The Contributor: August 31, 2022

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Volu m e 16

| Number 18 | Aug ust 31 - September 14, 2022

IN THE ISSUE

Contributor Board

Tom Wills, Chair Cathy Jennings, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland, Kerry Graham, Amber DuVentre, Jerome Moore, Annette McDermott, Drew Morris, Andy Shapiro

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

2022 L a N ticia 8 12 6 GRATIS

Agosto/3

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www.hispanicpaper.com

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

Año 20 - No. 355

Nashville, Tennessee

No miren a California como ejemplo para solucionar la falta de vivienda

Más de una vez nos debemos de haber preguntado ¿por que existen tantas personas viviendo en la calle? , en una ciudad como Nashville que lidera entre los destinos estadounidenses más prósperos .

Y es que a pesar de las múltiples iniciativas y Por Yuri Cunza esfuerzos colabo- Editor in Chief rativos la @LaNoticiaNews población de personas sin hogar continúa creciendo.

Existen modelos a seguir y también los que no, por que no consideran elementos fundamentales de la problemática de quienes vivien en la calle.

En Los Ángeles, donde se encuentra un tercio de las 161,548 personas sin hogar del estado, Project Homekey no ha cumplido con las expectativas. Las 15,000 habitaciones que se fijaron como meta nunca se cumplieron, mientras que los excesivos costos de Homekey lo han hecho insostenible.

Un conjunto diferente de problemas ha acosado a las viviendas para personas sin hogar en San Francisco. Una investigación del Chronicle encontró que el esfuerzo de la ciudad para albergar a las personas sin hogar opera "con poca supervisión o apoyo", lo que ha llevado a resultados "desastrosos". Los roedores infestan las habitaciones, el crimen y la violencia son comunes, y la muerte, a menudo por sobredosis, es un visitante frecuente. Sin embargo, la ciudad, así como otras comunidades del Área de la Bahía donde Project Homekey ha demostrado ser insuficiente, siguen dedicadas al programa y sus gastos mal dirigidos.

Vendor Writing

La Noticia + The Contributor

History Book

Los investigadores Wayne Winegarden y Contributor vendors write La Noticia, one of the If you've been keeping Kerry Jackson lo explican de esta forma:up leading Spanish-language importa cuán grave se vea History el probleTratamiento de adicciones y problemas de salud mental están en el centro in this issue about Bettie with“No our Nashville ma de las personas sin hogar en otras de la problemática de las personas sin hogar.

Aquí hay algunos consejos para los leáreas metropolitanas, palidecen en comgisladores de todo elebola, país que buscan Page, tomato lost newspapers the mejor nation, La misión del pro-indescribe como vivienda y nada paración con California. Si bien el estado Corner Column, you canRoomkey en California. vencer la falta de vivienda: no ignoren representa no exactamente el 12 % de la grama era albergar a las personas sin más. Según un estudio del Instituto las innovaciones efectivas del sector hogar en habitaciones de hoteles y moteCicero, los intentosto de aliviar la falta de love, población de EE. UU., aproximadaand hit brings Spanish content privadoSept. que están11 cambiando la vida know buy a compilation les, así como en casas rodantes, para ayuvivienda basados en la vivienda primero de las personas. El tratamiento de las mente el 28 % de las personas sin hogar del país se encuentran en California. La dar a aplanar la curva de infecciones parecen "atraer a más personas de fuera adicciones y los problemas de salud movie The hospitaContributor. lección: noby copieRidley las políticas Wills. del Estado virales y "preservar la capacidad del sistema de personas sin hogar, o man- mental que estánGrease. en el centro del probook laria", dijo la oficina del gobernador.

Foto: John Partipilo

Dorado para mitigar la falta de vivienda, simplemente no funcionan.

La población de personas sin hogar de California no llegaba a los 139,000 en 2007. En siete años, se había reducido a unos 114,000. A partir de ahí, creció considerablemente a más de 161,000 en 2020.

Durante el mismo período, el total de personas sin hogar en el resto de los estados se redujo de poco más de 508,000 a 419,000.

Esto sucedió a pesar de que la economía de California se expandió un 50 % más rápido que el resto del país entre 2014 y 2020.

En abril del 2020, cuando azotó la pandemia de coronavirus, se presentó Project

Del Proyecto Roomkey creció el Proyecto Homekey, que dirigió fondos estatales y federales para la compra y renovación de hoteles y moteles, que luego se convertirían en viviendas permanentes para personas sin hogar.

Si bien tienen buenas intenciones, ambos programas tienen una falla estructural: siguen el enfoque fallido de "primero la vivienda".

Sí, las personas sin hogar necesitan hogares. Pero la vivienda primero, que ha sido la política estatal oficial desde 2016, se

tenerlas en el sistema de personas sin hogar, porque se sienten atraídos por la promesa de una vivienda permanente y generalmente gratuita" Vivienda primero no es más que la cáscara de un programa porque no trata las causas fundamentales de la falta de vivienda, que para muchos son la adicción o la enfermedad mental, y a menudo ambas.

A pesar de las deficiencias de la vivienda primero, el compromiso de California con el Proyecto Homekey ha acumulado miles de millones en gastos de dólares federales y estatales sin tener mucho o nada que mostrar por todos los gastos.

WHAT WE DO 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.

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blema debe ser una prioridad.

Moving Pictures The Belcourt Theatre is presenting a Lord of the Rings Trilogy marathon and we've got a full history of its background.

California sigue insistiendo en que su camino es el único camino. Hasta que eso cambie, el estado no tiene nada que ofrecer a otros estados en su lucha por reducir la falta de vivienda.”

El Dr. Wayne Winegarden y Kerry Jackson son coautores del nuevo resumen del Instituto de Investigación del Pacífico "Proyecto Homekey proporciona ningún camino a casa para las personas sin hogar de California".

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

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The Contributor is a nonprofit social enterprise that creates economic opportunity with dignity by investing in the lives of people experiencing homelessness and poverty.

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.

Since we started in 2007, more than 3,200 different vendors have purchased $2.3 million worth of The Contributor and sold over six million copies, generating over $15 million in income for themselves.

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Contributors This Issue

Linda Bailey • Alvine • Amanda Haggard • Ridley Wills II • DJ O'Brien • Francesca Find • Sean Holman • Judith Tackett • Von Severine Sand • Wolfgang Gillitzer • Chris Scott Fieselman • Jen A. • Keith D. • Wendell J. • Chris W. • Norma B. • Maurice B. • Mr. Mysterio • Joe Nolan

Contributor Volunteers Christine Doeg , Volunteer Coordinator Joe First • Andy Shapiro • Michael Reilly • Ann Bourland • Laura Birdsall • Marissa Young • Ezra LaFleur • Linda Eisele • Matthew Murrow • Gisselly Mazariegos

Cathy Jennings Executive Director Tom Wills Director of Vendor Operations Carli Tharp SNAP Specialist Ree Cheers SOAR Manager Rachel Ternes Housing Navigator Amy Holt Housing Navigator Jesse Call Operations Consultant Raven Nye Director of Housing Initiatives Arnita Carson Recovery Specialist Justin Wagner Resource Coordinator & Reporter Barbara Womack Advertising Manager Amanda Haggard & Linda Bailey Co-Editors Andrew Krinks Editor Emeritus Will Connelly, Tasha F. Lemley, Steven Samra, and Tom Wills Contributor Co-Founders Editorials and features in The Contributor are the perspectives of the authors. Submissions of news, opinion, fiction, art and poetry are welcomed.

The Contributor reserves the right to edit any submissions. The Contributor cannot and will not endorse any political candidate.

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PAGE 2 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

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INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF STREET PAPERS

Megaphone’s Climate Disaster Project: “It was hard for anybody to take care of themselves”

BY DJ O’BRIEN, AS TOLD TO FRANCESCA FIND AND SEAN HOLMAN

A collaborative storytelling endeavour called the Climate Disaster Project collects first-hand accounts of what it was like to survive recent heatwaves and wildfires in B.C. DJ is an outreach and harm reduction worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside who is a member of the Sts’aies Nation. She co-founded Sex Workers United Against Violence. With her naloxone training and kit, she has also saved lives. And that’s the work she was doing when the western North America heatwave hit her community.

DJ O’BRIEN East Vancouver, Canada Western North America Heatwave, 2021 DJ is an outreach and harm reduction worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside who is a member of the Sts’aies Nation and was born to a family of nine brothers.

She was raised in Chehalis, a small forestry, farming and First Nations community near the city of Chilliwack in British Columbia.

DJ came to Vancouver after her cousin was killed at the six-storey Roosevelt Hotel, which was the home of bankers, doctors, dentists and lawyers in its early 20th-century heyday, but has long since fallen on hard times.

“My niece was only eight years old. She phoned me up. ‘Aunty DJ, Mommy hasn't come home in three days and we're hungry,’” she remembers. “It was so hard on me.”

DJ says her cousin’s murder remains unsolved. But she continues to remember the good times they had together whenever one of her cousin’s favourite songs, These Boots are Made for Walking, plays.

DJ has helped many organizations and causes in the Downtown Eastside. That includes co-founding Sex Workers United Against Violence. With her naloxone training and kit, she has also saved lives.

And that’s the work she was doing when the western North America heatwave hit her community.

••• It was quite brutal. I had to keep taking a cold shower, almost every hour, or every two hours, because it got so hot in my room.

Even with blankets on my window, it made it even hotter. And it was brutal trying to eat or drink.

You can't eat when it's so hot. I tried to make ice tea. I'd make ice cubes. By the time you put your ice

ing problems should not be going out or near the door because that’s how bad it was. I went through three puffers in one day. And that's way too much, the doctor said.

I had to figure out how to block the smell because of my asthma: putting duct tape on the bottom of my window, trying to find something to put underneath my door, like an old towel or an old blanket.

But I couldn't do it cause I was inhaling too much of the smoke.

I guess I inhaled more than I was supposed to.

I was going out and down to the store. By the time I got on the elevator, I collapsed. They found me lying on the floor. When I came to, I was like, “How’d I end up in the hospital?

How the heck did I get here?” “Oh, you collapsed in your elevator and they got worried because you weren’t responding.” Somebody called the ambulance. I guess I blacked out. I don’t remember anything from it, until they told me.

That's how I found out I had COPD. I’m trying to figure out

1: DJ O'Brien collapsed in her building's elevator when record-high temperatures hit the Downtown Eastside last summer. 'That's how I found out I had COPD,' she says. PHOTO BY ROB SMITH. cubes in the drink, they're already melted before they hit water. To get to the washroom was a challenge for me in the heat.

I had to keep a cold towel in the freezer. Make sure it's ice cold when I take it out. Put it around my neck. By the time I get downstairs, or a block away from my home, the ice is already melted. You can see the steam coming off the towel.

That's how hot I was.

We had over 80 bottles of water we were handing out to people and giving money to the kids: taking them to 7-Eleven, getting a slushy, or a pop, or taking them to McDon-

ald's. Some of their parents can't afford to buy lunch for them, so that's what I would do with my money.

I heard that they were having a big forest fire and it was taking longer to put out. You can smell the fire, even with the windows closed. They mentioned on the news that people that have breath-

what the hell was COPD [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease]?

So I had the doctor do a printout for me, so I can read about it when I got home. I didn’t know I had it. That's when they told me you shouldn’t be going anywhere.

“Get your neighbour or a friend

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 3

to come over.” And it's like, "OK, now, who can I depend on? Who can you call?"

I'm fucking just totally freaking out in my room because I can't do anything. I had to get a friend to bring over two new fans for me because I couldn't get up to Army and Navy to get them. I can't even go to work because I work outside, doing my outreach and support work. So I started making chokers and medicine bags.

I had people selling them for me because I can't go downstairs or in the courtyard. And they go, "OK, DJ, here you go. We made $80 for you today." "Excuse me? You actually came back with the money and receipts?" It blew me away. "I didn't ask for receipts. How did they know I wanted receipts?" Because they go, "This way, then you know that you can depend on us, at any time. That you can trust us with your money." And I go, "I didn't even think of it that way."

During the heatwave, it was hard for anybody to take care of themselves. A lot of these people are under addiction. Where I work, we had 15 overdoses within an hour. And non-stop, because none of these kids are drinking water or having something to eat before they use. And, if you're a heroin user, you should not ever use too much heroin in the heatwave.

Because, once you do that shot, you start going on the nod. And then, suddenly, you won't wake up.

We're a little bit more prepared now. Now we know exactly what needs to be done, who to call, who to depend on. If we do get a heatwave, make sure you get together or have a meeting and try to figure out what you can do for the community. Get the kids to help.

And this is how you get to know the rest of the community, too.

Courtesy of Megaphone / International Network of Street Papers

PAGE 4 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER

BELLE MEADE GOLF LINKS SUBDIVISION

BY RIDLEY WILLS II The Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision was begun in 1915 and formally opened in 1916 by prominent Nashville real estate developer Johnson Bransford. It is located on approximately 43 acres within the limits of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. The district is bounded on the north by Windsor Drive, on the south and west by Harding Place, and on the east by Westover Drive and it is adjacent to the Belle Meade Country Club in the satellite city of Belle Meade. There are only five streets in the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision-Windsor Drive, Blackburn Avenue, Pembroke Avenue, Westover Drive and Harding Place.

Before the construction of roads in the district, the land was occupied by horse barns, old farm roads, bluegrass and very few trees.

The Belle Meade Plantation foaling stable was located near today’s intersection of Windsor Drive and Harding Place. A mule barn was located slightly north of the foaling station. The training stable, which sheltered the Belle Meade weanlings, was located just north of Windsor Drive. The sale stable, where Belle Meade’s annual yearling sales were held, was located between Richland Creek and Harding Pike.

There were also two or three farm houses on the property.

Despite the opening of the nearby Nashville Golf and Country Club in May, 1916, sales of homes in the district began slowly, delayed by World War I and by a scarcity of water. Shortly before the first World War, Bransford installed a six-inch water main that tapped Nashville City water. It was very expensive and property owners had to pay as much as $1,000 to tap into this line.

Early in the 1920s, H. B. Alexander built a house on lot #160 near the north end of the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision close to Richland Creek. He and his wife, Kathryn, used it as a summer cottage. It later evolved into a two-story, white clapboard house with a columned porch. By damming Richland Creek, Alexander and his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Lee, created Belle Meade Park’s first swimming pool.

During the 1940s the house became dilapidated and was razed. The Belle Meade Terrace Apartments were built on the site.

Between 1916 and 1925, only about a dozen houses were built.

They were largely Craftsman style cottages and bungalows. The bungalows had battered piers and columns of wood or stone supporting three quarter and full front porches. An example is the house at 114 Pembroke Avenue. Although automobiles were still a novelty when

the district was established, most houses had a one-car garage in the backyard. Some of these garages feature a small room that could be used for storage or to accommodate a household employee. The driveways were parallel tracts of concrete with grass planted between.

Bransford or his developer planted a great number of trees: Ash, Elm, Hackberry and Maple, with two trees on most lots. The original subdivision’s most unique features were three small parks, planned by Bransford’s gardener, Darius Hungerford. Triangular Park A had a gazebo and a lily pond. As there was no trash collection service until after World War II, residents threw tree limbs, dead shrubbery, leaves, and other debris on the parks, eventually decimating them.

Growth of the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision got a boost in 1926 when the Davidson County Board of Education decided to build a grammar school in the area. The board approached Walter Parmer, who had purchased the Belle Meade mansion in 1916. He gave the Board of Education a parcel of land at the intersection of Leake Avenue and Westover Drive, where Parmer School was completed in 1928. It remained there, as one of the best grammar schools in the county until the mid-1970s. Parmer Park is there today.

For young families, Belle Meade Golf LInks Subdivision became very attractive with its smaller houses financially within reach and Parmer School within walking distance.

Between 1926 and 1938, 80 houses were built in the subdivision. The vast majority of these homes were Tudor Revival cottages, but a few bungalows were also built.

In 1938, Mr. Cornette, who had a Pan Am service station on Harding Road was considering moving his station to a lot on Belle Meade Boulevard near Bonaventure, the home of Charlie C. Trabue. About the same time, Henry C. Beck, an Atlanta developer, who later moved his company to Dallas, planned to construct 11 two-story garden-style apartments on the north side of Harding place and in the triangle between Jackson Boulevard and Belle Meade Boulevard directly across from the Belle Meade Country Club. Belle Meade Park residents were furious about the possibility of either being built and met to figure out how to stop the developments.

Henry Beck, realizing how upset the residents were, backed off and built Nashville’s first garden-style apartments on a larger piece of land on Woodmont Boulevard. Named Woodmont Terrace, the apartments are still there today.

Nevertheless, the residents of Belle Meade Park approved, by a

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 5

vote of 270 to 170, to incorporate Belle Meade Park into a city. Not everyone agreed. Residents of Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision were uniformly against incorporation and asked to not be included in the new city. They felt they were sufficiently protected by having the Belle Meade Country Club golf course on two sides of their subdivision.

When the City of Belle Meade was incorporated Oct. 25, 1938, it did not include Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision.

Between 1938 and 1946, when the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision was substantially completed, most of the houses built were of Colonial Revival, Cape Cod and minimal traditional design.

The Belle Meade Links Triangle Neighborhood Association was organized in 1992 to facilitate efforts by homeowners to maintain the quality and character of their neighborhood. Because of the diligence of the neighborhood association, the historic integrity of the neighborhood has survived. In 2004, Emily Evans, Christopher Ozburn and Sarah H.K. Brown were instrumental in the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision Historic District Registration Form being submitted to the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service for inclusion.

NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER

RIDLEY WILLS II PUBLISHES BOOK CATALOGING HISTORY CORNER ARTICLES Proceeds for the book will benefit ‘The Contributor’

BY AMANDA HAGGARD 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.

Wills got the idea to put all his History Corner articles in a book when his son, Tom Wills, The Contributor’s director of vending, told him former Mayor Bill Purcell had mentioned he bought the The Contributor to read the History Corner articles. Wills has been a supporter of the paper since its inception. He’s watched Nashville grow over the years, and knows that it has gotten tougher for people

in poverty.

“Housing for people is Nashville's biggest problem as all the inner city neighborhoods are being gentrified with five-story condos,” Wills says.

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.

“Poor people have very few places to go,” Ridley says.

“That’s what makes what The Contributor is doing so important, and why I wanted to give these funds to them.”

The following local bookstores carry the book: NASHVILLE • • • • • •

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

FRANKLIN

• Landmark Booksellers: 114 East Main Street

BRENTWOOD

• Hot Pink: 831 Franklin Pike

COLUMBIA

• Duck River Books: 124 Public Square

PAGE 6 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

NEWS

A Few Questions With Councilmember Sean Parker, District 5

BY JUDITH TACKETT

S

ean Parker, who represents District 5, which is northeast of the Cumberland River adjacent to downtown, has quickly made a name for himself as a politically savvy first-term Metro councilmember.

Parker often hears from folks in his district about unsafe driving with people speeding around the neighborhoods and affordable housing, which can be anything from rents escalating to property taxes going up to no one being able to purchase a home anymore.

“District 5 is the western half of East Nashville,” Parker says. “It has traditionally been a mixed-income, racially mixed, culturally diverse community. It’s definitely trending more white and toward the upper income spectrum.

We’ve still got old-time folks over here, which makes it a fun and exciting place to be.”

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

The current District 5 includes a portion of the East Bank development. What does the future District 5 look like, and what would you like to see happen on that piece of property?

On the redistricting, District 5 will shift a little to the north and no longer include the East Bank study area. There will be a good bit less influence from the East Nashville community and the East Nashville council members on how the East Bank development moves forward as of the next Metro Council term.

But we’re currently engaged in an extensive training process for the East Bank.

We have a wonderful entertainment district downtown, and I think it would be a missed opportunity to try to recreate or expand that. So, I’m pushing for a lot of housing on the East Bank, and I’m pushing for affordable housing on the East Bank. It’s a tremendous piece of public land. It’s a tremendous public asset, and it’s near jobs, it’s near transit, it’s close to great schools. It’s an opportunity to develop dense housing that’s accessible to more than just new folks coming to town who make $100,000 or more.

You chair the Metro Council’s Affordable Housing Committee, and you helped lead efforts to secure unprecedented funding for the Barnes Housing Trust Fund. What are some highlights of the last year and some opportunities the city still needs to pursue?

I’m really proud of those investments. It was a big collaborative effort between the Metro Council, the ARP (American Rescue Plan) committee and administration. We also established a new Catalyst Fund that I’m very excited to see how that gets utilized. It has a lot of flexibility. It’s sort of a revolving fund; so, it gets something off the ground and then when they are able to stabilize the rents and refinance the project, they can put the money back into that Catalyst Fund. Especially with

METRO COUNCIL COMMITTEES: Affordable Housing (chair) Government Operations and Regulations Planning and Zoning

this changing economic climate, the public sector helping sustain development of affordable housing is a great opportunity.

Right now, housing production is geared toward luxury and vacation rental units. That’s not even adding supply in the places where we need it. I sometimes say, we don’t have an affordable lodging crisis, we have an affordable housing crisis.

Housing is the number one dinner table issue for Nashvillians. Just a decade ago, in most of the city you could live pretty affordably. Now, outside of a very few pockets it’s very challenging. And it’s connected to a number of other issues that people are very concerned about.

One way to put it is, when rents go up, tents go up. I’m looking for the next term to be a break or make moment for Nashville on housing.

What is the sustainability of the funding that’s in place right now?

The Catalyst Fund is a revolving fund. If we make the right investments, that is a self-sustaining fund. Hopefully we can grow that.

With the Barnes funding, we get a tremendous return on our investment in terms of how many units of housing we get per million dollars we put in. With that program, we’re still not capturing the full value of those investments.

We’re still subsidizing a nonprofit affordable housing development model. I think it’s good, and we should continue doing that. But there are other approaches that are more sustainable and

more scalable when you are capturing the value, you’re creating with seed investments rather than just subsidize another entity. That’s the direction that I’m trying to push things toward because I see that as more scalable.

As member of the Metro Council Planning and Zoning Committee, what zoning changes do you think would help spur the development of low-income housing?

I look at this from two directions.

One, low-income housing like SROs – Single Rental Occupancy buildings. Maybe it’s not dream housing, but it can be safe, secure, and private. We’re not building housing like that anymore. One of the things I’m hoping to look at before this term is done, is figuring out what exactly all the barriers are to building that today.

Similarly, when the supply of housing is so low that the moderate-income folks are pushed into what used to be a lower-income type housing, there is just nowhere left for the low-income folks.

I think we need to increase housing production across the spectrum. That can be through zoning reforms. One of the things we’ve done in District 5 is to allow more detached accessory dwelling units, so these are smaller apartments that can be constructed.

If you have a single-family lot, you can build something like a garage with an apartment on top. People are not building these and renting them out to low-income people, but they are

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 7

renting them out to moderate-income people and that takes some pressure off the market generally and gives folks more choices.

What are some solutions you’d like to see happen to address homelessness?

I know there is a tremendous number of things that need to happen. But there needs to be housing units and supportive services for folks that are out on the streets right now.

That’s the bottom line. It’s my understanding that there just aren’t enough units and not enough folks to help get people into those units.

Do the housing and homelessness questions need to be closer together?

I don’t think you can separate the two. I was talking to a business owner a few weeks ago who was very concerned about folks that have been hanging around his property, and he asked it is it going to get better. I said, probably not in the near term because there has been a tremendous amount of real estate speculation in Nashville. A lot of the affordable and modest housing stock has been [wiped out]. When property owners call me, they’re concerned about visible homelessness. Sometimes I remind them that the lack of housing and the lack of affordable housing is a bigger issue than just the folks that you’re seeing outside, and I’m afraid that the non-visible homelessness population is much, much bigger than any of us are comfortable thinking about.

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 2022

GRATIS

Agosto/3

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www.hispanicpaper.com

Año 20 - No. 355

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

Nashville, Tennessee

No miren a California como ejemplo para solucionar la falta de vivienda

En Los Ángeles, donde se encuentra un tercio de las 161,548 personas sin hogar del estado, Project Homekey no ha cumplido con las expectativas. Las 15,000 habitaciones que se fijaron como meta nunca se cumplieron, mientras que los excesivos costos de Homekey lo han hecho insostenible.

Más de una vez nos debemos de haber preguntado ¿por que existen tantas personas viviendo en la calle? , en una ciudad como Nashville que lidera entre los destinos estadounidenses más prósperos .

Y es que a pesar de las múltiples iniciativas y Por Yuri Cunza esfuerzos colabo- Editor in Chief rativos la @LaNoticiaNews población de personas sin hogar continúa creciendo.

Existen modelos a seguir y también los que no, por que no consideran elementos fundamentales de la problemática de quienes vivien en la calle.

Los investigadores Wayne Winegarden y Kerry Jackson lo explican de esta forma:

Foto: John Partipilo

“No importa cuán grave se vea el problema de las personas sin hogar en otras áreas metropolitanas, palidecen en comparación con California. Si bien el estado representa no exactamente el 12 % de la población de EE. UU., aproximadamente el 28 % de las personas sin hogar del país se encuentran en California. La lección: no copie las políticas del Estado Dorado para mitigar la falta de vivienda, simplemente no funcionan.

Tratamiento de adicciones y problemas de salud mental están en el centro de la problemática de las personas sin hogar.

Roomkey en California. La misión del programa era albergar a las personas sin hogar en habitaciones de hoteles y moteles, así como en casas rodantes, para ayudar a aplanar la curva de infecciones virales y "preservar la capacidad hospitalaria", dijo la oficina del gobernador.

La población de personas sin hogar de California no llegaba a los 139,000 en 2007. En siete años, se había reducido a unos 114,000. A partir de ahí, creció considerablemente a más de 161,000 en 2020.

Durante el mismo período, el total de personas sin hogar en el resto de los estados se redujo de poco más de 508,000 a 419,000.

Esto sucedió a pesar de que la economía de California se expandió un 50 % más rápido que el resto del país entre 2014 y 2020.

En abril del 2020, cuando azotó la pandemia de coronavirus, se presentó Project

Del Proyecto Roomkey creció el Proyecto Homekey, que dirigió fondos estatales y federales para la compra y renovación de hoteles y moteles, que luego se convertirían en viviendas permanentes para personas sin hogar.

Si bien tienen buenas intenciones, ambos programas tienen una falla estructural: siguen el enfoque fallido de "primero la vivienda".

Sí, las personas sin hogar necesitan hogares. Pero la vivienda primero, que ha sido la política estatal oficial desde 2016, se

describe mejor como vivienda y nada más. Según un estudio del Instituto Cicero, los intentos de aliviar la falta de vivienda basados en la vivienda primero parecen "atraer a más personas de fuera del sistema de personas sin hogar, o mantenerlas en el sistema de personas sin hogar, porque se sienten atraídos por la promesa de una vivienda permanente y generalmente gratuita" Vivienda primero no es más que la cáscara de un programa porque no trata las causas fundamentales de la falta de vivienda, que para muchos son la adicción o la enfermedad mental, y a menudo ambas.

A pesar de las deficiencias de la vivienda primero, el compromiso de California con el Proyecto Homekey ha acumulado miles de millones en gastos de dólares federales y estatales sin tener mucho o nada que mostrar por todos los gastos.

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 8 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Un conjunto diferente de problemas ha acosado a las viviendas para personas sin hogar en San Francisco. Una investigación del Chronicle encontró que el esfuerzo de la ciudad para albergar a las personas sin hogar opera "con poca supervisión o apoyo", lo que ha llevado a resultados "desastrosos". Los roedores infestan las habitaciones, el crimen y la violencia son comunes, y la muerte, a menudo por sobredosis, es un visitante frecuente. Sin embargo, la ciudad, así como otras comunidades del Área de la Bahía donde Project Homekey ha demostrado ser insuficiente, siguen dedicadas al programa y sus gastos mal dirigidos.

Aquí hay algunos consejos para los legisladores de todo el país que buscan vencer la falta de vivienda: no ignoren las innovaciones efectivas del sector privado que están cambiando la vida de las personas. El tratamiento de las adicciones y los problemas de salud mental que están en el centro del problema debe ser una prioridad.

California sigue insistiendo en que su camino es el único camino. Hasta que eso cambie, el estado no tiene nada que ofrecer a otros estados en su lucha por reducir la falta de vivienda.”

El Dr. Wayne Winegarden y Kerry Jackson son coautores del nuevo resumen del Instituto de Investigación del Pacífico "Proyecto Homekey proporciona ningún camino a casa para las personas sin hogar de California".

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

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF STREET PAPERS

Legislating against exploitative work contracts in Germany

BY VON SEVERINE SAND Low wages, 16-hour shifts, run-down and crowded apartments. The COVID-19 outbreak at Tönnies, Germany’s largest meat processing plant, revealed the injustices prevalent within an entire industry. The case of Tönnies made clear the fact that meat and sausages were prioritized over the health of workers who weren’t even on the group’s payroll but were instead employed via work or temporary labor contracts. Almost all of them were from Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

“If the number of infections had not increased so dramatically at Tönnies, maybe nothing would have changed,” says Oskar Brabanski, head of the south-east division at Faire Mobilität (‘Fair Mobility’, an organization that provides advice to women and men working in the low-wage sector).

“The meat industry is a good example of organized irresponsibility that was taken to the extreme.”

This ended a year ago: The Health and Safety at Work Act now prohibits contracts for work and labor, as well as temporary work, in meat processing and slaughtering. Companies with fewer than 50 employees, however, are exempt.

“We will stop the abuse of contracts for work and labor and introduce more inspections and higher fines,” said Hubertus Heil, Federal Minister of Employment, when the Act came into force.

The Act has proved particularly unpopular among temporary employment agencies. “The injustices in the meat industry were primarily caused by the contracts for work and labor,” says Jens Issel, head of communications at the Association for German Temporary Employment Agencies (iGZ). The majority of employees had been in possession of a contract for work. “Politics did not make a difference here,” Issel claims.

The Federal Constitutional Court is currently verifying a complaint filed by several temporary employment agencies against the stringent regulations. This is not surprising, as they lost contracts when the Act came into force. “If the contracts for work and labor had been omitted, the companies would have probably changed to temporary work as an alternative,” says Unionist Brabanski, of the importance of closing all the loopholes that could be exploited by companies. “It makes sense to [deal with] both.”

The ban is showing early signs of success, even if only by means of political pressure. In Nuremberg, for instance, the company HoWe Wurstwaren — known for bratwurst (fried sausages) — has increased its permanent staff to about 280 people. Some of the former temporary workers are now employed permanently. “We never worked with subcontractors or contracts for work and labor anyway,” explains CEO Florian Hoeness. “Doing so would not have been in line with the philosophy of our company.” The factory does, however, employ seasonal workers during its main production period. Some of them go on to receive permanent working contracts, not least in order to counteract fluctuations in staff numbers.

Oskar Brabanski has observed other positive changes within the industry. “People are more self-confident and organized, whereas they used to be completely frightened before,” he says. “Some of the foreign employees that ran for the works council election at the end of May are now allowed to vote and have the right to make demands directly to the company. Before, they did not even know for whom they were actually working.” The

SEASONAL WORK: A type of job that is also referred to as short-term employment. Companies like to employ seasonal workers during seasonal production peaks. A classic example are harvesters.

TEMPORARY WORK: The colloquial name for personnel leasing. Here, a company hires a temporary employment agency, which places workers with them. This is a triangular relationship: The employer (temporary employment agency) provides the employee (temporary worker) for a limited period to the contractor (hirer) for money. Temporary work accounts for up to 2.2 percent of the German job market. In Nuremberg, there are currently 183 temporary employment agencies employing around 14,400 temporary workers.

WORK AND LABOR CONTRACTS: Here, a company or self-employed individual is commissioned to create or complete a piece of work at an agreed price. They are paid for the result (i.e., the work), not the performance. It is not unusual that the contractor in turn delegates the task and thus acts as a subcontractor. A work and labor contract often includes services such as accommodation, etc., that are directly deducted from the person’s wage.

Oskar Brabanski, head of the south-east division at Faire Mobilität (‘Fair Mobility’, an organization that provides advice to women and men working in the low-wage sector).

CREDIT: WOLFGANG GILLITZER minimum wage now applies across the industry, and electronic time tracking is embedded into the law, which has led to a reduction of the sometimes very long working hours.

“Nonetheless, we are still far from having ‘paradise’ conditions,” Brabanski warns. “In some places, the structures remain similar [to what they were before].” What he means is that the managers of some former subcontractors are now employed directly by the companies as foremen or consultants, so the operational procedures have not changed. “Even exploitation is becoming more difficult because of public attention, we would like to have more control,” Brakanski says.

Speaking of public attention, Tönnies was recently criticized once again. This time, the company tried to recruit refugees from Ukraine at the Polish–Ukrainian border. The corporation claimed it wanted to offer them a secure future and did not want to exploit their distress.

Similar recruiting attempts can be observed in other industries too, first and foremost in caregiving. This is an industry in which predominantly women from Eastern Europe are hired, mostly as temporary workers. “This creates new jobs,” says Jens Issel of iGZ. “It would be a good opportunity to integrate people [who have come to Germany] from Ukraine.”

Brabanski has reservations about this. “When Ukrainians have unlimited access to the job market, this is in accordance with the principle of integration,” he says. “However, they are in a much weaker position than other workers from Eastern Europe. They have no home anymore and lack language skills.” Moreover, the war might have negative effects on the German economy, leading to worse working conditions over time. “There is a high risk of [people such as those who have recently moved to Germany from Ukraine] ending up in an exploitative employment contract because they are more likely to accept it. Their top priority is just having any kind of work.”

Temporary workers, as well as seasonal workers and those with a work and labor contract, also experience exploitation in industries such as

the food industry, electronics, construction and logistics. Very often the minimum wage is just not being paid. Subcontractors giving out work and labor contracts, as well as temporary employment agencies, may trick employees with negative hours or by not keeping records of all the hours worked, Brabanski tells me. Those who seek advice from Faire Mobilität most often complain of being paid too little or of failed payments. Other problems include having to work too many extra hours, being given no holidays and being fired without notice in case of illness.

Around 99 percent of precariously employed workers in Germany have an Eastern and South-eastern European background. Prof. Jannis Panagiotidis, a researcher on migration at the University of Vienna, identifies a structural problem that makes such injustices possible in the first place, namely how bad people’s lives must be in order for them to tolerate such working conditions at all. “The fact that employers assume that people from Eastern Europe would gratefully accept cheap jobs is [due to] racism,” Panagiotidis says.

The distress of these people is very clearly being exploited. Why else would recruiters be able to hire them directly in their home country?

“We are observing a further shift to the East as far as Georgia,” adds Oskar Brabanski. “Normally, employers in a company are supposed to create a product or deliver a kind of service. Meanwhile, in temporary work, the people are the product — as manpower. All that counts is their manufacturing capability. Temporary work is a process of haggling for workers in order to squeeze as much profit as possible out of them.”

The advantages of temporary work, such as cushioning production peaks or using temporary work as a springboard for the transition into permanent staff, are hardly ever observed by the Unionist. This occurs almost exclusively in the realm of highly qualified work, such as in the case of engineers or computer scientists, and it hardly ever happens in the low-wage sector. The numbers of employees at the gingerbread factory Lebkuchen Schmidt seem to confirm this observation. The company is a manufacturer of gingerbread, Nuremberg’s second most famous product after bratwurst, with sales booming in the winter around the time of Nuremberg’s famous Christkindlesmarkt [Christmas market].

According to the company’s own information, 1,100 people work at the factory during the main season, compared to 350 employees at other times of the year. Whether this increase is achieved by

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9

means of seasonal workers, temporary workers or work and labor contracts, who knows? In contrast to the sausage manufacturer HoWe Wurstwaren, the gingerbread maker declined to comment.

Apart from gingerbread, the company produces sweets and biscuits throughout the year.

“There is statistical evidence that the output of different companies during the main season is only minimally higher,” says Brabanski. “If the people were employed directly and the production peak was reached, they would have to be given other occupations. We often see that temporary employment agencies simply cancel the contracts instead of referring the people on as soon as their work is no longer needed. The hire-and-fire mindset is very prevalent, even though this contradicts the purpose of temporary work.”

Any advantages of this system are only available to the person or organization hiring workers.

As Brabanski says, it is “convenient for them just to take people from a temporary employment agency.

Thereby they are passing on the economic risk.”

Such companies believe it is not vital to increase the staff in the human resources department or to handle temporary workers’ problems such as issues related to sickness, holidays and resignations.

A major problem in the low-wage sector is the industry of warehousing, transport and logistics, as can be seen from the example of the online retailer Amazon. The giant group covers 53% of online trading in Germany; as a result, a high volume of goods must be delivered around the country. Amazon works with two models, particularly in rural areas. “Either they place orders with transport companies, who in turn place the orders with subcontractors. Or they offer Amazon Flex, a model of disguised employment,” Brabanski explains. “Here, the drivers receive around 100 Euros for four hours, but they have to collect the shipment and deliver the parcels with their own vehicle on an independent basis. After the deduction of all costs, the payment is lower than the minimum wage.”

Consumers’ apparent acceptance of exploitation might be explained by a lack of knowledge.

“Or maybe we have grown too accustomed to the fact that a separate job market has emerged from temporary work and subcontracting,” Brabanski says sadly. “An exceptional type of employment has become the norm.”

Translated from German by Melanie Gertheinrich Courtesy of Strassenkreuzer / International Network of Street Papers

COVER STORY

Images from several Nashville labor actions through the years. PHOTOS BY ALVINE

Right-to-work?

Unions are fighting against codifying ‘right-to-work’ laws in Tennessee

BY AMANDA HAGGARD Ahead of the November election, unions in Tennessee are preparing for a fight against an effort to enshrine the state’s 75-year-old “right-to-work” law in the state’s constitution.

In the past two legislative sessions, state lawmakers voted to add a constitutional amendment regarding the right-to-work statute, but voters themselves would have to agree and vote in favor of the Amendment 1 in order for it to be added permanently to the state constitution.

Republicans tout the law as a way to keep workers from having to join a union against their wishes, and Gov. Bill and former Gov. Bill Haslam have championed adding the law to the state’s

constitution, calling it a great way to bring more jobs to the state. Twenty-seven states now have right-to-work laws and a third of them have codified the statutes into their state constitutions.

Tennessee’s AFL-CIO Labor Council says adding this to the state's constitution only puts workers at a disservice.

Alyssa Hansen, communications and political director for AFL-CIO, answered a few questions about how this action could affect Tennesseans.

The term "right-to-work" is obviously a bit of a misnomer. Can you explain a bit about how right-towork states differ from those without right-to-work laws?

The true burden of ‘right-to-work’ laws ultimately falls on working families in the states where these laws exist.

For example, workers in ‘right-to-work’ states earn nearly $9,000 less annually, have a higher number of minimum wage jobs (Tennessee is at the top of the list for this statistic), have higher poverty rates, and more dangerous workplaces.

When corporate special interest groups are able to have virtually unchecked power through these laws, workers are the ones who are put at risk. Tennessee is also an at-will employment state. ‘right-to-work’ laws in any state strip workers from having a voice in negotiating wages, benefits and safe workplaces.

Anyone in Tennessee without a union

PAGE 10 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

contract can be fired without cause. No due process. No questions asked.

How does this amendment differ from our current law?

‘Right-to-work’ has been the law in Tennessee since 1947 (75 years). In that time, even when the Democrats were in control, there has never been a serious effort to repeal the law. Amendment 1 would simply enshrine Tennessee’s harmful ‘right-to-work’ in our state constitution. Doing so, however, would tie the hands of future legislators, union members, and Tennessee voters. While it’s not necessarily an easy process to amend the constitution, it’s often more difficult to remove a measure years later.

COVER STORY

What are the potential downfalls of enshrining this law into our state's constitution?

Our constitution is a sacred document that should only be amended in very rare circumstances, not to include every item on a political party’s wish list. “right-to-work” is already state law. Trying to enshrine it in the constitution is a waste of time and money that’s designed to score political points. We’ve got much more pressing issues facing our state (lack of good-paying jobs, for example) that leaders should focus on instead. Enshrining Tennessee’s ‘rightto-work’ law in our state constitution ties the hands of future legislators, union members, and Tennessee voters.

What industries and workers does this affect most?

Whether or not their workplace is represented by a union contract, ‘rightto-work’ laws affect all workers in the states that have them. In today’s economy, employers and employees should be work-

ing together to create safe, good-paying jobs instead of the government trying to manage the private sector.

How is AFL-CIO organizing ahead of Nov. 8 and what are the major worries about how this could pan out?

As the leading voice for Tennessee’s working families, we’re focused on undertaking a grassroots effort that brings together union members, affiliated organizations, community supporters, etc. Just like our membership (which represents a wide-variety of political views), any Tennessean who is committed to helping us defeat Amendment 1 is welcome to join us in this effort. Unlike when this measure went through the legislature, the decision on whether to enshrine Tennessee’s ‘right-to-work’ law in the constitution now rests with the voters. Tennesseans are tired of being represented by wealthy politicians who couldn't care less about their needs and are hungry for new leadership. We’re

confident they’ll see through this political pandering by the rich and powerful.

Is there anything I haven't asked about that is necessary to know?

I think that folks should pay close attention to who’s doing the majority of the talking for Yes on 1, the group that’s pushing for Amendment 1’s passage. A couple of weeks ago, Yes on 1 released a digital spot featuring Governor Bill Lee and former Governor Bill Haslam singing the praises of ‘right-to-work’ and telling Tennesseans why they should vote in favor of Amendment 1 in November.

When you’ve got two billionaire politicians attempting to tell Tennesseans how they should vote on a measure that affects working people, it’s abundantly clear who is behind the push: corporate special interest groups, big business, and greedy politicians who are laser-focused on cementing their power and influence for generations to come. In addition, organizations that support Amendment 1 like the National Federation of Independent

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 11

Business (NFIB), Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and the Beacon Center of Tennessee do not have the best interests of workers in mind. Instead, along with their supporters, they are most concerned with lining their own pockets and willing to do it by any means necessary. These groups and their wealthy backers already have too much power in our state. Working families deserve to have their needs addressed too.

What do people get wrong about right-to-work laws?

The term ‘right-to-work’ might sound good on paper, but in reality, it’s the complete opposite. Proponents of ‘right-towork’ love to claim that these laws are about protecting workers’ freedom to join or not to join a union. That’s false.

Federal law already protects someone from being forced to join a union. ‘rightto-work’ is about freedom only in this way: it’s about taking away the freedom of working people to join together.

VENDOR WRITING

NEW YORKER IN US ALL Excerpt from “Lessons Learned from Wisdom’s Words” Words and Melody Written by Chris Scott Fieselman Piano by William Taylor - Vocals by Kyle Gordon See - YouTube Videos by Chris Scott Fieselman Music Video Performance Oh, there are so many things we remember, Moments that we’ll never forget.

Like where we were when it happened, And the whole world felt the affect.

A cry across a nation, From sea to shining sea.

What happened on 9/11, Changed the world for you and me.

But we came together as sisters and brothers.

We cared and were there for one another.

When we watched those towers fall, There was New Yorker in Us All.

THEME: AWA R D -W IN N ING DR A M A S ACROSS 1. Radiant light 5. Ceiling prop 8. Sweatshirt attachment 12. Auricular 13. Lightly colored 14. Like a certain lass 15. Rotterdam or Singapore, e.g.

16. Greek god of love 17. Event host 18. *1960 Golden-Globe winner with Kirk Douglas 20. The Bee ____ 21. Rowed 22. Costa del ____ 23. *1922 Pulitzer-winning "Long Day's Journey into Night" author 26. *James Cameron's

1997 Oscar-winner 30. Steal 31. "Killers of the Flower Moon" tribal members 34. All's opposite 35. *2021 "royal" Emmy winner 37. "One Fish Two Fish ____ Fish..."

38. More eccentric 39. Assistant 40. Expels 42. Before, old-fashioned 43. Consummate professional, in music 45. Mid-body narrowing, pl.

47. Feather glue 48. Library offerings 50. Cry like a baby 52. *"The ____", 1972

mafia Oscar winner 56. Jeopardy, not the game 57. Type of molding 58. This location 59. Full of blood vessels 60. Christian of haute-couture 61. Suite cleaner 62. Mountain goat terrain 63. D.C. bigwig 64. Middle of March DOWN 1. Brewer's perennials 2. Perching place 3. Italian money 4. Type of local tax 5. Travesty 6. Not silently 7. Loch ____

8. *2012 Emmy-winning espionage thriller 9. Fairy tale opener 10. Half of binary code, pl.

11. Yellow #5, e.g.

13. Bits of wisdom 14. Fathered 19. Bird of prey's weapon 22. Female sib 23. ____'s razor 24. Waterwheel 25. Horace's poem 26. Danson and Kennedy 27. Lymph "containers" 28. Lacking vigor 29. Roman counterpart of Greek Demeter 32. *Ben Affleck's 2012 Golden Globe best drama winner 33. Wow 36. *2000-2003 White House Emmy winner, with The 38. Port city in Japan 40. Get it wrong 41. BOGO offer 44. Total amount 46. Isthmus, pl.

48. Railroad car undercarriage 49. Theater, to Socrates 50. Samuel Adams, e.g.

51. Operatic solo 52. Hermes and Apollo 53. Cabbage amount 54. Great Lake 55. *Best Director Oscar-winner Warren Beatty's 1981 film 56. Rubber substitute, acr.

From Maine to California, In everybody’s family tree.

There’s a distant family member, Who landed in, New York from across the sea.

While we witnessed the hurt and the horror.

The loss of human life.

Lady Liberty watched from the harbor, With a tear in her eye.

But we came together as sisters and brothers.

We cared and were there for one another.

When we watched those towers fall, There was New Yorker in Us All. Now, it’s not likely to be forgotten.

The pain goes on for years.

Though we caught up with Bin Laden, The danger didn’t disappear.

And though we’ll never let it happen again.

The hardest lesson that we learned.

Inside of every Red-Blooded American, The Heart of a New Yorker burns.

When we come together as sisters and brothers.

We care and are there for one another.

We remember those towers fall.

When we remember those towers fall.

We remember those towers fall, And we know, There’s a New Yorker in Us All

PAGE 12 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Scan this QR Code to watch a video of this performance.

VENDOR WRITING

Historical Fantasy

BY JEN A., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR I don't know why the members of the Metro Historical Commission decided to award an historical marker to Bettie Page. I suppose it could have been as simple as Mr. Ben Wilkinson saying he wanted it and would pay to have it cast and placed.

But surely they would have done their due diligence to find out if the proposed text of the marker was accurate. Wouldn't they want to know if Bettie had done the things the text says she did or that she actually was the person it says she was?

"Page" had been a clue that stumped me in a crossword puzzle I had recently worked on. So I decided to find out who she was. Her story is intriguing.

When Bettie was at HumeFogg, there's no denying she was an over-achieving, driven, bright

shining star. After she left Nashville for New York, she made her way as best she could. Unfortunately, Hume-Fogg's bright, shining student ended up having to sell her body for the sexual gratification of men.

I don't blame dear Bettie for that, of course. She did what she had to do to be able to eat and live indoors. And she leaned into her work with all the gusto she had applied to her studies. She was very good at what she did. But there were harsh consequence to the life she was lured into.

Women in post-war 1950s America had few opportunities for professional success. Secretary, nurse, teacher, and homemaker were pretty much all an educated woman could aspire to be. The pay was lousy and would not support a

single woman comfortably in Nashville, let alone in New York. Bettie could make more in one day modeling for Irving Klaw than she made in a month at her secretarial jobs.

Bettie's most demure pin-up costumes, viewed today as acceptably camp, would have been considered tastelessly risque and scandalous in the 1950s. Imagine June Cleaver, Harriet Nelson, or Margaret Anderson in short-shorts and a halter top instead of a house dress and pearls.

Are we saying to the bright young women who will pass by this marker each day at Hume-Fogg that it doesn't matter how smart you are: work as hard as you want, you will only be appreciated and noteworthy in the world for how sexy you are — how much skin you are willing to show.

The text of this proposed marker, as short as it is, overflows with inaccurate euphemisms and mischaracterizations.

It refers to "retired from public life" and "maintained a reclusive lifestyle" as the time Bettie spent in insane asylums.

And Bettie turned to Jesus, not out of normal devotion, but as a torturous symptom of her mental illness. She went on a manic search for redemption for sins only she knew.

She brutally stabbed three people and held four others at knifepoint while experiencing religious delusions. I don't believe most evangelical Christians do that — though I could be wrong.

As a woman, I have nothing but empathy and love for dear Bettie Mae Page. But I don't believe even she would think this an acceptable

idea. And I believe she would find the placement at Hume-Fogg totally inappropriate and reprehensible.

Estes Kefauver all but crucified Bettie at the altar of his presidential aspirations without giving her the respect to speak in her own defense.

He manufactured evidence against her and streamed it into every home in America.

A better placement for this remembrance of beautiful Bettie Page would be to nestle it among the tulip bulbs and shrubbery across the street at the corner of the next block: the Estes Kefauver Federal Building. I think it would bring a smile to Bettie's face to know that her historical marker, accurate or not, will be a thorn in the side of Sen. Carey Estes Kefauver throughout eternity. Maybe then, she can truly rest in peace.

TOMATO EBOLA! THE NEXT PANDEMIC

BY KEITH D., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR Day 1: New growth at plant tips sickly yellow Day 2: All leaves on plant have gray mottled spots Day 3: Anything mottled has turned yellow, swiss cheese holes with leaves Day 4: Leaves blackened, black spots on main stem Day 5: Leaves black and crispy, stem and branches blackened. Tomatoes shriveled and spotted Day 6: Entire plant black and crisp

Day 7: Can snap the 1” thick main stem like a dry stick, the puff of dust causing me to sneeze.

I have never seen such a rapid succumbing of plants, wasn’t a hint of disease until about Aug. 1. Not a cutworm or aphid on any of the 60ish plants. It’s slower in the romas, may have two weeks. But any variety of cherry succombs in only SEVEN days!

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA WITH SOME RASCALS

BY CHRIS W., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

ART BY CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR WENDELL J.

One day last April I was selling The Contributor at my spot at a Walmart when I seen a tour bus in the parking lot. No big deal. It’s Nashville.

Then, this guy walks over and asks how much for a paper? I said $2. He hands me, well, much, much more. He then asks me, “Do you want to meet a friend of mine?” And this guy walks over.

It was Gary, the frontman for Rascal Flats, and the first guy was the road manager for the band.

After talking for about a half hour, Gary asked me what I was doing tonight. I said I hoped to spend some time with my girlfriend why? He said, “I was going to see if you wanted to go backstage at the Opry House.” So I asked,

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 13

“Can I bring her with me?”

At first Gary said yes, but when I brought her down to the bus he said he called the Opry and was told it was going to be packed backstage.

He said I want you to go, but she can’t come with us. I went over and told her, “I’m going to stay here with you,” and she said, "No, Honey, I want you to go. You’ll have some cool stories to tell me when you’re back." Stupid me! I believed her! After the show, Gary dropped me off at my camp. Coming down the driveway Gary asked, “Do you think she’s mad?” I said I hoped not. When I got home, she was gone. I lost the woman I still care about.

VENDOR SUBMISSIONS

Memories That Play Like A Movie In My Mind

BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR ​​ Recently, select AMC theaters announced they would show the movie Grease for a limited time to honor Olivia Newton-John after her death on Aug. 8, 2022.

Hearing that, I was immediately reminded of my “first job,” at the local Gallatin Theater on South Water Avenue (now the American Legion Post 17). I was 10.

The “offer” came about in a most unusual way. Mr. Thomas (the man who ran the theater with his wife) caught me trying to sneak in the emergency exit for the Saturday matinée. Instead of kicking me out, he said I could earn my ticket complete with popcorn, soda, and candy if I helped clean up after the movie was over. That sounded pretty good to me. I never thought about the fact that he could’ve called the police, my main concern was that he didn’t call my mom!

That was the beginning of an arrangement that lasted as long as the theater itself did. From that moment on if I wasn’t at home or at school, I was at the movie theater.

It was a pretty good deal for all

concerned. My mom who was always working and never had to worry about where I was, and she could even come and check on me on her breaks. At that time, she worked at the convenience store two doors down, and at the restaurant across the street.

Of course there were rules: I had to keep my grades up.

With so many people checking my homework that was not a problem, besides, I actually liked school and was a pretty good student I had to be home by 10 p.m. on school nights. I could stay later on weekends, but someone had to come and get me or bring me home even though we lived right around the corner, literally.

And finally, ABSOLUTELY NO RATED R movies. (To this day, I still don’t watch them, although I have been tricked a couple of times.) When those played I helped out in the lobby taking tickets, using the carpet sweeper, helping stock the concession stand, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. There was ALWAYS something to do. It

may not sound like much fun, but I had a serious crush on the guy that worked behind the counter (the Thomas’s grandson, Sean) so I didn’t mind one bit!

In return, I got my very own T-shirt and name tag just like the regular employees wore. The only thing is they couldn’t pay me in cash because I was so young. Instead I got ALL the free passes, popcorn, soda, and candy I could possibly want. That’s also where I discovered my love of chocolate covered raisins and junior mints — true staples at any movie theater concession stand. Back then I could eat ALL I wanted and not gain an ounce, ah, those were the days!) I even got to draw the winning tickets for prizes for those who attended the Saturday matinées, and I got to see LOTS of movies in the process.

Here are just a few examples: • Superman and the sequel • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band • Any Which Way But Loose

•

•

•

• • • •

(This was my first exposure to Clint Eastwood, but the orangutan Clyde stole the show.)

Star Trek: The Movie (Yep, I’m a Trekkie. Just ask any of my Vulcan customers. My usual line to them is, “Live long and prosper.” I just can’t do the hand gesture that usually accompanies that saying.)

Coal Miner's Daughter (I’ve ALWAYS been a sucker for a true story.)

Airplane! And the sequel (That was one of my mom's favorites. She always did have a good sense of humor.) Can you imagine June Cleaver jive talkin’?

If not, check this one out, because it happens in this movie ever so briefly.)

On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Annie ET (I took ALL the kids I babysat to see this one. It was a BIG hit with them!)

But the one I saw the most by far without a doubt was Grease.

This also made me VERY popular at school! (Truly the first and only time that happened to me!)

On the rare occasion that my mom and her roommate Cindy had a night off, you could find us at the theater watching a movie together, and it was all on me! How many kids can say that? I have to admit it felt pretty good.

Even after I got paying babysitting jobs, I would still go in, help clean up, and see a movie every chance I got.

And even though my mom was a nomad and we moved around a lot, whenever I was in town, I knew I would ALWAYS be welcomed there with open arms.

Sadly, the theater eventually closed and the Thomas family went back home to California where they were from, and this part of my life came to an end, but the memories still play over and over so vividly in my mind just like all those movies I enjoyed with my family and friends so long ago.

The Contributor’s First Vendor of the Month

BY MAURICE B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR For this issue of the paper, Contributor vendor Maurice B., interviewed Tom Sweet, a former Contributor Vendor who helped get the paper started in 2007. Maurice's questions are in bold and Tom's answers are under them.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Hello, yes, today’s Sunday, July 31 2022. I’m Maurice Ballard, known as the Bucket Man, and I'm interviewing Tom Sweet. The very first vendor [of The Contributor], the very first…

Vendor of the month.

Vendor of the month. Um, Mr. Sweet, could you give, in your own words, what is your history of being a vendor?

Well, I wasn’t just a vendor. I was part of creating The Contributor, with Tasha [Lemley, Former Contributor Executive Director], and [others]. We used to have our meetings at the Downtown Library on the second floor in the atrium before we got the [Downtown Presbyterian] church involved. But that was in 2007.

And how did y’all end up going to the church?

Well, the library asked us. We were having our meetings there at the atri-

um and it was gettin’ big, lot of people involved. And they asked us if we could find another place to have our meetings. This was before the first issue came out. They said we’ll give you a couple weeks, we’re not pushin’ it, but find another place. So that’s when we found the Downtown Presbyterian Church and Tom Wills.

OK. Then therefore, after so many years, how did the paper begin – begin getting coverage?

Well, we talked about what was gonna go into the paper. And what the purpose of the paper was for.

And what was the purpose?

Well, the purpose was to help homeless people get off the streets. OK? They were sellin’ the paper for a dollar, but they were buyin’ the paper for a quarter. So 75 cents went to the vendor…

The content was artwork, stories about homelessness – By homeless individuals?

Yes. And they also had poems, songs, comics…

OK, OK. What year did it start?

2007.

I myself am a vendor. When I came in 2016, I seen all they were doing was selling papers.

That changed, though. It was started to help the homeless.

And that’s what it still does. It helps the homeless, but they have to narrow things down and let individuals know so they’ll understand that it’s not only just helping the homeless, OK, just to make money and allow you to go out and do it on your own.

They’re assisting individuals in finding homes. Finding some kind of housing. Things like that. They’re also helping out individuals with mental illnesses, and things. The resources that you’re able to reach out and go get, just needing some assistance, and being a part of The Contributor by making money that’s good enough, but when they got into political issues that you backed off of, at the same time what it’s still doing as those political issues, is opening up avenues for individuals to be able to have a housing program [at The Contributor].

There’s a housing problem. There is no affordable housing. They want $1,400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

[laughing] I’m homeless again!

Understandable. But at the same time, just a suggestion, if you go back to the Contributor, if you just go back – I have an income.

Huh? I have an income.

OK, but at the same time, you still are able to… get assisted income with the Contributor, and… they will help you be able to get on, like, a Sec. 8 voucher.

I’m not dealing with Section 8 ever again. I’ve been displaced twice in seven years.

Oh, you’ve been displaced?

Yeah. I lived at Mercury Court for four years. The building was falling apart, I had two months to find a place, couldn’t find a place, wound up homeless. And then, uh, my rep. come out to my camp, sat on a five gallon bucket, got on the phone, did all this stuff and got me into Village West. I was there three years.

Guy from New York comes and buys up all the buildings and the property it’s on, didn’t wanna rent to elderly, to disabled, the veteran, anybody that was on a fixed income in Section 8 had to go.

PAGE 14 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Oh. We lost over 120 Section 8s over there.

Poof, gone. So, you know, we’re losing affordable housing. There is no affordable housing. And I can’t – I don’t make $1,400 a month. Income… how am I gonna pay that for rent? I’ve got an application at Mariavilla Manor on White Bridge Rd. Nice place, too. But it’s a waiting game, I’m on a list. And that’s not Section 8, that’s run by the Catholic Church. But I’m not dealing with Section 8 anymore, that’s a joke.

All Section 8 does is give you a voucher, OK? So you can afford rent. But they don’t protect you from being displaced.

They don’t help you look for an apartment. Even if you’re disabled, you’re on your own.

But they’re displacing the elderly, the disabled, the veteran, anybody on a fixed income on Section 8, there’s no affordable housing. There’s an 84 year old lady living in her car. It’s ridiculous, man. It’s a little sick, man.

Yeah. Well I thank you for allowing me to interview and get the information.

The New Christian Year Selected by Charles Williams

Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886–1945), the editor of the following selections, is today probably the third most famous of the famous Inklings literary group of Oxford, England, which existed in the middle of the 20th century, and which included among its ranks the better-known and longer-lived Oxford Dons J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis—but he was arguably the most precocious and well-read of this eminent and intellectually fertile group. He was also known to have influenced Dorothy Sayers, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden.

Lacking a proper degree unlike his fellow Inklings, this genius Cockney-speaking author, editor, critic, and playwright was eminently well-versed in both philosophical and theological writings of the remote past as of the present day (the mid-20th century) and used this familiarity to good effect in his poetry, supernatural fiction and his lesser-known devotional selections designed for the spiritual benefit of the faithful in the Church of England. 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, beginning with Advent (i.e., December) and ending in November, and reaches far beyond the pale of the philosophical and theological discussions of his day. It was under his hand, for instance, that some of the first translations of Kierkegaard were made available to the wider public. 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

12th Wednesday after Trinity ABBA Agathon used to say to himself, whensoever he saw any act or anything which his thought wished to judge or condemn, "Do not commit the thing thyself," and in this manner he quieted his mind, and held his peace.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

VEX not yourselves with trivialities; ye were not made for things, and the glory of the world is but a travesty of truth, only a heresy of happiness.

Eckhart: Sayings.

12th Thursday after Trinity WE repeat the Scriptures with our mouth, and we go though the Psalms of David in our service, but that which God requireth, and which is necessary, we have not, that is to say, a good word for each other.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

DO not despise or think lightly of him that standeth before thee, for thou knowest not whether the Spirit of God is in thee or in him, though thou callest him who standeth before thee him that ministereth unto thee.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

12th Friday after Trinity WHILE thou still wishest better to thine own person than to that man whom thou hast never seen thou art beside the mark, nor hast thou even for an instant seen into this simple ground.

Eckhart: Sermons and Collations.

A HOLY man once bethought himself how painful it must have been to God to have been seen by his enemies when he was taken prisoner. Our Lord answered him: "My enemies appeared unto Me in my presence as friends, who wished to help me in carrying out the sweetest and most desirable work that I ever worked in my life."

Tauler: Sermons.

12th Saturday after Trinity WE pray God that his, "will be done on earth," in us, "as it is in heaven," in God himself. A man of this sort is so one, so one-willed with God that he wills exactly what God wills and in the way God wills it.

Eckhart: The Book of Benedictus.

NO knowledge, therefore, and no conceptions in this mortal life can serve as proximate means of this high union of the love of God. All that the understanding can comprehend; all that the will may be satisfied with; and all that the imagination may conceive, is most unlike unto God, and most disproportionate to Him. St John of the Cross: Ascent of Mount Carmel.

Twelfth Sunday after Trinity LOVE is a grace that loves God for Himself, and our neighbors for God. The consideration of God's goodness and bounty, the experience of those profitable and excellent emanations from Him, may be and most commonly are, the first motive of our love; but when we are once entered, and have tasted the goodness of God, we loved the spring for its own excellency, passing from passion to reason, from thanksgiving to adoring, from sense to

spirit, from considering ourselves to an union with God: and this is the image and little representation of heaven; it is beatitude in picture, or rather the infancy and beginnings of glory.

Jeremy Taylor: Holy Living.

13th Monday after Trinity

I LIVE in Meshech which they say signifies Prolonging, in Kedar which signifies Blackness; yet the Lord forsaketh me not. Though he do prolong, yet he will, I trust, bring me to his tabernacle, his resting-place. My soul is with the congregation of the first-born, my body rests in hope, and if here I may honour my God, either by doing or suffering, I shall be most glad.

Oliver Cromwell: Letters.

WE naturalize ourselves, to the employment of eternity.

Benjamin Whichcote: Aphorisms.

13th Tuesday after Trinity DIDST thou ever decry a glorious eternity in a winged moment of Time? Didst thou ever see a bright Infinite in the narrow point of an Object? Then thou knowest what Spirit means—that spire-top whither all things ascend harmoniously, where they meet and sit connected in an unfathomed Depth of Life.

Peter Sterry: Rise, Race, and Royalty of the Kingdom of God. GOD giveth a man the opportunity to repent as long as he wisheth to do, and in proportion as he wisheth.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

THOU, O God, canst never forsake me so long as I am capable of Thee.

Nicholas de Susa: The Vision of God.

13th Saturday after Trinity NEITHER Creator nor creature can be without love, but if this love is turned aside to evil, then the creature goes against the creator . . . A man may love evil by willing evil to his neighbors in three ways: For first, he may hope to be prosperous through his neighbor's degradation; and again, he may himself fear to lose power, grace, honour, or reputation because of his neighbour's advancement, and may therefore be miserable at that advancement; and again, he may feel himself injured by his neighbour, and wish to be revenged, so that he sets himself to seek out the other's hurt.

Dante: Purgatory.

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity SILENCE is not God, nor speaking is not God: fasting is not God nor eating is not God; onliness is not God nor company is not God; nor yet any of all the other two such quantities. He is hid between them, and may not be bound by any work of thy soul, but all only by love of thine heart. He may not be known by reason, He may not be gotten by thought, nor concluded by understanding; but he may be loved and chosen with the true lovely will of thine heart.

An Epistle of Discretion.

SAY with Christ "Cross, cross," and there is no cross. For the cross is no more a cross once you say joyously: "Blessed cross, there is no tree like thee."

Luther: Letters.

13th Wednesday after Trinity WONDERFUL is the depth of thy words, whose surface, see, is before us, gently leading on the little ones: and yet a wonderful deepness, O my God, a wonderful deepness.

It is awe to look into it; even an awfulness of honour, and a trembling of love.

St Augustine: Confessions.

IT is imperfection in Religion to drudge in it, and every man drudges in Religion if he takes it up as a task and carries it as a burden.

Benjamin Whichcote: Discourses.

14th Monday after Trinity WITH this sight of the blessed Passion, with the Godhead that I saw in mine understanding, I knew well that it was strength enough for me, yea, and for all creatures living, against all the fiends of hell and ghostly temptation.

Juliana of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love.

SHE cried again, "O Love, no more sins! no more sins!”

And her hatred of herself was more than she could endure.

St Catherine of Genoa: Life.

14th Tuesday after Trinity

13th Thursday after Trinity THE things of God are not made ours, by a mere notion and speculation; but when they become in us a vital principle, when they establish in us a state or temper, when the things of God are grounds and principles of suitable operations.

Benjamin Whichcote: Works.

RELIGION makes us live like men.

Benjamin Whichcote: Aphorisms.

13th Friday after Trinity LET us, at all times, take each the burden of the other, and let us suffer for each other even as our Lord suffered for us; but let us examine our souls unceasingly.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

THINK no further of thyself than I bid thee do of thy God, so that thou be one with him in spirit as thus, without any separating and scattering of mind. For he is thy being, and in him thou art what thou art, not only by cause and by being, but also he is in thee both thy cause and thy being. And therefore think of God in thy work as thou dost on thyself, and on thyself as thou dost on God: that he is as he is and thou art as thou art; so that thy though be not scattered nor separated, oned in him that is all, evermore saving this difference betwixt thee and him, that he is thy being and thy not his.

The Epistle of Privy Counsel.

OUR spirits are comfortable (praised be the Lord!), though our present condition is as it is.

Oliver Cromwell: Letters.

AS a man raises himself towards Heaven, so his view of the spiritual world becomes simplified and his words fewer.

Dionysius the Areopagite: Mystical Theology.

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 15

FUN

HOBOSCOPES VIRGO

They don’t make them like they used to, Virgo. Back then they would spend decades cutting stone and hauling it on sleds across the desert. Dampening the sand in front to keep it packed as they pulled the giant blocks into precisely planned locations and sliding them up a slope into perfect position. Creating triangular wonders of the ancient world for a singular purpose. These days, we usually just pay somebody to dig a hole, put a fancy wooden box down in it and top it off with some flowers and a gravestone. I don’t anticipate you and me will get the full pyramid treatment, Virgo. That’s why we’ve got to make our world a wonder while we’re still alive.

LIBRA

I’ve heard you should dress for the job I want, not the one you’ve got. I think that’s why I got sent home from my shift at the Wandering Hills Supervideo and Tan for wearing this limited edition “Midnight Sparkle” astrologer’s robe & hood with lantern-boots and a fate-siren. I think it’s working, because now I have more time to consult the stars for you, dear Libra. Don’t forget which path you were on when you walked in. And don’t mistake this stopover for your destination. Also, give me a call if you know anything about how to deactivate or adjust the volume on a fate-siren.

SCORPIO

Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee, Scorpio. In fact, don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee and some toast. Actually, Scorpio, I’m just gonna get the No. 3 Sunrise Supreme with the hash-browns covered, smothered, and peppered, the eggs over-medium, and could I maybe get half a grapefruit instead of grits? Wait, don’t answer that, I don’t even want to hear it until I finish my first cup. Clear boundaries are important, Scorpio. And it’s always a good time to ask for what you need. Even if the coffee is still brewing.

SAGITTA R IUS

On a clear night, I like to drive outside the city limits where I can get free of all the distractions and light-pollution and I can really see the sky. There’s no moon tonight and Orion’s Belt is brilliant–particularly that star in the middle, what’s it called? I’m just gonna check my phone real quick…yeah, it’s not loading…there’s really no signal out here…maybe if I drive just a couple miles

back toward town. Sometimes, Sagittarius, we’re better off just not knowing the answer and taking in the experience. See if you can leave your phone in your pocket while you absorb this view.

CAPRICORN

It’s become a cliche, Capricorn, that you could change the world just by spreading gratitude and joy to the people you encounter. It’s pretty cheesy, I know. But it must be real, because it is increasingly obvious that the opposite is also true. You walk into a room of strangers and you can feel the resentment, the anger, the fear. And it spreads.

So that cliche about spreading joy and happiness, it might not be naivete. It might be the only way for us to get through this together.

AQUA RIUS

There’s a deer standing perfectly still outside the front window of the house across the street. I thought it was a full-sized lawn ornament, but I just saw the silhouetted antlers tilt ever so slightly. In the dark, I can’t tell if the deer is looking in the window or staring back at me. Perhaps both of us should just mind our own business. You think you know which spaces are your own, Aquarius, but you may find another occupant has just as much a right as you do. Maybe more. Don’t avoid eye contact.

PISCES

They say money can’t buy happiness.

They crochet it onto a pillow that they stage with a couch that costs more than my car. And they’re right. Happiness is a different thing than couches or pillows or cars. But, at least for now, money can buy basic human needs. Food, water, shelter, (couches, pillows, cars.) And people with those things will have more time and room to ponder happiness and how to find it. Help out where you can, Pisces. And don’t be afraid to keep what you need.

ARIES

As a kid, I thought growing up meant wearing a suit and having a briefcase and going to an office. When I got older, I never ended up with an office, but I can do amateur astrology just fine on this futon. Are briefcases even a thing anymore? I’ve got a backpack, but it mostly just stays in the closet with my suit that I bought to go to a funeral 20 years ago. Growing up probably wasn’t what you thought it would be either, Aries.

But I hope you know you’re doing just fine.

TAURUS

Last night at around dusk I looked to the west and a wind blew from behind me with a sweet smell of dying leaves and smoke. I felt a longing in my heart to fall backward into a past that had never been and forge a new life for myself with bare hands and wild cunning. So I went back inside and binged that new TV show with the swords and magic and dragons. If you feel that call tonight, Taurus, see if you can resist the urge to distract yourself. Look that longing in the face and see where it takes you

GEMINI

We can’t let opportunities pass us by anymore, Gemini. We have to be ready when the doors unlock. I mean, by the time the Halloween aisle was stocked, I was already in line with a bag of candy. When the moment you’ve been waiting for arrives, Gemini, I don’t want to see you dilly-dallying over by the light bulbs. You’ve already made your decision. Pick up the metaphorical pumpkin-shaped peanut butter cups of your dreams and head to the self checkout.

CANCER

An old gambler used his dying words to tell me about when to hold and when to fold, so I know a lot about the game.

But when I look at you, Cancer, I’ve always just seen a player with a winning hand who won’t stop playing it safe. You could throw down a Skip, a Reverse, and a Wild Draw Four, but you’re still tossing out green sevens and blue twos. You’ve held back long enough and the dealin’s nearly done.

LEO

As you’re walking out the door the cashier at the sandwich shop shouts “you have a nice day!” and the bell above the door rings and that’s when it finally hits you, Leo, you don’t have to do what anybody tells you to. You can have whatever kind of day you want. You could have a melancholy day or an anxious one. You could have a strange day or even a Wednesday. And I think you’re off to a great start, Leo. But after you're done bucking the expectations of sandwich shop cashiers, maybe think about who else has been telling you what to do with even more consequential results. Not that you have to listen to your amateur astrologer.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a trained lantern-boot technician, or a registered sandwich salesperson. Mr. Mysterio is, however, a budding intermediate podcaster! Check out The Mr. Mysterio Podcast. Season 2 is now playing at mrmysterio.com. Got a question, just give Mr. M a call at 707-VHS-TAN1

PAGE 16 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

LOCAL MEETINGS

An invitation to attend Continuum of Care Shelter Committee meetings

BY CATHY JENNINGS

Resolutions allocating $50 million dollars to provide services, security, permanent housing, and interim housing communities to Nashville’s homeless neighbors were deferred until Oct.r 4 by Metro Council in mid-August because the affordable housing committee had questions and felt the plans had not been fully fleshed out.

As chair of the Continuum of Care Shelter Com-

mittee, which consists of key stakeholders from the shelter, outreach, housing and lived experience community, I thought it important that you know the work we have been doing over the past several months to flesh out the plan.

We were approached by Metro Homeless Impact Division in June to provide input to the housing process that these funds would pro-

vide-from outreach, through interim community, to permanent housing. We’ve spent weeks thoughtfully fleshing out the plan: workshopping ideas surrounding encampment prioritization, service collaboration, outreach, and the bridge communities, discussing community leads and hiring practices, peer support, services, security, and community spirit. We have presented those ideas

to the Homeless Planning Council and Metro Homeless Impact Division.

During this deferral, we will continue to flesh out the plan with Housing and Urban Development. Yes, we would love to move people directly into permanent housing as HUD best practices suggest.

However, if the lack of available housing prevents that, we are realists who love our neighbors and want them to

be safe in a choice of interim housing communities, and we are ready to journey alongside until housing stability is achieved. All of our meetings are public.

I encourage anyone with questions to come to one of our meetings. You can sign up to get text notifications to attend here: https://www. nashville.gov/departments/ s o c i a l- s e r v i c e s/ b o a r d s/ homelessness/meetings.

My Home This fixed space expands infinitely into the vastness of my dreams.

Here I can be me, just me on my throne, among the riches that I hold.

I find peace.

Here I remove the mask I can cry to tame my fears, or rejoice in my blessings, I can scream or laugh or lie down quietly no matter how angrily the storm rages outside, or within.

Here I dust off and regroup, I reset my compass to my promise.

Out there I may be lost, but when I come here I have space and peace to listen for directions back to myself.

When I am here, in this place, I know, that I am home. ~ Author - Athol Williams, Social Philosopher

Visit SalvationArmyNashville.org to see how we can help you find your home.

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 17

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PAGE 18 | August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

MOVING PICTURES

The One Ring THE BELCOURT THEATRE RETURNS TO MIDDLE EARTH WITH 'LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY' MARATHON

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC Director Peter Jackson first looked into adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy stories for the big screen way back in 1995. At that time there was no reason to believe that he’d be successful when so many had been vanquished before him. William Snyder, Peter Shaffer and John Boorman had all tried and failed to bring Middle Earth to cinemas. The Beatles’ movie producer, Denis O’Dell, approached David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni about Tolkien projects, and George Lucas tried to adapt The Hobbit, but he wasn’t able to secure the rights. Ralph Bakshi’s psychedelic The Lord of the Rings (1978) film featured mind-warping, rotoscope animation as well as a bewildering storyline that ended about halfway through the trilogy. The movie’s visuals are indelible, but its confusing,

complicated plot doomed a planned sequel that would have completed the story.

By the 1990s The Lord of the Rings had become known as a project that could never be adapted for the big screen, but Jackson marched forward.

He was able to steer his project through multiple studio deals while simultaneously leading massive teams at the now-legendary Weta Digital and Weta Workshop which had previously created effects for Jackson’s films Meet the Feebles (1989) and Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Weta Digital made massive advances in motion capture technology and created software to generate intelligent digital crowds for the films’ massive battle sequences. Jackson married these breakthroughs to good old fashioned movie magic techniques like forced perspec-

tive camerawork and handcrafted, practical modeling to make his trilogy feel like lived-in historical period works instead of flimsy fantasy films. Add an all-star cast in iconic roles and a script adaptation that satisfied most of the Tolkien purists, and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies are among the best fantasy films ever made.

And this is why it’s more than a little troubling that Amazon Prime’s new The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series is almost totally disconnected from Jackson and his definitive Tolkien films which also include The Hobbit Trilogy. In recent reports Jackson claims that he was approached to be involved in the streaming series and asked to see episode scripts which never materialized.

Amazon claims that they were ultimately legally obligated to make their project completely separate

from Jackson’s Middle Earth movies. I’m inclined to believe this explanation, but it’s put a chill on the Amazon project for me. When the new series — which premiers Sept. 2 — was first announced I assumed it would be making efforts to expand on Jackson’s LOTR universe. Jackson got so much about the look and feel of Middle Earth correct where so many others found only failure under the dark sway of the One Ring. Another unique successful take on Middle Earth seems more than a little unlikely. That said there is some evidence that Weta Digital and Weta Workshop are involved in the highly secretive series, which better be great with its first season production budget of nearly half a billion dollars. No pressure.

Here’s hoping that Amazon’s new prequel series can deliver some of the magic of the

August 31 - September 14, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 19

original movie trilogy. The Amazon show is already delivering Tolkien fans a perfect excuse to dive back into their favorite Middle Earth films, and Nashville hobbit heads are being treated to an epic movie journey with the Belcourt Theatre hosting a triple feature of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. All films will be shown in their extended cut versions, and this event is part of the Belcourt’s August/September Trilogies series.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Marathon played at Belcourt Aug. 28, but you can stream it on Amazon with Amazon Prime or on HBO Max. Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.