Demetria Kalodimos is something of a Nashville institution, anchoring the Channel 4 news desk since she first arrived in Music City in 1984. But 30-plus years into her career, Demetria was unprepared to have her decades of dedicated news coverage cut short.
Versify #33: The Blade And The Blooming
For attorney and aspiring writer Adam Hill, his journey toward understanding the life of his younger brother, Eric, began by coping with Eric’s death, both in the present and 1,000 years before either of them was ever born.
Versify #32: Do You Want To See More?
Tasha Lemley has spent much of her professional life championing the stories of people on the margins. But even with a career’s worth of exposure to the types of hardship that can come from living on a social periphery, there were still some harsh realities that Tasha was unprepared for.
Versify #31: Before Bukowski
There are about as many ways to fall in love with the craft of writing as there are books to be read. But whatever the means of introduction, that first literary gateway drug, it’s typically hard to forget. But for Nashville non-fiction writer Rob Simbeck, his route to an early love of literature, began with an American tragedy.
Versify #30: A Kiss For Every Frog
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of standing on some street corner, minding your own business, when a stranger comes along and tries to chat you up. Maybe you found yourself thinking, “I hope this person’s not a murderer” — a fear which typically seems dramatic. But when Rachel Gladstone had a similar type of run-in with her neighborhood exterminator, she was shocked to find just how plausible that concern actually was.
Versify #29: All Power To All The People
When Ritagay Sisk-Jamison first joined the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969, she was under scrutiny not only from some of its members but also the federal government. Ritagay and her daughter Tandekile Francis sit down to speak with poet Courtney Sinclaire Brown, about their family’s multi-generational commitment to public service.
Versify #28: A Penny Sewn Into Every Scrap
For Nashville muralist Andee Rudloff, the process of making a public artwork is about a lot more than adding a little color to urban landscapes. Andee sits down with poet J Joseph Kane, to talk about how an early exposure to her grandmother’s love of narrative and improvisational art spurred her towards a career crafting murals.
Versify #27: I Call Myself Indigo
For Indigo, a young gender-fluid person, the decision to live as their authentic self hasn’t been easy. Indigo speaks with poet Susannah Felts about the journey start their life over in Nashville while dealing with the hurdles of displacement, family disapproval and challenges with mental health.
Versify #26: Person, Animal Thing
When we talk about the casualties of war, often the emphasis gets placed on the visible losses, but for the people like Rani Banjarian, a Lebanese international student turned East Nashville Maths teacher, who actually endure those conflicts, the intangible changes are often just as costly.
Versify: When The Wedding Gets Displaced By A Hurricane
Listen Betty and Raul Malo, lead singer of the acclaimed country music band The Mavericks, did not have the spring wedding they had hoped for. Mother Nature had other plans: Hurricane Andrew, Miami, 1992. “I was swimming through my wedding invitations,” says Betty Malo, who was speaking to poet Allison Boyd Justus as part of our […]