Abundant Goodness
A Committed Conservative
She’s on the Bird
Good Sport
Obsessed with Understanding
Chapter 16
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Garden Secrets

On the sesquicentennial of The Secret Garden, Michael Sims considers the surprising connections between his own Crossville boyhood and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s masterpiece

By Michael Sims |

June 6, 2011 It was the wheelchair scene that got me. I had been identifying more than I realized with the adventures of sad little Mary, who lost her parents to a cholera outbreak in India and who finds herself reluctantly lodged at a relative’s country estate in chilly England. Her only companions are the privileged brat Colin, who turns out not to be crippled, and homespun Dickon, who almost speaks the language of his wild-animal pets. In retrospect I find it easy to see that each child spoke to a different aspect of my own childhood experience and yearnings. But I didn’t think of that at the time. When Colin rose from the wheelchair, healed by the other children’s innocent affection and his own determination—in short, cured by the secret walled garden where it was safe to be a child—I was astonished to find myself crying.

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Dudes, Locked in a Dudely Power Struggle

Gallatin poet Elizabeth McClellan retells the story of Frankenstein’s second monster—and earns a Rhysling nomination in the process

By Margaret Renkl |

June 3, 2011 “Anything So Utterly Destroyed” by Elizabeth McClellan, a Gallatin-based poet and University of Memphis law student, has been nominated for a 2011 Rhysling Award by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. The Rhysling is a prize given to the best science-fiction, fantasy, or horror poem published during the previous year.

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True Myth

Poet Tony Tost looks at the Man in Black through the lens of American Recordings

By Joe Nolan |

June 3, 2011 Tony Tost has no interest in debunking the myth of the Man in Black. In fact, his new book depends on it. Instead of relying on a hackneyed fact-versus-fiction structure, Johnny Cash’s American Recordings (33 1/3) gives itself over completely to Johnny Cash’s outlaw/prophet mystique. The book’s specific goal is to get to the truths that lie past the treeline of the merely factual. Beyond the cavernous voice, poetic songwriting, and towering stage presence, Tost argues, Johnny Cash’s single greatest artistic accomplishment was the creation of “the mythic version of himself.” In fact, for Tost, the “mythic self” is the single greatest creation America has given the world, for him, Cash, the country, and American Recordings are forever entwined.

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Fusion Food

Writer John T. Edge has made a career of chronicling the place where food and culture come together

By Susannah Felts |

June 2, 2011 Once upon a time, the humble strip of bacon had yet to become a culinary fetish object, and mac and cheese was simply a side item on the meat-and-three menu, not a concept for modish urban restaurants. Then a young man named John T. Edge began to roam the back roads of the American South in search of good, authentic meals. His journeys mark a stirring new chapter in the evolution of Southern food culture, as Edge has helped to inspire a renaissance in Southern food—its celebration and documentation, its public perception, its dreams for the future. Edge spoke by phone with Chapter 16 before heading to Tennessee to moderate the shrimp-and-grits cookoff at Savor Nashville on June 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Hutton Hotel.

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Passion Play

Social entrepreneur Sam Davidson makes the case for following your bliss

By Paul V. Griffith |

June 1, 2011 It’s no secret that stuff doesn’t bring happiness, but that doesn’t stop people from trying. Many of us, according to Sam Davidson, are trapped in meaningless jobs, meaningless relationships, and meaningless lives, all the while accumulating more possessions to cram into our garages and closets. And for Davidson, a motivational speaker and author, even less tangible distractions—long commutes, bucket lists, and complaining—can also keep us from following our bliss. In his new book, 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need, Davidson recommends pursuing a life of passion and purpose––one that not only leads to fulfillment but may also result in a better world. Davidson will appear at BookMan/BookWoman in Nashville on June 2 at 5 p.m.

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Rock the Revolution

For poet Khaled Mattawa, a resurgence in music is a sure sign of the coming freedom in Libya

By Margaret Renkl |

June 1, 2011 At thirteen, an age when many kids are developing the musical preferences they will carry with them for a lifetime, Khaled Mattawa emigrated to the U.S., eventually graduating from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga and going on to graduate studies in creative writing at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Now an acclaimed poet, Mattawa left his native Libya after Muammar Qaddafi seized power, but he carried Libya’s music with him.

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