Metro Pulse

By taking a hike and telling a lie, Hollis Church set in motion 22 years of career choices, a slow-motion chain reaction that’s not nearly at an end. This was 1986. The tall, willowy Church, who moved here with her parents at age 3, says she had already taken a spin through New York University’s theater program, gone broke, returned to Knoxville to collect a retroactive art scholarship, and graduated with a degree in graphic design from the University of Tennessee. “But I totally didn’t want to work in that field,” she remembers. Then she heard they were hiring cooks on Mount LeConte in the Smoky Mountains, elevation 6,593 feet. Full story »

Over the three-day Labor Day Weekend, Gregory Button spoke to quite a few people who were fleeing New Orleans to possibly avoid the onslaught of Hurricane Gustav—some while they were still in the city, some on their way to refuge, some when they arrived in Knoxville. “All of them were severely shaken and felt like they were kind of reliving what happened before, with Katrina,” says the University of Tennessee professor. “I think without a doubt it will bring back up the trauma.” Full story »

In Profile by Rose Kennedy: U.S. Transplant Games, July 2008, Pittsburgh. In a qualifier for the 100-meter dash, the eventual winner, Will Jay of Knoxville, has finished his sprint in about 12 seconds and is walking back. “As I’m going, I see this young man from my heat,” he recalls, grinning at the recollection. “It’s 10 seconds, 15. He’s still running. We started at the same time. And when he finished, he seemed more ecstatic about running than anyone else in the race. He didn’t want to win. He just wanted to be alive and running that race. I just keep remembering him. I gave him high five Full story »

In Profile: Richard Yancey is the creator of Teddy Ruzak, the Highly Effective Detective. The first book, The Highly Effective Detective, came out in 2006; the second, The Highly Effective Detective Goes To the Dogs, is due out next month. Though the tone of most of the books is light-hearted, the novels have earned critical praise for the Gainesville, Fla., author. When we read the books, we can’t help but notice the setting, a complicated city of reckless college students, eccentric beggars, stubborn cops, obsessive old ladies, and tattooed bohemians called Knoxville, Tennessee. Full story »