The Stories We Tell

President of Open Primaries, John Opdyke, joins The Shields Report to discuss primary voting and the myths surrounding it. How did it begin? What was the original intent of primary voting? Is it actually illegal to crossover vote in Tennessee? John is a wealth of knowledge and walks us through the necessary details regarding primaries.

Courtney Searcy has been an integral part of Our Jackson Home since its inception. Last October, Courtney stepped down as Director of OJH, leaving a lasting legacy of storytelling, creativity, and style. Throughout this episode, Courtney and I discuss her formative years growing up in Middle Tennessee, what brought her to Jackson, and how art can enhance community.

Tennessee Lookout reporter Adam Friedman joins ATA to discuss his most recent piece concerning charter school donations to the Lee campaign.

Dr. Mark Fowler joins Chuck and Gabe for Part 2 of this WAY Across the Aisle episode. The subject of this episode is public education. Check it out!

Chuck always likes to bust out the political number line when gauging the conservative or liberal leanings of people. Well, on this episode of ATA, Dr. Mark Fowler (a 6 or 7) on the conservative side joins Chuck (a 0-1) and Gabe (a 7 or 8) on the liberal side to discuss some national narratives such as education, the LGBTQ movement, and much more. The conversation was productive, informative, and respectful.

We deviate from the formula a little bit in this episode. While Jenci is definitely the focal point, the majority of this episode is spent talking about the work she does at W.R.A.P. WRAP was founded in 1975 as a volunteer-led rape crisis hotline. Since its founding, it has expanded to serve survivors of both sexual and domestic violence, as well as supporting children and families through the Relative Caregiver Program. WRAP is the largest agency of its kind in Tennessee in terms of geographic coverage.

My favorite episodes are the episodes where vulnerabililty is evident throughout the conversation. This is one of those episodes. Darin Hollingsworth sits down to have a conversation about mental health and how he's working to raise awareness for suicide prevention. In this episode, Darin tells his story of early trauma in childhood and how that manifested later in his adult life. He also opens up about how therapy and theatre have both helped him navigate some of the tough spots in his life. Most importantly, we discuss his work with Out of the Darkness and the movement to help bring awareness to suicide prevention.

Chuck and Gabe hit on some wild Tennessee topics such as Sexton's task force to discuss rejecting federal dollars for education. Billions of federal dollars. We also have an in-depth conversation about ACE Charter Schools with Dave Wicker. Dave is working on his doctorate and focusing on the cost and sustainability of charter schools. Hint: there's not a history of success.

Cody Stooksberry loves beer. In fact, he loves it so much that his job is to create new flavors and styles of beer. Yes, he's actually paid to do that. Cody is the brewmaster for Hub City Brewing and Rock-N-Dough Pizza, two staples of Downtown Jackson. On this episode, we discuss the how and why of Cody's start in brewing and how the process for him is both artistic and scientific.

ATA episodes will currently drop under the umbrella of TSWT. The purpose of ATA is to have informed, productive conversations from different ideological perspectives. On this episode, we talk with Lauren Kirk about the housing situation in Jackson and clear up some misinformation about Airbnb rentals. During the first 30 minutes, Chuck and I discuss some local news - charter school review, Deaton's resignation, and housing.