Shelby Farms welcomes Spring: As the weather warms,
March 29, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
The largest urban park in the United States is located in Memphis. 4,500 acres of lakes, woods, trails and community centers . As they days get longer and the weather gets warmer, Memphians head out to go running, hiking and biking or more accuratly, give themselves a total immersion in Memphis’ Spring.
Carroll County Lake: Hope is floating on 1000 acres of water
March 26, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 4 Comments
Map of the soon to be lake. Courtesy Carroll County Chamber of Commerce
(Huntingdon) – Will one thousand acres of water be a boost for a quiet West Tennessee county?
Along Highway 70, which used to be the main Bristol-Knoxville-Nashville-Memphis route before the Interstate highway system, a noticeable structure is obvious on the south side. Tons of granite prepare for tons of water, which hopes to draw visitors, industry and residents to this area northeast of Jackson which critics and proponents of the lake agree is plagued with unemployment.
Tennessee Movies II: A New Millenium
March 23, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 4 Comments
Twilight fans had to wait a year to see their sequel. Star Wars fans waited three years. But fans of TENNESSEE MOVIES PART I only had to wait four days! It is a new millennium and new technologies … but the theater was far from dead as people who stood in line to see THE DARK KNIGHT and AVATAR could attest. A new technology, DVD, made film watching at home a much different experience. NetFlix and the internet changed the experience even further. In Tennessee, there was no shortage of films, large and small. Welcome to the New Millennium.
Tennessee in the Movies: Part I of a cinematic history
March 19, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 4 Comments
Opened in 1928, Knoxville's Tennessee Theater is a grand old movie palace
Comedy, drama and documentaries fill this diverse, but admittedly incomplete list of Tennessee movies. As for the criteria as to what is a Tennessee movie, it must be set in and or have a great deal of the filming done in Tennessee, so “In the Heat of the Night” and “US Marshalls” were not included, because only a small portion of the film was shot in Tennessee and the locales were not part of the story. Also films released several years ago but are no longer available were not included like 1979’s “Skinflint: A Country Christmas” or 1992’s “Memphis.” The movies listed could be about a Tennessee figure or event which is why “The Alamo,” and “Birth of a Nation” were included even though they were set in different places but about a Tennesseans or events.
Tennessee Weather: The skies over Tennessee fall into History
March 15, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Clouds and sunset show off Lookout Mountain from this post card from 1909 or 1910
Tennessee weather has its averages, extremes and the just plain weird.
A visitor walked into the MEMPHIS WEEKLY LEDGER office with a jar of snakes. It was January 15, 1877 and the visitor claimed these snakes fell from the sky. Several others corroborated the story. He said the rain was a drizzle, the drizzle turned into a torrent and when the torrent subsided, residents of the two-block area on Vance between Orleans and Lauderdale found thousands of dark brown snakes slithering across the ground.
Phone Heroes: The voices of Nashville/Davidson County 911
March 12, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Kristin Mullen listens closely to a caller .
(Nashville) – A woman in Davidson County called for Nashville Metro Police early one Sunday morning. The sun had not risen and she wanted the police to investigate. It turned out daylight savings time had taken effect.
It is part of the job for the men and women of the Metro Nashville Emergency Communications Center. The heroism of police, firefighters and paramedics make for good drama on primetime TV, but those everyday dramas start with a call to some highly-trained phone heroes who may not get their own TV show, but any public safety worker knows their professionalism can mean life or death for the public and those responding.
Jackson’s McKellar- Sipes Airport: the little airport with big ambition
March 8, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 1 Comment
3 flights arrive on weekdays to MKL
(Jackson) – It is a short walk- one minute, six seconds- from the baggage claim area to a car parked in the free (yes free) parking lot at Jackson Tennessee’s McKellar- Sipes airport. This can be a forgotten one amongst Tennessee’s six airports with regular passenger service, but the city of Jackson, Madison County, the Chamber of Commerce and the Jackson-Madison County Airport Authority, have hopes for the tiny airport known to pilots and airline employees as MKL.
Bodies Human: A different way of seeing yourself
March 5, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
One of several cadaver exhibits at "Bodies Human: Anatomy in Motion"
(Goodlettsville) – There it is, right there in RiverGate Mall in Goodlettsville – the largest mall in the Nashville area. Between Sears and Cato in an empty store is an unforgettable exhibit “Bodies Human, Anatomy in Motion” – a collection of human cadavers which have been preserved through a process called “plastination” which replaces the fluids of the with a body with plastic.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church: Tennessee’s first predominately Hispanic parish
March 1, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Our Lady of Guadalupe of Nashville became its own parish December 12, 2009. It is the first predominately Hispanic Catholic parish in Tennessee.
Where we stand: A by the numbers look at Tennessee
March 1, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
So how does the Volunteer State rank with other states? Looking at several different metrics gives an idea of what our state has both good and bad. This is just a comparison of some objective numbers, such as the number of square miles in the state and a few subjective ones like our bicycle-friendly or gun-friendly index. It is not a recommendation on how or if to change policy, just numbers. Sources are in parenthesis.
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