The youth is gonna be alright
😷 The COVID War Kids · Dispatch from a protest · Substitute budget on offer · TN cheap to raise kids · Film rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Today, Jerod reflects on how COVID affected the youth, and we report on a boring protest downtown, briefly look at the substitute budget, and present our weekly film rundown. First time reading? Sign up here.
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The pandemic wrecked Gen Z. Now, they’re upending the arts and culture status quo.
From Jerod Hollyfield
The students sat in the hallway outside the classroom on this late January morning, their gently used editions of mass comm staple Media & Culture propped open as they furiously flicked through the pages. Like most college professors, I was prepared for this semester’s first round of textbook pushback. At schools public and private, large and small, faculty had held unproductive meetings and emergency workshops for years regarding Gen Z — a student population whose inability to tackle even the most rudimentary of texts led to a decisively pervasive academic crisis without the headline-grabbing cachet that meets the latest Lib of TikTok.
Since an undergrad at a flashy Southern art school some years ago complained to the Dean because I assigned 7.5 pages of reading a night, Gen Z student behavior had ceased to surprise me. But the members of this new class seemed extra perturbed. As I moved to unlock the room, a female freshman looked up at me with immutable rage. “Why does this book keep talking about COVID? I don’t want to hear it. We lived it. We don’t need to be reminded a million times on every page.”
In truth, I’d had the same thought. The latest edition of the stalwart textbook that had served as an anchor of my own education twenty years ago had devolved into such an embarrassment that I felt bad asking students to spend money on it. Desperately trying to stay hip to the times, the authors filled the pages with the type of COVID allusions, BLM bromides, and ubiquitous references to democracy that clogged Twitter in the pre-Elon days.
But, the students were no longer buying it. Eight years ago, residence life staff had offered on-campus cry rooms so Gen Z could cope with the President’s surprise 2016 win. But by November 2024, its support propelled Donald Trump back into the White House. Many a time on the political circuit, I’ve heard the allegations from the elders. Gen Z is weak. They really need a war like the rest of us had. But, with the pandemic, they got their war. And, as Gen Z passes the torch to the next generation, they proved they handled it better than the rest of us.
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik and Davis Hunt.
🪧 Dispatch from a Protest This morning, a group of journalists and activists gathered at the Fred Thompson Federal Courthouse to protest the detention of illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia is scheduled to be arraigned today on human trafficking charges.
The particulars of what the protests are about aren’t really important because all the same people who show up to protest, say, the state government thinking about forgoing federal education funds, show up. The Democratic Socialists of America were there. The Party for Socialism and Liberation was there. Etc. One big blob of protestors just vaguely venting anger.
I went to observe this morning for a minute. Aside from hearing chants like “Jesus would’ve been on our side” and witnessing an old lady with wild eyes bouncing around with an American flag, pausing in front of a passerby, and yelling, “Don’t be satisfied with the status quo because it’s broken,” the main thing that stuck was how journalists waddle around the periphery like cattle feeding at a fetid pond. Yes, I was there. I was among the journalists. I was the cow drinking from the fetid pond.
But let me tell you about the others. All the big names were there, including Footman Phil in all his glory. I couldn’t really tell what these journalists were doing. Kind of just hanging out, talking to each other, slowly wandering over to “areas of interest” to observe and jot notes, maybe hoping for some confrontation they could use to give the protest a narrative.
One incident that drew a host of journalists was when an old man approached a speaker and interrupted the proceedings. I couldn’t really tell what he was talking about, but his presence immediately drew a swarm of reporters who lolled their heads up from the pond, swatted the flies off their ass, and slowly gathered around the man with their cameras as he exited shouting.
Another peculiar thing was the UVOTN people wearing yellow vests and ear pieces patrolling the perimeter. As our disruptor left the scene, one of them paused in front of me. “He’s moving South on Seventh, South on Seventh,” he reported. DAVIS HUNT
💰 Substitute Budget Keeps O’Connell’s Tax Rate Metro Council Budget & Finance Committee Chair Delishia Porterfield filed her Substitute Budget Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2026, building on Mayor O’Connell’s proposed budget. Porterfield kept the mayor’s property tax increase and reallocated some money to prioritize a 1 percent pay increase for Metro employees ($8.2 million). She also made a few more investments focusing on supporting Nashville’s youth and emergency food assistance.
The council will vote on Porterfield’s substitute during next week’s council meeting, but it may run into some competition. A coalition of council members plans to bring forward a proposal that includes lower property tax rates. The council has until June 30 to pass a budget or the mayor’s proposal will automatically take effect.
🚼 TN Cities Cheapest To Raise Children Nashville and Memphis land in the top three least expensive major American cities to raise a child. SmartAsset gathered data from 48 of the largest U.S. cities. Memphis came in as the second least expensive, with the total annual cost of raising a child in 2025 at $19,264. Nashville came in third, with the total in 2025 being $20,787. The most expensive city to raise children in America is the Boston Metro, which totaled $39,221 for this year. According to the study, $23,800 of those funds are spent on childcare.
DEVELOPMENT
- Florida apartment giant eyes 400 homes near Wedgewood-Houston (NBJ)
- East Nashville apartment building listed for $1.29M (Post)
- Rock Block tavern Corner Bar South finds new home (Post)
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: June 13-19
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming titles, check out the 2025 Film Guide.
The Unholy Trinity (Dir. Richard Gray) A young gunslinger seeking vengeance for his hanged father finds himself torn between an Irish lawman (Pierce Brosnan) and a rogue gold hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) in this thematically dense and beautifully shot western. Read our interview with Gray here. Now playing in theaters.
Materialists (Dir. Celine Song) The director’s follow-up to Best Picture nominee Past Lives glows up the romcom as a NYC matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) develops an A24-style love triangle with Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. The big screen needs more adult movies like this. Now playing in theaters.
Life of Chuck (Mike Flanagan) Stephen King’s latest foray into the life-affirming features Tom Hiddleston as “Charles 'Chuck' Krantz” who “experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.” Now playing in theaters.
How to Train Your Dragon (Dir. Dean DeBlois) The animated new classic about a boy and his dragon gets a live-action remake. Now playing in theaters.
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
🎸 Bonnaroo @ Manchester, TN, Info
+ feat. Tyler, The Creator, John Summit, Glass Animals and more...
🎸 Musicians Corner @ Centennial Park, 5p, Free, Info
+ feat. Eddie 9V, Sean Thompson's Weird Ears and more...
🥁 AfricaNashville Presents: Ibro Dioubate & guests @ The Blue Room, 7p, $19.50, Info
🎻 HAUSER @ Ascend Amphitheater, 8p, $32, Info
🎷 The Rat Pack Summer Show: A Tribute to the Sounds of Sinatra featuring Richard Jacques, Keith Sargent, Kyle Henry and Michelle Murray @ 3rd and Lindsley, 8p, $22.55, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).