No. 178: An Ode to Swine
⁂ Nashville's Alt-Daily ⁂ Tales from the ER · WithLove · LPRs · An Ode to Swine · Much More!
Good morning, everyone.
Below, we talk with local charity founder, Tay Scheibe, look at the latest developments in the Metro Council's attempt to install license plate readers, hold court on the role of the pig in regenerative agriculture, and look at where some of the COVID stimulus funds actually went.
In other news, the Doc joins us for the latest in his "Tales from the ER" series with some thoughts on the pressure that comes with delivering a good story to prying ears.
You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), LinkedIn (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.
Thanks for reading.
The latest installation in the “Tales from the ER” series by Doc Paracelsus. These tales are based on real cases. Identifying information and certain medical details have been altered to protect privacy.
Doc Paracelsus
FROM THE ARCHIVE
- Tales from the ER # 1: Los Paquetes (Read)
- Tales from the ER #2: We Got a Runner! (Read)
- Tales from the ER #3: A Nursery Story(Read)
- Tales from the ER #4: Freshly Baked Cookies (Read)
- Tales from the ER #5: Poisonous Poinsettias & Toxic Show & Tell (Read)
- Tales from the ER #8: VA Stories (Read)
❥ WITHLOVE CHARITY
We sat down with Tay Scheibe, Nashville resident and founder of WithLove Charity, to get some insight on how her organization has fared while navigating the obstacles presented during the ongoing presence of Covid-19.
Tay personally faced Large Cell Lymphoma after being diagnosed at the age of 10. She took up the battle against cancer twice and underwent multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and even a Bone Marrow Transplant. It wasn’t until age 12 that she finally attained cancer-free status. When she reached full remission status at age 21, Tay wanted to celebrate her journey by giving back. Starting with a simple toy collection for the pediatric cancer center she was treated at in Jacksonville, FL, WithLove Charity was born.
Tay’s story is personal, and so is her charity.
“So, I hate the concept ‘small.’ Like, when they say small non-profit or small business, because we’re doing big things. To change that mindset and instead refer to what we do as an intimate non-profit. We’re very personable.”
Tay goes on to explain that she has volunteered with major non-profits who mainly fundraise by selling merch, holding galas, and creating PR campaigns with exciting celebrity endorsements. Though she commends the charities that follow that model, she’s clear that isn’t her vision for WithLove Charity.
“We don’t want to become this multi-level non-profit where only 10% of what we get in goes to our actual mission… As we grow, I want to find people who have that same heart [referring to finding the right volunteers as the charity grows and the importance of how that effect the intimate, personalized, and interactive programs WithLove coordinates for pediatric cancer patients and their families].”
☄ MORE ON LICENSE PLATE READERS
Last weekend we touched on LPR (License Plate Readers) getting voted on for the second time in Metro Council. The bill filed as BL2021-961 will be up for third and final vote next week during Tuesday’s Metro City Council Meeting.
The council has gone to great lengths to help mitigate some of the hang-ups constituents have had about LPRs over the years. Davidson County is hardly the first one to the table when it comes to LPRs in Tennessee. In fact, Wilson County is the latest in a series of new counties that LPRs are being set up. The Mt. Juliet Police department has reported many positive statistics regarding the readers set up within their jurisdiction.
That being said, if you are in Davidson County we strongly suggest you do a few things before the Tuesday meeting:
- Review the bill
- Review arguments made for and against LPRs
- Look up your Council Member and let them know how you’d like them to vote
Technology like LPRs drastically changes the landscape of our Metropolitan area. The decision will affect every single person who drives through Davidson County.
HEADLINES
- Sobriety Checkpoints Planned for Friday Night (nashville.gov) One checkpoint will be on Franklin Road in the vicinity of Old Hickory Boulevard. the other on Franklin Road near Wilson Pike Circle.
- Legislators push for ballot question move on marijuana (Lookout) After years of marijuana bills being kicked around the General Assembly, only to be booted, two lawmakers are hoping to find out exactly what the public thinks about the weed with a ballot initiative.
- Tennessee’s medical board sticks with COVID misinformation policy over objection of GOP leaders (WPLN) Tennessee’s board of medical examiners has decided to keep its policy against doctors spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The unanimous vote on Tuesday was the latest volley of a power struggle with GOP leaders.
- Bipartisan bill would strip TWRA of ability to generate agency revenues from timber sales (Lookout) For decades, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has kept the profits from the sale of timber and other natural resources on publicly-owned lands, folding the payments from logging companies into the agency’s annual operating budget.
DEVELOPMENT
- Craft Brewed Proposes Tap Room With Rooftop In The Nations (Now Next)
- Construction start looms for MetroCenter hotel (Post)
- Hutton Hotel building sells for undisclosed sum (Post)
- Eric Church announces 6-story Lower Broadway honky-tonk (NBJ)
- Contemporary classics, cocktails and more at the Union Station's new restaurant (NBJ)
⚉ AN ODE TO SWINE ⚉
Pigs are known on the farm for their physical power and voracious appetite for just about anything. For those reasons, they are the tyrants in Orwell’s Animal Farm and powerful tools in the hands of the regenerative farmer.
A farmer is only as good as his land is fertile. The regenerative farmer isolates natural processes, concentrates them, and uses them as tools to increase the fertility of his land. His livestock and land rely on each other for good health, and he is their steward.
Swine are excellent land clearers. In the process of rooting around for a variety of feed, they bulldoze thickets and return them from whence they came. Grueling work for man, but nature to a pig. Their digestive systems turn matter that is biologically unavailable to plants into fertilizer. You could wait a year for decomposition or your hogs could do it in a couple of weeks. All the while, their cloven feet till the hog-made fertilizer and leaf litter into the land, enriching it further. Pigs feet are superior to mechanical tilling because they don’t delve deep enough to disturb established fungal networks or release valuable gasses beneath. Now your farmer has better dirt and more space; the stage is set for better growth. Throw grass seed down, let the pigs walk it into the ground for a day, let it grow, then bring the swine back to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Refertilize. Reseed. Cyclical.
A pig is as useful as a farmer is resourceful. Pen them in around a leaky pond for enough time and they will plug the leak by packing the earth. Throw feed around a stump and they will tear it out of the ground. Lace your compost pile with corn and they will turn it over for you when the time comes.
If only we could wrangle our would-be-despots and use them to enrich the country, which begs the question: what is a tyrant’s role in a well-functioning society?
Pigs and information on regenerative farming provided by Fairfax Farms
⤵ LOOSE DOLLARS SINK NATIONS
Some 2,000 foreign contractors and nonprofits in 177 countries received more than $6.4 billion in United States’ federal pandemic response assistance between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC).
Most of the “prime recipients” are based in the United States and distributed the funds overseas. The $6.4 billion in foreign payments came from two pandemic relief packages passed by Congress in March 2020 and March 2021 totaling $4.1 trillion.
Source:
More Than $6.4 Billion in US Pandemic Aid Sent Abroad, Including China
Epoch Times, January 26th, 2022, Read Online
⚔︎ MISSIVES ⚔︎
- (gun emoji) The San Jose, Calif., City Council has taken a major step toward passage of a law that would require gun-owning residents of city to hold liability insurance. The law would also require gun owners to pay a $25 annual fee, to be collected by a non-profit and disbursed to other organizations toward gun safety training, domestic violence prevention, suicide prevention, and mental health services.
- 💰 The Biden administration is preparing to release an executive action that will task federal agencies with regulating digital assets such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a matter of national security.
- 🏛 President Biden on Thursday reiterated his campaign pledge to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court, and said the nomination would be ready by the end of February.
- 🇨🇳 Days before Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in Beijing for a summit meeting with leader Xi Jinping, China warned the U.S. and its allies not to “hype up the crisis” around Ukraine, where Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops along the border.
THINGS TO DO
View the full calendar here.
This week you could get a dose of Psychobilly from Three Blue Teardrops at the Legion, swap seeds at Percy Warner, hear a sweet blend of Jazz/Blues/Country/Swing from Sweet Megg at Acme, get your sustenance from local farms, learn about prehistoric Native American history in the field, watch a monster truck rally, and learn to two step… All in one week. Go get yer ya-yas out.
TONIGHT
🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info
🎻 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🎻 SPBGMA Bluegrass Fest @ The Sheraton, 4:20p, $35, Info
+ Bluegrass music awards, national convention, and band competition
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
+ Best honky tonk in Nashville
🎻 Larry Stephenson Band @ The Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
+ Bluegrass pickers
TOMORROW
🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info
🐖 Charlotte farmers’ market @ Richland Park, 9a, Info
🐖 Franklin farmers’ market @ Franklin TN, 9a, Info
🍅 Seed Swap @ Warner Park Nature Center, 9a, Free, Info
🎻 SPBGMA Bluegrass Fest @ The Sheraton, 9a, $45, Info
+ Bluegrass music awards, national convention, and band competition
➤ Guided Tour of the Ancient Enclosure @ Old Stone Fort Park, 2p, $5, Info
+ See prehistoric Native American walls and learn about their creators
💃 Sweet Megg @ Acme Feed & Seed, 3p, Free, Info
+ Sweet as a peach
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🏆 Monster Truck Jam @ Bridgestone Arena, 6:30p, $20+
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
+ Best honky tonk in Nashville
🎸 Three Blue Teardrops @ American Legion Post 82, 9p, Free, Info
+ Finally, a little Psychobilly
SUNDAY
🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info
🎻 SPBGMA Bluegrass Fest @ The Sheraton, 9a, $45, Info
+ Bluegrass music awards, national convention, and band competition
🏆 Monster Truck Jam @ Bridgestone Arena, 6:30p, $20+, Info
NEW THIS WEEK
Edward Landstreet
Jerod Ra’Del Hollyfield
FROM THE ARCHIVE
William Harwood
Virgil Davis
Jerod Ra’Del Hollyfield
Megan Lee Podsiedlik
Around the Web
♕ Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow Are Big-Time Quarterbacks—With Small Hands Big hands used to be seen as a fundamental trait for passers. But the stars for the Chiefs and Bengals are part of a new generation—that grips the football completely unlike their predecessors.
♣︎ Russia as the "Great Satan" in the Liberal Imagination Why the culture war is global and there will be no insurgency in Ukraine
⚤ The cost of sexual liberation There's a price to pay for emancipation
Political Theater Highlight Reel
- Deadspin clarifies hit piece on ‘white guy’ 49ers coach to reflect he is biracial: ‘We regret the error.’
- Elon Musk voices support for Canadian truckers protesting Trudeau's vaccine mandates
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Words of Wisdom
"Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age."
James Joyce