#Chattanooga Public Library

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

2/27 from 3:30-4:30 pm, at Avondale, we are going to celebrate Black History through cooking! Taking a recipe from Michael W. Twitty’s cookbook, The Cooking Gene, we will look at some of the rich History of the African-American and Black Community’s cooking legacy. The Chattanooga Public Library

[ahopkins1965]

Describe one of your favorite moments.   First, I want to inform everyone that my first favorite moment occurred on Sunday February 15, 2015 when I got baptized at Fort McKinley United Methodist Church in Dayton, Ohio.   The temperature outside on that day was -15 below zero outside.   I was baptized by Pastor Jon Morgan, who was the Pastor of Fort McKinley United Methodist Church for a total of 9 years.   The second favorite moment occurred on Saturday June 17, 1995 when I graduated from the University of Toledo with my Bachelors Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.   On September 21, 1993, I earned my Counselor License as a Social Work Assistant.   I have maintained my Social Work Assistant License for 19 years.   My third favorite moment occurred on Saturday June 12, 1993 when I earned my Associates Degree in Social Services Technology from the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio and two days later, I was hired as a Youth Counselor at the Jerusalem Outreach Center in Toledo, Ohio.  I completed my Internship at The Jerusalem Outreach Center as an Intern, and I was hired by my Supervisor Dr. Harry M. Crenshaw,  who was the Director at the Jerusalem Outreach Center.   I worked at the agency for three years from 1993 through 1996.  My Fourth Favorite Moment occurred on Monday March 5, 2001, I got hired as a Library Clerk at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for 8 years.   I also enrolled in college working towards my second Bachelors Degree in Social Work. I enrolled in class on Monday August 23, 2003.  My Fifth Favorite Moment occurred on Tuesday June 10, 1986 when I graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Dayton, Ohio.   I graduated at the Memorial Hall in Downtown Dayton Ohio.   My 6th Favorite Moment occurred on Friday November 8, 1994 when I traveled to New York City to help my friends to relocate to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I was driving a van in Downtown New York City for 5 days.  My 7th Favorite Moment occurred in Dayton, Ohio on September 2, 2016 when I got a job working at Walgreens Pharmacy for 10 months and this was exactly the time when my Sister died on June 2, 2017 and my mother died on Thursday July 20, 2017.  Anyway I am a Born Again Christian Man and a God-Fearing Man as well.   Currently,  I have been clean and sober for 34 years now as of Thursday May 2, 2024.  I am a 58-year-old man who is very intelligent and Gifted.   My Books were published on July 2, 2000.  My Book was called The Best of Anthony Joseph Hopkins.   I published my own book.   My second Book was called My Grace is Sufficient for Me and it was published by AuthorHouse Publications Company in Bloomington Indiana on April 3, 2019 and finally my last Book is called Essays.   These are my favorite moments in my personal life.   May The Lord God continue to bless you 🙏.   Thank you for reading my essay 🙏 ❤️.   My ultimate favorite moment occurred on Thursday June 24, 1965 when I was born at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio.   My mother's name is Mary Lois Hopkins and my Father is unknown.  My Earthly Father did not sign my Birth Certificate. Therefore,  My Heavenly Fathers name is Jesus Christ 🙏. 

[svalleynow]

The Best in the Sequatchie Valley Winners 2024

The Best in the Sequatchie Valley Winners 2024 are here for 2024...

THE RESULTS ARE IN… You voted, and the results of the Best in the Sequatchie Valley for 2024 are here!   HERE’S YOUR WINNERS FOR THE BEST IN THE SEQUATCHIE VALLEY FOR 2024: BEST PLACES… CHURCH.......................Kimball Baptist Church CITY LIBRARY.................Carolyn Stewart Jasper Public Library CIVIC CLUB...................South Pittsburg Rotary COLLEGE......................Chattanooga…

[hoursofreading]

“The public option” came into public conversations during Obama-era healthcare debates, and some Democrats today support a publicly provided health-insurance system coexisting alongside private health insurance. But we in fact have public options almost everywhere in our society. We have public schools and public libraries. We have the federal postal service coexisting along with FedEx and UPS. We have public swimming pools and golf courses alongside private country clubs. In many parts of our lives we receive publicly provided goods and services, channeled through the government and ultimately funded by taxpayers. We often prefer these public options. So I see lots of room to consider additional kinds of public options going forward. For one specific example, consider a public option for broadband Internet. About a third of rural America has no access to high-speed internet. And for many additional people throughout our country, you really only have one choice for your provider — so, in effect, no choice at all. If you have no choice in your Internet provider, you probably pay high prices without getting great service. So I think a public option for broadband could really help a large and diverse group of Americans. Chattanooga, Tennessee, for instance, has for the past decade offered one-gigabit service for an affordable price to its citizens. And this public investment has enhanced business development and boosted economic growth.

Public Options: Talking to Ganesh Sitaraman - BLARB

[archivlibrarianist]

I first saw this when it was Tweeted, over at the American Libraries’ news feed.

Thing is? The two books this man, Cameron Dequintez Williams, burned on social media might have honestly been deselected from his library. They were, according to the Star article, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter, and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (later republished as Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America).

The Coulter book was published in 2004. The Trump book was published in 2015 under its original title, but was republished less than a year later under a different one. They might have well been weeded books-- or Williams might have thought they were weeded and taken them home. So, I have to ask: was this man fired for misinterpreting (possibly willingly) a deselection policy? Or because this was bad press for the Chattanooga Public? At the very least, this is muddier than originally portrayed.

[girderednerve]

The rundown here is that the Chattanooga Public Library asked their staff to participate in a large weeding project (going through the collection and finding books that are outdated, in poor condition, or haven’t been checked out in a long time, and removing them the library system; this is common library maintenance work, although books are usually removed by a professional librarian, not paraprofessional staff). One of their staff members pulled, among others, books by Ann Coulter and Donald Trump, took them home with him after they had been weeded, and burned them in an Instagram video. Williams, who was fired after the video surfaced, points out that he was asked to weed the political science section by his manager and that there is no policy in place regarding what staff do with books that have been removed from the system; he believes that he was fired because the library was retaliating against him for his activist commitments with Black Lives Matter, and it’s hard to see how he could be wrong. Chattanooga Public Library serves a city that’s around a third Black, and, after Williams’ firing, has no Black staff members; Tennessee public libraries, as far as I can tell, were segregated well into the sixties.

Libraries have a mandate to provide a balanced collection to their patrons -- every book its reader, is the phrase -- and ensure equal access to all information, and much hay has been made of public libraries’ resistance to censorship; the American Libraries Association every year celebrates Banned Books Week and issues a list of the most widely challenged books in library collections. Leftist and marginalized library workers have contended for a long time that this insistence that libraries are neutral, or merely charged with reflecting the interests of their patrons, rings hollow given some of the choices in the profession, from personnel decisions to choices in programming, acquisitions, and meeting space policies.

[gagyourgob]

Here’s a tip that probably no one except some weird shit like me will find useful:

There’s an app called OverDrive that gives you access to pretty much any public library you can think of with an online presence.

And you can borrow ebooks from any of these libraries and all you have to do is sign up for a 45 day trial library card (which you can do from the app) using any valid address in the area (look up apartments for rent on Zillow for addresses that will work for resident purposes) and any email address so they can send you your temporary library card information that you’ll use to check out whatever books you want. Access to new books for free. This is probably the most scandalous thing I do.

Another tip: New York Public Library is not a good choice currently because they’ve put a strict cap on how many books you can borrow and the pickings are slim. New Yorkers are borrowing ebooks in alarming numbers right now. Nashville Public Library and Chattanooga Public Library have plenty to choose from because people in the south don’t read real good.

[blackkudosuniverse]

Roland Hayes

Remembering Roland Hayes.

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Roland_Hayes

Roland Hayes (June 3, 1887 – January 1, 1977) was an American lyric tenor and composer. It is a common myth that Hayes was the first world-renowned African-American concert artist. He had a couple of predecessors that acclaimed fame. People like Sissieretta Jones and Marie Selika were very known, but the nature of their performances were not minstrelsy and that made it not possible for them to be recorded by recording companies. The recording companies wanted a vaudeville type of singer. Hayes was able to break this barrier in his career and in 1939 he recorded with Columbia. Critics lauded his abilities and linguistic skills with songs in French, German and Italian.

Early years and family

Hayes was born in Curryville, Georgia, on June 3, 1887, to Fanny and William Hayes. Roland’s parents were tenant farmers on the plantation where his mother had once been a slave. Roland’s father, who was his first music teacher, often took him hunting and taught him to appreciate the musical sounds of nature. When Hayes was eleven his father died, and his mother moved the family to Chattanooga, Tennessee. William Hayes claimed to have some Cherokee ancestry, while his maternal great-grandfather, AbOugigi (also known as Charles) was a chieftain from the Ivory Coast. Aba Ougi was captured and shipped to America in 1790. At Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Curryville (founded by Roland’s mother) is where Roland first heard the music he would cherish forever, Negro spirituals. It was Roland’s job to learn new spirituals from the elders and teach them to the congregation. A quote of him talking about beginning his career with a pianist:

"I happened upon a new method for making iron sash-weights," he said, "and that got me a little raise in pay and a little free time. At that time I had never heard any real music, although I had had some lessons in rhetoric from a backwoods teacher in Georgia. But one day a pianist came to our church in Chattanooga, and I, as a choir member, was asked to sing a solo with him. The pianist liked my voice, and he took me in hand and introduced me to phonograph records by Caruso. That opened the heavens for me. The beauty of what could be done with the voice just overwhelmed me."

At the age of twelve Roland discovered a recording of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. Hearing the renowned tenor revealed a world of European classical music. Hayes trained with Arthur Calhoun, an organist and choir director, in Chattanooga. Roland began studying music at Fisk University in Nashville in 1905 although he only had a 6th grade education. Hayes’s mother thought he was wasting money because she believed that African-Americans could not make a living from singing. As a student he began publicly performing, touring with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1911. He furthered his studies in Boston with Arthur Hubbard, who agreed to give him lessons only if Hayes came to his house instead of his studio. He did not want Roland to embarrass him by appearing at his studio with his white students. During his period studying with Hubbard, he worked as a messenger for the Hancock Life Insurance Company to support himself.

Early career

In January 1915 Hayes premiered in New York City in concerts presented by orchestra leader Walter F. Craig. Hayes performed his own musical arrangements in recitals from 1916–1919, touring from coast to coast. For his first recital he was unable to find a sponsor so he used two hundred dollars of his own money to rent Jordan Hall for his classical recital. To earn money he went on a tour of black churches and colleges in the South. In 1917 he announced his second concert, which would be held in Boston’s Symphony Hall. On November 15, 1917, every seat in the hall was sold and Hayes’s concert was a success both musically and financially but the music industry was still not considering him a top classical performer. He sang at Walter Craig's Pre-Lenten Recitals and several Carnegie Hall concerts. He performed with the Philadelphia Concert Orchestra, and at the Atlanta Colored Music Festivals and at the Washington Conservatory concerts. In 1917, he toured with the Hayes Trio which he formed with baritone William Richardson (singer) and pianist William Lawrence (pianist).

In April 1920, he traveled to Europe. He began lessons with Sir George Henschel, who was the first conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and gave his first recital in London’s Aeolian Hall in May 1920 with pianist Lawrence Brown as his accompanist. Soon Hayes was singing in capital cities across Europe and was quite famous. Almost a year after his arrival in Europe, Hayes had a concert at London’s Wigmore Hall. The next day, he received a summons from King George V and Queen Mary to give a command performance at Buckingham Palace. He returned to the United States in 1923. He made his official debut on 16 November 1923 in Boston's Symphony Hall singing Berlioz, Mozart, and spirituals, conducted by Pierre Monteux, which received critical acclaim. He was the first African-American soloist to appear with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1924.

Late career

Hayes finally secured professional management with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Company. He was reportedly making $100,000 a year at this point in his career. In Boston he also worked as a voice teacher. One of his pupils was the Canadian soprano Frances James. He published musical scores for a collection of spirituals in 1948 as My Songs: Aframerican Religious Folk Songs Arranged and Interpreted.

In 1925 Hayes had an affair with a married Bohemian aristocrat, Bertha von Colloredo-Mansfeld (1890-1982), née Countess von Kolowrat-Krakowský, who bore his daughter, Maria "Maya" Dolores Kolowrat (1926-1982). Married since 1909 to a member of a German princely family, Hieronymus von Colloredo (1870-1942), twenty years Bertha's senior, he refused to allow the expected child to bear his name or to be raised along with the couple's four older children, managing to quietly obtain a divorce in Prague in January 1926, while Bertha left their home in Zbiroh, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) to bear Hayes' child in Basel, Switzerland. Hayes offered to adopt the child, while the countess sought to resume the couple's relationship, while concealing it, until the late 1920s. Maya Kolowrat would marry Russian émigré Yuri Mikhailovich Bogdanoff (1928-20012) and give birth in Saint-Lary, Gers to twins Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff in 1949, who later attributed their early interest in the sciences to their unhampered childhood access to their maternal grandmother's castle library.

After the 1930s, Hayes stopped touring in Europe because the change in politics made it unfavourable to African–Americans.

In 1932, while in Los Angeles for a Hollywood Bowl performance, he married Alzada Mann. One year later they had a daughter, Afrika. The family moved into a home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Hayes did not perform very much from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1966, he was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctorate of Music from The Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford. Hayes continued to perform until the age of eighty-five, when he gave his last concert at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was able to purchase the land in Georgia on which he had grown up as a child.[3]

He died five years after his final concert, on January 1, 1977.

Racial reaction

Even when Hayes became a successful musician he faced the same prejudices as most African-Americans at the time. During his tour of Germany in 1923, some people protested against his concert in Berlin. A newspaper writer criticized him as “an American Negro who has come to Berlin to defile the name of the German poets and composers.” The night of the concert Roland faced an angry audience who mocked him for ten minutes. Hayes stood still until they stopped and then he began singing Schubert’s "Du bist die Ruh". Hayes’s remarkable voice and musical talent won over the German audience and his concert was a success.

The Chicago Defender (National edition of July 25, 1942) reported a case in which Hayes' wife and daughter were thrown out of a Rome, Georgia shoe store for sitting in the white-only section. Hayes confronted the store owner. The police then arrested both Hayes, whom they beat, and his wife. Hayes and his family eventually left Georgia.[3]

On many of his concerts Hayes would attempt to abandon the use of segregated seating. At a concert in Atlanta, Georgia Hayes had the main floor of the auditorium as well as the boxes and first balcony halved between the races. The galleries were reserved for colored students at a special rate. No whites were allowed in them except the ones chaperoning the students.

Hayes taught at Black Mountain College for the 1945 Summer institute where his public concert was, according to Martin Duberman, "one of the great moments in Black Mountain's history" (215). After this concert, in which unsegregated seating went well, the school had its first full-time black student and full-time member of the faculty.

Legacy

* In 1982, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga opened a new musical performance center, the Roland W. Hayes Concert Hall. The concert venue is located at the Dorothy Patten Fine Arts center.

* The Roland Hayes Committee was formed in 1990 to advocate the induction of Roland Hayes into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 1992, when the Calhoun Gordon Arts Council was incorporated, the Roland Hayes Committee became the Roland Hayes Music Guild and Museum in Calhoun, Georgia. The opening was attended by his daughter Afrika.

* There is a historical marker located on the grounds of Calhoun High School (Calhoun, Georgia) on the north-west corner of the campus near the front of the Calhoun Civic Auditorium.

* Hartford Stage and City Theatre (Pittsburgh) shared the world premiere of "Breath & Imagination" by Daniel Beaty, a musical based on the life of Hayes, on January 10, 2013.

* Part of Georgia State Route 156 was named for Hayes.

* A bronze plaque, mounted on a granite post, marks Hayes' home, at 58 Allerton Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. The plaque was dedicated on June 12, 2016, in a ceremony in front of the home in which Hayes lived for almost fifty years. The ceremony was attended by his daughter Afrika, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, Brookline Town officials, and many more.

Discography

LPs

* Roland Hayes (vocal), Reginald Bordman (piano) – The Life of Christ (Amadeo, 1954)

* Roland Hayes (vocal), Reginald Bordman (piano) – Negro Spirituals (Amadeo, 1955)

Compilations

* The Art of Roland Hayes (Preiser, 2010)

[noogamade]

Chattanooga Memory Project brings Chattanooga history to life! Photo from @chattanoogamemoryproject 📸 ・・・ Market Street at Christmas. This 1951 photograph is a part of the Chattanooga Times Free Press Photograph Collection archived at the Chattanooga Public Library. . Enjoy learning about the history of Chattanooga? Check out more stories of iconic places across our beautiful city at http://chattanoogamemory.com . #chattanooga #tennessee #history #noogagram #nooga #chattanoogaphotography #historicalsite #historic #publiclibrary #CHA #tennesseehistory #oldpic #fromthearchives #chatt #archive #chattanoogahistory #oldphoto #oldpics #library #instadaily #storytelling #stories #chamemoryproject #historylover #iconicplaces (at Chattanooga, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/Brxh0EdHKcS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=177ddpbsuvrot

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

#Wordsmiths... we're moving our bimonthly writers workshop to a new location: @AdellesCreperie! Come hang out with your favorite librarians and enjoy the lovely atmosphere and menu at Adele's. First meetup is July 6! #ChattLibrary The Chattanooga Public Library

[emilykateboyd]

This Sunday’s line up at the @squirrelbar 11am Brunch set @charles.gaston.9 , me and our hope for a kind winter ❄️ 🌈🎶 (at Chattanooga Public Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrsPTZQgFqj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=141tnr7hwc9d

[bookbumming]

READ BANNED BOOKS. 📚🤘🏻

I’m kicking off 2018’s Banned Books Week with John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. (I’ve never read it before). Despite being an instant success upon its 1937 release, Of Mice and Men has seen its fair share of censorship, banning and petitions through its existence. The banned novel has earned its spot in many educators’ curriculum despite the challenges it continues to see by parents over the years. Of Mice and Men is one of the most challenged books believe it or not. 📚

BANNED

1953 - Banned in Ireland

1974 - Indiana - Banned in Syracuse

1977 Pennsylvania - Banned in Oil City

South Carolina - Challenged in Greenville by the Fourth Province of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

1979 - Michigan - Challenged but retained in Grand Blanc schools after being called "vulgar and blasphemous"

1980 New York - Challenged in Vernon-Verona-Sherill School District

Ohio - Challenged in Continental

1981 - Arizona - Challenged in Saint David

1982 - Indiana - Challenged in Tell City for "profanity and using God's name in vain"

1983 - Alabama - Banned from classroom use at Scottsboro Skyline HIgh School for profanity

1984 - Tennessee - The Knoxville School Board chairman vowed to have "filthy books" removed from Knoxville's public schools and picked this book as the first target for it's profanity

1987 - Kentucky - Reinstated at the Christian County school libraries and English classes after being challenged for being vulgar and offensive

1988

Illinois - Challenged at the Wheaton-Warrenville Middle school

Michigan - Challenged at the Barrien Springs High School for profanity

West Virginia - Challenged in the Marion County schools

1989

Alabama - Removed from the Northside High School in Tuscaloosa because the book blasphemed

Arkansas - Removed from the White Chapel High School in Pine Bluff after objections from language

Tennessee

Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga because 'Steinbeck's known to have an anti-business attitude" as well as "being very questionable about his patriotism"

Challenged in Shelby County schools for offensive language

1990

Kansas - Challenged but retained in Salina tenth-grade English class for profanity and taking "the Lord's name in vain"

Texas - Challenged in the Riviera schools for profanity

1991

California - Challenged by a Fresno parent for profanity and racial slurs but retained and the child given an alternate assignment

Florida - Removed and later returned to the Suwannee High School library for being indecent

Pennsylvania - Challenged as curriculum material at the Ringgold High School in Carroll Township because the novel contained racial slurs

Tennessee - Challenged at the Jacksboro High School because the novel contains blasphemous language, excessive cursing, and sexual overtones

Virginia - Challenged as required reading in the Buckingham County schools for profanity

1992

Alabama - A coalition of community members and clergy in Mobile requested local school officials form a special textbook screening committee. This book was the first target for profanity and "morbid and depressing themes"

California - Challenged at Modesto High school for offensive and racist language

Florida - Challenged in the Duval County public school libraries for profanity, lurid passages about sex, statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

Iowa - Challenged at the Waterloo schools

Louisiana - Challenged at the Oak Hill High School in Alexandria for profanity

Ohio - Temporarily removed from Hamilton High School after a parent complained about its vulgarity and racial slurs

1993 - Arizona - Challenged at Mingus Union High School because of "profane language, moral statement, treatment of the retarded, and the violent ending"

1994

Georgia - Challenged at the Loganville High School for language

Tennessee - Pulled from a classroom by Putnam County superintendent for language and later reinstated

1995

Georgia - Challenged at the Stephen County Highs School library in Toccoa Falls for language

Kansas - Challenged at Galena school library for language and social implications

Minnesota - Retained at Bemidji schools after challenges to the book's questionable langauge

Virginia - Challenged but retained in Warm Springs High School

1997

Florida - Removed, restored, restricted and eventually retained at the Bay County school in Panama City. A citizen group, 100 Black United, Inc, requested the novel's removal and "any other inadmissible literary books that have racial slurs in them, such as using of the word 'nigger.'"

Illinois - Banned from Washington Junior High School in Peru for being age inappropriate.

Minnesota - Challenged but retained at the Sauk Rapids-Rice High School in St. Cloud after a parent complained of racist language lead to racist behavior and harrassment

Ohio - Challenged but retained in the Louisville high school English class for profanity

1998

Arizona - Challenged but retained in teh Bryan t school library because a parent complained the book "takes God's name in vain fifteen time and uses Jesus's name lightly."

California - Challenged in O'Hara Park Middle School in Oakley for racial epithets

Wisconsin - Challenged at the Barron School District

1999

Pennsylvania - Challenged but retained at West Middlesex High School despite objections to profanity

Wisconsin - Challenged at the Tomah School District for violence and language

2002

Michigan - Challenged in Grandville for racism, profanity and foul language

Mississippi - Banned from George County schools for profanity

2003 - Illinois - Challenged at Normal Community High School "racial slurs, profanity, violence, and does not represent traditional values." Steinbeck's The Pearl was offered as an alternative, but the family also rejected.

2006 - Pennsylvania - Retained in the Greencastle-Antrim 10th grade English classes after a complaint was filed for "racial slurs" and profanity.

2007

Iowa - Challenged at the Newton High School for profanity and portrayal of Jesus Christ.

Kansas - parent challenge in Olathe calling it "worthless, profanity-riddled" and "derogatory towards African Americans, women, and the developmentally disabled."

2014

Minnesota - Challenged but retained in the Brainerd School District despite complaints from two parents who objected to "Jesus Christ" as a curse word, the use of racial slurs for African Americans, and the term "Japs." They argued the book undermined the values of respect they were trying to teach.

[tennesseeprelawland]

Travis Scott And The Astroworld Legal Case

By Caroline Hood, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Class of 2021

May 21, 2022

The latest legal news concerning Travis Scott is that he is being sued by an Ohio Couple who are holding him legally responsible for the woman’s miscarriage due to her attendance at Astroworld[i] This is just the latest in legal suits that have followed Travis Scott since that night on November 5, 2021. [ii]

But, who is Travis Scott and what happened at Astroworld? Travis Scott is a rapper who also sings, and produces music. He is worth 60 million and has been in the music business since 2008, releasing music on the platform Myspace. He has since recorded music with stars such as Kanye West and Justin Bieber and enjoyed great success, his album Rodeo hitting number three on the Billboard charts. He also created his own music festival, Astroworld which is held in Houston, Texas every year. [iii] This festival was held for the first time in 2018. [iv]

It seemed in the past the festival had been a fun chance for Travis Scott to interact with his fans. However, in 2021, the festival created a catastrophic outcome which affected many lives. At Astroworld, the crowd surged into a small space and the environment became tighter and tighter. People had trouble breathing. They called for Travis Scott to stop in between songs, but it is unclear whether he could hear them. The concert did not stop and people passed out, some which could not be revived. [v]

Apparently, these people suffered compression asphyxia, according to the medical examiner who reviewed the bodies from Astroworld. The National Library of Medicine states, “In compression asphyxia, the respiration is prevented by external pressure on the body. It is usually due to external force compressing the trunk due to heavy weight over chest/abdomen and is associated with internal injuries.[vi] This is what happened to the people at Astroworld. There were standing so tightly together the force of people’s bodies did not allow them to breathe and caused other various internal injuries, resulting in ten deaths and thousands of injuries [vii]

Since that night, more than 400 lawsuits have been filed.[ix] However, all of the cases have been compiled into one single case which will go before the court. It represents 2,800 victims who claim that Travis Scott and Live Nation, the entertainment company which hosted the concert, were negligent in how they planned and executed Astroworld[x][xi]. The court cases were combined to ensure that the pre-trial period was efficient. If court cases are added later, they will also be reviewed with the other cases.[xii] This is a common practice in cases involving mass injuries to avoid trying a multitude of cases with so much in common. Therefore, the case mentioned above, the miscarriage by the Ohio couple, will be added to the larger court case.

In March, state District Judge Kristen Hawkins, who has been appointed by a judicial panel of the Supreme Court of Texas met for the first time with the members of the court case since the lawsuits had been compiled into one. She issued a gag order so that this suit would not be decided by what the public thinks but the jury. [xiv]

Travis Scott seems to have taken a hit due to this negative press coverage. There have been several petitions circling to remove him as a Golden voice performer or arrest him.[xv] However, the negative effect to his career does not appear to be that severe. He performed May 15, 2022 at the awards show thanks to Sean “Diddy” Combs who wanted him to be a part of the show[xvi]

One can only wait and see what the true outcome will be as Travis Scott releases new music in 2022, entitled Utopia, and the court cases are decided.[xvii] However, the cases might not be brought to court for several years. [xviii]

______________________________________________________________

Caroline Hood has her M.A. in Rhetoric in Composition from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is extremely interested in different legal issues and is attending law school in the fall.

______________________________________________________________

[i] Reslen, Eileen.Travis Scott sued over Astroworld attendee's miscarriage (pagesix.com), retrieved 18 May 2022.

[ii] Ryan, Hannah.What is the Astroworld festival? Who is Travis Scott? And other things to know about the incident - CNN, retrieved 16 May 2022.

[iii] Clevinger, Nina.Who is Travis Scott? (the-sun.com), retrieved 17 May 2022.

[iv] Wikipedia. Astroworld Festival - Wikipedia, retrieved 15 May 2022.

[v]  Elassar,Alaa.What happened at the Astroworld Festival: Witnesses describe scenes of chaos and tragedy - CNN, retrieved 15 May 2022.

[vi] Tumran, Nilesh Keshav et. al. Compression asphyxia in upright suspended position - PubMed (nih.gov), retrieved 17 May 2022.

[vii] Schonfeld, Alexandra.Nearly 5,000 People Claim to Have Been Injured in Astroworld Tragedy | PEOPLE.com, retrieved 17 May 2022.

[viii] Harrison County, Texas Court. manuel-souza-astroworld-lawsuit.pdf (courthousenews.com),retrieved 16 May 2022.

[ix] Durney, Ellen.Travis Scott Is Facing One Lawsuit Comprising Nearly 400 Cases Filed By Thousands Of Astroworld Victims (buzzfeednews.com), retrieved 20 May 2022.

[x] Durney, Ellen.Travis Scott Is Facing One Lawsuit Comprising Nearly 400 Cases Filed By Thousands Of Astroworld Victims (buzzfeednews.com), retrieved 20 May 2022.

[xi] Wikipedia.Live Nation Entertainment - Wikipedia, retrieved 17 May 2022.

[xii] Durney, Ellen.Travis Scott Is Facing One Lawsuit Comprising Nearly 400 Cases Filed By Thousands Of Astroworld Victims (buzzfeednews.com), retrieved 20 May 2022.

[xiii] Texas Supreme Court. Microsoft Word - 21-1033 Designation of Pretrial Judge and Pretrial Court 02-14-22 (justex.net), retrieved 15 May 2022.

[xiv] Lozano, Juan A. Gag order, diversity discussed at Astroworld court hearing - ABC News, retrieved 17 May 2022.

[xv] Noah C. Petition · ARREST TRAVIS SCOTT 2021 · Change.org, retrieved 20 May 2022.; Secreto, Sendero.Petition · Remove Travis Scott as a Goldenvoice performer · Change.org, retrieved 20 May 2022.

[xvi] Travis Scott will return to the stage for first major public performance since Astroworld tragedy (kcra.com); Melas, Chloe. Travis Scott Performs ‘Mafia/Lost Forever’ at Billboard Music Awards – Billboard, retrieved 16 May 2022.

[xvii] Melas, Chloe. Travis Scott Performs ‘Mafia/Lost Forever’ at Billboard Music Awards – Billboard, retrieved 16 May 2022.

[xviii] Roberto, Melissa.Astroworld court hearing: Gag order, diversity discussed | Fox News, retrieved 17 May 2022.

[buckydoll]

Along with the Cincinnati library, the Chattanooga library decorates with fountains of books. . . Handler loves books. She has one that was published in 1807. Long before my time! 📚 (She's old) . . . #stevedoll #steverogers #chattanooga #tennessee #tbt #throwback #buckydoll #buckybarnes #wintersoldier #sebastianstan #whitewolf #marvel #avengers #captainamerica #toyphoto #toyphotography #toysofinstagram (at Chattanooga Public Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoQCZBSnQ2U/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oytreyxrm4bg

[berniesrevolution]

IN THESE TIMES

Life in the small unincorporated community of McDonald, which sits among the rolling rivers and smoky mountain ridges of Appalachia, was supposed to be paradise for Trina Pyke and her family.

Pyke, a 60-year-old grandmother who moved to the United States from Venezuela at age 9, lives in a picturesque threestory log cabin built by her husband. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” says Pyke. “This is Eden.”

But life in Eden is a digital hell.

Because no one has invested in laying fiber optic cables through the mountains, Pyke, like many rural Americans, must rely on relatively slow satellite internet with data caps. This made returning to school a nightmare for Pyke, who just graduated with her master’s degree in nursing education. When her family met their monthly data limit of 15 gigabytes, download and upload times plummeted.

For nursing school, “We had to transfer data and upload papers,” Pyke says. “Fifteen gigabytes just evaporated in a few days.”

Pyke spent hours at the library accessing the internet, away from home and her 85-year-old mother, who has Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and requires diligent care.

Now, Pyke is one of a number of activists across the state partnering with publicly owned internet providers to push for expanding fiber optic services to rural communities. Pyke is working with the Electric Power Board (EPB), a public utility run by the neighboring city of Chattanooga, which doubles as an internet service provider.

EPB got into the internet business in 1999, after the state government passed a law making public internet utilities legal. Unfortunately, that same law had a last-minute provision banning public utilities from expanding community broadband into areas where they don’t sell electricity.

EPB could provide Pyke with internet access with no data cap at speeds at least four times as fast as what she currently has—and for the same price. At that speed, “My brother in Colombia could FaceTime our mother,” Pyke says.

The EPB’s mission as a public utility includes addressing the institutional barriers that maintain the “digital divide”—the gap between those who have internet access and those who do not. In 2015, EPB partnered with nearby Hamilton County’s department of education to launch the NetBridge Student Discount Program, which provides low-cost, high-speed internet to households with children in the Free and Reduced Meals Program. J. Ed. Marston, EPB’s vice president for marketing, says EPB would have provided the service at an even lower price, but was again hamstrung by a different state law, this one barring utilities from selling services below cost.

But even as lack of internet service affordability and the repeal of net neutrality are widening America’s digital divide, they may also be laying a foundation for a new kind of politics.

Darren Hodge, a 49-year-old union sheet metal worker and turkey hunting enthusiast, is running for county commissioner in neighboring Rhea County, Tenn.

Hodge, who says he was raised “ultra-conservative Republican,” became a “run-of-the-mill Democrat” with the election of Obama, whose “upbeat inclusive message spoke hope to a dismal economy” at a time when he and his family were suffering financially. Changing parties was a pretty big change, but not nearly as big as what happened after he heard Bernie Sanders speak in the last presidential primary.

“It was like a lightswitch was flipped,” says Hodge. “Bernie spoke to my heart. Medicare for all, livable wages, getting rid of TPP—those issues were like a wake-up call for me.”

Hodge was inspired to run on a populist platform that includes eschewing corporate donations, supporting unions, raising wages and eliminating the legal barriers to expanding EPB service to his county.

(Continue Reading)

[monkcomics]

Many apologies if I talked to you yesterday and said I'd come look at your zines and didnt. I don't do well on low sleep. #chattanoogazinefest (at Chattanooga Public Library)