The private reception which starts at 8 p.m., will have music, food, wine and beer and David Sirota of course.  You can reserve a place at the reception by going to www.tennesseeallianceforprogress.org and make a $20 donation to TAP. 

Sirota, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, takes us far from the media spotlight into the trenches where real change is happening - from the headquarters of the most powerful third party in America to the bowels of the U.S. Senate; from the auditorium of an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting to the quasi-military staging area of a vigilante force on the Mexican border.

David Sirota is a political journalist, New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist living in Denver. His daily blog can be found at Credo action.

He is a senior fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network - both 501(c)3 nonpartisan research organizations.

Sirota writes a weekly, nationally syndicated column for Creators Syndicate which now appears in newspapers with a combined daily circulation of more than 1.6 million readers.

Nell Levin, coordinator of Tennessee Alliance for Progress, is hosting the event. Levin hosts the Tennessee Progress Report on Radio Free Nashville. Her report is dedicated to airing the views and publicizing the activities of advocates, activists and concerned citizens who are working, day by day, to make Tennessee a better place for all Tennesseans.

The Tennessee Progress Report is broadcast live every Monday from 5-6 p.m. on Radio Free Nashville (WRFN-LPFM), with live webcasts at www.radiofreenashville.org

Davis Kidd Booksellers is located at 2121 Green Hills Village Drive, in Nashville. For more information, contact 615-385-2645. Don’t miss a chance to meet this bright star in the progressive world!

Daytrips and Weekenders. As the summer months and the vacation/travel season approaches, we offer you, our readers, ideas for day trips and weekend excursions to places and events that can be done in a day, or maxed out over a weekend. Time and the high cost of gas fuel our efforts to find local entertainment and activities. This column will appear each Thursday through Labor Day.

Paducah, Kentucky, is about a two hour drive from Clarksville. The town rests on the Ohio River where it is joined by the Tennessee River. Its prestigious past speaks out in the ornately designed houses and buildings.

Except for the great flood in 1937 where 95% of the city was flooded, this town prospered on the edge of the world’s greatest highway — the river, and had a flair for wealth and diversity. Trains later replaced river travel for goods; semis replaced trains. But since the 1900’s, barges carry goods up and down the river once again. One barge carries as much as 23 railroad cars.

Paulette Mentor is ready to do some work in her art room/gallery. Her house is a perfect example of creativity in re-design of a gallery house. — Debbie Boen photo

If you throw enough money at it, you can do anything, says Carol Gabany about Paducah’s Downtown revival. The Paducah bank has been throwing money at artists offering 300% loans to buy up old rundown houses, fix them up, and open art galleries throughout the downtown area. Esteemed artists from all over the US have been drawn to this exceptional deal in Paducah.

This town is a great weekend getaway. We stayed at the Egg & I Gallery, which rents out two (giant) rooms. Our wonderful host and president of the art association, Carol Gabany, carves breathtaking designs into eggs. She makes use of the three layers in an egg shell. Egg and I web site: http://www.eggandiarts.com

Across the street was etcetera, a coffee house where locals hang out.

The second Saturday of every month is an art walk where downtown gallery’s throw open their doors to the public.Visitors can view and purchase some of the most progressive art. Some may get a demonstration of how some art is made. Always is found a friendly face. Maps of the art walk are available in town.

Downtown hosts a street party every Saturday during the summer. The main downtown street was closed to traffic and three bands played at different areas. The Paducah Symphony happened to be playing outside also. Horse drawn carriages combed the streets, vintage cars were shown off while families, elders and teens met and hung out. Teens hung out. I don’t see that in Clarksville, the town rated worst place to raise children.

We’ve done the Paducah weekend trip two times now. The first time we were there on the second Saturday art walk.The inspiration I got from it was beyond description. Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, talks about the importance of getting out to see what art is out there in the world, what other people are creating. It inspires us and feeds us like some kind of “other” food.

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.”~ Rene-Franciois-Ghislain Magritte

This time we missed the galleries but saw the Quilt Museum. Designs pop out of the material giving it a 3D look that isn’t done with painting. I have never been interested in quilts, but both my husband and I were so amazed by the quilts on display. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at traditional quilts but others did. Many couples enjoyed the museum while we were there. To protect copyrights, I wasn’t allowed to photograph quilts in the museum but even the pictures of children’s quilts in the lobby show what a beautiful art form this is.

Caryl Bryer Fallert (at left) won Best of Show, three years in a row, at the Quilt Museum for her quilts. She gave me permission to use photos from her web site at: www.bryerpatch.com

So many great choices of restaurants invite visitors to pause, dine and savor. This time we dined at Whaler’s Catch and C.C. Cohen’s and had excellent food.The menu at C. C. Cohen’s speaks of a mischievous ghostly inhabitant who died in 1980 but still seems to want to own the place.

“The restaurant was locked up secure for the night. I’m the manager, the only one with the key. I came in to open up the restaurant and all the salt and pepper shakers were open and dumped out,” says Jackie Lipham.

A small but upscale River Heritage Museum downtown has well done (and expensive) displays and a short movie. The movie space is used by the museum during the day and as a separate movie house during the late afternoons and evenings. Kids were lined up outside to see The Goonies.

Sundays are quiet downtown, a good time to sit by the river. A flood wall (above) protecting the town shows art scenes depicting the history of Paducah.

Take a break. Stay at a bed and breakfast. Enjoy art. For all the information you need to plan your trip to Paducah, go to Paducah at http://www.lowertownartdistrict.com/index.php

A few choices of places to stay:

1857 Bed & Breakfast: 1-800-264-5606

The Egg & I: 1- 270-443-6323: www.eggandiarts.com

Gallery 5: 1-270-444-2020

The Guest House of Paducah, LLC: 1-270-331-5548 or www.theguesthouseofpaducah.com

Paducah Harbor Plaza: 1-800-719-7799 or www.phplaza.com

Fox Briar Inn at RiverPlace: 1-877-FOXINN 1 or www.foxbriarinn.com

More Debbie Boen Photos capturing images from Paducah:

Carol Gabany (top left; Paducah welcomes art enthusiasts to visit the city’s many galleries.

Paulette Mentor’s gallery, www.mentorhousegallery.com

Jackie Lipham of C.C. Cohen’s (left); street scene in Paducah

– Ira Glass

We had tickets to see radio personality, Ira Glass, in Nashville on May 31st. I expected to see a man with red to blonde hair, freckles, pimples and a general non-threatening appearance; otherwise, how would all those people talk to him, tell him their inner-most thoughts and stories?

When my son Randall (seen here with Ira Glass) said, “And there’s Ira Glass crossing the road,” I was shocked. Dark hair, skinny and tall; not the mouse I had pictured. I am used to seeing people who have empathy as chubby. In my experience, if you get mixed up with caring about others, your body has to put on weight to give you some distance from people, some of your own “space” from giving others too much.

When we met Ira Glass in person I said, “Can I take your picture with this shy young man (my son)?”

Yes, he said and he crossed the distance to Randall, shook his hand and introduced himself. Randall said he was a big fan and Ira asked him what he does (go to college), what is he studying (psychology), and Ira told him that his Mom is a psychologist and she takes credit for everything that Ira does. We laughed. Randall did not expect this celebrity to be interested in Randall. Ira’s voice in real life is exactly as it is on the radio. His eyes match my imaginings of him. They are not hard eyes. Ira is true to his radio personality; he is searching the world for a story, a human story.

Ira told the Nashville crowd of 1,500 that when he moved to Chicago he heard that within a week there were 16 people struck by lighting. The news reported who, what, where and actually ran a story about how NOT to get hit by lightning. But Ira’s curiosity led him to search out these people and ask their stories. All of them (who lived, only one died) had saved souvenirs from the event. Their coins turned black. One woman’s hot dog she was holding got charred. One person talked about getting an instant perm. They all had a burnt mark on their bodies and they all felt as if it happened for a reason. Non-believers and believers alike thought that God was telling them something. “Be alert?” asked Ira.

During the 30 years that Ira has worked in public radio, mostly editing and interning, he realized the value of personal stories on the radio sighting Prairie Home Companion as a good example. While talking to us Ira used background music (just like on the radio). He said “Using music creates a flow; when the music stops, the next thing said takes on a lot of importance. Talk in the music where you can image that you would sing: there, there, there.” He pointed out over the music.

Regular news makes a know-it-all performance, said Ira. There is no sense of discovery, awe, questioning or thinking. News tells you to “eat your broccoli, because it’s good for you.” It’s a tone that has no happiness in it.  Ira’s show, This American Life, features stories of people, where journalism with pleasant discoveries throughout asserts that we live in a world where there’s joy, discovery and fun.  And hope.

Ira shared how he makes a good story.

1. Tell the sequence. One thing leads to another. A lot of the stories on This American Life are not sensational stories, but they are told from the heart. They are the truth. The person talks about what he was thinking, like the office guy, with his glasses off, who thought he was acting funny with a familiar co-worker only to see that he was joking with a woman he didn’t know, who was a midget. The embarrassment he felt caused him to never speak to her again.

Forget the topic sentence, says Ira. We were always taught to say what we are going to say and then say it. Jump into the story by telling it. Use dialogue during the story.

2. Stories get the listener in. Now lead into points or thoughts about the story. These are different than morals. Morals are pushy prescriptions. Points or thoughts are not conclusive, they produce thought. Anecdote, thought. Anecdote, thought.

Leslie Wilson-Langsdon and Tara Shumate

Leslie Wilson-Langsdon listens to Ira’s show every week on her Ipod. She said the show makes her feel like she’s spying on people’s lives. As Ira narrates the stories with his thoughts, He says what I’m thinking, said Leslie.

The stories on This American Life take us into dark places as well as humorous places. Ira told us about the soldier who was ambushed in Iraq after trusting an Iraqi woman. Back in the United States he found that he could not be around Muslims without mistrusting them. He shared his honest thoughts and prejudices about Muslims.  The story takes a turn as he came to the idea that he was the one with a problem and it was based in fear. He faced his fear head-on by joining a Muslim club. He went from clenched and sweaty palms on the desk to finding friends and eventually doing speaking engagements for the club.

These stories make a real person out of someone who was a number or statistic before.  We relate, we understand, we connect.

I saw that Ira is very interested in what’s going on with others and he stays in touch with himself the whole time. Thus his honest thoughts are such a big part of the program. While speaking to us he said, “I’m blushing right now and I don’t even know why.” He demonstrates neutrality to others’ vulnerabilities and to his own. I think this honesty is something we crave, those old and young of us alike who flocked to this event.

Ira said he is not out to make fun of people; that lessens our feelings for them. He gets people to tell their stories so that we relate to them. Radio is the perfect medium. If we were to see the people, he feels certain we would not “like” them as much. Radio bypasses our judgments about appearances.

This Amercian Life airs weekly on Sunday at 6 p.m. on Nashville Public Radio, 90.3 FM.

Nashville Public Radio Director of Philanthropy, Donna Robinson (at right) greeted the public and was one of the sponsors who worked with Shameless Productions to bring Ira Glass to Nashville. Donna is working on getting Garrison Keillor back to Nashville. Shameless Productions is bringing, NPR contributor, David Sedaris, author of When You are Engulfed in Flames, to Nashville on October 17th.

Photos by Debbie Boen

Does it get any better than this?

Looking for a scenic bike trail, horse riding trail, or a walking trail? What once was a railroad bed running between Nashville and Clarksville was turned into a beautiful, fairly level and almost completely paved trail. It is perfect for biking, hiking, power walking or a leisurely stroll with the intent of observing nature’s best offerings. You can find it all on the Cumberland River Bicentennial Trail.

Local enthusiasts, Kitty Madden (l) and Beverly Fisher (above) invited me along for a early spring flower identification walk. We walked approximately four miles, though the trail runs at least 7.5 miles. With flower guidebook in hand, Beverly Fisher identified many of the spring flowers that we spotted along the trail.

The Cumberland River below gives a home to many species of birds, from native bluebirds and bright yellow goldfinches to ruby hued cardinals, several species of woodpeckers, bluejays and owls, and shore/marsh birds including heron and cranes.

It is a bit difficult to see the Chapmansboro Road turnoff so you may want to note that when I map quest searched it, it said that it is 21.5 miles from the start of Ashland City Road (Hwy 12) to Chapmansboro turnoff. (maps at end of this article)

For more information, visit http://cumberlandrivertrail.org/

Photos by Debbie Boen

Boy Scout Troop 569 spent the night here in tents and wake to a campfire, clear blue sky and cool spring temperatures. Cub Master Terry Guertin and Weblo Leader and Committee Chairman Juli Paulin gathered the troop together for a picture for ClarksvilleOnLine [below]. Juli told me that the bridge over the river was used for “cross over” ceremonies the evening before. Cross-over ceremonies are held as the troops reach new accomplishments; part of the ceremony is that they not only share their memories but also anticipate what they will accomplish in the future. Across the park, Cub Scout Troop 503 also spent the night.

Boy Scout Troop 509 camps at Billy Dunlop Park

On this early Saturday morning David and Randall Boen [below] come to collect and test water samples for the Four Rivers Watershed Watch.

This park has a huge Pavilion that can be rented for weddings, parties or scouts. It has restrooms, playground areas and picnic tables. Fishing happens here but be advised of no swimming (snakes in the waters).

Cub Scout Pack 503 camping out

For more information on water testing, refer to http://kywater.org/watch/default.htm.

Photos by Debbie Boen

Over the course of the day’s events, visitors took hikes, pausing to look at wildflowers or spot birds along with the general trekking. They learned about bluebirds, backpacking and many other things, topping off the day with the opportunity to canoe in the lake. Dozens of enthusiastic volunteers helped set up and take down equipment for this annual event, which was sponsored by the Friends of Dunbar Cave, the Warioto Audubon Chapter, Tennessee Trails Association and TN Wildlife Resources Agency.  Access to canoes was arranged by the Dunbar Park manager.

The event also attracted the interest of Tennessee’s Wild Side, a television show that came to film parts of this event. What was supposed to be a rainy morning was in fact a clear, sunny day with a nice breeze, a perfect spring day for this type of event.But back to me and a vulture in my face. Casey the vulture had been flying over people’s heads to the waiting arm of Dale of SOAR (Save our American Raptors). Dale passed by me as I was looking down at my camera and Casey almost flew right into me as he was trying to catch up with Dale. It was an “accidental” flight that none of us were prepared for, especially me.

During the SOAR show we heard John and Dale hoot out barred owl calls. The audience was encouraged to hoot back. John and Dale walked owls and hawks through the audience for a close look and picture taking. Seeing these birds close up is a thrill. SOAR told us about the raptors as they did their demonstrations. They flew several raptors over our heads.

“Have you ever had a vulture land on you?” they asked Shaun, a volunteer from the audience. Shaun was told to wear the “road kill” apron and lay on the ground like road kill. That was funny to us but had no interest to Casey the vulture. Shaun was able to catch Casey in flight. See more about SOAR at: http://soarsouth.blogspot.com/

Later in the day I became one of many, inching my way through the crowd of mostly children to touch a snake. Reptiliacs Donny and Sherry Howell shared stories about their love of snakes, all but hypnotizing their audience. “Don’t be so anxious to kill snakes,” Sherry told us, explaining that they eat many unwanted creatures like mice and rats. They help us more than they hurt us; our fear of them is unfounded. Even when she was bitten by one of her snakes while feeding it, it was her fault, she says. Her love for a creature that she once was terrified of is complete.

As the day passed, I saw a two foot long snapping turtle, an American eagle, and frogs. I watched hawks fly over people’s heads. I learned about how backpacking with a tent can make you realize that tap water is a miracle, and that even though you have the smallest camp stove, there’s probably an even smaller, lighter one available. The only bird that smells things is the Turkey buzzard. I know to bring injured wild animals to Walden’s Puddle http://www.waldenspuddle.org/

I heard hearty thank-yous, thank-you VERY much, given by people getting out of the canoes after paddling around Swan Lake. The Friends of Dunbar Cave extend their thanks to all the volunteers and participants for their engaging support.

Here are more of the images from the 2008 Spring Fling:

Our most memorable, binding event happened when we heard that President Bush was landing at Fort Campbell in Tennessee, the home of the 101st Airborne, to travel to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he would talk to people (Republican supporters only) about his desire to seriously change social security. We tried without success to get onto the audience list, but Christine found out the exact line of travel that the Bush motorcade was going to take. We spent a day looking for places to ‘greet’ the motorcade. We made a list of possible places to stand, but when the day came for the presidential visit, the police tailed us, and kicked us out of all but one.

Though the cops told us we were not permitted to stand within 1,000 feet of the road, we did find one place to stand. A home with an empty roadside building had plenty frontage, We knocked on the homeowners’ door, and they turned out to be anti-Bush.  With police and federal agents watching our every move (some supporting us too), and a news reporter wanting to get us on film, we stood on private property about 15 feet from the highway in the pouring rain, waiting for the motorcade. We wrote our slogans on the backs of our shirts after police told us our signs could not be used (they were “weapons”). The most emotional thing I ever did was to turn my back on the motorcade as it drove by. Even the planet obliged us with an eerie silence and a pause in the constant rain. Cops (including the Feds) were positioned all around our small group of 12 (mostly women and children) and the reporter filmed us. We were the voice of dissent. It was the first time I ever made such a powerful statement.

This event was topped only by the protest, a vigil we [at left, the author (r) and Christine] staged across from Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne, where Christine’s huge, hand-sewn IMPEACH BUSH sign hung over the Patriot’s Park sign. Our rally grew as others joined us from this town and Nashville and with Honk for Peace signs, we heard a constant honking. Code Pink, en route from Atlanta to Chicago, stopped to join us, taking a “break” from their travel across the US. We would never expect everyone to agree with our protest, but we expect that everyone agree with our right to peaceful protest. A photo of the sign (below) was posted online with Freeway Blogger.

Bill Larson joined our group in writing letters to the editor in protest of the uninformed and ill-tempered public that mainstream media had carefully created. He later created the ClarksvilleOnLine web site to give our voices a neutral platform to speak from. Our agreed on purpose was to acknowledge the creative and good things that happen around us, to use our freedom of speech and right to dissent, and to report the news that mainstream media was ignoring.

As the site grew, Christine took on the editor position for the all volunteer ClarksvilleOnLine. For me, writing meant agonizing; it took me all morning to write one paragraph, one whole day or more to write a story. This stopped being a burden, because I could count on Christine to polish up my stories. She makes me look good and ClarksvilleOnLine look good.

Christine (at left, speaking at a a vigil with daughter Kelly) is a very wise person, with wisdom drawn from her life endeavors. Hardships in life did not cause her to lose her energy to make things happen for herself and others. I’ve never seen anyone handle crisis so well. When her house burned down, she cried, and then she started making lists of what she could do in the face of overwhelming odds. By moving one foot after the other, she created her life again. She helps others do the same. She cares so much about her town, people and country. If she could, she would volunteer at every social function there is and go to every bit of live theatre. She is an incredible reporter and writer. She loves to contribute, enjoy life and laugh, and she’s a sucker for stray animals.

Here she is being interviewed by her own Goddard college.

http://storiesfromgoddard.podbean.com/2008/02/26/stories-from-goddard-episode-1/

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/20/col-editor-interviewed-by-goddard-college/feed/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/18/sacred-pipe-holder-for-lakota-comes-to-clarksville/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/18/sacred-pipe-holder-for-lakota-comes-to-clarksville/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:00:18 +0000 Debbie Boen http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=4518

I learned through meditation that when I imagine a line between myself and the center of the earth, my body feels safe and can release old emotions and energy (like worry or seriousness) that I’m done with. When I am “grounded”, or imagining that connection, people also feel very comfortable around me. When I am not grounded, I am an easier target for someone to pick on me, because I’m more like a bird with no feet on the ground:I look vulnerable and unprotected. I’ve noticed that when I am practicing being grounded, people flock to me. They subconsciously are attracted to the idea of their bodies and spirit feeling safer and connected to the earth also.

J.J. Kent, the most grounded person I have ever met, teaches Lakota spiritual laws based on this connection to the Earth. J. J. uses his good voice to do public speaking and flute recordings, and on Saturday, April 19th, he will be featured speaking at Rivers and Spires in downtown Clarksville around noon. He will also speak to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Clarksville on May 11, 2008.

Kent is a Lakota-Sioux Indian who lives with his family in the Nashville area. He has spoken at the Unitarian Universalist Clarksville Fellowship (UUFC) many times, telling stories, playing flute music or honoring us by smoking his sacred pipe. Everyone, especially the children, flock around him when he visits, hanging on his every word. We can’t seem to get enough of him. I am convinced that we are attracted to him, not just because of what he has to say, but because of his connection to the earth. I think that connection gives him an automatic love of himself and others. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t very connected to the Earth until I saw how connected he is; how much connection is possible!

When J.J., or any person, is connected to the earth, he/she is not as threatened by other people. He/she can allow others to exist, no matter how they are. If J. J. had to deal with someone who is harming others, I imagine that J.J. would point him into seeing sense, not throw him into punishment, which would not change a thing. Most important to me, J.J. or any man who is really connected to the earth, is comfortable enough in his own body to allow women to exist, in the creative and wonderful ways that they can. Women can vibrate at higher vibrations and a room full of them doing that will make a man pretty uncomfortable. Usually women slow their vibrations down so that men feel comfortable around them. But because of his earth connection, there’s no threat to J.J. if I am powerful, because he is OK with his own power. J.J. doesn’t demand that I calm down and match his slower male vibration because he is OK in his own connection to the earth.

I asked him about this ability to connect to the earth and he said: I am of the conviction that every human being needs a firm spiritual foundation in order for them to stay grounded and have a source of inner strength to cope with the stresses of modern day society. This spiritual foundation should also include a spiritual relationship with our “Sacred Mother”, the Earth, being ever mindful of the importance of helping to maintain good ecological balance and harmony with the environment. An ancestor much wiser than me once said, “We do not inherit the Earth from our forefathers, we are borrowing it from our children!

J.J.’s traditional Lakota name is Wicasa Ho’ Waste’ which means Man with a Good Voice. He carries a sacred pipe for the people. He says that approximately 25 years ago he made the choice to “Take up the Pipe” which is like the Catholic equivalent to “Entering the Priesthood”. It meant making a vow to serve the community’s spiritual needs in accordance with established Lakota spiritual traditions.

The Pipe that J.J. is tending has been miscalled by non-Indians, a Peace Pipe. J.J. says that is a misnomer. Native people refer to it as the “Sacred Pipe” and he says it is precisely that! “The pipe serves as a very sacred and holy instrument of prayer, incorporating much symbolism. According to Lakota legend a messenger from Wakan Tanka, The Great Spirit (God) came long ago to bring the first original sacred pipe to the Lakota people along with a set of teachings or principles which have since come to be known as the ‘Seven Sacred Spiritual Laws’ of the Lakotas. It was placed in the care of the Lakota spiritual leader of that time whose name was ‘Standing Hollow Horn’ and has been passed down within the same family for 19 generations. All pipes which have been properly blessed are considered extensions of the first pipe.”

J.J. has shared the seven spiritual Laws with us at UUFC. In his own words: The first of the Lakota Seven Spiritual Laws is called” Wah Wa La”, which means to “Walk quietly (go slowly, practice patience and humility)” For all of Humanity who believe in a supreme Creator, we should always remember that we as humans are as nothing when compared with our Creator and, we should take time out from our hustle and bustle life styles every now and then to “Walk Quietly” with the Creator for a little while and reflect on how we got here in the first place, and remember where we would be if we didn’t have the light of our Creator’s wisdom to shine upon our path. Chances are we would be stumbling blindly through the darkness of our own ignorance!

Contact him and hear his music at:
www.myspace.com/flutistjjkent and also www.ourstage.com/jjkent

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/18/sacred-pipe-holder-for-lakota-comes-to-clarksville/feed/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/17/roxys-high-school-musical-performs-to-sold-out-crowds/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/17/roxys-high-school-musical-performs-to-sold-out-crowds/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:33:04 +0000 Debbie Boen http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=4467 The Roxy Regional Theatre production of High School Musical continues it run before sell-out crowds. The show runs through this weekend and features 27 local artists and 8 professionals.

Three Cheers for ‘ High School Musical’!

The professionals…

Professionals in the cast include Bryan Davis, Nathan Scott Hancock, Millicent Martin, Bradley Vile, Erin Wegner Brooks, Soo Nam, Holly Davatz and Joe Sonenshein.

Local talent fills out the cast, with those familiar faces including Octavious Padgett, Dominick Lynch, Calvin Lockett, Christopher Morgan, Jacob Ritchart, Daynnah Carmona, Hannah Carmona, Courtney Collins, Brianna Fuller, Gabriel Lercher, Hayley Sloan, Angela Scott, Todd Anthony, Anne Winters, Frances Dennis, Christian Boyd, Erin Myers, Michele Whittenburg, Jordan Zoretic, Michelle Clark, Humberto Figueroa, Daniel Bunger, Leannah Carmona, Cavelle Gonga, Samantha Grimes, Carah Lockett, Anna Moss, Kari Muller, Rebekah Norfleet and Anastasia Tyson.

More photos from this high-energy show:

Photos by Debbie Boen

Schedule of events:

7:00-8:30 am – Early Morning Bird Hike: Hike the trails at the park; watch and identify birds with members of the Warioto Audubon Chapter. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.

8:45-9:45 am – Backpacking with Tennessee Trail Association: Merri Hinton, an experienced backpacker and long-distance hiker, will demonstrate the needed equipment for backpacking, day hiking and camping.

8:45-9:45 am – Bluebirds in your Backyard: Duane Rice, local Audubon Society leader and bluebird expert will talk about how to host Eastern Bluebirds around your home and property.

9:45-11:15 am – Wildflower/Plant Walk: Amy Wallace, the park’s naturalist, will lead you on a hike to appreciate the abundant wild flowers & other plants found in the park.

10:00-11:00 am – Raptors with SOAR, Inc.: Save Our American Raptors will give an educational program showing various birds of prey. They will tell about each bird and its personal history, describe its species and how it fits into the natural world. Several of the birds are flighted which should make for some lively audience encounters.

11:15 am-12:15 pm – Native Amphibians and Reptile: Nathan Parker, APSU naturalist, will present a program on some of our local native salamanders, frogs and snakes.

12:30-1:30 pm – Urban Wildlife: Walden’s Puddle will discuss some of the animals that you will find living in your town or community. Live animals, such as the ‘possum shown at left, will be displayed.

12:30-1:30 pm – Raptors with SOAR, Inc.: Save Our American Raptors will provide an educational program showing a various birds of prey.

1:45-2:45 pm – Snakes and Reptiles: Sherry and Donny Howell, local reptile experts, show you native and exotic snakes and other reptiles. Learn why these gentle creatures are so important to our ecology.

1:45-2:45 pm – Urban Wildlife: Walden’s Puddle will discuss some of the animals that you will find living in your town or community.

2:45-3:45 pm – Trail Hike with Suva Bastin: Suva Bastin, member of Clarksville’s Tennessee Trails Association, will lead us on a hike on the park’s trails. She can provide valuable pointers for day-hiking in our region.

2:45-4:45 pm – Canoeing: Enjoy the beauty of Swan Lake and Dunbar Cave State Natural Area from a canoe. Canoes, paddle and life jackets provided for brief excursions on the lake.

Spring Fling is Sponsored by:

• Friends of Dunbar Cave
• Warioto Audubon Chapter
• Tennessee Trails Association
• Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

The area shaded in dark blue is where they fly in winter; green is summer, which is our case means an early spring arrival time. We love seeing these guys and we have put their feeders along our porch. By late summer we’ll be walking outside to what sounds like a bee-hive of activity with 40 to 50 of these delicate little birds at our feeders. They are ferocious feeders and they fight each other for food.

Here are the directions I follow to attract so many hummingbirds:

• Change the feeder food, whether they’ve eaten it or not, every 3-4 days. Why? Mold. It kills hummers. I start my season with one feeder with one cup of sugar water. No use filling it to the top if they’re not drinking it down yet and I will change it every 3-4 days.
• Use glass feeders. Why? Mold. Mold comes off glass.
• Only use vinegar and water to clean feeders. Rinse well. Don’t use any soap product.
• Have a brush that will clean the inside of the feeder. You want to get any mold out.
• For food use regular white sugar and water. To every 1 cup of water use 1/3 to ½ cup of sugar. Stir until dissolved. [I prefer to use ½ cup to give them an extra boost when they are just getting back or getting ready to leave again. Some people boil their water first and then cool, or let the water settle for 24 hours before using. That’s probably a good idea.]
• I make sugar water in a big container and refrigerate for easy refilling during the summer. I try to refill at night so it’s ready and warmed up by the early morning.
• Stay home all summer. If you plan on leaving and you’ve got 40+ birds depending on you, get someone to refill your feeders or alert your neighbors that they may have some extra visitors. During the summer I refill my 2-cup feeders up to twice a day. I have four feeders.

A bee keeper lives down the road from me; his bees were swarming my feeders, attracted to the sugar/nectar. Now I like bees as well as hummers, so I spent extra money on ”humdinger” feeders like the one pictured at the beginning of this article; the bees cannot reach the food through the feeding holes, but hummers can. This also keeps away hornets and wasps that become very active in late summer. This feeder is plastic but pops open for easy cleaning. I couldn’t find any glass ones.  I found my humdingers on the internet.

Managing invading ants

My humdinger has a little water cavity in the center which will catch ants climbing down the feeder, but even that is not a perfect system for keeping ants away. My husband copied an idea from a friend:

Cutting off the bottom of a small plastic water bottle, he used water proof screws, nuts and bolts to fashion this ant guard which absolutely works. No ants as long as you keep some water in it.

When friends come over we all insist on sitting on our porch to watch the hummingbirds. They zoom by us with incredible speed but not one has run into us yet. I can understand why some get killed flying into people’s windows because they are usually being chased by other hummers and don’t have time to assess the danger.

Besides the buzzing sound of their flight, they have neat songs. The baby hummingbirds usually flock to one feeder. We may have two batches of babies a season.

Having flowers in our garden is the ideal; they attract hummingbirds. Hummers are also considered “pest controllers”, they feed small insects to their young.

Holy Scriptures as Justification for War focuses a lens on the relation between Holy Books (Scriptures) and war. Throughout their histories, Jews, Christians and Muslims have used their Holy Books to justify external violence against the “enemies of God” and internal purges to purify the faith from heresy. This study explores the beliefs in literalism and inerrancy that are the interpretative principles necessary for such justifications. Randall begins with ten representative passages from the TANAKH, New Testament, and Qur’an that are used to justify divine violence and critiques their misuse by literalists. He goes on to explore the origins and histories of these great scriptures,examining the factual and logical flaws in literalism and inerrancy that result in perverting scripture to justify Divine violence.

The book offers an analysis of the origins and theology of Holy War in the Bible and offers a resolution to the violent God who commands genocide in the Old Testament and the God Jesus preached. It also explores in detail the doctrine of jihad in the Qur’an and its distortion by extremists and terrorists.

Wrapping up the discourse, Randall scrutinizes one of the most contentious beliefs among Abraham’s quarrelsome children: Who are God’s Chosen People? It concludes with a historical, scriptural, moral and theological argument for Chosenness that rejects Holy War because it is a perversion of God’s creation.

In answer to the idea this book and title may suggest to some that Dr. Randall does not support war and therefore does not support the troops Randall says:

“Your soldier is the one who values peace more than anyone. The military may be the only place left with any honor and courage left.”

He proudly displays a certificate of honor he was given by Ft. Campbell for his work done there.

Dr. Randall, philosophy teacher for 37 years at APSU, has spent 30 years arguing that it’s not important for religions to have the exact same belief, but to recognize and share the same values that are the core for all major religions. He also argues that religions have given our cultures very important sources of very important values which are:

• Humility
• Generosity
• Honesty
• Integrity

Called by some a Joseph Campbell of the South, Dr. Randall says that the spiritual values which Jesus taught is found in most of the world’s great religions, especially Buddhism.

In the foreward of this text, Royce P. Jones, Ph.D., Capps Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Illinois College, writes:

“The interpretive issues explored in this study are crucial, for the very character and development of religions is a function of, or follows from, the interpretation of believers of their Holy Books. This point is significant for both believers and nonbelievers, for religions are not simply the private affair of those who adhere to them, but, in addition, movements which play a role in determining the character of a people, the social and foreign policy of nations, and, in the end, the level of violence in the world. If the latter point seems large, one only has to remember that leaders who take their countries or their followers into conflict attempt to justify their actions and appeal to perceived religious values in the process. If Professor Randall’s thesis in this study were to come to be widely recognized as true, the Holy Books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam could not be successfully used to justify violence.”

Dr. Bert Randall received a B.S. in mathematics, Maryville College, TN (1964); an M.Div. in Theology, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (1968); an M.A. (1970) and Ph. D. (1973) in philosophy, The University of Oklahoma. He taught for 37 years at APSU and was named Professor of Philosophy in 1981. He served one term as Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, two terms as Chairman of the University Assembly, two terms as President of the Faculty Senate and as a member of the Academic Council. He teaches at least two courses a year at the APSU Educational Center at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He recently developed and teaches two courses in APSU’s new Masters of Military History: The Battle for God: “ihad, Herem and Other Theologies of War and Peace and Islam as a World View.

Among the awards and grants he has received are the following: Hawkins Award for Excellence in Scholarship (APSU, 1993), six APSU Tower Grants, grants from the American Center for Oriental Research (Amman, Jordan), the National Council for US-Arab Relations, the Joseph J. Malone Foundation in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Aramco, the Riyadh and Jeddah Chambers of Commerce, and APSU Faculty Development for study and travel. On these grants he has traveled to Syria and Kuwait (1993), Jordan, Syria, and Israel (1994-95), Egypt and Yemen (1995), and Saudi Arabia (2006). He has twice been the APSU nominee for the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year Award (1996 and 1997). He received The Annette Cox Humanitarian Award given by the Bahais of Clarksville (1998), The Peace Award from the Nashville Bahai Spiritual Assembly (2003), Certificate of Recognition from the Clarksville Police Department for In-Service Seminars on Islam and Arab culture and Certificates of Appreciation from the 1st Brigade (Bastogne Brigade) Combat Team, 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell , the 5th Special Ops Officers and several other brigades for training sessions on Islam and Arab culture before their returns to Afghanistan or Iraq.

Among his scholarly activities are the following: appointed an associate editor, Explorations: Journal for Adventurous Thought (1995); 45 presentations to professional societies including the XVIII World Congress of Philosophy , the 3rd International Conference on Persons, and the 4th International Conference on Persons; twenty-nine articles published in professional journals; and was twice invited to address the National Meeting of the Gabriel Marcel Society (1992 and 2002).

He gives more than three dozen talks to educational, civic, community, and religious groups a year and has written a a column on religion, Beyond the Barricade, for the Leaf-Chronicle for two years. He also wrote a monthly column on Islam, Christianity, America and the Arab Middle East for Our City. He presented numerous sessions on Islam to various Brigades at Fort Campbell prior to their return to Iraq September 2005 and continued those training sessions with the officers of the Night Stalker Brigade at Fort Campbell.

He says he is married to a Medievalist, Dr. Jeanie Page Randall, APSU Associate Professor of English.

The issues are on the Bill of Rights and implicate university free speech zones, university speech codes, and the USA Patriot Act powers and students’ rights of free assembly.

Students in the class are either on the prosecution, the defense, or the court. This semester’s Lead Counsels are Elizabeth Borsavage and Jeremy Smith for the prosecution, and Valerie Cerda and Chris Lowe for the defense. The Chief Justice is Enderson Miranda. Amber Gaulden and Beth Anne Warhurst from the Dramatic Arts Department are playing the role of the accused. Several other students from outside the class are portraying the FBI Agent (DJ Luciano) the Police Officer (Bethany McCaslin) with other students including Leslie Crouch, Julia Dittrich and Adam Haynes providing testimony.

The premise is that on or about March 7, 2008, several students were engaged in a campus protest within the “Free Speech Zone” here on campus. The protesters appeared to be chanting anti-war slogans and were heard to also chant “Death to Non-Believers.” Shortly into the protest/demonstration, an undercover FBI Agent along with a local uniformed police officer attempted to break-up the protest, asserting that it had not been approved by the university and they were violating free speech zone and speech codes.

What ensued was a confrontation between at least two of the student-protesters, alleged to be the leaders of a group called “Holy Land Avengers” and the authorities, which resulted in the arrests of both students on several charges including assault and battery and civil rights intimidation. Subsequent search warrants executed at the apartment of the two students resulted in evidence being seized including; weaponry, materials on terrorism and Dirty Bomb-Making as well as a weapon alleged to have been at the scene of the protest.

Amber Gaulden, a Dramatic Arts major, aka Alice O’Hare, leader of the protest group and one of the accused and DJ Luciano, aka, FBI Agent DiSalvo.

To the right, Beth Warhurst (dramatic arts student), aka, Bethany Christianson and Policewoman Bethany McCaslin, aka, Heather Brooke.

A plea arraignment was held recently where pleas Not Guilty to all charges were entered by the Defendant Alice O’Hare on behalf of her co-Defendant Bethany Christianson. Motions by both prosecution and defense have been heard by the court and a special tribunal of five judges.

If you have any questions or would like to take part in this trial please contact Dr. Rabidoux at rabidouxg@apsu.edu, or Kelly Maddox at kmaddox15@apmail.apsu.edu.

The rain held off in the cool weather. The young worked with the old, all sharing pride in their hard work and accomplishment. The Friends of Dunbar Cave send out a hearty thanks to all who volunteered.

Aerial photographs by Bill Larson, all other images taken by Debbie Boen.

The show is choreographed by Michael Hartman, and features a long list of local talent from our Clarksville area high schools, along with outstanding performances by the professional actors. It’s a truly