What’s Good Here?: Reflecting on Stuff We Like about the State
May 14, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
The State Flag
The point of this web magazine is to document the good and bad of Tennessee. But national attention recently has focused on the negative. Tennessee has been the epicenter in the “culture war” as to issues like same sex marriage. The state was also covered extensively over the murder and kidnapping of the Bain family of Hardeman County where two were killed and two were rescued. So here are some of the good things which are not necessarily exclusive to Tennessee but still some positives. In no special order:
Pure Game: Ten Minor League Teams Make their Homes in Tennessee
April 9, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Hitting Coach Cory Snyder of the Jackson Generals greets members of Jackson's little leauge team, The Kings
Here in Tennessee if you want college sports, few states have better bragging rights. Looking for major league football and hockey? Go to Nashville. Want NBA pro basketball, there is Memphis. As for baseball, the state is conveniently located between the Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves and Saint Louis Cardinals. But there is more to the state and our national past time don’t write off Tennessee and the national past time TOO quickly. Ten minor league teams – some in places many Tennesseans, have never heard of – play ball in Tennessee and though Hunter-Wright Stadium ( home of the Kingsport Mets) 2,500 seats will never be confused with Turner Field ( home of the Atlanta Braves with just over 50,000 seats). The feel is still there – ice cream out of a plastic helmet, free fly balls to the lucky fans and John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” over the loudspeaker.
Just for Fun: A Tennessee Trivia Quiz
April 2, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
EVERYONE knows the tulip poplar is the state tree. Can you answer some tougher questions?
Do not get excited. No prizes will be awarded. Feel free to use Google ( how would anyone know? ) And when in doubt answering “C” will not help you as the answers are in alphabetical order. This, like the title says, is just for fun!
CLICK! : Memorable photographs that chronicle The Volunteer State
March 26, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
The pillow in the corner shows Jackson was sick and in bed when Mathew Brady took this photo in 1845.
They are split-seconds frozen in time that tell the story of a place called Tennessee. The photos can be beautiful or ugly. They illustrate a split-second like Kevin Dyson’s near-win in the 2000 Superbowl. A fraction of a second earlier or later the photo would not have been nearly as dramatic. Or perhaps the scene has changed little. The natural beauty of Ansel Adam’s photos of the Smokey’s was enjoyed by him when he visited in the 1940s as it is today. And some notes on the photos – all of these can be found in various places throughout the internet. However where I could not find the owner of to the rights of the photo or royalties were cost-prohibitive, included only a link to the owner and or photographer’s website. There is a lot of use of copyrighted material without the owner’s permission but Across Tennessee will not participate in this practice.
Morning of the Twisters: A New Day and More Deaths.
March 19, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Jackson is in the middle of the towns hit by tornados, but Jackson and Madison County was not hit
Part 2 of a 2 part series remembering the 60th anniversary of Tennessee’s Deadliest Tornado Outbreak. Part 1 can be read here.
As midnight hit, residents of Tennessee towns, including Bolivar, Dyersberg and Moscow were searching for people, treating injured and trying to come to understand how their world of six hours earlier was so different from that moment. But the heavy weather had no signs of getting any lighter.
Night of the Twisters: 60 Years Ago this Month was Tennessee’s Deadliest Tornado Day
March 12, 2012 by Devin Greaney · 2 Comments
Skies were threatening, the factors were there, but no tornadoes hit in this system last May in Memphis.. March, 21-22, 1952 the story ended differently
Part one of a two part series remembering the 60th anniversary of Tennessee’s deadliest tornado outbreak.
As spring began in 1952, Harry Truman was President and Gordon Browning was governor. US troops were involved in the Korean War. “Dragnet” and “I Love Lucy” had just been introduced that TV season. “The Greatest Show on Earth” was in the theaters and Elvis Presley was still a high school student. In West Tennessee weather felt more like an early May. Temperatures on March 21 hit 79 at Bolivar and Union City, 77 in Jackson and Brownsville and 75 in Moscow. But a cold front was poised to bring winter back for a while and drop the temperatures another 25 to 30 degrees. The official forecast in the afternoon paper was “Mostly cloudy this afternoon, tonight. Saturday; scattered thundershowers, windy and warm this afternoon and early tonight. Afternoon temperatures near 80. Cooler late tonight, low near 45.”
In eighteen hours sixty seven Tennesseans would die and another two hundred eighty three injured by tornados. Three hundred homes would be destroyed and more than six hundred others were damaged. Five more were killed in Middle Tennessee flash floods. Six million in property damage was the estimated loss- that is about $51.3 million in today’s dollars. It became – and still is- Tennessee’s deadliest tornado day. Sixty years later memories remain.
Big Country: The Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame is Getting Bigger
March 5, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Ann and Geoff Slater of England visit while Patsy Montana sings ( and yodels ) in 1939's "Colorado Sunset."
The country music hall of fame honors the legacy of country while shattering stereotypes. It is worth a visit even for those who associate the Ryman Auditorium with The Pixies concert or whose idea of Tennessee music is Three Six Mafia.
Lights, Sirens, Sewanee: Students at University of the South Volunteer for EMS
February 27, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Laura Bownes, Student Director Sewanne EMS
The Tennessee heat and humidity was getting the best of the University of the South-Sewanee track team. The runners were collapsing after a run in the 90 degree heat. Runner Willow Smith broke from her team, ran to the ambulance and exited almost as quickly wearing her jumpsuit. “Like Superman,” said a friend. She started administering IV’s with the rest of the student Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) as part of the Sewanee Student Emergency Medical Service (EMS). Here student’s passion for helping others is brought together with the university’s and community’s need for quick and efficient emergency medicine.
11,000,000 Paperclips: Whitwell’s Holocaust Memorial Bridges Race, Religion and Generations
February 20, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Some of the eleven million paperclips in Whitwell's box car
Right now there is a good chance you have a paperclip in a pocket and probably don’t know it. Three hundred paperclips can fit in a box about the size of a big bar of soap. Take three thousand and you still have not filled a shoebox. That would take roughly five thousand to do that. But reach eleven million paperclips and that fills a nine foot by twenty five foot boxcar roughly twelve inches deep, with about a six foot area in the middle open for walking space.
A Tearful Trail: The Largely Hidden Trail of Tears
February 6, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Almost everyone remembers at least some of the story of the Trail of Tears from history class. It has been said the US shines a bright light yet can leave a dark shadow and this episode in history is listed with slavery and the internment of Japanese-Americans as one of those periods that make Americans uncomfortable. In 1838-39 About 14,000 Cherokee were forcibly removed from their land and sent to Eastern Oklahoma. And what many Tennesseans may not know is the trails ( there were several ) went through Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville.