The Contributor: February 15, 2023

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ON THE

HILL A housing coalition hopes to build strength statewide

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IN THE ISSUE

Contributor Board

Tom Wills, Chair Cathy Jennings, Christine Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Kerry Graham, Amber DuVentre, Jerome Moore, Drew Morris, Andy Shapiro

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

2023

L a N ticia

Año 21 - No. 365

“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

GRATIS Febrero/2

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Newspaper Nashville

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Nashville, Tennessee

Un “salto gigante" es necesario en lucha contra Las superbacterias

Después del men-

saje de anoche, las comunidades de lucha contra el cáncer, pacientes, investigadores y profesionales médicos deben haber quedado mas que satisfechos de que el presidente Joe Biden haya hecho Por Yuri Cunza el "terminar con el Editor in Chief cáncer tal como lo @LaNoticiaNews conocemos" uno de sus principales objetivos como presidente, y con dos años restantes en su mandato utilice su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión para pedirle al Congreso que actúe una vez más.

Vendor Spotlight

Los siete años de financiación para el "cancer moonshot", $1,800 millones autorizados a través de la Ley de Curas del Siglo XXI, termina en septiembre.

Renovar el apoyo es crucial asi como que vuelvan a autorizar la Ley Nacional del Cáncer de 1971, la ley que creó el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer y los Institutos Nacionales de Salud.

Comomédicos que han dedicado sus vidas al estudio del cáncer, los doctores Cynthia L. Sears y Fyza Yusuf Shaikh dicen estar encantados con la iniciativa "Cancer Moonshot" del presidente Biden para reducir a la mitad la tasa de mortalidad de la enfermedad en 25 años.

Pero esta no logrará ese objetivo a menos que actuemos en una crisis de salud menos conocida.

Cynthia L. Sears es médica de enfermedades infecciosas y profesora de medicina en la Escuela de Medicina Johns Hopkins y Fyza Yusuf Shaikh es oncólogo y profesor asistente de oncología en la Escuela de Medicina Johns Hopkins.

"I do have two medals I got from The Contributor and the year before. I wanna go out with a three-peat."

Foto: State of The Union Address (2/7/2023(

La Noticia + The Contributor

Joe Biden made "ending cancer as we know it" one of his main goals as president, but it doesn’t end there.

A continuación, sus comentarios: “Para muchos pacientes de cáncer que mueren, sus tumores no son los únicos responsables. Las superbacterias enferman a estos pacientes, que no pueden combatir las infecciones debido a un sistema inmunitario debilitado, incluso con la ayuda de antibióticos.

Reducir las muertes por cáncer requiere una estrategia igualmente agresiva para vencer las infecciones resistentes a los medicamentos.

No tiene sentido tratar estas dos crisis por separado. Ya se estima que las infecciones son una causa principal o asociada de muerte en aproximadamente el 50 % de los pacientes con cáncer.

Sin un esfuerzo por neutralizar la amenaza que representan las superbacterias, estas infecciones mortales interrumpirán cualquier progreso que logremos en la lucha contra el cáncer.

Las superbacterias son bacterias y hon-

gos que han desarrollado resistencia a los antimicrobianos, una defensa natural contra los medicamentos que se usan para matarlos.

Hemos visto cómo los pacientes con cáncer son vulnerables a estas infecciones mortales. Una y otra vez, hemos visto cómo los pacientes que luchan contra el cáncer desarrollaron infecciones bacterianas que eran altamente resistentes a los antibióticos.

Las superbacterias pueden resultar fatales para nuestros pacientes. El riesgo de que una persona con cáncer muera a causa de una infección es tres veces mayor que el riesgo de una persona sin cáncer.

pacientes que se someten a quimioterapia, una infección puede retrasar su tratamiento mientras el cáncer continúa creciendo, lo que genera complicaciones y peores resultados de salud.

En resumen, para los pacientes con cáncer, la crisis de las superbacterias no es una amenaza lejana, es un peligro mortal presente.

Desafortunadamente, el orden de avance y prioridad para nuevos antibióticos no está ni cerca de lo que se necesita. En la actualidad, hay 64 te-rapias en desarrollo clínico. Para poner eso en perspectiva, hay más de 1,000 medicamentos en desarrollo para el cáncer.

Debido a que los antibióticos están destinados a usarse con criterio para preservar su eficacia, es prácticamente imposible que las empresas recuperen el dinero que han invertido en la investigación y el desarrollo de esos medicamentos utilizando las ventas típicas.

Es por esta razón que las nuevas empresas de antibióticos se declararon en bancarrota o abandonaron la industria en los últimos años.

Esta falla del mercado exige reformas.

La Ley PASTEUR crearía un sistema en el que el gobierno compra una "suscripción" para acceder a nuevos antibióticos, en lugar de pagar por dosis.

PASTEUR pagaría por el valor de estos medicamentos en lugar de su volumen, dando a las empresas el retorno de la inversión de la que dependen.

La lucha contra el cáncer está lista para dar grandes pasos en los próximos años.

Sin embargo, sin un esfuerzo igualmente enérgico para hacer retroceder a las superbacterias, demasiados pacientes con cáncer perderán la vida.”

Vendor Writing

La Noticia, one of the Contributor vendors leading Spanish-language write in this issue about Una infección resistente a los medicamentos también puede obligar a un paciente con cáncer a suspender su newspapers in theUnanation, customers, childhood, tratamiento. mujer joven con una infección abdominal resistente a los medicamentos podría no recibir el brings Spanish content to Tyre Nichols trasplante de médula ósea que necesita Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail:and Go Tell it para curar su leucemia. Para los news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569 The Contributor. on the Mountain.

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Contributors This Issue

Linda Bailey • Amanda Haggard • Justin Wagner • Ridley Wills II • Yuri Cunza • Judith Tackett • Barbara Womack • Alvine • Wendell J. • Jen A. • Jeffrey • Norma B. • Dustin A. • Mr. Mysterio • Jamie W. • Joe Nolan

Starting in 2019, our C.O.V.E.R. Program (Creating Opportunity for Vendor Employment, Engagement, and Resources) was the natural expansion of our mission of removing obstacles to housing. We now offer full case management, assistance with housing and rental expenses, addiction recovery, health insurance, food benefits, and SSI/SSDI assistance. We see the onestop-shop team approach radically transforming a vendor's image of self and their place in community.

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EVENTS

THE CONTRIBUTOR CALENDAR Nashville’s Best Free Events Downtown

Whether you’ve lived in Nashville for years or you’re just in town for a few days, there’s always a way to get out and about without spending a ton. Every two weeks, The Contributor rounds up some of the best local fun to help you navigate all the city has to offer as well as volunteer opportunities and the occasional quick hot tips for the tourists from a vendor.

BLACK HISTORY TOURS Throughout February at the Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd This 45-minute tour at the state’s museum, which is free for all visitors, is a highlights tour of Black history in Tennessee. A museum educator will guide visitors through the galleries and outline stories of Black Tennesseans from the frontier to the quest for freedom and from the Civil War to Civil Rights. The Legacy of Black Entrepreneurship in Tennessee, a Lunch & Learn series, is also happening at the museum in February as well.

RICHLAND PARK MOVIE CLUB: BLACK HISTORY MONTH SERIES Throughout February at Richland Park Branch, Nashville Public Library, 4711 Charlotte Ave. On Feb. 16, the Richland Park Branch of the Nashville Public Library will host a screening of Summer of Soul (2021), the documentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which celebrated African-American music and culture and promoted Black pride and unity. As the final film in the series, on Feb 23, the library plans to screen Amazing Grace: Aretha Franklin.

LORRAINE: THE GIRL WHO SANG THE STORM AWAY Throughout February at the downtown Nashville Public Library, 615 Church Street The library location downtown is bringing a free special musical show on Feb. 17, 18, 24, 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. This show, which features marionettes and is based on the book by Ketch Secor and illustrated by Higgins Bond, follows Lorraine and her Pa Paw, who are musicians and love to play songs to get through tough times. The story shows Lorraine as a big Tennessee mountain storm rolls in and their instruments are nowhere to be found.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES VS. CENTRAL ARKANSAS BEARS Feb. 21 at Hawkins Field, 2600 Jess Neely Drive The Vanderbilt Commodores will face off against the Central Arkansas Bears tickets at Hawkins Field in Nashville at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 21. Tickets start at just $4, which is a great price for a night out watching baseball.

IN CONVERSATION WITH ANDREW FEILER, FRANK BRINKLEY AND CHARLES BRINKLEY: A BETTER LIFE FOR THEIR CHILDREN Feb. 24 at the Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd.

Andrew Feiler, Frank Brinkley and Charles Brinkley will be in conversation on opening weekend of A Better Life For Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, And The 4,978 Schools That Changed America. The exhibit shows images by Feiler of schools involved in a historic collaboration between white businessman Julius Rosenwald and Black educator Booker T. Washington, which led to the building of nearly 5,000 public schools. Feiler drove more than 25,000 miles, photographed 105 schools and interviewed former students, teachers, preservationists and community leaders for this project.

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 3

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: PEDRO L.

It’s a crazy world out there — and Pedro Lopez is off to see it

BY JUSTIN WAGNER When Pedro Lopez goes out to sell The Contributor, he appreciates what he gets — but he relishes the chance to give.

More than just letting that paper go, he tries to pay forward as many little blessings as he can.

“A lot of people don’t know what you’re going through,” Lopez said. “And I wanna shout out the people who bless me with the paper. I give them gifts — even if it’s small, little things, I give ‘em. If somebody gives me bags of candy, I’ll pass ‘em out to my customers. Knick-knacks, whatever I get.”

It’s a “crazy world out there,” and getting crazier every year, as he sees it.

Lopez said he’s encountered the whole gamut of strangers in his time vending, from the opportunistic and rude to the empathetic and generous. Rather than endure the former and idly accept the latter, Lopez makes it a personal goal to replicate positive experiences by simply passing along gifts where he can.

“They bless me. I’m gonna bless them.”

And Lopez makes it no secret that those blessings stick with him; for every act of charity he carries with him, he has a name to go along with it.

“So one, there’s Intertek — Jess, her name is Jessica. She got me this snowsuit,” Lopez explained, gesturing to his cloud-gray coveralls. “Bill and Connie, Jack and his wife, Shannon from First Baptist Church right here on Broadway.

A few others. McKayla, she’s blessed me.

There’s really a lot more to mention …

I just want to say thank you to all the people that supported me.”

He rattles off in remembrance the names of countless people he was grateful for and why, from Leslie at the Nashville Rescue Mission, who buys an issue from him every week, to Emily, who brought him a Christmas card with enough cash to comfortably enjoy the holiday.

For anyone on the street, Lopez said,

little gestures like these are stirring in their compassion.

“When people are sad and down, that’s a blessing to them. I just wish God would bless them the way He blessed me.”

As for why he’s been so lucky to make so many friends while vending, Lopez has a simple answer.

“Well, they say it’s my smile.”

Lopez wants to make sure it’s known how much he cares for the people who have helped him along the way, he said, because he’s not far from hanging up the gloves.

“I do have two medals I got from The Contributor and the year before. I wanna go out with a three-peat,” Lopez explained, laughing. “Then, I’m 62 — I wanna travel. I do travel a lot but I want to travel more. Places I’ve never seen.”

Wanting to make rich memories while he’s able to, Lopez plans to visit corners far from home and spend extra time with

PAGE 4 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

his granddaughter, Gigi.

It’s not totally final, as he hopes to swing by the office someday and write a story or two, but he’s looking forward to starting new ventures.

“It’s sad,” he said. “But I don’t want to be the oldest person out there sellin’ papers, you know? It’s been good while I’ve done it. I got to interact with people, the good and the bad.”

Lopez said he’s grateful for a lot The Contributor has helped him out with — including the dentures crucial to his winning smile — but more than anything, he’ll miss the communal spirit he cultivated at his spot over his years of vending.

“I just hope they bless the next person that’s there on my spot. I know they’ll miss me, but I wish them good in life. They loved the paper, but they always loved my smile. Just brighten somebody else’s life… the way they brightened mine.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT

Learn More about: The Impact of Zoning on Homelessness

BY JUDITH TACKET T It will be very hard for many cities to address the homelessness crisis without addressing zoning codes.

For too long, Nashville has carefully separated the housing conversation from the social services conversation as well as the poverty conversation from the homelessness conversation. Yet we all know that homelessness, at the core of its definition, is a description of a housing status. So, how then can we ever prevent or end homelessness if we do not talk about building more housing and include homelessness in that conversation? More housing can only be built if we have a zoning code that permits that.

I am not saying, nor have I ever implied, that social service needs are to be overlooked in any way, form, or fashion. But I am tired of treating housing and support services as an either-or question. We need both. Continuing the current bifurcated conversation about housing and homelessness will never lead this city, this state, or this nation to solving homelessness. After all, we know what ends homelessness for people: access to housing, to support services, and to livable incomes.

In a recent article published in Governing.com called Few Mayors Connect the Dots between Zoning and Homelessness, reporter Carl Smith quotes several sources that show how little mayors understand the interconnectedness of homelessness and zoning.

In their book Homelessness Is a Housing Problem (published in 2022), Greg Coburn and Clayton Page Aldern write that, “residential zoning is one of the seemingly innocuous rules and regulations that has played a major role in the housing crises that are gripping cities around the nation.”

Finally, a recent report by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities in partnership with Cornell University and the nonprofit Community Solutions called Cities, Zoning, and the Fragmented Response to Homelessness argues that, “centering housing in homelessness policy will require mayors to be politically courageous and prioritize long-term goals over shortterm politics.”

Yet, the Menino survey of Mayors conducted in 2021 clearly showed that few mayors truly grasped the connection between zoning and homelessness (see chart).

Nashville currently lacks a homelessness plan that includes a long-term outlook of what types of housing we need to create and make accessible for people experiencing homelessness. For the first time in… well, forever, we have administrative data sets through Nashville’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) that make it easier for us to measure outcomes and enumerate the problem beyond the annual, limited

Few of the respondents to a 2021 Menino Survey of Mayors saw zoning as a barrier to addressing problems with homelessness. (Boston University) Point In Time (PIT) count (a one-night count conducted across Davidson County within the last 10 days of January that only focuses on people in shelters and sleeping outdoors). Yet, I am not aware of anybody, including the Homelessness Planning Council, that actually utilize data sets to create specific goals and work toward long-term solutions based on what the data, what people with lived experiences, and what providers and other stakeholders tell us.

To say it differently, we have enough data to outline the needs that allow the city to develop housing strategies for different subpopulations and create an equitable approach that takes into consideration the racial disparities that exist in homelessness. And those housing strategies need to include the creation of housing, which will need to be aligned with city planners who see the need for zoning reviews and policy changes.

Since 2020, when the COVID pandemic started, outdoor homelessness and chronic homelessness have increased in many cities, including Nashville. However, compared to other cities, Nashville has been able to avoid a huge increase in homelessness, even though the city’s growth and increasing lack of affordable housing could have easily led to an overall increase in homelessness. Yet, some of the measures our community took have paid off.

Could we have done more? Absolutely.

I believe the city has missed huge opportunities during COVID. We have taken advantage of some homelessness dollars, but the city leadership largely has ignored input from local homelessness leaders who

called for an increase in local department coordination. (For full disclosure, I was at that time working as the Metro Homeless Impact Division Director and left in large part because I felt my division was buried in a department that was solely reactive, focused on protecting the current state of affairs, and not interested in providing leadership in homelessness.)

To this day, whenever I talk to local policy makers and Metro employees, most push back on the idea of combining the homelessness and affordable housing conversation within one office. But to truly prevent and end homelessness, cities must fundamentally change their traditional inter-departmental coordination. Nashville needs to move from its status-quo thinking of collaboration where department representatives get together maybe once a month (or more often if they react to a disaster). They need to shift from being merely responsive in a crisis to becoming proactive in developing and implementing long-term strategies. Housing, planning, and zoning conversations must include public experts focused on long-term solutions to homelessness.

That’s why I have and will continue to challenge Metro to combine affordable housing and homelessness conversations.

It’s easy to point out that the housing issue is bigger and more complex and cannot just focus on homelessness needs. The fact remains that without examining zoning laws and educating the very politicians who essentially control zoning issues in Nashville (Metro councilmember), we will not create an environment in which we build the housing that our community

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 5

needs for everyone.

I realize that Nashville is located in a state that keeps aggressively undermining Metro policies. However, the fact remains that we must fully examine and understand at the local level how zoning impacts homelessness. I actually believe our local leaders in Nashville are largely aware of the connection. Now the majority of them just need to get over the fear of actually including the zoning conversation as part of the discussion of solving homelessness.

The local Five Year Consolidated Plan For Housing and Community Development (June 1, 2018-May 31, 2023), a wide-ranging, report that serves as quasi-bible for potential community investments of federal dollars, mentions zoning in 16 different places, which is not overwhelming considering it is a 265-page document. But even that city plan does not make a direct connection between zoning barriers and homelessness rates.

In short, housing and homelessness keep being treated as separate issues, which is what will prevent us from prioritizing policies that truly create housing for everyone — including people who do not have the means to compete in our current housing markets.

Do I know what I am talking about when zoning enters a conversation? I actually think I fall short in that arena and still have a lot to learn. But I certainly know that if mayors do not start including housing and homelessness, planning and zoning in a unified discussion and couple it with a social services approach, we won’t make strides in creating a healthy, livable community for all Nashvillians where we leave no one behind.

So, listen up mayoral candidates. Here is my suggestion. For starters, the city needs to ensure that there is a citywide housing plan that addresses homelessness. Without that, our current administration’s encampment closure plan will not be able to reduce homelessness after the $50 million federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) investment runs out. But it’s not too late. I actually have hope for an immediate and significant adjustment in the local homelessness approach. Now that Mayor John Cooper does not need to use the homelessness plan to garner votes for his re-election campaign, the city can quickly turn things around and again prioritize ending homelessness for people in an equitable manner as opposed to focusing on closing encampments in certain geographic locations. Shifting to such an approach would reduce outdoor homelessness actually quicker (albeit, I admit, with less visible fanfare) and lead to the reduction of encampments across the entire county in a more organic and sustainable manner.

TENNESSEE HISTORY CORNER

Nashville Nicknames

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

In 1873, the original group of Fisk Jubilee singers made their first trip abroad where they sang in England, Scotland, Wales and on the continent. They sang before, and were received by Queen Victoria and members of Parliament. On this occasion, they sang “Go Down Moses” and, as a grace before a luncheon given by Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone for the Prince and Princess of Wales, they chanted the Lord’s Prayer.

Nowhere have I read that Queen Victoria said that the singers must be from a music city. The first time I heard this was on WPLN on Sunday afternoon Feb. 5, 2023 when the announcer said that Queen Victoria coined the phrase “Music City.” I wonder if she did.

Nashville’s nickname in the 1870s and for many decades before and after that was “The Rock City,” so named because Nashville is built on limestone rock.

In 1861, many young Nashvillians enlisted in the First Tennessee Infantry, Company A, which was

known as “The Rock City Guards.” As recently as the 1940s, Russell Brothers owned Rock City Ice Cream Company in Nashville. When I was a staff manager for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, working at our East Nashville office in 1960, one of my agents had a debit in “Rock City,” a neighborhood where I occasionally collected insurance.

An even older nickname for Nashville is thought to have been coined by Dr. Philip Lindsley, who arrived in Nashville in December of 1824 to assume the presidency of Cumberland College. He is thought to have originated the phrase “Nashville, Athens of the South.” Probably his intent was to publicize his college, which soon was renamed the University of Nashville.

In 1950, David Cobb, one of WSM’s signature announcers, coined a phrase that helped define Nashville’s new identity as a center of country mu-

sic. Early that year, “Cobb was billboarding the Red Foley Show, a sustaining half hour feed to NCB in the mornings with Owen Bradley, the Jordanaires and guitar wonder Grady Martin. Cobb’s role was to set up the show at the top of the half hour before handing over emcee duties to Foley. One morning, Cobb told the CMF’s John Rumble, ‘for no good reason, I changed my introduction a bit. I don’t know where it came from: From Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee, the National Broadcasting company brings you the Red Foley Show.’ After the show, Cobb was called into his boss, Jack Stapp’s office. There, Stapp excitedly said to him, ‘Where did you ever get that idea? That’s the greatest thing I ever heard.’”

Stapp encouraged Cobb to keep using “Music City” on the air. He did and “Music City, USA, Nashville” is still our city’s nickname.

Ridley wrote a book!

Longtime writer for The Contributor Ridley Wills II has published a book cataloging all of his work writing History Corner articles for the paper from over the past decade. All proceeds from the book will be donated to The Contributor to continue its mission of providing low-barrier income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness so that they can find sustainable housing.

FIND THE BOOK AT THESE LOCAL STORES: • Belle Meade Mansion Gift Shop: 5025 Harding Pike • Elder's Bookstore: 101 White Bridge Road • Fort Negley Visitors Center: 1100 Fort Negley Boulevard • Historic Belmont: 1800 Belmont Blvd.

• Logos Book Store: 2136 Bandywood Drive • Parnassus Books: 3900 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 14

• Landmark Booksellers: 114 East Main Street, Franklin TN • Hot Pink: 831 Franklin Pike, Brentwood TN • Duck River Books: 124 Public Square, Columbia TN

PAGE 6 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 7

A Better Life for Their Children JULIUS ROSENWALD, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, AND THE 4,978 SCHOOLS THAT CHANGED AMERICA

FEB. 24, 2023 - MAY 21, 2023

Photo Credit - Andrew Feiler

FREE Admission 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.

Nashville, Tennessee 615.741.2692

TNMuseum.org

PAGE 8 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

NEWS

A Few Questions with Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, District 29

D

BY JUDITH TACKETT

uring our conversation, it became clear very quickly that Councilmember Delishia Porterfield represents District 29 with as much passion as she brings to her day job at Stand Up Nashville where she serves as the director of leadership and advocacy.

The Contributor talked with Porterfield as part of a series called A Few Questions With where we interview council members about their district’s most pressing issues.

What are some of the characteristics of District 29, and what are the main concerns your constituents have?

District 29 is a wonderful community of working people and goes from the airport down Murfreesboro Road to Hamilton Church Road and includes a majority of Anderson Road. I’ve lived in the district since 2010, and what I found is that there are a lot of residents who care about their community, who care about their neighborhood, who care about the city of Nashville.

I hear a lot about the basic city services that [include] concerns about trash not being picked up, traffic, public safety, flooding, and stormwater management. People want sidewalks to have walkable communities, and they have questions about schools and overcrowding. They want to make sure their schools are funded properly.

This year, I hear concerns about community changes and growth. With new people moving in, long-term residents want to figure out how to maintain the character of the existing neighborhoods.

Another thing that I hear a lot is making sure that all of Nashville benefits, that we’re not just seeing good things happen in downtown.

People in Nashville pay taxes, the people in our community, they’re taxpayers, and they want to make sure those tax dollars are flowing into our neighborhoods as well.

As the vice chair of the Public Health and Safety Committee, what are some main safety and health issues you would like this committee to examine further?

I would love for us to ensure that we are doing everything we can to provide public safety.

And what I mean by that, police officers address crimes one they have [happened]. We have to look at what causes crime and have a holistic approach to that. For me, that means it’s really important that we have affordable housing throughout the city of Nashville not clustered in one or two districts. We need to make sure that people have access to healthcare. We need to make sure that people have living wage jobs with benefits and pensions. We need to make sure people have access to mental health services.

When you take a comprehensive approach to public safety, and when you look at making sure people have access to what they need to operate in society and to be productive residents of their communities, those are the things that you look at to reduce crime, and those are the things that I would love for our Public Health and Safety Committee to look at.

METRO COUNCIL COMMITTEES: • Public Health and Safety, vice chair • Education • Government Operations and Regulations

You are a strong advocate for racial equity, affordable housing, and labor issues and work as the director of leadership and advocacy with Stand Up Nashville, a local advocacy group. How do you balance all your community work with your day job and your Metro Council duties?

I am truly honored to have a job that I love.

The work that I do with Stand Up fights for working people and that is the reason why I got into my work with the Metro Council. I got into this work because I wanted to see funding for schools, because I wanted to see textbooks in classrooms, because I wanted to make sure that Metro employees can afford to live in the city and not get pushed out.

So, the things that are important to me and the issues that I stand on are in line with the organization that I work for. Thankfully, I am able to do work that I love in a city that I love helping people that I love.

I do make sure to keep those two lines separate. That’s important to me.

On the council, I’ve been able to pass legislation to get more money in the budget for a one-time bonus for support staff as well as get more funding for Metro General Hospital.

That is a great win for the people in Nashville.

And then, on the other side, Stand Up was named one of [The Tennessean’s] People of the Year, which is an amazing honor and that just speaks to the work that we do fighting for the people here in Nashville. It’s definitely a lot, but I feel passionate about it, and it’s just so important to me that people in Nashville have a Nashville to call home. The people who work to make the city what it is — they shouldn’t be pushed out of the city. They should be able to work and live here.

Where do you think Nashville needs to go in terms of addressing homelessness and affordable housing?

That’s the million-dollar question. We definitely need more housing at all levels throughout the city of Nashville. When people hear the term affordable housing that can be really confusing to people because not everyone understands the difference between affordable housing and workforce housing. Not everyone understands AMIs (Area Median Income) and income levels and things of that nature.

We have a situation where people at various economic levels are having trouble finding housing. And it’s not just people from a lower socio-economic status, we have professionals, people who are middle class, who are still struggling to find housing. The price of childcare has gone up; the price of groceries has gone up; people cannot afford to buy eggs. So, everything has gone up except for wages. And while wages are starting to come up, they are still not in line with what people need to be able to live with dignity.

So, for me, the direction Nashville has to go in is, we have to build more affordable housing throughout the city. You can’t have this just in one district or one area. Adding to that, we also have to make sure we’re addressing workforce development. While we have to have the housing, we also have to make sure there are solid jobs with a true living wage, so people can have a life that they deserve.

To summarize it, we have to make sure that people have access to good-paying union jobs with benefits and pension. We have to make sure that people have access to healthcare so that they can be healthy and actually go to work to take care of themselves and take care of their

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9

families. We have to make sure that there is enough housing for people to access it, and we have to make sure that there is a solid transit system, so that people can get back and forth between home and work. We need a comprehensive approach so that Nashvillians can have a good quality of life and have the opportunity to live with dignity.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I really hope people understand that Nashville is at a pivotal moment. Right now, the state is being so hostile toward our city. We’re looking at legislation that would potentially reduce the size of Metro Council, which would disproportionately impact minority representation. We have a very diverse council. If that legislation passes, the council is at risk of losing that diversity.

There is also legislation where the state is looking to get control from our airport authority and our sports authority. And some state legislators want to rename a portion of Rep. John Lewis Way to Donald Trump Boulevard.

We’re in a moment of the state being very hostile towards Nashville. And we have to determine what type of Nashville we want to be, and if we, as a city, are going to fight for the city that we love.

One thing I want to make sure is that the city of Nashville knows that their councilmembers are fighting for them. We’re fighting not only for our city to have autonomy to operate without consistently being preempted by the state but also for the soul of our city. We’re fighting on every turn to make the city better and more inclusive for us all.

And that is a really hard fight.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month Facts

BY BARBARA WOMACK

To date, our history books have missed so many facts and truths about the contributions that African Americans have made to this country and the world.

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Consequently, African Americans who came into this country with little more than their ingenuity and okra seeds braided into their hair braids, learned to invent what they needed and create what they wanted in order to survive this strange land. Here I have compiled some interesting and somewhat amazing facts about the African American race.

1. Today, we can thank Garrett Morgan for our safe roads. In 1923, he was granted a patent for a traffic control device which added a third warning signal, the yellow light, to the red and green stop light. He later sold this device to General Electric for $40,000. He also became the first African American to own a car in Cleveland, Ohio.

2. On July 2, 1777, Vermont became the first colony to ban slavery and the Vermont legislature moved to provide full voting rights to African American men.

3. George "Crum" Speck, an African American Chef and restaurant owner, is said to have created the potato chip when in 1853 he accidently dropped a sliced potato in a hot frying pan and this created the famous Saratoga chips. Speck's potato chips remained a local delicacy in New York until 1920 when a

salesman named Herman Lay of (Lays Potato Chips), began traveling throughout the south taking credit for and selling potato chips to different communities.

8. One of the few things that survived The Middle Passage, which was the voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, were the card games.

Though most of their culture, songs, and languages were stripped from them, slave owners allowed the slaves to play card games because it helped their counting skills. The card games of Bid Whist, Bridge and Spades were born.

14. Sammy Davis, Jr. was the first Black entertainer to sleep in the White House.

5. Nashville is home to four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that gave educational opportunities for many African Americans who were legally denied education: American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University.

9. Before becoming a professional musician, Chuck Berry studied to become a hairdresser and had a degree in cosmetology.

17. Jimi Hendrix came to Nashville in l962 to perform at the El Morocco Club on Jefferson Street. He lived rent free in an apartment over a beauty salon on Jefferson Street. At 22 years old, Hendrix made his television debut on a Nashville show called Night Train.

6. Glenda Baskin Glover, current president of Tennessee State University is a Certified Public Accountant, an Attorney and holds a PhD. She is one of two African Americans to hold the PhD-CPA-JD combination in the United States.

11. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the 40th birthday of Maya Angelou.

7. Oprah Winfrey got her start as a female anchor at Channel 5, WTVF while she was a student at Tennessee State University.

13. The following items are some of the many inventions by African Americans: The folding bed, the lawn sprinkler system, the lantern, the hair straightening comb, the lemon press, the sponge mop, the pencil sharpener, the street sweeper, and a device for rolling cigarettes . Enslaved people did not have fancy pots and pans, they made cookware out of undesirable cast iron.

4. The cartoon character Betty Boop was based on an African American jazz singer named Esther Jones. Jones was known for her use of "boops" in her singing which was called a child-like scat.

8. After making the jump from gospel to secular music in 1960, Aretha Franklin's earliest years as an R&B singer included a four night run at The New Era Club on Jefferson Street in Nashville.

10. The theme song to public television's popular children's program, Reading Rainbow, is sung by Chaka Khan.

12. W.E.B. Dubois was the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard University.

PAGE 10 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

15. The first Black Greek letter sorority was Alpha Kappa Alpha, founded at Howard University in 1908.

16. Thomas L. Jennings is believed to be the first African American to receive a patent for a dry cleaning process on March 3, 1821.

18. Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole is the only African American woman to have served as president of both Spelman College and Bennett College for women, two historically Black colleges for women in the United States.

19. In 1973, Stevie Wonder was the first African American to win a Grammy for Album of the Year for his album Innervisions.

20. And finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention that Charlane Oliver won the Nov. 8, 2022 election to replace Sen. Brenda Gilmore as the Tennessee State Senator for District 19 in Nashville.

LOCAL ADVOCACY

Community members and local organizations marched through Nashville on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. | PHOTOS BY ALVINE

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 11

COVER STORY

Housing on the Hill

A housing coalition hopes to build strength statewide

T

ennessee has almost 100 counties. The Tennessee Solida rit y Net work for Housing & Homelessness is trying to engage with them all to understand the full story of housing needs and access in the state.

The network was first was created in March of 2022 as a response to the state’s anti-camping law that passed last year. The law, which as been in affect about half a year, makes camping on public property across the state a class E felony, punishable by up to six years in jail, a $3,000 fine and the loss of voting rights. The group hopes to connect Tennesseans who are passionate about ending housing disparities and the criminalization of homelessness in the state so that they can better combat bills that

BY A M A N DA H AG G A RD

affect people in poverty across the state.

“The short term goal of this network is to keep people across the state connected and informed when it comes to promoting legislation that creates and preserves affordable housing and moves toward the decriminalization of homelessness and poverty,” the organization says. “The ultimate goal is to build the infrastructure for a statewide coalition that has a wide representation of rural and urban members and can mobilize quickly on issues of housing and homelessness.”

As this group comes together during the new legislative session, Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly have filed new legislation that advocates for Housing First strategies say threatens to worsen the environment for people

living on the streets.

The bill (SB1334/SB1192), sponsored

by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, would create government-sanctioned encampments, restrict funding for organizations working toward permanent housing solutions and would allow for people experiencing mental health struggles to be involuntarily committed by a third party. The Tennessee Solidarity Network says that while encampments can serve a purpose and an important space for people during a crisis of affordable housing, the bill itself is geared more toward removing people from their communities and concentrating them into, “controlled environments and [increasing] the policing of non-sanctioned sites and dwellings.”

The portion of the bill that restricts

PAGE 12 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

certain funds from being used to create permanent supportive housing also pushes funds to instead be used in government-sanctioned encampments.

“In other words, instead of investing more resources in affordable housing and mental health services for Tennesseans, this bill siphons funds off to the government-sanctioned camps, further strips people of their rights, overburdens the already burdened mental health system, and furthers the policing of people in poverty and with mental health challenges,” says nonprofit housing advocacy organization Open Table Nashville. “Creating more affordable housing and supportive services (Housing First) in Tennessee is the way to end homelessness; not government-sanctioned camps, forced hospitalization, and more policing.”

COVER STORY

Greta McClain of Silent No Longer organized a rally at the Tennessee capitol on the first day of the 2023 Legislative session. More than 150 people in at tendance expressed concerns over LGBTQ, trans rights, education and healthcare issues that the legislature is expected to work on this session. | PHOTOS BY ALVINE

On Feb. 21, the Tennessee Solidarity Network for Housing & Homelessness and other partners invested in housing are planning the first Day on the Hill for Housing & Homelessness. In advance of the day advocating for housing rights and access, community members and partners joined a Zoom call to hear from Jerry Jones from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a nonpartisan organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. Jones spoke to the nature of anti-housing first bills and the recent uptick in legislation targeting vulnerable people.

“I think it's uncomfortable, but true, that we have to just recognize homelessness has now morphed into the larger partisanship debate and that for decades

our sector and the people we serve kind of escaped the harshness of the partisan debates,” Jones said.

He says this shift can be traced to two triggers: One is that in recent years since Donald Trump’s presidency, the GOP has recognized that homelessness and issues surrounding it allowed them to attack places like Los Angeles during election seasons and critique blue cities.

And another is that the pandemic and affordable housing crisis made homelessness even more visible.

“Unfortunately, it’s popular politics to say that folks need to be somewhere other than camping in public space,” Jones said. “So there's been very harsh rhetoric and policies to match. I point all of that out to say we're in a new phase of the debate on homelessness.”

In majority Republican states like Tennessee, anti-housing legislation (as well as other legislation targeting minority groups and more) like this gets more traction than in blue states for pretty obvious reasons — issues that are part of the national debate tend to grab attention.

“Part of the challenge is how do we sort of pivot the argument back to principles that work — of best practices like housing first and away from punitive ways not to just get people out of sight, but rather investing in the programs that can actually solve homelessness,” Jones said.

The Tennessee Solidarity Network’s work is building relationships on the hill. Right now nearly half of the state is represented in the organization, and

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 13

the group is made up of various community members who are concerned about housing rights as well as organizations working in housing.

Lindsey Krinks with Open Table Nashville said the idea is to build enough community power through those working in their communities already “on homelessness housing criminalization, so that again, not only can we combat harmful to the state bills, but that we can also work toward proactive and good bills in the future.”

Community members across the state are invited to participate in the Day on the Hill for Housing & Homelessness. Sign ups and more information on the day on the hill are here: http:// opentablenashville.org/tn-solidarity-network-for-housing-homelessness.

VENDOR WRITING

From the Bookshelf JEN A. RECOMMENDS: Go Tell it on the Mountain

By James Baldwin Some view our sable race with scornful eye "Their color is a diabolic die" Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain May be refined and join th' angelic train -- Phillis Wheatley - 1773 Named one of the 100 best English language novels of the 20th century by Time magazine in 2005, James Baldwin's, Go Tell it on the Mountain, is a true American classic.

His first novel, published in 1953, it is one of the very best examples of Baldwin's narrative skills. Considering where he came from and the limited educational opportunities available to him, it can only be imagined that he was a natural-born writer. He had a gift that was recognized early on by one of his teachers who encouraged his passion for story and the written word. Baldwin mesmerizes in this semi-autobiographical tale of life growing up in 1930s Harlem. Though all of the characters

he draws are desperately poor, they are all working at the limited number of jobs they are, as Black Americans, allowed to perform.

We are introduced to mother, Elizabeth, a single mother left alone to raise her son, John, as best she can. She meets and marries an older, strictly-religious, storefront-preacher, Gabriel, who left the South as a refugee during the time of the great migration. Baldwin's words ring with a truth not found in other histories of that time. Baldwin often said that though he was raised in the North, he felt Southern by experience while coming of age. He rebelled against the racism he experienced but wrote of the hope that some day there would be a moral awakening to finally and forever give all Americans equal value regardless of color.

Baldwin, at times, writes with a burning rage, but it's his loving heart that gives this saga of a Black boy's struggle to come to terms with his life and times powerful wings.

Through the communities help...

315 Individuals moved from encampments to permanent homes last year.

Lives touched.

Lives changed.

Lives saved.

Visit SalvationArmyNashville.org to learn more about our LIFNAV program.

PAGE 14 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

VENDOR ARTWORK

Ernest is a country music artist who won the 2022 CMA Triple Play Award. On Feb. 10, 2023, he re-released Flower Shops (The Album): Two Dozen Roses. He doubled the track list with 13 new songs. Ernest will start touring in March 2023.

ART BY CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR WENDELL J.

Gretchen is a music artist who travels from Nashville to LA throughout the year. She is currently working on an E.P. She has collaborated with Jordyn Stoddard on the song, "Toxic POPSyndrome." You can watch the video on Gretchen's Instagram account @gmusic or on YouTube (30-Toxic Pop-Syndrome) ART BY CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR WENDELL J.

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 15

LA NOTICIA “The Contributor” está trabajando con uno de los principales periódicos en español La Noticia para llevar contenido a más lectores en Middle Tennessee. Nuestros vendedores de periódicos han pedido durante mucho tiempo que nuestra publicación incluya contenido que apele al interés de residentes de habla hispana en nuestra comunidad.

“The Contributor” is working with one of the leading Spanish-language newspapers La Noticia to bring content to more readers in Middle Tennessee. Our newspaper vendors have long requested that our publication include content that appeals to the interest of Spanish-speaking residents in our community.

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

L a N ticia 2023

GRATIS Febrero/2

Newspaper Nashville

Año 21 - No. 365

Escanee esta imagen para ver La Noticia newspaper edición bilingüe digital

w w w. h i s p a n i c p a p e r. c o m

“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

Nashville, Tennessee

Un “salto gigante" es necesario en lucha contra Las superbacterias

Después del men-

saje de anoche, las comunidades de lucha contra el cáncer, pacientes, investigadores y profesionales médicos deben haber quedado mas que satisfechos de que el presidente Joe Biden haya hecho Por Yuri Cunza el "terminar con el Editor in Chief cáncer tal como lo @LaNoticiaNews conocemos" uno de sus principales objetivos como presidente, y con dos años restantes en su mandato utilice su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión para pedirle al Congreso que actúe una vez más.

Los siete años de financiación para el "cancer moonshot", $1,800 millones autorizados a través de la Ley de Curas del Siglo XXI, termina en septiembre.

Renovar el apoyo es crucial asi como que vuelvan a autorizar la Ley Nacional del Cáncer de 1971, la ley que creó el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer y los Institutos Nacionales de Salud.

Comomédicos que han dedicado sus vidas al estudio del cáncer, los doctores Cynthia L. Sears y Fyza Yusuf Shaikh dicen estar encantados con la iniciativa "Cancer Moonshot" del presidente Biden para reducir a la mitad la tasa de mortalidad de la enfermedad en 25 años.

Pero esta no logrará ese objetivo a menos que actuemos en una crisis de salud menos conocida.

Cynthia L. Sears es médica de enfermedades infecciosas y profesora de medicina en la Escuela de Medicina Johns Hopkins y Fyza Yusuf Shaikh es oncólogo y profesor asistente de oncología en la Escuela de Medicina Johns Hopkins.

Foto: State of The Union Address (2/7/2023(

Joe Biden made "ending cancer as we know it" one of his main goals as president, but it doesn’t end there.

A continuación, sus comentarios: “Para muchos pacientes de cáncer que mueren, sus tumores no son los únicos responsables. Las superbacterias enferman a estos pacientes, que no pueden combatir las infecciones debido a un sistema inmunitario debilitado, incluso con la ayuda de antibióticos.

Reducir las muertes por cáncer requiere una estrategia igualmente agresiva para vencer las infecciones resistentes a los medicamentos.

No tiene sentido tratar estas dos crisis por separado. Ya se estima que las infecciones son una causa principal o asociada de muerte en aproximadamente el 50 % de los pacientes con cáncer.

Sin un esfuerzo por neutralizar la amenaza que representan las superbacterias, estas infecciones mortales interrumpirán cualquier progreso que logremos en la lucha contra el cáncer.

Las superbacterias son bacterias y hon-

gos que han desarrollado resistencia a los antimicrobianos, una defensa natural contra los medicamentos que se usan para matarlos.

Hemos visto cómo los pacientes con cáncer son vulnerables a estas infecciones mortales. Una y otra vez, hemos visto cómo los pacientes que luchan contra el cáncer desarrollaron infecciones bacterianas que eran altamente resistentes a los antibióticos.

Las superbacterias pueden resultar fatales para nuestros pacientes. El riesgo de que una persona con cáncer muera a causa de una infección es tres veces mayor que el riesgo de una persona sin cáncer.

Una infección resistente a los medicamentos también puede obligar a un paciente con cáncer a suspender su tratamiento. Una mujer joven con una infección abdominal resistente a los medicamentos podría no recibir el trasplante de médula ósea que necesita para curar su leucemia. Para los

Conoce tus derechos: ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada?

1. Mantenerse callado 2. Sólo dar nombre y apellido 3. No mentir 4. Nunca acepte/lleve documentos falsos 5. No revelar su situación migratoria 6. No llevar documentación de otro país 7. En caso de ser arrestado, mostrarla Tarjeta Miranda (llámenos si necesita una)

Basados en la Quinta Enmienda de la Constitución, los derechos de guardar silencio y contar con un abogado fueron denominados Derechos Miranda luego de la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos en el caso Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966.

por www.juanese.com juanese@usa.com

PAGE 16 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

pacientes que se someten a quimioterapia, una infección puede retrasar su tratamiento mientras el cáncer continúa creciendo, lo que genera complicaciones y peores resultados de salud.

En resumen, para los pacientes con cáncer, la crisis de las superbacterias no es una amenaza lejana, es un peligro mortal presente.

Desafortunadamente, el orden de avance y prioridad para nuevos antibióticos no está ni cerca de lo que se necesita. En la actualidad, hay 64 te-rapias en desarrollo clínico. Para poner eso en perspectiva, hay más de 1,000 medicamentos en desarrollo para el cáncer.

Debido a que los antibióticos están destinados a usarse con criterio para preservar su eficacia, es prácticamente imposible que las empresas recuperen el dinero que han invertido en la investigación y el desarrollo de esos medicamentos utilizando las ventas típicas.

Es por esta razón que las nuevas empresas de antibióticos se declararon en bancarrota o abandonaron la industria en los últimos años.

Esta falla del mercado exige reformas.

La Ley PASTEUR crearía un sistema en el que el gobierno compra una "suscripción" para acceder a nuevos antibióticos, en lugar de pagar por dosis.

PASTEUR pagaría por el valor de estos medicamentos en lugar de su volumen, dando a las empresas el retorno de la inversión de la que dependen.

La lucha contra el cáncer está lista para dar grandes pasos en los próximos años.

Sin embargo, sin un esfuerzo igualmente enérgico para hacer retroceder a las superbacterias, demasiados pacientes con cáncer perderán la vida.”

Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com ó 615-567-3569

VENDOR WRITING

IT'S JUST ME

THE ROLLERCOASTER WE CALL LIFE

JEFFREY

NORMA B.

The man laying in the gutter, From the start this day did not go according to plan-

Perhaps just a ship lost at sea,

Sidewalk blocked, closed in fact-

needing only the help of a rudder.

Perhaps from the bended knee.

Packing only love to set sail,

A CANDLE FOR TYRE

I was unsure of what to do next Then my phone rings

JEN A.

The number I didn’t know

forever removed from the pits of hell.

The real problem hides in disguise, shrouded only by a pack of lies, Hidden behind the veil of the heart, easily removed by doing your part.

Someday you sons or daughters you may see, pulled to safety by a guy like me, Not all of us like the use of drugs, But have been painted like a group of thugs.

The landscapes of our lives we gladly share, Only wanting, to know you care.

To you we gleefully share the gift of love.

The kind that can only come from our Father above.

It's happened once again, my friends

The caller on the other end of the line was a cousin of mine She called to inform me a family member had died

Police have killed a man

Though not totally unexpected it hurt just the same

For nothing more than for the sport

But the show must go on or so they say

They caught him as he ran

I mean, I have bills to pay!

After 2 and 1/2 hours without a single customer in sight,

They sprayed him with their toxic gas

I decided to stop and grab a quick bite

They hit him with their darts

Now with my tummy full

They punched and kicked and punched some more

And energy restored and a new found resolve

Exposing their black hearts

I thought I’d give it another go Still no customers to speak of, but soon I wasn’t alone-

You'd think the leader of our state

Alex came by to share with me some problems of his own,

Bill Lee would travel there

I listened to his ramblings, as he shed many tears

To bring some comfort to the town

In a very short time it became crystal clear

To share in their despair There's something very wrong it seems Instead of going there

My issues were nothing compared to his!

Then it finally happened, a customer appeared out of the blue And can you believe it was someone I’ve been trying to interview!

I’ve been wanting to do a story on him for a while

Bill Lee just simply sent a Tweet To offer a vague prayer Lee sits upon his White high horse

POEM DUSTIN A.

Got me to the point where I can't be saved, from this cold heart of mine Hoping things get better, but it seems as if I'm running out of time Some people making a fortune off of bs, but others on something real getting left behind I keep searching for the answers, but this life leaves me without a sign The same as trying to get somewhere, while being blind This world will leave you lost, then wonder why you got nothing to find Like when Pac said,

As many of you know, I love to write!

He wanted to confirm I’d received some information he’d sent I told him I had indeed, and he gave me his consent and blessing to proceed

Indifferent to the pain

I informed him the next deadline was looming,

Of those of us who aren't like him

He assured me there was no rush, not to hurry,

Who typify the mane And so it's left to me and you The ordinary ones To call out justice for this man

But I can say with authority yes, I guarantee My customers will soon have something new and interesting to read!

I must admit, Rick’s visit made my day, but it wasn’t over yetThe sidewalk now open, equipment out of the way

And other setting sons Ignite a candle in his name This son of Tennessee In tribute to his brief bright light We call his name — Tyre!

"I'm going home" — Tyre Nichols

The workers even cleaned up the mess that they’d made!

Traffic now rolling through many stopping to ask: ‘What’s going on’, if I knew.

I said a work crew from Mississippi was installing Google Fiber at least that’s what I’ve been told, but one thing’s for sure, I’ll be glad when they’re gone!

With that another day of selling FINALLY came to a close Just another day on the roller coaster that we call life I suppose It’s full of ups and downs as we go round and round in a cycle that

"Is it a crime to fight for what's already mine?"

we are destined to repeat again and again

I guess nothing is never really "yours",

Some things ever changing, while others stay the same

being it can be taken from anyone at anytime

So what’s to come tomorrow? There’s NO WAY to know for sure what might happen when you’re selling The Contributor!

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 17

The New Christian Year Selected by Charles Williams (1941)

Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886–1945), the editor of the following selections, is today probably the third most famous of the famous Inklings literary group of Oxford, England, which existed in the middle of the 20th century, and which included among its ranks the better-known and longer-lived Oxford Dons J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. First published in 1941, this series of profound quotations, encompassing all walks of life, follows the sequence of the themes and Bible readings anciently appointed for contemplation throughout the church's year. It is hoped that the readings reproduced here will prove beneficial for any who read them, whatever their place in life's journey. — Matthew Carver

SEXAGESIMA WEDNESDAY HEREIN lies the true ground and depth of the uncontrollable freedom of our will and thoughts: they must have a selfmotion and self-direction, because they came out of the self-existent God. They are eternal, divine powers that never began to be, and therefore cannot begin to be in subjection to anything. That which thinks and wills in the soul is that very same unbeginning breath which thought and willed in God, before it was breathed into the form of the human soul; and therefore it is, that will and thought cannot be bounded or constrained.

Herein also appears the high dignity and never ceasing perpetuity of our nature.

William Law: An Appeal.

SEXAGESIMA THURSDAY IF we were a little severe with ourselves at the beginning, we should afterwards be able to do all things with ease and delight.

Thomas à Kempis: Imitation.

WE implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.

Pascal: Pensées.

SEXAGESIMA FRIDAY OUR heart must we give wholly unto him; that hath opened his heart so wide. His heart is ours must be all one. Nothing requireth he of us but the heart. “Son,” saith he, “give me thy heart.”

Coverdale: Fruitful Lessons on the Passion.

ANTICHRIST alone is enemy enough, but never carry this consideration beyond thyself.

John Donne: Sermons.

SEXAGESIMA SATURDAY IF this is a world in which I, and the majority of my fellowbeings, live in that perpetual distraction from God which exposes us to the one great peril, that of final and complete alienation from God after death, there is some wrong that I must try to help to put right.

T. S. Eliot: The Idea of a Christian Society.

THE seven works of bodily mercy be these: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked and needy, harbour the houseless, comfort the sick, visit prisoners, bury the dead. The seven works of spiritual mercy be these: teach men the truth, counsel men to hold with Christ’s law, chastise sinners by moderate reproving in charity, comfort sorrowful men by Christ’s passion, forgive wrongs, suffer meekly reproofs for the right of God’s law, pray heartily for friend and for foe.

Middle English Sermons (abridged).

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY THE life of Jesus is perfected obedience to the will of the faithful God. Jesus stands among sinners as a sinner; He sets Himself wholly under the judgment under which the world is set; He takes His place where God can be present only in questioning about Him; He takes the form of a slave; He moves to the cross and to death; His greatest achievement is a negative achievement. He is not a genius endowed with manifest or even occult powers; He is not a hero or leader of men; He is neither poet nor thinker:—My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Nevertheless, precisely in this negation, He is the fulfillment of every possibility of human progress, as the Prophets and the Law conceive of progress and evolution, because he sacrifices to the incomparably Greater cause there is no conceivable human possibility of which he did not rid Himself. Herein

he is recognized as the Christ; for this reason God hath exalted Him; and consequently He is the light of the Last Things by which all men and things are illuminated.

Barth: The Epistle to the Romans.

QUINQUAGESIMA MONDAY DO not lie about the past.

Leonardo da Vinci: Notebooks.

AND as I walked towards the jail, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “My love was always to thee, and thou art in my love.”

George Fox: Journal.

JESUS said: “Would thou love one who never died For thee, or ever die for one who had not died for thee?

And if God dieth not for man, and giveth not himself Eternally for man, man could not exist; for man is love, As God is love: every kindness to another is a little death In the divine image; nor can man exist but by brotherhood.”

Blake: Jerusalem.

QUINQUAGESIMA TUESDAY NO creature can be a child of God but because the goodness of God is in it; nor can it have any union or communion with the goodness of the Deity till its life is a Spirit of Love.

This is the one only band of union betwixt God and the creature . . . Here the necessity id absolute: nothing will do instead of this will; all contrivances of holiness, all forms of religious piety signify nothing without this will to all goodness. For as the will to all goodness is the whole nature of God, so it must be the whole nature of every service or religion that can be acceptable to Him. William Law: The Spirit of Love.

Ash Wednesday IN our repenting commonly we make such haste as we take away before the fruits come. But if there happen to come any, is not this even our case? Our tears, if any, dry straight; our prayers, if any, quickly tedious; our alms indeed pitiful; our fasts, fast or loose upon any the least occasion; and so our repentance, if any, poenitentia poenitenda, “a repentance needing of another, a new, a second repentance to repent us of it.” To repent us of our repentance, no less than of our sin itself.

Lancelot Andrewes: Sermon on Ash-Wednesday, 1624.

1st Thursday in Lent LEAD us not into temptation . . . Power is given against us in two modes: either for punishment when we sin or for glory when we are proved . . . But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness in that we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself, lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or suffering as his own.

St Cyprian: On the Lord’s Prayer.

Feast of St Matthias

THE kingdom of heaven suffers violence from warm love and living hope, which conquer the Divine Will, not as when man overcomes man, but conquer it because it chooses to be conquered, and, so conquered, again conquers by its own benignity.

Dante: Paradise.

JESUS does not regard in Judas his enmity, but the order of God, which He loves and admits, since He calls him friend.

Pascal: Pensées.

1st Friday in Lent WHEN thou attackest the roots of sin, fix thy thought more upon the God whom thou desirest than upon the sin which thou abhorrest.

Walter Hylton: The Scale of Perfection.

WE know no Gospel without salvation from sin.

John Wesley.

1st Saturday in Lent SOLOMON saith, “Man goeth to his long home.” Short preparation will not fit so long a journey. O let me not put it off to the last, to have my oil to buy when I am to burn it, but let me so dispose of myself, that when I am to die I may have nothing to do but die.

Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.

HUMAN nature is so subject to deception that it can frustrate, by some pollution or other, almost every dispensation but death.

Sarah Grubb: Journal.

First Sunday in Lent HE who will follow him must forsake all things, for he renounced all things so utterly as no man else hath ever done. Moreover, he who will come after him must take up the cross, and the cross is nothing else but Christ’s life, for that is a bitter cross to nature. Therefore he saith, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me, and cannot be my disciple.” But nature in her false freedom, weeneth she hath forsaken all things, yet she will have none of the cross, and saith she hath had enough of it already, and needeth it no longer, and thus she is deceived. For had she ever tasted the cross she would never part with it again.

Theologia Germanica.

IF you take away due fear, you take away true love.

Donne: Sermons.

1st Monday in Lent THERE is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not His own, God gave His only begotten Son to be made man. God has no more wrath in Himself now than He had before the creation, when He had only Himself to love . . . And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary, because nothing but a life and birth, derived from Him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a selftormenting fire into an amiable image of the Holy Trinity as it was at first created.

William Law: Christian Regeneration.

1st Tuesday in Lent THE darkness is not hidden even from itself; though it sees naught else it sees itself. The works of darkness follow it, and there is no hiding place from it, not even in the darkness. This is “the worm that dieth not”—the memory of the past. Once it gets within, or rather is born within though sin, there it stays and never by any means can be plucked out. It never ceases to gnaw the conscience; feeding on it as on food that never can be consumed it prolongs the life of misery. I shudder as I contemplate this biting worm, this never-dying death. I shudder at the thought of this being the victim of this living death, this dying life.

St Bernard: On Consideration.

Sponsored by Matthew Carver, publisher

PAGE 18 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

FUN

HOBOSCOPES AQUA RIUS

This reminds me of the first 12 minutes of a horror movie, Aquarius. Our protagonist (you?) is overcoming a few daily struggles and might have a new opportunity on the horizon. Maybe things are even starting to work out... but then…what, Aquarius? You think this is the part when the horror arrives? Just because things are going well this week, doesn’t mean the monster is about to appear. Sometimes the only villain is the fear that keeps us from enjoying this moment and the dread that stops us from doing the next good thing. Stop checking around every corner and live like this 12 minutes will never end.

PISCES

The sunrise was beautiful this morning, Pisces. Bright glowing pinks with swirls of orange and stripes of red cutting through the dark blue clouds as the last of the stars faded out. The only thing nicer would have been if I’d slept through it.

But while I watched that scene flare into existence and then disappear, I thought about how hard it can be to let yourself rest, Pisces. There are so many things that can pop into the mind — thoughts that beg to be chased around in circles and steal your focus and wake you up. Try letting those thoughts just run past you today.

Those thoughts are not as permanent as they pretend.

ARIES

When I was in 8th grade I got strep throat and had to stay home from school. My first morning back, I sat down for math class and something wasn’t right. Instead of fractions and decimals, which I was pretty good at, everything was letters now. “If x+y=z, then what is y? Did you hear me, Mr. Mysterio?” I suddenly had no idea what anybody was talking about. “What is why?” Everything was in the wrong place. If you’re feeling behind or out of sync lately, don’t worry, Aries. You just missed a couple of days. Don’t stress it, just keep asking questions and you’ll catch up.

TAURUS

There’s a new bowling alley up the road, but bowling is nothing new, Taurus. Archeologists have found ancient proto-pins and balls that indicate an early form of bowling was practiced in Egypt more than 7,000 years ago. My guess is that if you leave any group of humans alone for long enough, regardless of language or culture, they will eventually invent bowling. The big round one knocks down the little unstable ones. It’s fun. Sometimes the laws of physics just tell you what to do. Sometimes you need to think about it a little longer. Maybe mull it over while you throw a few frames.

GEMINI

Meteorologists say there was a new record breaking wind-chill in the United States. Mount Washington in New Hampshire hit a “feels like” of negative 108°. But this raises a question for me, Gemini. If there was nobody around to feel the “feels like” temperature of negative 108°, did it really happen? It didn’t really “feel like” anything. It reminds me, Gemini, that I think you should trust your feelings, but maybe don’t rely so much on the stories that you tell yourself about your feelings. Like “I feel anxious” can be a helpful indicator of how you might want to engage with your body and mind. But “I always feel anxious.” is just a story fueled by those feelings. Those are the kinds of stories meteorologists tell, Gemini.

Amateur astrologers are against that sort of thing.

CANCER

Is a colander the same thing as a sieve? At my house, we always just had a “strainer” but now I need to order a new one for my sister. (Turns out, you’re not supposed to strain cement. How else do you get the clumps out?) In any case, Cancer, sometimes we don’t want to throw the pasta out with the pasta-water and we need a little help.

It reminds me, Cancer, that with so much information rushing in all the time, to catch the good stuff and let the rest go down the drain. Maybe see if you can turn off the input altogether for a while. Stop trying to catch everything and leave that sieve empty for a bit

LEO

If you could go back in time and talk to your young self what would you say to them? Would you encourage them or warn them? What kind of information would be most helpful to that kid? Here’s the good news, Leo, you actually can. The past doesn’t exactly exist. So that kid is mostly just real in your mind. You are that kid. What do you have to tell yourself?

VIRGO

The center of the earth is about as hot as the surface of the sun. The swirling, molten ball in the middle of our planet is mostly compressed liquid iron and it’s not cooling down any time soon. Reminds me of a certain Virgo I know. There’s a lot of heat in there and I don’t see that you’ve got a plan for letting off steam. Sure, you could try just keeping it bottled up forever, but eventually something’s going to come to the surface. Maybe do a little cautious digging this week.

LIBRA

I like it when the seats in the movie theater have that button you can press to make them recline. But I don’t like the slow, stretchy moaning sound that the faux leather makes while it goes back. I feel like everybody in here is looking at me. But maybe we shouldn’t worry so much about what everybody else in the theater thinks, Libra. Do what makes you comfortable. (Even if it makes a noise.)

SCORPIO

When you’re on a six-lane highway, you’ve got some decisions to make. Feel free to change lanes according to your need for speed. Explore the options. But when you’re at the stoplight and there are two turn lanes and you’re already in one, your choice has already been made, Scorpio. Stay in your lane. Keep your eyes in front of you. Those folks in the other lane have enough problems of their own without you making a last-minute swerve. Which situation are you in today, Scorpio?

SAGITTA R IUS

Perhaps you’ve been told not to go chasing waterfalls, Sagittarius. It’s a fair point. They do sit right up there on the edge and they are extremely splashy. Not to mention the momentum and the rocks. But this week, Sagittarius, you might find that the waterfalls are chasing you. And if you’re chased by a waterfall, you don’t really have the choice to stay put, you can either run away, back to your old rivers and lakes, or you can run toward the chaotic beauty in front of you. Neither direction is wrong, but I know which one looks more fun.

CAPRICORN

I get so nervous when the guy behind the counter flips the screen around and it asks me if I want to tip 20% or 25% or 30%. I mean, I don't want to be the guy who picks the minimum but I can’t be giving everybody the maximum either, right? But always picking the middle is so arbitrary. What if this guy deserves more? Doesn’t everybody? It’s hard to know how much is yours to give, Capricorn. But we both know you’ve got more than you deserve. I say spread around as much as you can stand.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a trained mathematician, or a registered bowler.

Mr. Mysterio is, however, a budding intermediate podcaster! Check out The Mr. Mysterio Podcast. Season 2 is now playing at mrmysterio.com. Got a question, just give Mr. M a call at 707-VHS-TAN1

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 19

VENDOR WRITING

Take Time To Educate Potential Customers

BY NORMA B, CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

When I’m out selling the paper I’m often asked what I’m doing. When given the opportunity I’m more than happy to explain to anyone who’ll listen the purpose of the paper and the good it does for the community as well as the vendors who sell it.

Here are just a few instances where I was able to do just that and how it turned out.

Maybe you too can take time to educate those you come in contact with about how The Contributor helps YOU personally and help eliminate many of the inaccurate preconceived notions and stereotypes that people have concerning the paper and its vendors, helping them to see the paper and those who sell it in a whole new light.

First up is Jules, a guest from the hotel (a freelance writer based in LA but originally from Boston, Mass., who stopped to ask if The Contributor was similar to Spare

Change, a street paper in Boston, that she was familiar with.

I confirmed that it was indeed part of the International Network of Street Papers in turn, she gave me her spare change for a copy of the paper. She later returned to tell me I was a good writer and to buy additional copies of the paper!

Rashad, another pedestrian walking by, was curious about what I was doing. After a brief explanation he reluctantly took a paper, but during that short visit I realized we had something else in common: a love of music. How do I know? Alicia Keys was playing on HIS radio and he was wearing a Tupac T-shirt with a Nirvana hat. How’s that for a trio?

There’s also the older couple who was just in the area checking on their rental property. They too were hesitant to take the

paper saying they didn’t live around here, but admitted they’d always wondered what it was all about. I encouraged them to take it saying “Try it, you might like it.”

Julie from Cookeville paid me a visit on her way to Mt. Juliet for a work related meeting, and asked if she could help me in any way.

Like the others mentioned here, she wasn’t familiar with The Contributor’s mission or purpose. I’m happy to report she is now!

Jamal first saw me when he was headed out of town. When he got back he stopped to see exactly what I was doing. I explained the purpose of the paper and he gave me a nice tip, which was much appreciated since I was working to buy the new paper the following day. I guess he liked what he read because he later returned to get the next one too!

Beverly, a new resident from Pennsylva-

nia, also stopped to ask what I was doing and make sure I was OK. How sweet! Once again, I explained about the paper. I even comped her the current issue and told her to let me know what she thought about it.

I’ll have to wait and see how that turns out.

Jason, visiting from Missouri, came to Nashville to attend an event at the Global Outreach Church. To celebrate the new yearhe bought a paper and a copy of Ridley Wills II's book — good reading for the plane ride home. He left the next day. I hope he found what he was looking for in his short time here, and maybe a little something extra.

As you can see, taking the time to educate people about the paper and its purpose can not only lead to increased sales, but it can also lead to a greater understanding as those people share the information with others they know.

Wish I Could Get Better

BY JAMIE W., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

I feel like I’m slowly falling apart. Two years ago I had a heart attack. The month after that I got hit by a car. In August of 2022 I had a stroke. The doctors told me I had a hole in my heart. The hole is three

quarters of an inch and I’m having to go to a lung doctor and then to a kidney doctor and then to the neurologist. But as long as I’m able I will continue to sell the paper.

I know my customers are concerned

about me and a lot of them know that I’m sick. May God bless everyone at The Contributor and may God bless my customers.

I’m grateful and blessed to have such great customers and may God bless my

customers.

I have been selling the paper for 11 years, and I hope I will be selling the paper for another 11 years.

The Angels Amongst Us B Y JE F F RE Y, C ON T RIBU T OR V E NDOR

It’s 5:30 a.m. Plenty of time before the sunrise. Not yet time to be on my post.

Thanks to the support of those buying The Contributor, enjoying coffee with my favorite creamer.

As a small child of 6 or 7 years old, yes, five decades past, I remember being in a poverty stricken household. Back then you could buy bubble gum for five cents. Inside you would also get two or three really cool 2 by 3 in. stickers.

My parents had no money to buy my school lunch. I can’t imagine the hurt this would have given them. So, I would sit and watch the others enjoy their meals. One day I had a couple of stickers. I can’t remember how it happened, but I sold them for enough to buy my food. Well, talk about the lights being turned on! I told my mother of the events of the day. There was to be no supper that night either except for some biscuits she was able to make. The lights in the house were also off. Something had happened to my dad’s job. We lived in Illinois, but our stove was gas, so there was some heat in the house.

I can’t remember how, but I was able to get enough change to buy several packs of bubble gum and went to school the next day

fully loaded and started selling stickers like crazy. I had lunch again! I remember going home, handing my mom the money so we could all enjoy a great feast of chicken noodle soup, and beans and cornbread the next night as well. My dad got a couple bucks as well for gas money to get to work. I don’t remember for sure. I was only a first grader.

This went on for several days and my new enterprise was doing quite well for our family. My father was a very proud man obviously and never thought of asking for help. Well, you know how it goes, all good things must come to an end. Parents of the children complained to the school principal.

My mother was called into the school and I was ordered to stop and close up shop.

Going to school the next day wasn’t exciting at all! No lunch money again. I remember going into the cafeteria and sitting down with no lunch tray. One of the people working in the cafeteria came and brought me a tray of food and asked if I would be willing to help them in the cafeteria instead of going outside to play right after the bell rang. We used square divided trays where the food was spooned upon and were washed daily.

I readily agreed to do so. What happened

next was something I will never forget. I was asked if I would simply stand by the opening where the kinds would throw in their trays as they headed out the door for recess. If I remember correctly, the lunch was 50 cents.

As most kids that get handed money do, they get complacent. Those who paid with a dollar would get back 50 cents in change.

In a hurry to eat and go to the playground, they would actually throw the trays at me through the window. The sound of quarters landing on the stainless steel sounded like wind chimes in a hurricane. As I looked at the tear filled eyes of a wonderful lady working in the cafeteria all I remember was the nod saything, “Those are for you!”

So that was how the youngest of five was able to help get a family fed and back on their feet. I don’t remember how long it lasted. My father obviously began to get paid eventually. The electricity was soon turned back on and he was able to bring home a roll of quarters for school lunch. Yes, there are angels amongst us. Some are dwelling inside a human and are willing.

I am reminded of my great grandmother stretching her hand toward a fuzzy black and white television set with tears rolling down

PAGE 20 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

her face doing exactly as a televangelist by the name of Jimmy Swaggart had instructed her to do praying for her family.

Not very long ago, a very honest man that was going to a large church shared with me that most people were in agreement that they would no longer “enable” bad behavior by supporting anything except what the congregation of the people approved of. From this group is a small number of amazing people.

They would gladly buy a Contributor anyway.

Some were polarized by the Holy Spirit inside their cars as they would talk to me. Some would not support with money but asked what they could do for me. My responses would vary. It was clear where they stood.

I still pray that the scales over their hearts become softer. Should their sons, daughters, nieces or nephews cross my path, I will never cease to do the right thing by changing their course. It’s past the hour to only pray.

It’s more than OK to be the answer to that prayer. With discernment you won’t enable poorly. You will enable richly.

Time to lay down the pen. The sun is rising. I won’t take my eye off the ball. Badges on! Game on! Time to engage!

February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 21

MOVING PICTURES

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THEME: U. S. PR ESIDENTS ACROSS 1. Biased perspective 6. Male sibs 10. Monday Night Football audience 14. Tapiridae representative 15. Rock opera version of "La BohËme" 16. Object of worship 17. Opposite of alpha 18. ____ Spumante 19. Novice 20. *Unanimously elected President 22. Gusto 23. Eggy drink 24. Jig music, pl.

26. Stashed in a hold 30. Penniless 32. Wood turning device 33. Toll payment, e.g.

34. Not slouching 38. Like nay-sayers 39. Of many years 40. Malaria symptom 41. Instagram post 43. River, in Spanish

44. Bell-bottoms bottom 45. Dodge 47. Unexpected 48. The Cat in the Hat's headgear (2 words) 51. Campbell's container 52. International Civil Aviation Organization 53. *President Hayes' first name 60. "Through" in a text?

61. Pelvic bones 62. Plural of #54 Down 63. Andrew Sean Greer's 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner 64. Reverse action 65. Mother-of-pearl 66. *Lake off Ohio, the state known as "the Mother of Presidents" 67. Baseball's "The Say Hey Kid" 68. Navigate

PAGE 22 | February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

DOWN 1. *Present tense of #26 Across 2. Tibetan priest 3. "Singes" in "La PlanËte des singes" 4. Nearly 5. Apprentice 6. Name on apple cider vinegar bottle 7. R in R&R 8. Cognizant of 9. "Sophie's Choice" protagonist 10. *F in JFK 11. Bye, to Emmanuel Macron 12. Relating to Scandinavia 13. Casino bandits 21. Sign of assent 25. *Civil Rights Act of 1957 signer 26. Dueler's blow 27. Hyperbolic tangent 28. Football great Graham 29. *Executive Mansion, colloquially (2 words) 30. Misrepresent 31. Make over 33. *One of four presidents to have never been elected 35. "Goodness gracious!"

36. "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" band, The ____ 37. High school student, usually 42. Spermatozoa counterparts 44. Not marathons, pl. (2 words) 46. Central court in domus 47. Certain frat house letters 48. Ownership document 49. Autumn color 50. Zoroaster follower 51. Pandemonium 54. Elbow-wrist connection 55. Not a slob 56. Like certain Stanley 57. A third of thrice 58. Steak choice 59. Whitetail, e.g.

MOVING PICTURES

Tasteful Nostalgia POKER FACE IS A LOVING HOMAGE TO 1970S CRIME SHOWS AND THE BREAKOUT SERIES OF 2023

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC FX/Hulu’s T he Bear took streaming audiences by surprise last year, filling the pressure-cooker setting of a restaurant kitchen with family drama, surreal dream sequences, and lots of irreverent laughs.

It was a recipe for success that saw The Bear becoming a New Yorker cartoon, posted in a river of memes, and winning multiple awards including a Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe for star Jeremy Allen White. NBC’s Peacock streaming platform dropped the first four episodes of its new crime series Poker Face on Jan. 26 and it’s quickly becoming this year’s breakout show. Poker Face stars the irrepressible Natasha Lyonne in a self-aware, neo-noir dramedy that’s brimming with tasteful nostalgia, lots of guest stars.

Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a casino waitress in Nevada. She lives alone in a mobile home alongside her peculiar neighbor John-O whose jet black pompadour pegs him as an Elvis impersonator. Cale is waiting tables when she’s summoned to the office of the casino manager, Sterling Frost Jr., played by a super slimy Adrien Brody.

Frost knows about Charlie’s talent for detecting lies and her former life as a successful gambler. Frost recruits Charlie for a high stakes poker game at the same time that one of Charlie’s friends who’s a maid at the hotel turns-up dead alongside her abusive husband in a crime the police rule as a murder-suicide. Charlie smells a rat, and when she puts the pieces

together, she turns the tables on Frost and runs for her life.

The New York Times critic James Poniewozik’s glowing review of Poker Face begins with the headline, “’Poker Face’ Is the Best New Detective Show of 1973.”

Lyonne’s Charlie Cale character isn’t an actual detective and the show is brand new, but I get it.

The 1970s were a golden age for television crime series, and show creator Rian Johnson and his writers have pulled the best cards from that cigarette yellow deck of evergreen, small screen noir to add to their show’s winning hand. The series structure is founded on the “howcatchem” formula that made Columbo (1971-2003) so much fun.

Every episode begins by introducing a new cast of guest stars before one of them winds-up dead. Then the action re-winds with Charlie added into the action. The bad guys and the viewers all know whodunnit, but the fun part is watching Charlie catch the liars in their own tangled webs. Lyonne’s Charlie Cale is a rumpled mumbler like Peter Falk’s Frank Columbo, but her mobile home and sketchy back story recall James Garner’s Jim Rockford character from The Rockford Files (1974 -1980). Even her blue 1969 Plymouth Barracuda seems to share DNA with Rockford’s 1974 Pontiac Firebird Esprit.

Shuffle in some of Telly Savalas’ Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis Kojak’s righteous justice and Poker Face is playing with a full house.

Every new episode of the show takes viewers to another stop along

Charlie’s nomadic wanderings, but Cliff LeGrand (Benjamin Bratt), the casino’s sadistic head of security, always seems to be lurking in her rearview mirror. The show’s revolving cast includes guest turns from Chloë Sevigny, Hong Chau, Ellen Barkin, Nick Nolte, Tim Meadows, Luis Guzmán and more.

There are fun appearances from Cheers alumni John Ratzenberger and Rhea Perlman, and Ron Perlman (no relation) plays Sterling

Frost Sr. the owner of the casino and Poker Face’s biggest baddie.

In addition to Charlie, Poker Face features women in roles as vagabond truckers, rock musicians and domestic terrorists. Thanks to the great writing, directing and acting these characters never feel like boxes ticked on a diversity score sheet. Instead, they’re fully fleshed-out people, residing in the backwaters of an alternate America where both the honorable and

the wicked pray to a pantheon of gasoline, caffeine, nicotine and chance.

Watch Poker Face on Peacock. New episodes of the 10-part first season debut every Thursday

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville.

Find out more about his projects at www. joenolan.com.

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February 15 - March 1, 2023 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 23