The Magic of Burritos
🌯 Baja Burrito heals · Health in Music City · State budget · Justin Jones and RFK Jr. · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
A restatement of our purpose this morning: to bring character back to Nashville. When we started The Pamphleteer, our goal was to enliven and bring color back to discussions about local matters. In the days of yore, when papers like the Tennessean and Banner weren’t beholden to corporate masters or non-profits masquerading under the relentlessly boring promise to deliver pure information, local media brimmed with life.
One aspect of my theory about why the local media landscape has so collapsed—beyond the more obvious economic challenges—is that it lost sight of this. No longer are people writing about a specific place for a specific person. Instead, they tilt at windmills for an imaginary audience in the hopes of securing prestige press awards. Or, they write for a narrow swath of the population that is hyper-engaged in local matters.
Phil Williams’ turn from a local gumshoe into a social justice warrior is a great example. The local aspect of local news has left the building, replaced by an imposter who seeks not to entertain, engage, and inform a regional audience, but to secure greater acclaim abroad.
I say all this as a preface to a fun bit of local color from a contributor about how Baja Burrito healed his broken hand. We like to blend stories like this, which give dimension and personality to Nashville, with more standard news coverage as exemplified by Megan’s fiefdom down in the Nashville section.
Onward.
It started, as most legendary tales do, on a Tuesday night in a beer league hockey game. I, a dedicated but not overly ambitious adult hockey player, was playing against a self proclaimed all-star player. Unfortunately he decided to channel the spirit of Paul Bunyan to stop a grade A scoring chance (pretty much any time I got the puck). Instead of chopping down trees, he attempted to chop my hand clean off my arm.
One doctor's visit and an X-ray later, the damage was clear: a chipped bone in my wrist, split right down the middle, clear as day. The doctor looked at me gravely, probably wondering why a man of my talents had not been recruited to the NHL (especially after he was able to get up close with my silky hands which many people including experts have said may even be the silkiest hands to ever come out of Tennessee). He let me know that I needed to see a specialist to assess how best to address my injury.
At the same time, an even more important journey had begun. I had embarked on a mission to set a record—a feat of endurance, perseverance, and most importantly, an undying love for burritos. My goal? To eat at Baja Burrito every single day they were open for an entire month. Some climb mountains, others run marathons; I chose to consume tacos and burritos with an unshakable devotion.
I didn't just meet my goal—I exceeded it. 33 consecutive days at Baja Burrito. The founding member of the Club de Un Mes. My dedication was unparalleled, my appetite unquenchable. While some may call this excessive, I prefer to call it "committed to the craft."
But here's where things take a turn from "dedicated foodie" to "accidental medical marvel." While I was diligently enjoying my daily burrito, I was also gathering second, third, and fourth opinions on my broken wrist. Surgery? Cast? A solemn vow to never play hockey again? No one could quite agree on the best course of action. What they could agree on was that we had to protect my gifted hands (Ben Carson stole that from me, by the way).
By the time I finally saw the surgeon, I braced myself for bad news. But instead of grim tidings, he simply looked at my X-rays in confusion. "Are you sure you ever broke this?" he asked.
Gone. The fracture had vanished. No evidence of injury. My wrist was fully healed as if nothing had ever happened. The medical professionals had no explanation. I had only one: Baja Burrito expedited my bone healing.
Now, I am no scientist (unless eating 33 consecutive burritos qualifies me for an honorary degree, Vanderbuilt has yet to respond to my inquiry), but I have no other way to explain it. My wrist, shattered by the reckless ambitions of a Tuesday night warrior, was mended not by surgery or medical intervention, but by the inexplicable, pineapple salsa-infused magic of Baja Burrito.
Could it be the perfectly seasoned steak? The spinach tortillas? The life-giving power of their salsa bar? The combination of fresh ingredients blended into a mystical healing elixir? The world may never know. But one thing is for sure: Baja Burrito is not just a restaurant. It is a place of medical miracles.
And so, I present to you the undeniable truth—Baja Burrito is not merely a local eatery. It is a mystical healing establishment, an oasis of tortilla-wrapped restoration. Science may scoff, but my fully healed wrist stands as proof. Forget medical advancements, throw out the textbooks—true healing lies in the sacred halls of Baja Burrito. SEAN HAGAN
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🏥 Health In Music City County Health Rankings recently released health data showing that the average lifespan in Nashville is 75.1 years. Though that number is higher than the state’s average, it’s still lower than the national life expectancy. The area with the highest expectancy in Tennessee happens to be Williamson County (81.5). The county clocking in with the lowest projection is Cocke County (68).
When it comes to quality of life, 2022 data shows that poor mental health is more prevalent than poor physical health in Davidson County. Over an average, 30-day period, adults in Music City reported that their mental health was not good on 6.1 days while they reported that their physical health was not good on 4.2.
When looking at information about Nashville’s dreaded commute, data from 2019-2023 shows that 68 percent of people are driving to work alone—35 percent of whom are commuting from at least 30 minutes away. As for housing issues, 17 percent of households are experiencing overcrowding, high housing costs, lack of kitchen facilities, or lack of plumbing facilities according to data from 2017-2021.
💸 State Budget Update Yesterday, Governor Lee introduced a $343 million amendment to his proposed budget. After reshuffling the deck and making a few additions, the governor’s spending plan is now up to $59.76 billion.
While State Affairs revealed that the updates could add almost $500 million in new capital spending, changes include several small adjustments such as $3 million toward summer food programs. According to the Tennessean, the state previously rejected $75 million in federal funding to help families buy groceries over the summer.
A few of the larger proposals could make an additional $20 million in school safety grants available, add $20 million for charter school facilities, increase grants for faith-based entities by $16 million, and provide an additional $10 million for artificial intelligence implementation. Money was also moved around based on updated public school enrollment information. As a result, projected TISA formula allocations decreased by $15.9 million.
🩺 Justin Jones Champions…Trump & RFK Jr.? In a surprising statement given by Representative Justin Jones last week, the Nashville Democrat aligned himself with President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Erin Brockovich while speaking about a pesticide bill making its way through the House. The legislation has attracted strong opposition from constituents on both sides of the aisle given that it would protect pesticide manufacturers and sellers against certain lawsuits in Tennessee.
“Nebraska, Mississippi, Iowa, Idaho, Missouri, many of these states rejected this legislation because they knew that it was harmful for their constituents,” said Jones during last Tuesday’s House Ag Committee meeting. “When they failed to pass this bill, it did not destroy agriculture in their state. And so, I just want to say this is one of the few times…on this committee where we have bipartisan opposition to a bill.”
He went on to share how he’s received countless emails from staunch conservatives who are “fearful of what this bill will do because we're putting the rights of companies based in Beijing and Berlin over the lives of Tennesseans.” Before he was cut off by the committee chair, Jones professed his unlikely alignment with White House leadership: “You know, Robert Kennedy Jr., our HHS Secretary, talk[s] about Make America Healthy Again….I don't support President Trump, and on this, I agree with their administration.”
DEVELOPMENT
- James Beard finalist Kisser unveils new concept slated for Germantown (NBJ)
- Asurion ends jobs grant as local headcount shrinks (NBJ)
- Plans progress for North Gulch hotel project (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Deftones @ Bridgestone Arena, 7p, $40+, Info
🎸 Band As One Nashville with Trisha Yearwood & Friends @ Ryman Auditorium, 7p, $100+, Info + with special guests Lauren Alaina, Kristin Chenoweth, Terri Clark, Anita Cochran, Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant, Keith Urban, and Lainey Wilson
🎸 Nate Mercereau @ The Blue Room, 7p, $26, Info
🎸 Violent Femmes @ The Caverns, 7p, $75.50, Info
💻 Kraftwerk @ The Pinnacle, 8p, $56+, Info
🪕 Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival @ Multiple Venues, $15+, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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