“Goodnight with Dolly” features stories from the Imagination Library
 
PIGEON FORGE, TN (Tuesday, March 31, 2020) --- Dollywood and Abramorama, in association with The Dollywood Foundation, announced that Dolly Parton will read select children’s books from her Imagination Library each Thursday evening beginning on Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m. EST. For the next 10 weeks, “Goodnight With Dolly” will feature Parton reading books that have been specifically chosen for their appropriate content at this unique time.
 
Additionally, the Imagination Library documentary that was scheduled to premiere this week, will now open the week of Sept. 21 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The Library That Dolly Built tells the story of how the Imagination Library has gifted more than 135 million books to children since its inception in 1995. The program—part of The Dollywood Foundation—currently gifts books to 1.5 million children around the world each month. 
 
During each week’s “Goodnight With Dolly,” the entertainment icon—who is better known as The Book Lady to millions of children around the world—welcomes viewers and introduces the title, author and illustrator of the featured book. Snuggled in bed with her Imagination Library book, Parton will read each story in her own signature style.
 
The books featured in the series include: “There’s a Hole in the Log on the Bottom of the Lake” by Loren Long; “Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney; “I Am a Rainbow” by Parton; “Pass It On” by Sophy Henn; “Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon” by Patty Lovell; “Violet the Pilot” by Steve Breen; “Max & The Tag-Along Moon” by Floyd Cooper; “Last Stop on Market Street” by Matt de la Peña; “Coat of Many Colors” by Parton; and her favorite book, “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper.
 
The stories will be read across the social channels for the Imagination Library, Dolly Parton’s personal sites, the World Choice Investments family of attractions, and The Dollywood Company. The readings will be Dolly’s personal gift to all families. Her hope is that families will be inspired by her message to pass on love and keep hope alive as we all work together during this time. 
 
“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” she explained. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love. It is an honor for me to share the incredible talent of these authors and illustrators. They make us smile, they make us laugh and they make us think."
 
Regarding the film’s release, she adds, “Although it was the right thing to do, postponing the screening of our documentary was a disappointment. So many of our Imagination Library affiliates had organized events around the nationwide screenings; however, things do have a way of working out, so the documentary will still have its day.”
 
The Library that Dolly Built, directed and produced by Nick Geidner, journalism professor and director of Land Grant Films, and narrated by Danica McKellar, goes behind-the-scenes of the literacy-focused non-profit, Imagination Library, to show how one of the most famous and beloved performers in the world has developed an efficient and effective program for spreading the love of reading.
 
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library started as a gift for the children in Dolly’s hometown, Sevierville, Tennessee, and is now active in all 50 states and five countries. The film also provides a glimpse of the profound impact the Imagination Library has on the people through original interviews with authors, policymakers, Imagination Library staff, recipients, and the legend herself, Dolly Parton. Woven throughout the film is a biographical sketch of Dolly Parton, featuring rare photos and films from her childhood. Unlike most biographies of Dolly, it doesn’t focus on her music. Instead, it demonstrates that at every point in her career, any time she has had success, Dolly Parton has come back to Sevierville to give back to her people.
 
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About The Dollywood Foundation
The Dollywood Foundation was created in 1988 by Dolly Parton to inspire the children in her home county to achieve educational success. Initial efforts focused on decreasing the dropout rate in the county’s high school. In the early 90’s Dolly promised every 7th-grade and 8th-grade student she would personally give them $500 if they graduated from high school. This effort, called the Buddy Program, reduced the dropout rate for these two classes from 35% to 6%. More importantly, the program catalyzed the community to provide additional resources to sustain this improvement in the dropout rate. In 2016, The Dollywood Foundation led Dolly's efforts to assist families who lost their homes during the devastating wildfires which swept through her home county. The Foundation's My People Fund distributed more than $12,000,000 in direct assistance to more than 900 families in Sevier County. For more information, visit dollywoodfoundation.org.

Siblings Hope and Bo Newberry have come up with a novel idea to help people during the COVID-19 crisis: Lookout For America. “Lookout for America (LFA) is a national movement that empowers citizens, either individuals, small groups or larger organized groups, who are wanting to help.” The system is brilliantly simple. People who are shut in can place a green, yellow, or red piece of paper or clothing or cardboard in their window or on their porch or door or mailbox The green item signals that all is well: the yellow means there is a need and the request is attached; and the red color indicates the health status of those inside, such as high risk, elderly or sick. Red is also the caution signal for the helper to use full caution while helping.

This is not just a local effort. The Newberrys are spreading this community service campaign across the country and, urging newspapers to help in this cause by printing big swatches of the three colors that people can cut out and use to mark their house. Anyone who wants to participate can go on his or her own from neighborhood to neighborhood and spread the word as they look for colors that may already be at someone’s home. The time frame is from noon to 2 p.m.

“Lookout for America does many things that are very much in need now, and it may become more critical as the situation worsens and lasts longer. It sets up a hyper-local system for neighbors to help neighbors at its most basic level description,” Bo said. The Newberrys have heard from people across the nation who are starting to use the system in their neighborhoods. It is allowing the self-quarantined people, including the elderly, the ill and those with compromised immune systems, to get help easily. It helps to lower the fear and anxiety among many by showing them that they are not alone, and this system also encourages people to work together as neighbors to get through this crisis.

People must support each other as we go through this difficult time together. Lookout for America is a real-world example of how we can help our neighbor, pure and simple - regardless of politics, race or beliefs. It boils down to neighbors loving neighbors.

No money is involved and participation is voluntary. If you see a yellow signal at a home, simply read the attached request and if you can fill it, do so. Just leave the aspirin or food or request outside the door. We will get through this together by helping one another and showing people that we all care! Find Lookout for America on Facebook.
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by Gwin Tugman

​For better or worse, St. Patrick’s Day has become inextricably linked to overindulgence. In the U.S. at least, the holiday is unabashedly about drinking, and the accompanying cuisine is simple and hearty: corned beef, cabbage, and beer. Or whiskey, called in Irish Gaelic uisce beatha, the water of life. Sometimes brown or soda bread is included, which a friend of mine calls “soakage” when eaten before a big night on the town.

How did this happen? How did excessive drinking become connected with an Irish saint’s day?

Information about St. Patrick, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, is probably more legendary than factual, but historical consensus is that he was originally British and was taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped, returned to Britain, became a Christian cleric in France, and then was called, in the religious sense, to drive the snakes out of Ireland and convert the pagan people to Christianity. Scientists insist there weren’t any reptiles there anyway, because the frigid Irish Sea prevented their migration to the island. Others say that the story is meant to be a parable: snakes are symbolic of evil in Christianity, so Patrick was ridding the island of evil influences by converting the Irish from polytheism. All I know is that there are still no snakes in Ireland, making it an excellent place to live.

It’s also interesting that there is no official record of Patrick having been formally canonized by the Catholic Church, which didn’t begin keeping records of them until the 12th century. One source says that prior to that, people were named saints “by popular acclaim” for their good works. Whatever the case, Patrick is not only a saint, and has been for a very long time, he is also the Patron Saint of Ireland. The Church lists March 17 as his feast day, which has been celebrated for centuries. March 17 was chosen because that date is reputed to be the day Patrick died in 461. It could also have been chosen because the Spring Equinox, a pagan holiday, falls around March 21; perhaps the Church scheduled its holy day a few days earlier to beat the pagans to the punch.

The shamrock, a type of clover with three leaves, is also associated with St. Patrick. Sacred to the Druids because three was a mystical number, legend has it that he cleverly adopted the little plant as a way of explaining to the Irish the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity. (A four-leaf clover, just a shamrock with an extra leaf, is considered lucky because it’s rare.)

More esoteric is a plant native to the Middle East but known as Bells-of-Ireland. It grows in stalks with little clustered, solid green, bell-shaped blossoms. Most likely the color accounts for its name, because like the shamrock, the color has also become a symbol of Ireland. In the 1700s, shamrocks were symbols worn by the rebels fighting the British; they risked death by hanging by doing so. From this came the expression “the wearin’ of the green,” which is absolutely de rigueur on March 17.

It’s believed that St. Patrick’s feast day became one of “too much fun” because it falls during Lent, when Christians fast for 40 days. With the people accustomed to celebrating the Spring Equinox in March, the Church decided to suspend the restrictions for one day, with unexpected consequences.  Once the cork was out of the jug, the inevitable happened, and over time, overindulgence became the norm. Maybe this is where the word “crocked” came from.       
                                 
Irish immigrants naturally took their customs with them wherever they went, especially to America, where ironically, the first Irish immigrants were largely Protestants fleeing religious persecution, and for them St. Patrick’s Day was not a church occasion. For them, the day was a celebration of Irish traditions and culture, and this gave rise to the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Establishing the date and place of the first one is a challenge - several cities claim the honor - but it’s generally agreed that it began in America. Recently, a scholar uncovered a record of a parade in St. Augustine in 1601, organized by an Irish vicar named Richard Arthur. This is probably being hotly disputed, since Boston has long claimed that its celebration was the first in 1737.  The first recorded parade in New York City was held in 1766, organized by British soldiers, a fact that must irritate Irish patriots everywhere. As more Irish immigrated, the parades spread. Savannah, Ga., held the first parade outside the northeast in 1824 and still has the second largest parade in the country. The first parade was not held in Ireland until 1903! Today, March 17 is an official holiday in Ireland, drawing visitors from around the world to the parade in Dublin.

It is possible to celebrate the day less exuberantly, taking advantage of programs featuring Irish music and dancing: think Riverdance. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it on Netflix or YouTube. Locally, Rock City becomes Shamrock City, with everything Irish: music, jig lessons, food, dance performances, specialty beer, even the High Falls flowing green. Other celebrations are being planned, including a St. Chatty’s Day Parade, a block party at the Honest Pint, and several family-fun events.

The Irish, like all immigrant groups, have contributed immensely to the development, growth, and wonderfully diverse culture that makes up America today. They’re a proud people, and rightly so, even if they’re thought to be a bit too quick to fight and a bit too fond of the drink. There’s an old joke about a fella who sees a bar fight break out and asks, “Is this a private fight, or can anybody get in?”   

Writer G.K. Chesterton, called the Prince of Paradox, may have described them best:

For the Great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad.
Ah, it’s a divine madness then.
No wonder they have their own holy day.
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by Carol Lannon

Looking for a fresh take on gardening? Interested in conservation and the preservation of the unique ecosystem here in our beautiful Tennessee Valley? Dreaming of an opportunity to shop some of the best native plant nurseries in the Southeast? The Tennessee Valley Chapter of the Wild Ones is holding its ninth annual native plant symposium, “Plant Natives 2020!” on March 14 at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga University Center starting 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. with registration beginning at 8 a.m. This annual event brings gardeners, conservationists, landscapers and policy-makers together for inspiration and education as it focuses on the importance of native plants as the foundation for preserving and promoting biodiversity.

Keynoting the symposium is Benjamin Vogt, owner of Monarch Gardens LLC, a prairie garden design firm. Vogt speaks nationally and writes a sustainable garden column for houzz.com. His book’s title, “A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future,” is the theme for Vogt’s keynote speech. His second presentation’ “Busting Garden Management Myths,” will challenge some traditional practices that aren’t in sync with more natural plant processes.

Philip Juras, an Athens, Georgia-based landscape architect and landscape painter, will follow Vogt. Juras’ presentation will be “Picturing Nature’s Design in the Landscapes of the South,” which coincides with his exhibition opening March 4 at the University of Georgia Circle Gallery. Juras portrays the rich aesthetics of a wide range of ecologically intact environments by combining direct observation with the study of the natural science and history of the subject.

The symposium concludes with a presentation by Bodie Pennisi PhD, who will address “Creating a Healthy Biodiverse Community with Native Plants, Pollinators, and Other Beneficial Insects.” Dr. Pennisi is an extension horticulture specialist in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia. She will present her research findings on native plant and insect connections, a vital topic given that insects have suffered tremendous losses in recent years.

The symposium will be hosted by Amy Katcher-Dunne, former WDEF-TV News Channel 12 anchor and current Regional Director of External Affairs, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
All day long on Saturday, the Native Plant Marketplace and Expo will offer native plants, artwork, garden inspiration and opportunities to talk with representatives from area environmental nonprofit organizations, as well as showcase local students’ poster presentations. The Marketplace and Expo is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The cost for the symposium is $60 for Wild Ones members, $70 for the public for registrations before March 11, or $75 at the door on the day of the program. College students are $25 with a valid student ID. Lunch is included, and there will be door prizes, exhibitors and plenty of friendly people to meet. For more information and to register, go to www.tnvalleywildones.org/plantnatives-2020.

​Wild Ones memberships will be taken at the registration desk, or persons interested in joining may go to https://wildones.org/membership for more information and to become a member. The University Center is located at 642 E. Fifth Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee. ​

Megan Brock’s bio and resume are outstanding. She ran cross country and track in high school in Birmingham and rowed on the crew team when she was a student at the University of Alabama. After earning her masters degree in occupational therapy from UAB, she works at Erlanger Hospital. She recently chaired Music on the Mountain, Fairyland School’s fundraiser, and she is active in the Chattanooga Junior League.

The mother of three young children, Tully, Rivers and Scout, she is married to Ramsey Brock. Her in-laws are Mark and Lulu Brock, so clearly Megan’s athleticism easily fits in with this active family.

In fact, fitness instructor Lulu may have influenced Megan’s interest in fitness, as she recently received her certification in personal training. And she can add the Lookout Mountain Club to her resume.

“I decided to take the plunge into the world of fitness. I have always loved exercise and wellness and now have been given the wonderful opportunity to help members of the Lookout Mountain Club achieve their fitness goals. Whether you want to train for your first 5k, run a marathon, get stronger, tone up or just want to feel better in your own skin, together we can make that happen!” Megan says.

Megan will offer one-on-one coaching, small group training sessions with up to four members, and customized training programs. Specific workout styles include: High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, core strengthening, weight lifting, and steady state cardio, just to name a few.

Megan also has experience in road running a variety of distances, strength training, and postpartum training. Personal training is in her wheelhouse, as well, and she intends to create a space where members feel like they have the support and guidance to meet to heir personal health and fitness goals.

For more information or to schedule a training session with Megan, call the Lookout Mountain Club at (706) 820-1551.
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by Ferris Robinson

While everyone knows politics are best kept out of polite conversation, we all want to know more about a candidate from Lookout Mountain. Clayton Fuller is a Republican candidate running for Georgia’s 14th District in the U.S. Congress. Having grown up in the mountains of North Georgia in the quaint town of Helen, Clay is in the eighth generation of a family that has been in North Georgia since the 1800s. The people of North Georgia are extremely important to him.

Clayton attended Emory University in Atlanta before pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at Cornell University. During his last year at Cornell, Clay met an interesting fellow student named Kate Manthos. A U.S. citizen, Kate’s childhood was spent in London. Her American expat father met her mother in the U.K. when he was working there. Therefore, Kate and her sister grew up in London and attended the American School in London, which preceded Kate moving to the States to attend Cornell. Kate and Clayton met at the gym during Clay’s final year there. “It’s cheesy, but it just goes to show that exercise really is good for your heart!” Kate laughs.

Upon meeting at the gym, Clay confessed that he had seen Kate around campus, but she replied she had never noticed him. That was a great way to keep handsome 6-foot 5-inch man humble! Nonetheless, Clayton persevered and asked her out, and their love story commenced. 

Once the pair finished at Cornell, they moved to Dallas where Clay attended SMU Law School. After he graduated, Kate and Clay moved back to Georgia and settled on beautiful Lookout Mountain where Clay studied for the Georgia bar exam. After passing the bar, Clay began his lifelong commitment to public service. He served as an Air Force officer and then returned to Lookout Mountain to serve as a prosecutor with the Lookout Mountain judicial circuit. During this time, Kate and Clay welcomed daughter Tallulah and son Callum. Tallulah is now a third grader at Fairyland Elementary School, while Callum is a feisty three-year-old who attends Good Shepherd School. Since becoming a mother, Kate has worked part time at home doing consulting work in the shipping industry. But now, after spending a year in D.C. with her family as Clayton was selected for the White House Fellows program, she has embarked on a new journey.

“Last August, after returning from our year in D.C. and having Callum begin preschool, Clay and I founded Atticus Impact Investing LLC, which is an investment firm dedicated to bringing prosperity and growth to Appalachian towns,” Kate said.

“After being a part of the White House Fellows program, I returned to Georgia even more determined to effect change and bring prosperity and growth to this area and the Appalachian region as a whole. Kate and I founded Atticus with that purpose in mind, but when Tom Graves announced his retirement, I was called to run for his seat and to use my drive to fight for North Georgia in Congress,” Clayton said.

As a lifelong conservative and Republican, Clayton said it was a true honor to have the opportunity to work in the White House last year.  

“Because my assignment there was dual-hatted between the office of the vice president and the Department of Defense, I gained a unique perspective on both the political ins and outs of Washington, as well as top-level administration of a multi-billion dollar government agency,” Clayton explained.

When asked about which issues he is particularly passionate, Clayton responded, “Having grown up in North Georgia, I treasure our small towns. Their future success and prosperity is something near and dear to my heart. Over the years, meth and opioids have crippled our area and our nation. We now lose 70,000 people a year to this epidemic. Not to mention all of the unseen victims, whether that be orphans who lost their parents or innocent victims who are killed by those who are intoxicated. When I get to Washington, I will work to bring federal resources to help save and rehabilitate all who are affected by drug addiction. Ending the devastation caused by the flow of drugs into our communities is closely tied to one of my greatest motivators, which is bringing economic prosperity to North Georgia. I want to see this area thriving and benefiting from the economic boom that has already been lifting the coasts and cities for the past three years,” Clayton said.

In order to accomplish these goals, Clayton is running as a Republican to represent Georgia’s 14th District in the United States Congress. The 14th District is composed of 12 counties: Walker, Dade, Catoosa, Chattanooga, Murray, Polk, Haralson, Floyd, Paulding, Gordon, Pickens (partial), and Whitfield. 

“As a United States Congressman, I will help President Trump stop illegal immigration, defend our Second Amendment rights, bring prosperity and growth to small town America, and protect the unborn,” Clayton said.

Lately, campaigning is taking most of the Fullers’ time. However, their number one priority is spending time together as a family. They love spending time outside in the yard, hiking in the woods, and practicing basketball and baseball. Kate loves to do crossword puzzles and run, while Clayton, also an avid runner, has a passion for martial arts. Georgia voters can be reassured that Clayton Fuller will do his best to represent the 14th District well. You can find more information about Clayton’s campaign at www.claytonfuller.com, or follow him on Facebook at Clayton Fuller for Congress, or on Twitter @ClayforGA14.  
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by Ann Henley Perry