It was a sweltering August day seven summers ago when my loyalty and allegiance to esteemed state Sen. Douglas Henry (a friend of four decades and a marvelous mentor to many), momentarily turned me from a person of steadfast conviction into a bit of a political hypocrite. This story actually began in early 2009 when I made an appointment to

Was Donald Trump’s election victory America’s “last straw?” The idiom “last straw” comes from the 19th century English proverb: “The final straw that broke the camel’s back.” My answer: I think not. While as many as half of American voters feared this astounding upset, I don’t believe that we have quite reached our limits. Look at how many “last straws”

A message to Metro School Board members: To coin a phrase from that highly regarded 20th century philosopher Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t hire someone who would come to work for me.” Groucho’s reference was to not belonging to a club that would have him as a member. His words came instantly to mind while assessing the Board’s dysfunctional operations during

The vibe. The people. Oh, and some music, too. Those three sentences summarize my visit as a novice to Bonnaroo on Friday the 13th. It seemed to be my lucky day, even though I might have been one of the very few attendees who had already been drawing Social Security for a while. Taking advantage of the one-day, round-trip offer

To most of us, $19 million is a whole lot of money; it’s certainly much more than the oft-referenced cost of a cup of coffee. But, that’s the specific amount sliced from Tennessee’s allocation to public higher education institutions for the fiscal year beginning on July 1. While the governor was forced to reduce his entire budget after a lackluster

Have you ever pondered the origin of the term “doubleheader”? Surprisingly, it was hatched in reference to a transit need. During the late 19th century, as New York City baseball teams began scheduling two games for the price of a single admission on the same day, train operators coined the phrase. Why? Because they had to add a second engine

“Some people have 15 years of experience; some have one year’s experience 15 times.” That’s a maxim which I learned decades ago, which accurately reflects the paradigm shift taking place in the way Tennessee state government and our public education system now operates. Laws have already gone into effect this summer radically altering the state’s half-century old Civil Service system.

Grey was the overwhelming, predominant hair color amidst the mostly male crowd gathered recently to celebrate the life of our mutual, just-departed friend, William L. (Dick) Barry of Lexington, TN. Appropriately, we congregated in the House of Representatives chamber, where Dick served two distinguished terms as Speaker (1961-65). We all sat captivated by Dick’s commanding voice as an audiotape of

On the first day of June at 5:15 p.m., Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, surrounded by a sea of jubilant constituents, will dedicate the new Fifth Avenue of the Arts streetscape with its sensational strands of festive, over-the-street lights. As we break out the party hats and prepare to celebrate this grand achievement, we want to commend the mayor and Metro government for

“Is this the biggest crowd of white people you’ve ever had in your church?” That question was asked of Rev. Ed Sanders during a funeral visitation for a close friend (who happened to have been an African-American who counted scores of Caucasians among his legions of intimates). “Not at all,” the charismatic pastor of Nashville’s inclusive Metropolitan Interdenominational Church replied