The new menu at the Blue Chair Tavern is a story about where the trail from the Low Country meets the road of Appalachia.

“The Blue Chair Tavern menu is Low Country cooking influenced by the Appalachian food culture, with a Creole Cajun emphasis,” said Chef Rick Wright.” It’s the commonality of it all — shared ingredients and cultures. It’s a merger of Creole, Spanish, French, Indigenous, and Scots — the diversity of people, their traditions and all their stories. That’s the heart and soul of food, and I want to carry those traditions forward.”

Wright is passionate about good food and people having access to good food.

“This passion comes from my heritage. I grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky. I learned to cook from the women in my family — grandmother, mother, aunts. We cooked at home and ate food from the garden.

“All my life I have seen a lack of access to food and how it affects people. People struggle to put food on the table. Children go to school hungry or jacked up on sugar. Food insecurity outreach is a big need, and it is something I will continue to be involved in.”

This commitment to access good food has led to action. While the Director of Sewanee Dining, Wright started the Kitchen 2 Table program to benefit the Community Action Committee. The program receives unused portions from McClurg Dining Hall and repackages them into freezer safe, microwaveable meals. On average, the food donations create 500 meals a month for the CAC to share with their neighbors.

He also played a key role in the South Cumberland Summer Meals program, which provides meals to children and youth ages 2-18 at community partner sites in Franklin, Marion, and Grundy counties.

With the UT Grundy County Extension office, he opened a commercial kitchen, which provides nutrition education and serves a monthly community meal.

He has worked on creating healthy menus for the Jewish Federation and the American Heart Association. He also volunteers with World Central Kitchen, which serves chef-prepared meals to communities impacted by natural disasters and during humanitarian crises. “They call me when they need me,” said Wright.

“When the Blue Chair closed, John Clark, C’82, called me and asked if I wanted to go into business at the Blue Chair,” said Wright. “I didn’t see how it could work because the facilities needed work. It’s a tiny space which creates challenges. Then I realized other than places such as Shenanigans or the dining hall, you can’t really go out to eat every week in Sewanee. There aren’t that many every-day-working-man venues where you can get something good to eat at a good price. Plus, the closest place to get barbecue is in Monteagle. A smokehouse and a tavern were a piece of business entirely missing.”

Since the Blue Chair Tavern opened, Wright said the Shrimp Po’ Boy, gumbo and the smash burgers have been the most popular items on the menu. “We do everything from scratch. Food is sourced locally and regionally, such as produce, shrimp from the Gulf, and wild caught catfish. We will be using bison from the Lost Cove Farm, and lamb from Emmett Lodgson. We will soon run a blue plate special, which we are calling the purple plate, with food sourced locally.”

Current hours are 4–9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. When the downstairs kitchen comes online, brunch and lunch will be offered. Provisions will also be available such as smoked meats, and pasta dishes purchased by the pound, boxed lunches and premade casseroles. Pizza offerings are also on the horizon. There are vegan and gluten free options available.

“We want to be the third place, where you can get a good drink, a good meal and feel included,” said Wright. “The story of The Blue Chair has always been about community and comfort, and we will continue that. I respect all that good work that has come out of there.”

The Blue Chair Tavern is located at 41 University Ave., Sewanee. To keep up with the next chapter of the Blue Chair Tavern, follow them on Facebook. Better yet, come on in and pull up a chair at the table. — reported by K.G. Beavers

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“Everybody knows what the caste system does to the people under the boot, but we don’t often talk about the inherited psycho trauma of what it does to the people who are wearing the boot,” said author Wright Thompson taking questions on March 24 in Convocation Hall about his new book “The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.” A New York Times bestseller, frequently touted by reviewers as the “best book of the year,” “The Barn” is an eyes-wide-open journey into a storm of social, agricultural, political, and economic forces all manifestly blamable for the 1955 torture and murder of the 14-year-old black youth, Emmett Till. Thompson claims the Mississippi delta where the torture and murder occurred as his home. Unpacking Thompson’s comment about the psycho trauma experienced by the boot wearer underlies his prayer for the book. “This is a very precarious time for the South and to be Southern and to be proud of being Southern. Is there still such a thing as the South? What is our culture? What are our values? This book exists to me as a prayer that we might find a way to have a unified tribe of us.” The “us” Thompson speaks of are those who inherited the legacy of the former boot wearers, the slave holders, lynchers, and Jim Crow macrocosm that once dominated the culture.

Thompson’s long litany of locations erecting post-civil-war confederate monuments seemed as though it would never end. He juxtaposed the list to the decision confronting Till’s friend, 18-year-old Willie Reed who hid in the brush outside the eponymous “barn” of the book’s title and listened to Till’s screams turn to whimpers turn to silence. Reed chose truth. Reed and Till’s Uncle Mose who witnessed Till’s murderers yank him from the bed in the middle of the night were the first two black men to ever testify against white men. “We have no statues of Willie Reed,” Thompson pointed out.

Plagued by death threats, Reed fled to Chicago, found work and married. Twelve years passed before Reed could bring himself to tell his wife he even knew Emmitt Till.

Jeff Andrews who in 1984 bought the farm where the eponymous barn still stands knew nothing about the barn’s history even though his family was from a neighboring farmstead. Ultimately, Andrews’ father told him about the barn’s significance. “He [Andrew’s] was very kind to all the Till family members who were always coming out there,” Thompson said, “but he doesn’t understand what any of it has to do with him. And the reason is every single person of authority in his life, every coach, every scout master, every preacher, every parent told him it didn’t have anything to do with him.”

“Is there still such a thing as the South?” Thompson asked. “Who are we?”

Till’s best friend growing up in Chicago was his cousin Wheeler Parker. Sixteen-year-old Parker travelled to Mississippi with Till in the summer of 1955. Asleep in the adjacent room, Parker woke up when the men who abducted Till stormed into his room, but they passed him over. They wanted Till to avenge his whistling at a white woman minding the counter at a country store.

Asked what does justice look like to you, Reverend Parker, now 86, answered, “Memory.”

“Justice is never forgetting,” Thompson said. “Justice is you telling that story. Justice is every person here walking away with that story now part of their understanding of their home.”

“In the bookstore, there is almost nothing that says The University of the South,” Thompson stressed. “There’s one T-shirt, it says Sewanee. There is only one place called the University of the South. It feels incumbent in a place like this to model what it means to be Southern, in the way you go about your lives and your traditions and your values and how you relate to your neighbor. If there’s going to be a South, let it start here.”

Veteran investigative journalist and Sewanee resident Lee Hancock brought Thompson to the attention of the program’s sponsors, the University’s Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation, the Sewanee School of Letters, and The Sewanee Review. Following his talk, Thompson signed free copies of “The Barn” available to everyone attending.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

In a split vote at the March 29 Monteagle Council meeting, the council voted down Alderman Dean Lay’s motion, that “Sargent [Alhafiz Ibn] Karteron be dismissed from employment from the town of Monteagle effective immediately for his actions previous to and including [the arrest of] Rodney Kilgore.” Heated discussion followed the vote, with Monteagle business owner Kilgore threatening a resident, “I’ll knock the piss out of you.” Under pressure from Monteagle police, Kilgore honored officer Chad Locke’s request to leave the meeting.

Lay’s motion referenced Karteron’s Sept. 15, 2025, arrest of Kilgore for false imprisonment, vandalism, and resisting arrest. In support of Lay’s motion, Alderman Dan Sargent said, “We’re a body responsible to the citizens of Monteagle that voted us into this seat. The judicial system has ruled in favor of the business operator arrested wrongly … the charges were dismissed and he’s been expunged … we have the responsibility to act.”

Mayor Greg Maloof responded, “I called the investigator of the district attorney. He said the case was closed. There were no proceedings against the officer.”

Concurring, Police Chief William Raline said, “I have not received any written complaints on him [Karteron]. He’s not done anything illegal or immoral in my eyes. If he has done that, bring it up. Let’s investigate it.”

Lay and Sargent voted for dismissal. Maloof, Alderman Grant Fletcher, and Alderman Nate Wilson voted no.

Applause followed the vote. Explaining his decision, Wilson said, “We have a lot of strong opinions on this matter, but what we don’t have as a council is written documentation and a written statement of fact. Rodney, if you have an issue, I encourage you to fill out a complaint form which will start the investigative process.”

Kilgore countered with complaints and accusations and threatened a resident who disagreed with him. More applause followed Kilgore’s departure.

Kilgore has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Karteron, Raline, and the town of Monteagle seeking $9 million in damages “for violations of rights secured to the Plaintiff under the United States Constitution.” Maloof said the council could not discuss the lawsuit because the case was under litigation.

In other business, the council approved funding for several civic projects: $8,500 for American Holly evergreen plantings on the greenway; $3,500 for landscaping at City Hall and the police station; $1,300 to retain a designer for the Veterans Park project; and $1,048 for tables and chairs at the Senior Citizens Center. The center also received a $100 donation from Crippled Hookers Taxi and Towing, as well as $250 in towing services, and the offer of a free ride to and from the center’s bingo night.

Likewise on the civic enhancement front, Monteagle has several grant projects underway. Trees received from a Tennessee Division of Forestry grant will be planted at Hannah Pickett Park and the fire hall, with planting by High Canopy tree service at no cost to the town. A TN 250 semiquincentennial grant will fund a mural on the west side of the fire hall. And donation will fund the planting of an American Holly tree on the greenway to serve as the town’s official Christmas tree.

Taking on new business, the council approved a resolution to apply for a Community Development Block Grant for waterline improvement; a resolution required by the state governing incurrence of indebtedness; adoption of a debt policy to comply with state law; and a resolution to enter into a loan agreement to finance critical sewer treatment needs.

In another split vote, the council approved a task order requesting the city’s engineer to conduct a study (cost $55,250) to determine the financial impact of development on present and future water and sewer infrastructure needs. Maloof observed many municipalities and cities charged developers impact fees to cover future water and sewer infrastructure costs. Lay voted against the task order, arguing Monteagle could charge impact fees for residential development. Fletcher pointed out, “The only thing we’re voting on tonight is giving the engineer permission to move forward. When we get ready to look at impact fees, that will be a whole separate policy, and we can exclude residential if we need to.”

Monteagle will host an Easter egg hunt, music, and a potluck lunch from noon to 2 p.m., April 4, at Hannah Pickett Park. A “Put litter in its place” town cleanup is planned for 9-11 a.m., May 2.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the March 23 Sewanee Community Council meeting, council members John Gilmer and Laura Willis raised red flags about danger to pedestrians from motorists driving at speeds far exceeding the speed limit. School of Theology representative Gilmer called attention to speeding on University Avenue and Tennessee Avenue. At-large representative Willis cited the straight away on Roark’s Cove Road between Alston Lane and Kirby Smith Road where no sidewalks and deep ditches increased the danger.

Prior to the meeting, Gilmer put a call out to his constituents asking about concerns. He applauded the efforts of the Sewanee Police to curtail speeding by patrolling. But he recently saw a car travelling an estimated 50 mph on Tennessee Avenue. “It’s like they expect they can speed without consequences [when there are no police],” Gilmer observed. Poor lighting at crosswalks worsened the danger to pedestrians, especially in the Woodlands residential area, Gilmer added. “Motorists can’t see people crossing.”

Council member Phil White suggested tag cameras as a solution. “Where they’re installed they work,” White said. The motion activated cameras photograph speeders license plates. Sewanee has two tag cameras, located in the vicinity of the Wellness Commons and the hospital, said Police Chief Jeremy Thomas, but the units were expensive. Council representative Evelyn Patton speculated the fines collected would offset the cost. “That wouldn’t help,” Thomas explained. “Sewanee doesn’t have a speeding ticket with a University fine. It would be a state citation.” Thomas encouraged residents to report excessive speeding. The police would respond in kind by increasing patrol.

Willis proposed a different solution. “I want speed humps between Alston Lane, where the Woodlands start, and Kirby Smith Road,” she said. The sharp curve just past Kirby Smith Road compounded Willis’ concerns. “Drivers coming up the mountain can’t see pedestrians on the road ahead,” Willis insisted.

Provost Scott Wilson offered an overview of past speed hump installation projects. A Student Security Grant financed the speed hump installation in 2024, with the focus of the grant emphasizing student safety determining the location of the speed humps. In 2025 the University matched a $6,000 Project Funding grant to the council to pay for two sets of speed humps, cost $5,000 per pair. Residents’ complaints about speeding guided the decision on the locations. Wilson speculated if the Project Funding Committee recommended and the council authorized additional money for speed humps, the University would match the amount.

Each year, the Council’s Project Funding Committee receives $10,000 from the University to allocate for projects that enhance the Sewanee community and improve the quality of life of residents. There was uncertainty about who is overseeing the Project Funding program at the present. June Weber who headed up the Project Funding Committee no longer serves on the council. Post meeting Willis reported plans called for resolving the issue of the committee’s leadership in the near future.

In other business, resident Andrew Cowan expressed concern about the need for rehabilitation at the dog park. A regular dog park visitor, Cowan recommended paving muddy high traffic areas, shade trees, and benches. He plans to submit a formal proposal. Robert Benton, Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management, said he would check on the amount of funds available in the dog park account. White cited an additional problem, invasive weeds. A resident suggested goats could help control vegetation.

The Sewanee Community Clean Up is scheduled for May 2, 9-11 a.m. Wilson said participants typically gathered at the Welcome Center and convened afterwards at Angel Park.

Council meeting dates for the 2026-2027 academic year are Aug. 24 (reserve), Sept. 21, Oct. 26, Nov. 23 (reserve), Jan. 25, Feb. 15 (reserve), March 22, April 26 (reserve), May 24, and June 28 (reserve). Reserve dates are optional, depending on business needing addressed.

On a chilly morning on March 12, the opening of a new commercial kitchen for Out of the Blue Granola marked another major milestone for Blue Monarch, a local nonprofit, which serves women in recovery and their children. After a ribbon cutting hosted by the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce, the dedication began with the history, as told by Susan Binkley, who founded the business in 2008. Three granola employees shared their journeys, and the benefactors explained why they were inspired to provide the new kitchen. Lydia Fulks, a new baker for Out of the Blue, told the crowd, “I am so proud because this is the first time I have worked a job sober after fifteen years of addiction,” which illustrated the significance of the business and its purpose.

Out of the Blue Granola is owned by the nonprofit, which provides on-site employment and job training for the women in the program. Long-time Blue Monarch supporters, Scott and Gail Matthews from Texas, recognized the significant role this social enterprise played in the overall recovery of the women in the program, and they wanted to see the business expand to employ additional workers. Their gift doubles the capacity to produce and places the kitchen closer to the road for better truck access.

The high-quality granola not only provides valuable opportunities for the women of Blue Monarch, but it is also a powerful marketing tool. Inside every bag of granola is a photo of one of the bakers with her powerful story of recovery on the back. “We have found that customers collect these cards, pray over them, and even write notes of encouragement to the woman in the bag,” says Binkley.

“In fact, it was a single bag of granola that introduced us to the Matthews,” says Susan Binkley. “A friend of theirs purchased a bag at the Piggly Wiggly in Monteagle in 2015, brought it back to his community of friends in Texas, and Scott and Gail were among those folks. The generous couple has supported Blue Monarch ever since and they have now made a major investment in the families we will serve for many years to come.”

The three-flavor “granola with a purpose” is sold in multiple locations throughout the region, including specialty shops, natural food markets, hotel chains, and grocery stores. It may also be purchased online at <www.outofthebluegranola.com> or on Amazon.

Additional information about Blue Monarch may be found at <www.bluemonarch.org>.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Claiming the distinction of having more golf properties named among the top 100 than any other golf management company in the United States, KemperSports has assumed management of the Course at Sewanee, the University’s nine-hole golf course, as well as its restaurant, the Green’s View Grill.

The Course is known for its walkable layout and natural beauty. Golf Digest ranked the Course as one of “The 25 Greatest College Golf Courses in America” and Golf Magazine includes the Course among the “50 Best Nine-Hole Courses in the World.” Asked why the change in management practices, the University replied, “the operation is best managed by a professional golf and sports management company whose core competency is providing the best possible experience to students, community residents, and the many visitors we host.” All golf course employees were given the opportunity to transition over to be employed by KemperSports.

A golf course employee who spoke anonymously to the Messenger commented, “The change is unfortunate because we lose our University benefits. But, it may be a good business decision for them.” The employee hopes to get a non-golf-course University job.

“We are excited to welcome KemperSports to Sewanee,” said University Vice-Chancellor Rob Pearigen. “Their experience in course operations, food and beverage services, and long-term facility planning aligns with our vision for the Course at Sewanee. This partnership, combined with upcoming capital improvements, positions us well for continued success.”

KemperSports is undertaking an extensive bunker (sand trap) renovation to improve drainage, sand consistency, and overall playability, while enhancing aesthetics and long-term sustainability. “The Course at Sewanee is a very special golf course,” said KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner. “Gil Hanse [the designer] was able to create a beautiful, challenging and fun layout. We are excited to improve the golf experience for students, alumni, and guests while building upon its national reputation to draw players from throughout the country.”

Join us on Saturday, April 4 as we celebrate 20 years of the Moutain Goat Trail Alliance at the Mountain Goat Trail Race, sponsored by Mountain Outfitters. There’s a 2-mile walk, 5-mile run, and half-marathon, all on the trail, followed by food, fun, and the famous gear raffle!

The half-marathon begins in Mountain Outfitters in Monteagle at 8 a.m., and will run on the Mountain Goat Trail to Sewanee, with a section on smooth gravel railbed, before returning to the finish at Mountain Outfitters. The two-mile walk begins at 10:15 a.m. at La Bella Pearl’s Restaurant in Sewanee, and the five-mile run begins at 9:30 a.m., in downtown Sewanee, both finishing at Mountain Outfitters.

Packet pickup is from noon to 5 p.m., Friday, April 3, at Tower Community Bank in Monteagle.

For more information and to register, go to <https://www.mountaingoattrail.org>.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

In a discussion at the March 17 meeting about sewer service to the University apartments scheduled for occupancy fall semester 2027, Sewanee Utility District manager Ben Beavers alerted the board of commissioners to sewer capacity concerns. Although the University apartment project is not in jeopardy, future large-scale development on the University side of Highway 41 would require increasing the size of the sewer line under the highway, a major undertaking with multiple issues.

The University is willing to pay for increasing the size of the sewer line passing the apartments to 12 inches, Beavers said. All the sewage from Georgia Avenue and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School passes through that line. But increasing the size of the section of line passing the apartments will not address the capacity worries. The line joins the line passing under the highway which also carries sewage from much of the rest of campus. Beavers explained regulations stipulate design capacity is “half pipe”; at 0.8 capacity, the utility must pursue remedial solutions. “The sewer line under the highway is between those two [benchmarks], toward the high end,” Beavers said. “The problem already exists, and the apartments are making it worse.” SUD’s engineer advised against additional demand on the system beyond 10 houses over the next five years.

“That would restrict the University from adding additional apartment units,” said SUD President Charlie Smith.

“I made that perfectly clear,” Beavers said. “But we can’t compel them to [increase the line size] past the property line.”

Beavers cited an additional concern. Replacing the sewer line under the highway would entail significant disruption of the road, making Tennessee Department of Transportation approval necessary. “The manhole in the center of the highway is 14 feet deep,” Beavers said.

“This should have been dealt with before when the highway was narrowed [in 2021],” Smith insisted. SUD suggested increasing the line size at the time, but the advice was ignored.

In terms of small-scale remedies, SUD is undertaking extensive work to remediate inflow and infiltration (I&I) of rain water into the sewer lines. “The I&I work will help,” Beavers said.

To that end, the commission voted to dedicate surplus funds from the lead and copper survey to I&I rehabilitation. SUD funded the federally required lead and copper survey with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. I&I remediation is also an ARPA project. The grand administrators approved rededicating the use of the surplus funds.

In other business the board approved a contract authorizing continuation of the Wetlands Project until August 2028. The trial constructed wetlands, a research project undertaken jointly by the University of the South and the University of Georgia in 2015, studies wetlands’ effectiveness in cleaning wastewater.

The initial contract extension proposed by the University gave the University sole authority in selecting legal counsel in the event of an indemnity claim, regardless of who was named in the claim. SUD’s insurer objected. Paraphrasing the approved revision, Beavers said, “If the University is the sole claimant in a lawsuit, they get to control who their lawyer is. If both of us are named, we have to agree on who the counsel is.” Regardless, the University bears all costs.

Smith questioned the provision allowing “the University and its agents to access the property at all times.” Beavers said the previous contract allowed the same assess. “We’ve never had an issue. They’re good about telling us when they want to bring a class.” SUD accommodates the requests by leaving the gate open.

The board elected Donnie McBee to serve as vice president for the coming year.

David Haskell will give a reading from his new book, “How Flowers Made Our World,” followed by a book signing. The event is at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 25, in Convocation Hall. The book celebrates the creativity of flowering plants. Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer-winning author and journalist, called the book “mind-blowing.”

Haskell is a Professor Emeritus at the University of the South, and a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The reading is sponsored by the Departments of Environmental Arts and Humanities, English and Creative Writing, Biology, and the Dakin Fund.

Wright Thompson, author of the acclaimed new work about the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, will read from his book during a visit to the Sewanee area on March 23 –24.

In “The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder” in Mississippi (Penguin Books), Thompson grounds his understanding of the lynching of Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, in the historic soil of the Mississippi Delta, zeroing in on the barn where the torture and murder took place and that still stands today.

The Washington Post called The Barn “extraordinary ... an intimate history of the tragedy, but also a deep meditation on Mississippi and America.” Time magazine selected it as one of the 100 “Must Read” books of the year, “a sensitive, deeply reported book that will make you reconsider everything you thought you knew about Till’s lynching and its place in American history.” The writer Kiese Laymon called “The Barn” “the most brutal, layered and absolutely beautiful book about Mississippi, and really how the world conspired with the best and worst parts of Mississippi, I will ever read … Reporting and reckoning can get no better, or more important, than this.”

Wright will make two public appearances to discuss his work during his visit. At 6 p.m., Monday, March 23, he will be the featured speaker at “Coffee and Conversations,” sponsored by the Friends of the Franklin County Public Library, 105 S. Porter Street, in Winchester.

On Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m., he will read and discuss “The Barn” in Convocation Hall on the campus of the University of the South.

Thompson’s appearance in Sewanee is sponsored by the University’s Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation, in partnership with the Sewanee School of Letters and The Sewanee Review.

In connection with Thompson’s visit, the Roberson Project is offering a complementary copy to anyone in the greater Sewanee area who would like one.

To get your copy, please write to us at <robersonproject@sewanee.edu>. Book clubs are especially welcome to request multiple copies. But hurry because our supply is limited.

Thompson’s appearance is made possible by an extraordinary gift from friends of the Roberson Project and the Sewanee School of Letters.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Behind the scenes at the Sewanee production of the award-winning play “King James” is a triad of conversations: a play about a conversation between two men; art as a conversation with the audience; and a conversation between Sewanee’s Truth, Community Healing, and Transformation Center and the Perspectives in Performance initiative. It all began when Woody Register, director of the Roberson Project and then director of the TCHT, suggested to Chris McCreary, “Find a play!”

McCreary, on the staff of both TCHT and the Roberson Project for Race and Reconciliation, calls his work there, “my day job.” “I’m a theater kid by trade,” McCreary confessed. He has a master’s in directing from Portland College. When he arrived in Sewanee in 2023, he quickly found a home in Sewanee’s Theater Department as a guest artist, doing sound design, and occasional directing. McCreary and Register began discussing how to use art to accomplish TCHT’s mission, bringing people with apparent difference together to talk about issues that apply to all of them.

Coincidentally, professor Sarah Lacy Hamilton, theater, and professor Britt Threatt, English, were engaged in launching the Perspective in Performance project, with a like-minded goal: bringing professional actors to campus and using theater as a tool to foster communal belonging and dialogue across differences. In the first production, last fall’s The Niceties, a black student and her white professor engage in a brave conversation about the student’s paper on slavery.

Rising to Register’s challenge to “find a play,” McCreary zeroed in on “King James.” He pitched the play to the Perspective in Performance (PIP) team, and PIP welcomed “King James” with open arms. “It was a natural fit,” McCreary said.

In 2024, “King James” was nominated as an Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and won five Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle awards. “King James” opens with a struggling black writer, Shawn, meeting the white bartender, Matt, at Matt’s bar to buy 2003-2004 season tickets for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two men have only one thing in common, hero worship of the Cavaliers’ star player, LeBron James. Staged as four quarters rather than scenes, the seasons of James’ career are the topics that bind the men’s evolving relationship with each other and themselves.

“Sports are the framework where they communicate,” observed McCreary who directs the play. “We watch them become better at navigating and expressing their emotions, and we watch them struggle to do that and fail to do that. The play mirrors what it’s like to have meaningful a friend in your life, growing independently and growing together at the same time.”

Said critic Frank Scheck in the New York Stage Review commenting on playwright Rajiv Joseph’s gift for nuance, he “beautifully captures the vagaries of friendship, including the power imbalance dependencies that can affect them and the careless misunderstandings that can rupture them.”

“Sports is often seen as the only appropriate outlet for men to express emotions,” McCreary pointed out. “King James” both explodes and embraces that myth. The Sewanee production invites the audience to join the conversation. Between “the quarters,” Equity, Equal Opportunity director and education coordinator Dr. Syliva Gray engages the audience in the discussion.

“It’s not just about the play doing the work,” McCreary stressed. “In these times when things are getting bleaker and bleaker, and we’re getting pushed further into the corners, ‘King James’ reaches a hand out to staying connected and spurs a sense of belonging. And hopefully,” McCreary added, “it inspires people to hold the people in their lives a little bit closer.”

“King James” will be performed at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 20 through Saturday, March 21, at the Tennessee Williams Center: Studio Theatre. There is no charge for admission.

Jessie Ball duPont Library will celebrate the International Edible Books Festival with a contest scheduled for Monday, March 30, in the main lobby of the duPont Library. The entries for the contest will be accepted from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Public Viewing and People’s Choice Award Voting will be from 1–3:30 p.m. Winners will be announced at 4 p.m., with a reception to follow. This event is sponsored by The Friends of the Library, Sewanee Dining, and Library and Information Technology Services. Find out all the details about the event and register your entry at <https://library.sewanee.edu/ed...;. Entries are open to community members, as well as Sewanee students, staff, and faculty! Each entry should be edible — cakes, vegetables, fruits, bread, etc. — and represent a book or something about a book. Past entries have included “Grapes of Wrath,” “A Farewell to Arms,” and “The Hungry Caterpillar,” among other literary greats. We have six categories that will have prizes awarded: Punniest, Literary Theme, Showstopper, People’s Choice (popular vote), Best Team Entry, and Best Entry by a Child (under 12).

The City of Cowan has received a $25,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Action Grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The grant will be used to host public meetings and to create plans for improving Cowan’s downtown, including possible routes for the Mountain Goat Trail.

“With this grant, Cowan will have public meetings to learn what our citizens want to see happen in the downtown. We’ll have expert help coming up with a plan for the town’s future, including how the Mountain Goat Trail will come into town,” said Cowan mayor Richard Hunt.

The town will select a consulting firm to carry out the grant. Public meetings are scheduled to take place this spring.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“I’ve reiterated over and over to our designer, we want to remain a wilderness park. We don’t want to be like some of those other parks where you can reach out and touch your neighbor,” insisted Savage Gulf State Park Manager Aaron Reid responding to a question about distance between camp sites at a car camping area proposed for the $105 million capital project changes coming to Savage Gulf. At a March 5 public hearing, Reid talked about a grant to fund a connector trail from the Stone Door area to the proposed new development with 55-acre Laurel Creek Lake as the center attraction. Designated as a state Natural Area in 1973, the legendary Stone Door staircase between massive boulders leads into the heart of Savage Gulf, the largest state park in Tennessee encompassing nearly 20,000 acres.

Currently, four trailheads serve Savage Gulf. The first phase of the capital project will create a fifth trailhead just off Hwy. 56 near the Beersheba Springs Post Office. “We’re not allowed to build roads in the park,” Reid stressed. Annually, 160,000 visitors experience the park’s wild beauty, hiking or mountain biking on the 56 miles of trails. A gravel connector trail, just under a mile long, will join the Stone Door visitor center to the three-miles gravel trail that will circle Laurel Creek Lake.

Among the goals of the State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan is to “balance use with resource protection,” Reid observed. “The Great Stone Door is the park’s most iconic attraction. Visitors will be able to get there [from the lake] without driving.” Reid proposed the connector trail as part of the capital project, but it was not included in the budget. A federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant will fund the connector trail, estimated cost $180,000. The grant also includes funding to hire a landscape architect to engineer rehabilitation of the Stone Door trail built in the late 1980s. Reid anticipates funding the rehabilitation construction with another grant or money from the state.

The RTP grant rules will allow money spent on the capital project to count as the 20 percent matching funds requirement of the grant. Phase 2 of the capital project includes a visitor center with 100 parking spaces, 60 RV camping sites, 16 car camping sites, 16 yurt sites, three pavilions, a boat dock and boat rental.

Reid predicts the capital project’s Phase 1, constructing the road from Hwy. 56 to the lake area, will begin this summer, with phase 2 beginning next summer. For the connector trail project, full authorization and environmental review will likely take until early 2027. The timeline projects two years for implementation, but Reid said, “I don’t think it will take that long.”

Asked about new hiking trails, Reid doesn’t anticipate any in the Stone Door staircase area but pointed to possibilities on the south side of the park, perhaps a mountain bike trail, a trail to a waterfall, and a backpacking loop trail past Hobbs Cabin.

The Stone Door connector trail will pass one of the park’s nine backcountry campgrounds. “I foresee both day hikers and overnight campers using this trail. It will make the area more appealing and more user friendly to our visitors by allowing better access to our most popular attraction, which in this part of the park is the Great Stone Door.”

The park service welcomes public comments on the connector trail project through March 20. Mail comments to P.O. Box 561 Beersheba Springs, TN 37305 or submit comments to Reid via email at <aaron.reid@tn.gov>.

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“Better safe than sorry,” said Safety Director Chris Hawkersmith commenting on the 23 threats investigated last quarter at the March 9 Franklin County School Board meeting. But when asked if 23 threats was extreme, Hawkersmith was quick to point out, “That’s pretty average. And most threats don’t amount to much.” Hawkersmith’s Threat Assessment Report was featured in the Spotlight segment of the meeting. In regular business, the board approved several changes diverging from past practices: kindergarten starting age, the 2027-2028 school year calendar; and the director of schools contract.

Of the 23 threats reported from Oct. 31 to the present, 22 were students threatening students and one was a student threatening a teacher. Hawkersmith said each school had a threat assessment team that in the event of a threat conducted an inquiry, filled out extensive paperwork, and contacted the parents. Possible consequences, when deemed appropriate, range from suspension, to alternative school, to checking in with a counselor, to backpack checks. Hawkersmith acknowledged some of the threats were ridiculous. A first grader threatened to kill his teacher who refused to let him go outside after lunch, explaining it was not time for recess. “You wouldn’t believe some of these things,” Hawkersmith said, “but you’ve got to be careful.” He also emphasized the importance of not exaggerating the significance of the data. “Considering there are 11 schools, 23 threats is not a lot. It averages out to just two per school.”

Taking up policy, the board approved a change offering a possible route for kindergarten age children turning five after Aug. 15 to begin school that fall. Previously, the Compulsory Attendance Ages policy required a child to turn age five by Aug. 15 to be enrolled. The change applies to children who turn five between Aug. 16 and Sept. 30 who in some case may be allowed to start school. A special request must be made by the child’s parent or guardian, and the director of schools must conduct an “evaluation and examination” to determine if the child is sufficiently mature “emotionally and academically.” The policy change weighs a child’s readiness to start school against the high demands of testing in today’s educational environment.

The 2027-2028 school year calendar approved by the board provides for a smoother transition back into the school year. Offered a choice in school calendars for 2027-2028, 64 percent of the certified staff voted for a calendar in which the first day of school, an abbreviated day, was followed by a full week of classes. The alternative calendar proposed was typical of other school year calendars for beginning the school year by staggering abbreviated days and no school days, with an abbreviated first day followed by a no-school day or an abbreviated first day followed by a weekend. Guided by the certified staff vote, the board chose the calendar beginning with an abbreviated day followed by a full week of classes. The calendar can be viewed at: <fcstn.community.highbond.com/document/53d92b9c-6ca0-4620-a310-22e93b91078d/>.

The board also approved the contract for rising director of schools Roger Alsup. The contract is for four years, rather than three as was previously the case. The longer term gives Alsup more time to demonstrate his effectiveness and acknowledges a director’s first year is a learning process, so not a good measure of performance. If the board decides to extend or renew the contract, the board must give notice of their intention by January 1 of Alsup’s last year by the contract provisions. The previous April renewal deadline left the board very little time to find a replacement by July, if nonrenewal was the decision.

Board member Sarah Marehevsky alerted the board to new proposed legislation that would require schools to verify children’s immigration status and report it to the state, but would not authorize the schools to refuse to enroll them, as is the case with another bill being considered. Commenting on the new bill, touted by some as less egregious, board member Sarah Marhevsky said, “Families aren’t going to feel safe if they think their kids are being tracked. Not to mention, it’s not just students who don’t have legal status in the country who can’t provide documentation. It could be a foster kid who doesn’t have a copy of their birth certificate. Everyone should feel safe at school.”