The Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex is closing, err, I guess they are unlocking all the doors. I have only been inside Brushy Mountain once. I took off my shoes and jacket, walked through a metal detector and had all my belongings x-rayed and snooped through. No. That was the last time I got on an […]
I am not an accountant. Reading the TN budget for 2009-2010 is about as pleasant as watching for the return of a swallowed Playmobile toy. I understand clearly that we are cutting or eliminating: family resource centers, school safety grants, school health positions and funding, the child health and development (CHAD) program, the healthy start […]
Several times a year and in multiple environments, I have to pull out the tired, old dinosaur statistic that murder rates go up when ice cream sales go up. Eventually, everyone will recognize that statistics are not enough. The “most single parents live in poverty” statistic ignores the fact that people with severe mental or […]
I love this drive. The drive up the Interstate is hectic and the journey through the small town is painfully slow, but from that moment on, the drive just makes me happy. It is calm, quiet and beautiful. I drive past pastures filled with cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, buffalo and camels. Based on the […]
When School Matters was created, I pretty much stopped writing about school topics on this blog. As the site has gained users, I realized that I was spending more of my time nudging discussions and calming tempers than just writing what was on my mind. That ends now. When the Superintendent search was narrowed down […]
I don’t smoke, so I don’t feel the personal assault that the many, many smokers in Tennessee are going to feel about the proposal to make it illegal to smoke in a car if children are in the car with you. It seems like a basic common sense choice not to smoke around children and […]
If your number one priority for the coming year is going to be making sure that women have to cross state lines for abortions, I just KNOW that you will also be making sure that there are laws and financial resources to do the following: 1. Make sure that ALL women have prenatal care. 2. […]