Author Archives
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A Latin Phrase That Tennesseans Can Embrace
“For who can say which is the more empowered, them or us, if we can speak to each other successfully across the chasm of time and difference? Do we ourselves not become wiser and stronger every time we grasp the… Read More ›
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The Value of Truck Time
“Only the strong, the rich, and the dying think truth is a necessity; the rest of us know it for a luxury.” ― Christopher Buehlman, The Blacktongue Thief Daily, I spend about 2 hours taking my freshman daughter to… Read More ›
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Governor Lee’s Voucher Plan Comes To Predictable Demise
“After all, when you come right down to it, how many people speak the same language even when they speak the same language?” ― Russell Hoban It’s official. Six months ago I told you that I didn’t think they’d… Read More ›
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Who’s Running This Grift?
I laughed in your face and said, “You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith” This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel We’re modern idiots Who’s going to hold you like me? Nobody. No fucking body. Nobody. – Taylor Swift This… Read More ›
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Gotcha!
“We’re from where we’re from,” she says back. “Scars are part of the deal, aren’t they?” ― Stephen Graham Jones, The Only Good Indians It’s amazing, how sometimes I write something, and then just days later an incident arises… Read More ›
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Brown Shirts to the Right, Green Shirts to the Left
“It always gets late with you. – Is that a compliment?” ― Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol As a public, we don’t do nuance well, if we do it all. Our policy conversations tend to be… Read More ›
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Who Is Serving Who?
“There is still, I think, not enough recognition by teachers of the fact that the desire to think–which is fundamentally a moral problem–must be induced before the power is developed. Most people, whether men or women, wish above all else… Read More ›
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Fables of the Reconstruction
“The ship is always off course. Anybody who sails knows that. Sailing is being off course and correcting. That gives a sense of what life is about.” ― Michael Meade Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education Lizzette Reynolds just can’t seem… Read More ›
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A Whisper Becoming A Prayer
“I know the word “incompetent” from my father. He uses it when there’s something political on TV, or when he and Uncle Miki are quarreling about something political they’ve seen on TV. Incompetence means doing something even though you haven’t… Read More ›
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A Grim Anniversary, A Useless State Report Card, and New District Chiefs – Its Easter Time In Tennessee
“A talent for following the ways of yesterday’, declared King Wu-ling in 307 BC, ‘is not sufficient to improve the world of today.” ― Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World This week marks the… Read More ›