that thing, Gemini? And what can the people who love you do to help you get it? Have you asked?
I saw something in the woods last night, Cancer. At first I thought it was a deer. Then I thought it was that guy who refills the hand-sanitizer stations at the park. Then I could tell it was neither, but it was coming toward me. As it got closer it got faster, but I still couldn’t tell what it was and then POOF! It was gone. It seems to me, Cancer, that sometimes the things we think are heading our way turn out to be nothing at all. Maybe we should worry less about what’s coming and more about getting someplace with better lighting.
All work and no play makes Leo a dull sign. All work and no play makes Leo a dull sign. All work and…oh, sorry, Leo. I didn’t hear you come in. I’ve just been down here writing horoscopes. Lots and lots of horoscopes. Anyway, I had something I wanted to tell you but I can’t remember. Oh that’s right! I was just thinking that you should relax. Stop pushing yourself so hard. Maybe get away. I’ve heard there’s an old hotel that needs a caretaker for the winter. Maybe check that out–or if you can think of literally any other way to give yourself a break, maybe do that.
Depictions of ghosts from the 1300s are a little more like zombies. Corpses walking around in their burial shrouds, walking from their graves to haunt the living. Over time the image got simpler, just a disembodied cloth shroud on the loose. And then our culture forgot what burial shrouds were so now a ghost can be represented by a white sheet with some eyeholes. Sometimes, Virgo, we can’t even remember why we said those things we said. Sometimes the meaning gets lost over time like the limbs and faces of ghosts. That’s a good time to start over and say it fresh.
Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a certified exorcist or a trained hotel caretaker. Listen to the Mr. Mysterio podcast at mrmysterio.com Or just give him a call at 707-VHS-TAN1
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
IN the midst of my morning prayers I had a good meditation, which since I have forgotten. Thus much I remember of it—that it was pious in itself, but not proper for that time; for it took much from my devotion, and added nothing to my instruction; and my soul, not able to intend two things at once, abated of its fervency in praying. Thus snatching at two employments, I held neither well.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times
GOD hath not forgiven thee thy sins because of thy repentance but because of thy thought to deliver thyself to Christ.
The Paradise of the Fathers
19th Thursday after Trinity
WHEN the devil leaves any one he watches his time for return, and having taken it, he leads him into a second sin . . . Something like this took place in Judas, who after his repentance did not preserve his own heart, but received that more abundant sorrow supplied to him by the devil, who sought to swallow him up . . . But had he desired and looked for place and time for repentance, he would perhaps have found him who has said, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Or perhaps he desired to die before his Master on his way to death, and to meet him with a disembodied spirit that by confession and deprecation he might obtain mercy; and did not see that it is not fitting that a servant of God should dismiss himself from life, but should wait God's sentence.
Origen, quoted by Aquinas:
Catena Aurea19th Friday after Trinity
PRIDE calls me to the window, gluttony to the table, wantonness to the bed, laziness to the chimney, ambition commands me to go upstairs, and covetousness to come down. Vices, I see, are as well contrary to themselves as to virtue. Free me, Lord, from this distracted case; fetch me from being sin's servant to be thine, whose "service is perfect freedom," for thou art but one, and ever the same.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times
WOULD wicked men dwell a little more at home, and descend into the bottom of their own hearts they would soon find Hell opening her mouth wide upon them, and those secret fires of inward fury and displeasure breaking out upon them.
John Smith: Discoveries
19th Saturday after Trinity
SOME men the fiend will deceive in this manner full wonderfully. He will enflame their brains to maintain God's law, and to destroy sin in all other men. He will never tempt them with a thing that is openly evil. All men will they reprove of their faults right as though they had a cure of their souls: and yet they think that they dare not else for God but tell them their faults that they see. And they say that they be stirred thereto by the fire of charity, and of God's love in their hearts; and truly they lie, for it is with the fire of hell, welling up in their brains and in their imagination.
The Cloud of Unknowing [THERE are] . . . those who form too strong a love for one spiritual art, and make, as it were, an end for themselves of this act, and if, by any chance, they lose it, straightaway they despair and cease from all other acts.
St Catherine of Siena.
Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
HE who did not suffer as the man suffers upon whom hardships and adversity suddenly fall but who has before him every instant the possibility that everything nevertheless might be redressed—for He knew that it was inevitable; He who knew that with every new sacrifice He made in behalf of the truth He was hastening His persecution and destruction, so that He had control of His fate, could ensure for Himself the splendour of royal power and the devout admiration of the race if He would let go of the truth, but knew also with even greater certainty that He would ensure His destruction, if (oh, eternally certain way to destruction!) He were in any respect to desert the truth—how did he manage to live without anxiety for the next day? . . . He had Eternity with Him in the day that is called today, hence the next day had no power over Him, it had no existence for Him. It had no power over Him before it came, and when it came, and was the day that is called to-day it had no power over Him than that which was the Father's will, to which He had consented with eternal freedom, and to which He obediently bowed.
Kierkegaard: Christian Discourses.
20th Monday after Trinity
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
20th Tuesday after Trinity
GIVE peace, that is, continue and preserve it; give peace, that is, give us hearts worthy of it, and thankful for it. In our time, that is, all our time: for there is more besides a fair morning required to make a fair day.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times
TEACH me the art of patience whilst I am well, and give me the use of it when I am sick.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times
Feast of St Luke the Evangelist
I was at a stand in my mind whether I should practise physic for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in spirit, to see into another or more steadfast state than Adam’s in innocency, even into a state in Christ Jesus that should never fall. And the Lord showed me that such as were faithful to Him, in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell; in which the admirable works of the creation, and the virtues thereof, may be known through the openings of that divine Word of wisdom and power by which they were made. Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto me beyond what can by words be declared; but as people came into subjection to the Spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the word of wisdom that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.
George Fox: Journal
20th Wednesday after Trinity
LOVE does the work of all other graces without any instrument but its own immediate virtue. For as the love to sin makes a man sin against all his own reason, and all the discourses of wisdom, and all the advices of his friends, and without temptation, and without opportunity, so does the love of God; it makes a man chaste without the laborious arts of fasting and exterior disciplines, temperate in the midst of feasts, and is active enough to choose it without any intermedial appetites, and reaches at glory through the very heart of grace, without any other arms but those of love.
Jeremy Taylor: Holy Living
20th Thursday after Trinity
THEN first do we attain to the fullness of God's love as His children, when it is no longer happiness or misery, prosperity of adversity, that draws us to Him or keeps us back from Him. What we should then experience none can utter; but it would be something far better than when we were burning with the first flame of love, and had great emotion, but less true submission.
Tauler: Sermons
HIS life has been brought into mine, so that I am atoned with Him in His Love. The will of Christ has entered into humanity again in me, and now my will in me enters into His humanity.
Boehme: Signatura Rerum
20th Friday after Trinity
NOW this is the ground and original of the Spirit of Love in the creature, it is and must be a will to all goodness; and you have not the Spirit of Love till you have this will to all goodness at all times and on all occasions. You may indeed do many works of love and delight in them, especially at such times as they are not inconvenient to you or contradictory to your state or temper or occurrences in life. But the Spirit of Love is not in you till it is the spirit of your life, till you live freely, willingly, and universally according to it.
William Law: The Spirit of Love
"THUS it must be" —The ground of this necessity is in himself, whereas the ground of the created universe is not in itself but in him.
Doctrine in the Church of England, Report of the Commission
Sponsored by Matthew Carver, publisher
CarverHE made all things in fulness of goodness, and therefore the blessed Trinity is ever full pleased in all his works.
And, all this showed he full blissfully, meaning thus: "See! I am God: see! I am in all things: see! I do all things: see! I lift never mine hands off my works, not ever shall, without end: see! I lead all thing to the end I ordained it to from without beginning, by the same Might, Wisdom, and Love whereby I made it. How should anything be amiss?
Juliana of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love.
JESUS Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before whom we humble ourselves without despair. Pascal: Pensées.
MEEKNESS in itself is nought else but a true knowing and feeling of a man's self as he is. For surely, whoso might verily see and feel himself as he is, he should verily be meeked. Two things there be that be causes of this meekness, the which be these: One is the filth, the wretchedness, and the fraility of man, into the which he must always feel in some degree the whiles he liveth in this life, be he never so holy. Another is the over-abundant love and the worthiness of God in himself; in beholding of which all nature quaketh, all clerks be fools, and all saints and angels be blind. Insomuch, that were it not, through the wisdom of his Godhead, that he measured their beholding according to their ableness in nature and in grace, I cannot say what should befall them.
The Cloud of Unknowing
21st Monday after Trinity
WE would fain be humble; but not despised. To be despised and rejected is the heritage of virtue. We would be poor too, but without privation. And doubtless we are patient, except with hardships and with disagreeables. And so with all the virtues.
Eckhart: Sermons and Collations
HUMILITY is deep enough when God has mortified a man with the man himself, then and not till then is a man satisfied, and the claims of virtue.
Eckhart: In Colllationibus
The Feast of All Saints
IT is the feast-day of all those who loved Jesus Christ, who gave Him their souls and their blood for pure Love, who were without pride, without confidence in themselves, and who, because of that, shine with the greatest imaginable splendour.
Léon Bloy: Letters to his Fiancée.
AS verily as we shall be in the bliss of God without end, him praising and thanking, so verily we have been in the foresight of God, loved and known in his endless purpose from without beginning. In which beginning love he made us; and in the same love he keepeth us and never suffereth us to be hurt (in any way) by which our bliss might be lost. And therefore when the Doom is given and we be all brought up above, then (shall) we clearly see in God the privities which now be hidden to us. Then shall none of us be stirred to stay in any wise: "Lord, if it had been thus, then it had been full well"; but we shall say all with one voice: "Lord, blessed mayest thou be, for it is thus: it is well; and now see we verily that all thing is done as it was then ordained before that anything was made.”
Juliana of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love.
About him all the sanctities of heaven
Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received Beatitude past utterance.
Milton: Paradise Lost.
IF thou hast not the prayer of the spirit, strive for the prayer of the body, and then shall be added unto thee the prayer in the spirit. If thou hast not humility in the spirit, strive for the humility which is in the body, and then shall be added unto thee the humility which is in the spirit.
The Paradise of the Fathers
BE not humble in thy words only, but also in thy deeds.
The Paradise of the Fathers
THEME: THE 2000S
Songsmith...
“Pieces of Poetry”
To me is simply, Just another Un-Sung Song. I just need a talented friend, Who’s a Musician, And the gang he considers, His back-up band.
ACROSS
1. Interest in a venture
6. Hundredweight, acr.
9. Med. sch. requirement
13. ____ the tail ___ the donkey
14. Duran Duran's 1982 hit
15. All plants and animals 16. Part of an eye, pl.
17. Go for the bull's eye
18. Reduction/oxidation portmanteau
19. *Best selling author of the 2000s
21. *Billboard's music artist of the 2000s
23. Chicken ____ ____ king
24. From a thrift store
25. Class-conscious grp.
28. Formerly, once
30. Marine mammal in famous Beatles' song
35. Fabled fliers
37. Jealous biblical brother
39. Averse
40. *"He's Just Not That ____ You" (2009)
41. Acrylic fiber 43. Arabian chieftain 44. Apartments, e.g. 46. *Friendster or Facebook, e.g. 47. 5,280 feet 48. Metal detector, e.g. 50. Goose egg
52. Cry of horror in comics
53. Made a basket
55. *Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee or Nemo and Dory, e.g.
57. *Name for 2000s
60. *Popular social network of the 2000s
64. K-pop country
72. Utmost degree
Financing values DOWN 1. Horse prod 2. *Popular DVR device 3. All over again 4. Eucalyptus-eating marsupial 5. Store in a silo
6. Mountain goat terrain 7. *Xbox competitor 8. Libraryful 9. Dignified manner
the 2000s 11. A-bomb particle 12. Levy 15. Like "something new" boutique 20. Beginning of sleeping disorder 22. Feline sound 24. Put to work 25. *Toyota Hybrid introduced worldwide in 2000
26.
31.
34.
China grass
Handy
36. Chronic drinkers
Like #59 Down
*Pink's
Does what I’m trying to do, Truly make me an Outlaw? And, remind me once again, What I’m doing this for? I like being the guy, Holding open the door, For the people who need somebody, To Even the Score. I’m more than fully capable, To do that and more... A Warrior, who’ll not be silenced, And will not be ignored. Hallelujah... Praise the Lord... I guess that makes me an Outlaw...
Forcing myself into, Other people’s Live’s, Like everything else in life, Comes with a price. That unfortunately, More often than not, I usually cannot afford. But I never forget, Or waste time on regret, With so very much, just up ahead, Still yet to be explored.
I’m part of music’s universe, Because I write the words. That hopefully one day, someday, Eventually will be heard. I bear my fair share of Battle Scars, And I’m still a long ways away, From being a star. But at least I can say, That I did my part, With this every other week, opportunity, For me to share my heart...
To figure out, That songwriting is all about, Helping your, Fellow man understand. Some things in life, Don’t go quite as planned, but... Music’s like a message sent, To lend you a hand. When you’ve got to get up, And go do it again. Music can be more than a friend. A right on time reminder, You were destined to find, Right when it’s supposed to happen...
I adhere to, One simple, Clear Principle.
“Put Others Before Oneself.” I can’t see what I’m doing, Continuing, Being done, By someone else.
I got two Traffic Tickets attending, The New Paper Release Meeting. How much does it cost me? To keep on speaking?
This two new songs released, Every other week thing, You ’de think, Has got to be worth something?
Pieces of Poetry is a Journey, Some see as, Time Well Spent.
Like getting a letter from a, Long Lost Friend, It’s good to hear from, Now and Then.
Such is the Power of Paper and Pen, And so many years of experience. Thank You for Understanding, And Thank You for being a Friend.
Sincerely Yours, Christopher
Scott Fieselman.
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Reptile opens cold before crawling into a murder mystery police procedural. Will Grady (Justin Timberlake) and Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz) are in a relationship, and they both work with Will’s family’s high-end real estate company. They’re getting a sprawling house ready for resale, but the discovery of mysterious damage in the cupboards and a snake skin shed in the living room feel less than homey. It’s also clear that Will and Summer’s relationship is stiff and strained. And when Summer gossips with her friend about the meaning of a dream her friend suggests Summer is “afraid of getting caught.” But, for what? The movie goes from moody to dark when a brutal murder introduces a world weary detective, Tom Nichols (Benicio Del Toro). As he searches for the truth behind family secrets and family money, he’s confronted with the illusions at the center of his own life.
Reptile director and co-writer Grant Singer (along with Del Toro and Benjamin Brewer) is known for his music videos for artists like Lorde and Sam Smith. Reptile is his feature debut, but it’s no surprise that Reptile features an ominous score and lots of stylish song drops along the way. Singer even unnaturally distorts and slows the end of Evie Sands’ “Angel of the Morning” in one scene, uniquely drawing attention to the music being played over the scene. It speaks to Singer’s expertise that music is nearly omnipresent here, but it never gets in the way or feels overbearing.
Perhaps more surprising is the performances Singer coaxes from his fantastic cast. Benicio Del Toro and Alicia Silverstone (she plays his wife, Judy) have the chemistry of a real
loving married couple here, and Timberlake is right on as the successful but pampered Will Grady under the watchful eye of his overbearing mother Camille (Frances Fisher). It’s great to see Eric Bogosian back on the big screen as Tom’s police captain, and Michael Pitt is his always beautifully creepy self as a suspect who may have been wronged by the Gradys. Singer’s cast is loaded with aces, but his subtle storytelling and bare bones dialogue might have come off plodding or flat. Instead the director and editor Kevin Hickman steer these actors through strong performances across the board, bringing emotional depth and unfailing realism to scene after scene. Add the consistently moody and mysterious tone that Singer maintains from his first frames and Reptile is gripping and melancholy — a first rate police procedural.
The real estate business and ideas about family and home are all floating in the background of Reptile . And the police investigation takes viewers into many domestic spaces that tell us about the people who live — or died — in them. Empty estates and old country churches and squalid working class bachelor pads all add to Reptile ’s secret identity as a haunted house film, just in time for spooky movie season. When the police are first investigating the crime scene you can hear Bogosian’s police captain off-screen, admonishing a rookie about all the nooks and crannies an old house might have – the unexpected back stairways and out buildings where evidence or even suspects might be hiding. The background dialog is like a cypher for this whole film about hidden lives, behind closed doors where we dwell together, alone with our secret
selves, even in the intimacy of loving families. Most of our secrets aren’t harmful and some of them are kept out of care for others, and the characters in Reptile have lots of those secrets. But sometimes secrets are
dangerous and even deadly to those closest to us. Like a still snake in the grass, Reptile has those secrets too.
Reptile is currently streaming on Netflix.
