About: Christine Anne Piesyk

With 40 years behind me (Huh? What? How did that happen?) as a journalist, feature writer, investigative reporter, editor, and film/theater/arts critic, I brought my liberal New England activism to Tennessee several years ago. having completed a midlife undergraduate degree in community organizing and women's studies, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts. I am currently an MFA student at Goddard College. I served on Future Search Commissions for two colleges and an issue-specific commission for the City of Northampton, MA, and did minor undergraduate work in studies in urban planning and community development. I am a community volunteer and a member of FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties. I am a certified storm spotter. In my spare time (define spare time please?) I am a voracious reader, obsessive movie buff, classical music junkie; I also and design and make sci-fi/fantasy and renaissance costumes. I have an unquenchable interest in just about everything. I see life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and adventure, with the best things still to come. All posts by Christine Anne Piesyk as presented on Clarksville Online are copyright ©2006, 2007 to the author.


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Email: womanspeak@yahoo.com

Christine Anne Piesyk's Articles:

HUD, Justice Department asked to review Downtown Redevelopment Plan

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 7, 2008 |

 

NAACP charges Tennessee Code and Civil Rights violations in Clarksville’s proposed redevelopment ordinance.

Jimmy Garland Sr., president of the Clarksville Chapter of the NAACP, has contacted the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and the HUD (Housing and Urban Development) office in Nashville, charging that the controversial Clarksville Downtown Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan does not adhere to Tennessee Codes and will have a detrimental effect on “mostly the poor, elderly and minorities residents of this inner city community.” The plan has been highly touted by city officials, Mayor Johnny Piper, and the Downtown Business Partnership (DDP).

Garland further charges that the plan is a possible “civil rights infraction” by the Clarksville City Council. The Council is scheduled to hold a second reading and a final vote on the ordinance Thursday evening during a special session scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers at 108 Public Square.

“No real plan has been introduced that will define the actual areas to be redeveloped and which properties are actually blighted within the targeted area,” Garland said.



Clarksville NAACP President Jimmie Garland Sr. [center] stands with irate property owners outside a “public” hearing on the “blight” bill.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, News, Politics | 2 Comments

 

Weapons of war in the hands of children

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 4, 2008 |

 

What were they thinking?

As I browsed the 1000+ photos taken by Clarksville Online photographer Bill Larson at Rivers and Spires 2008, I was impressed with the event and the attendance, weather notwithstanding. Still recovering from an illness, I was unable to attend such a big event, but my eyes scanned the images — just about all of them — one by one. In the interests of fair coverage, I included several shots I personally found to be repugnant . (The children are cute; it’s the context that’s debatable).

Despite my opposition to the Iraq war and my personal distaste for the Bush administration tactics and policies, I have every respect for our military, who are doing what they promised with less than optimal help from our Washington bureaucrats. Our soldiers are the front lines; we wish them no harm and want them back, whole in body and spirit.



At Rivers and Spires, our troops were amply and ably represented. But it was “too much information” for some of us. I scanned a photo of sandbags, a high powered weapon of some sort (machine gun), and a young child taking aim at the crowd with parent and siblings watching. My stomach turned. Technically it was a great shot. But do we really need to be placing our children’s hands on the trigger of such a gun? Another shot, well angled, beautifully lit, shows a small child perched on a tank with the gun barrel from the turret over her shoulder. I flinched, again. Stomach lurched. I didn’t have any Pepto Bismol handy. Darn! «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

 

The Day After: Resilient residents on the road to recovery after midnight tornadoes

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

 
• Red Cross scrambles to aid storm victims
• Palmyra families “lucky to be alive”
• Tornado shreds Fairgrounds Pavilion
• Massive clean-up underway across southern Montgomery County

The day after a night of storms dawned with many families still without power and emergency response teams pouring into Montgomery County to undertake the task of restoring power, removing downed trees from power lines and roadways, and setting the process of recovery in place. Weather officials estimate that four F-1 tornadoes touched down across the county, three hitting the Palmyra area. The fourth hit Clarksville. F-1s have winds ranging from 86-110 miles per hour.



No place was the pressure felt more than at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which just two weeks ago sustained a disaster of their own when an arsonist torched the agency’s Emergency Response Vehicle [ERV] filled with disaster response equipment. Faced with the devastation of a tornado, its victims, and a horde of emergency responders to assist, Red Cross volunteers rallied, utilizing many of their own resources in the first hours after the disaster. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

 

Succulent berries, fresh veggies and fruit in abundance at roadside stand

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

 

On our way from point A to point B, riding along Madison Street this afternoon, I did a double take at the sight of a roadside vegetable stand. Basically, a small table laden with okra, beans, strawberries and succulent tomatoes. We continued on to our destination, but hurried back to check it out.

I’ve suffered roadside fruit stand deprivation since I left New England, where it seems we could buy garden fresh produce on every other corner in town, walk or take a bus to the farmers markets, and never have to buy produce from a grocery store in summer. My favorite was fresh still-damp-with-dew butter and sugar corn (bi-colored corn), driven to the stand straight from the field. And yellow beans (which barely seem to exist here in the south). «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Business, Opinion | No Comments

 

Tornado strikes South Clarksville; fairgrounds pavilion demolished

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 3, 2008 |

 

Power outages, downed power lines, extensive debris, property damage

In the dark of night, lit only by shards of lightning, families in the High Street area surveyed the damage from what at this writing appeared to be a tornado strike just missing downtown Clarksville. Several homes were damaged by trees; power lines, downed signs, blown transformers littered the landscape. Widespread power outages were noted throughout south Clarksville. Initial reports from police and fire crews indicate that at least one twister may have touched down. No injuries were reported at this time.



Along Highway 13/48, the fairgrounds pavilion was demolished and its debris effectively relocated across the street by Mother Nature. At Gary Matthews, transformer poles and power lines were blown down and draped over brand new 2008 SUVs. Police cordoned off the road to all but emergency vehicles as they worked close to the fairgrounds section. Red and blue flashing lights brightened the night sky across the area. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, News | 1 Comment »

 

City fields 14 ‘representatives’ to Vegas for shopping center convention

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 1, 2008 |

 

Clarksvegas. Clarksville to Vegas. Fourteen people traveling on the city’s dime. Make that dollars. Just how many people does it take to represent Clarksville as Tennessee’s Top Spot? And whose money is it anyway? Oh yes, taxpayer money.

A 14-member city delegation headed by Mayor Johny Piper is heading to Las Vegas May 18-21 to represent the city at RECon, a real estate trade fair (read “convention”) sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers that attracts an estimated 50,000 visitors each year. According to the RECon website, the convention “has been renamed and branded as ReCon, emphasizing the R-E-tail, R-eal E-state, Con-gress, Con-vention, Con-ference, aspects of the program.”

The last convention attended by Clarksville officials was in Atlanta, Georgia, which saw the Clarksville delegation ill-prepared (or rather, not prepared at all) to professionally market itself. Things have changed, have run the gamut from no kill to overkill. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, News, Opinion | 1 Comment »

 

Community School for the Arts offers youth concerts and recitals

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 1, 2008 |

 

The Community School of the Arts at Austin Peay State University will present a day of recitals and concerts involving local youth on Saturday, May 3 in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall. The student recitals will showcase violinists, pianists, guitarists and other instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages. The recitals are free and open to the public.

The first performance will begin at 9 a.m. and will feature violinists and pianists from the studios of Elizabeth Langford and Carolyn Bunger.

Pianists under the direction of Sylvia Carver will perform at 10:30 a.m. Saxophone and piano students of Chris Gee, Simone Rothemel and Jared Wilson will perform at noon. Seth Gangwer and Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos’s violin students will perform at 1:30 p.m. Piano, cello and guitar students of Stacie Robbins, Ron de la Vega and Jerald Sparks will perform at 3 p.m. Students of Ryan Seay, Mingzhe Wang and Nora Lewis will perform at 4:30 p.m. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

 

Crossing lines between church and state

By Christine Anne Piesyk | April 27, 2008 |

 

Controversy erupted last week in one South Carolina town over the posting of a politically-based query on the Church’s outdoor sign, a sign usually oriented to the more generic posting of denomination-sponsored events or church services.

Did Pastor Robert Byrd of the Jonesville Church of God step over the line in Jonesville, South Carolina, when he posted the following words outdoors on a church sign for all to see: “Obama, Osama, hmm, are they brothers?” Pastor Byrd maintained it was not intended to be racial or political and claims it was meant to foster thought about having a non-Christian, non-Christ follower, leading the country. Byrd says he doesn’t know if Obama is Muslim or not but wanted to pose the question. Quite frankly, I don’t see what spiritual direction or choice has to do with one’s ability to run the business that is the United States of America. I wasn’t a Romney fan for many reasons, but his Mormon faith was a non-issue. Funny how no one questions religious affiliation to Christian candidates such Mike Huckabee, who is now out of the race too. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion | 1 Comment »

 

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