Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

A Journey for Justice—and Understanding

A poet joins the NAACP march in Ferguson, Missouri, and learns he was wrong about the role of race in this country

December 16, 2014 I’ve been asked more times than I can count why I marched with the NAACP. Friends wondered if I believe Michael Brown was really innocent. Marchers wondered why a white poet from Denver would make such a journey. There’s no simple answer to either question.

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Victoria’s (Best-Kept) Secret

A well-endowed woman goes in search of a new sports bra

December 15, 2014 It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman of a certain chest size will always be in a want of a well-fitting bra. This axiom is never truer than when said woman is a runner in need of a new sports bra.

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Hey, Baby Doll

A son serves as witness to his parents’ enduring love

December 12, 2014 My mother understood that my father’s death was at hand. For my part, I understood that their love for one another and their straightforward, practical faith would see them through this profoundest of transitions.

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Troubled Revolutionary

Marcus Baram’s Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man explores the life of the late artist and activist

December 11, 2014 Gil Scott-Heron’s rise to prominence and inexorable fall into addiction seem to echo an old and oft-repeated story in the music world, but Marcus Baram’s Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man delves deeply into the artist’s life and psyche, offering insight into why this particular man went down that sad road.

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A Storyteller’s Life

Katherine Paterson’s warm, humorous memoir sheds light on a beloved author

December 10, 2014 Katherine Paterson’s Stories of My Life is a loving look back at an extraordinary life. The Newbery- and National Book Award-winning author of children’s classics like Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved, and The Great Gilly Hopkins, Paterson recently answered questions from Chapter 16.

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Dream Big and Work Hard

Oprah’s new book offers an assortment of her distinctive personal philosophies

December 9, 2014 Film critic Gene Siskel once asked Oprah Winfrey what she knew “for sure.” The Tennessee State University alum calls this “the central question of my life,” and her new book takes its title from Siskel’s query. A small, attractively bound volume, perfect for gift-giving, What I Know For Sure will undoubtedly delight Winfrey’s many fans.

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