St. Mary Villa Child Development Center is emerging from last year’s twin crises of deadly storms and the COVID-19 pandemic with an expanded campus and increased enrollment. Located at 1704 Heiman Street and part of the St. Vincent de Paul Church campus, the school sits in the middle of Nashville near Fisk University. Executive director Alyssa Garnett-Arno advocated for the conversion of former classrooms of the St. Vincent School into rooms for the center’s various age groups and moved a portion of older students to the new rooms upstairs and renovated the bottom floor classrooms for additional infant care, an…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center’s Clarksville Behavioral Health Team launched their 2021 Clothesline Project in recognition. The project is a visual display of shirts made by a survivor of violence or by someone who lost a loved one to violence, with the color of each shirt representing a different type of violence. Sexual assault takes a broad range of forms, including sex trafficking, childhood sexual abuse, incest and rape. Yellow shirts honor survivors of physical assault or domestic violence, blue and green shirts honor survivors of incest or childhood sexual abuse, and red,…
NASHVILLE, TN– More than a year after the twin crises of severe storms and the COVID-19 pandemic, many Tennesseans just want a sense of normalcy and safety. Lives have been lost and others upended. Nearly 555,000 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus at the time of this publication, with about 12,000 of those being fellow Tennesseans, according to the state’s health department. To mitigate those numbers Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center partnered with ConnectUs Healthcare, Metro Public Health Department, Metro Parks, YMCA, Lee Chapel AME, Lipscomb University, Meharry Medical College and Piedmont Natural Gas and other organizations to provide…
The Fisk University Jubilee Singers can add another accolade to their list of achievements– the legendary choral ensemble won their first GRAMMY in the Best Roots Gospel category for “Celebrating Fisk!: (The 150th Anniversary Album)” Sunday, March 14. The Singers beat out Mark Bishop, The Crabb Family, The Erwins and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound for the prestigious award. They were previously nominated for Best Gospel Performance for “I Believe” in 2009. Led by Dr. Paul Kwami, the Singers were National Medal of Arts recipients in 2008. Dr. Kwami has been with the Fisk Jubilee Singers for nearly three decades.…
NASHVILLE, TN– While we approach a positive horizon with the development of promising vaccines, there is a continued need to identify effective treatments for individuals with COVID-19. One nationwide research study, called the Pass It On trial, is sweeping the country in search of a treatment option for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. “Pass It On which stands for the Passive Immunity Trial for Our Nation” said Dr. Donald Alcendor “implies that the ability to successfully fight COVID-19 through antibodies, can be passed from one person to another through convalescent plasma.” Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of the blood with…
What do you see in a photo? An image is more than a picture of a moment in time. Images tell stories, but the question we must ask is whose story is being told? The truth behind a picture is more fluid than one can grasp at a glance. To examine these narratives in photography, Documentary Arts will be launched its online interactive website, “Truth in Photography,” Feb. 19 at truthinphotography.org. The website features a wide array of subjects throughout various eras and expertise with the goal of providing diverse perspectives. “Photography is inherently subjective, it’s factual and whether or…
Rising country/pop star and Oregon native Emme Lentino collaborated with George Michael’s backup singers for a brand new reimagining of “Last Christmas,” the catchy holiday WHAM! hit that’s so popular it’s become a viral challenge: Whameggedon. Participants have to try to avoid hearing the tune (original version only, thankfully) and if they do, they must post they’re out of the game on social media. For Lentino, recording “Last Christmas” just made sense. It’s one of her all-time favorite songs, she said, and she can’t help but sing it when she hears it. So when her opportunity arose, she flew to…
By Ashley Benkarski James Baldwin. Josephine Baker. Richard Wright. These are a few of the names featured in Alan Govenar’s documentary “Myth of a Colorblind France” which explores the exodus of African Americans to the French capital city in the late 19th century. The journey began when African American soldiers in the First World War wrote letters to the Black press back home proclaiming Paris to be unmired in the racism that permeated American society. They spoke of being welcomed as heroes, mostly exempt from discrimination and hatred, in a “colorblind” France. That they served their country in war made…
NASHVILLE, TN—Catholic Charities of Tennessee and the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands have partnered to provide over $100,000 in CARES Act funds for Davidson County residents in need of assistance who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents must apply by Wed., Nov. 18 to receive assistance. The program will distribute the CARES Act funds directly toward basic necessities. Residents can apply for up to $4,000 per person in assistance for rent, mortgage and/or utilities. The funds need to be used this month under restrictions from the CARES Act, so it’s urgent that people seeking…
NASHVILLE, TN—Heidi Campbell has served her community of Oak Hill, Tenn. for two terms as mayor and hopes to serve the constituents of District 20 (and Tennesseans at large) with a bid for the seat currently held by Republican Steve Dickerson. She stated she’s running because the laissez-faire leadership of the Republican trifecta is putting the state on a path that doesn’t reflect the true values of Tennesseans. And when it comes to the COVID-19 outbreak, she said, that lack of leadership is putting their lives in danger. “It is so, so unfortunate and sad. Doctors are dealing with people…