by Sonia Young

Siskin Children’s Institute will present the multi-platinum selling band Starship, featuring Mickey Thomas, at StarNight, the much-anticipated annual fundraising gala.

Co-chairs Alnoor and Gina Dhanani of The Double Cola Company invite all to the event on Saturday, August 24, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Mickey Thomas has established himself as one of rock music’s most recognizable stars, making his mark in 1976 as lead vocalist with The Elvin Bishop Band. In 1979 he joined Jefferson Starship as lead vocalist, and the group immediately scored a No. 1 hit with “Jane.”  With this new sound and powerful vocals, the group was renamed Starship and continued to record an amazing string of hits, including Oscar nominated No. 1 hit “Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now” from the movie “Mannequin.” From that time on, every Starship album released since 1979 has gone Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum. In Addition to Mickey, band members include Jeff Adams, John Roth, Phil Bennett, Darrell Verdusco and Stephanie Bennett.

StarNight guests will enjoy a full night of entertainment, beginning with the cocktail hour featuring local vocalist Robin Grant and rounding out the night with Bizz & Everyday People, a Nashville based group, to keep you dancing at the StarNight After Party.

StarNight 2019 opens with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., then moves to a formal dinner followed by a concert performance by Starship featuring Mickey Thomas.  The fun continues with the after party music and dancing from Bizz & Everyday People.

Sponsors for this fabulous event include Double Cola Company, Siskin Steel & Supply Company, SecurAmerica, Hamico, Southeastern Salvage, JoAnn Yates, CBL Properties, Athens Distributing, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Entercom.
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The Siskin Children’s Institute has been serving children with special needs and their families since 1950. For more information visit siskin.org/starnight.

By Ann Henley Perry
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Hunt Davidson was born in Atlanta, but spent most of his childhood in nearby Rome, Ga. However, the four years his family spent as missionaries in Bolivia during his formative years made quite an impression.
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“After going to a public high school, I attended Covenant College, where I earned a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies. During that time, I studied abroad at Oxford. That semester re-oriented me from jock to nerd. After graduating from Covenant in 2011, I dabbled in a [master of science] program at Belmont, but dropped out to pursue my [master of teaching degree] at Covenant. After obtaining this degree, I began my teaching career at Chattanooga Christian School, punctuated in the middle with a year [of] grad school at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., where I earned a [master of liberal arts] degree.”

When asked how he became interested in teaching, Hunt expounded, “This is a simple and strange story. I never thought of myself as a teacher until I was 22. After a misbegotten grad school attempt in 2012, I had a conversation with Jim Drexler at Covenant. He encouraged me to consider the M.A.T., which I did.  I haven’t looked back since! I credit Dr. Drexler and the MAT program at Covenant for helping me see my calling. “

Chattanooga Christian School was home to Hunt in his first years of teaching. He taught history there for five years, including freshmen and junior courses in economic literacy, civics/government, U.S. history, and his personal favorite, ancient and medieval history.
     
When he is not working, Hunt enjoys time with his beautiful family. Hunt met his wife, Tera, during his senior year at Covenant in 2010, which happened to be her junior year in college.
“I joined the running club just to get to know her - I hate running,” Hunt confessed. “We were married in the summer of 2012 and have been in Chattanooga ever since, with the exception of our 14-month adventure in Annapolis, Md., in 2016.”

Tera co-founded and helps run a local house cleaning business called Mountaintop Maids.  They are the parents of two sons, Roman Arthur Davison, almost 3, and Abraham Edward Davidson, 1.

While CCS was a wonderful fit for Hunt, he decided to take a chance on his dream. “In short, Tera and I decided that this was a good time for our family to take a risk: small children, no debt, and a clear and robust vision. So, we are going for it, and if we fail, we’ll be all the better for it. I’d rather be 70 and have taken a risk and failed than regret not taking the risk to begin with because I was a coward,” Hunt said.

With great courage, Hunt is launching the Logos Tutoring Program. Hunt formed a group of eight middle school-aged young men who will join with him to read books and spend time outside together, integrating their hearts, minds, and bodies into a whole along the path towards manhood. He will lead with the dual perspective of a teacher of the humanities and as a father of young sons.  

Hunt’s family has a 70-acre farm where he intends to take the boys to read and share good literature with them while also enjoying nature. During their time on the farm, the boys will build bonfires, scavenge for food, explore, recite poetry, and learn about the earth.

Casting his vision, Hunt contemplated, “I want to create a space for boys to grow together in heart, mind, and body, thus becoming more fully integrated in the path towards manhood. I want to teach them how to ask and pursue the right questions, and how to rest in ambiguity and paradox. I want to stir their vital energy of curiosity, which, if not cultivated mentally and physically, will atrophy. Having taught high school history for four years, I have seen too many boys remain boys during that vital time between 14-18. My heart is to spur my students towards true manhood through reading books and working with our hands together.”

Hunt’s plan is to guide them through a robust curriculum of great books where they can learn the arts of reading, writing, listening, and speaking through communal inquiry into some of the greatest books ever written. Boys will participate in a tutorial during which they meet with Hunt one-on-one once a week for an hour. During this time, they will discuss the student’s essay about a question regarding that week’s reading. The whole group of students will also meet together once a week for an hour or so for a seminar.
Hunt claims, “Students will meet to have a rousing, freewheeling discussion about the book that they have all been reading and writing about on their own.” Books the students may explore include such classics as “Lord of the Flies,” “Treasure Island,” “Hatchet,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Catcher in the Rye,” among many others. Hunt’s goal is to combine the seminar and tutorial to create a weekly rhythm for each boy that is both intensely personal and individualized through the one-on-one tutorial and intensely communal through whole-group seminar.    

Hillwood, the name of the family’s land on Lookout Mountain, includes 10 acres of bucolic cleared pasture, a creek, and about 60 acres of woods to explore. Weekly, Hunt and the boys will visit the property at Hillwood (located about 15 minutes south of Covenant College on Highway 157) to learn about the earth, fall in love with nature, and learn lessons out in the wild.

While eight boys are enrolled now, Hunt has room for four more, with a capacity of 12. If interested, you can call Hunt Davidson at (706) 936-0125 or email him at hunt.davidson@gmail.com. What a tremendous educational gift this will be to our community!

The guiding principle of the Logos Tutoring Program for Boys is centered within the Greek word Logos. This word has a meaning that grows deeper the more one delves into it. It has been translated as speech, reason, account, counting, ground, plea, proportion, discourse, gathering, ratio, word, plan, principle. The preeminent Greek-English lexicon Liddell-Scott describes it as “that by which the inward thought is expressed; the inward thought itself.” Logos is the Greek word in the Gospel of John that English-speakers translate as “Word,” in reference to Jesus, who is described as the Logos embodied. Logos is the foundational logic behind any good argument. It is the unifying principle that animates and rules the cosmos. It is that by which we live and move and have our being. It is the Tao. It is the divine spark that resides in every human. Logos is before all things and by it all things hold together.

Logos is fundamentally connected to language. The capacity for man to use language is divine. It is of God. In light of that fact, one of the most important elements of the Logos Tutoring Program is engagement in truthful speech - that is, to use our speech, both written and oral, to speak truth in love. To that end, truthful and brave dialogue is perhaps the essentil element of the program.

If one becomes a master of language, and if this mastery submits to love, he becomes competent enough to take on any problem or vocation, strong enough to pick up the heaviest load he can carry and walk forward, brave enough to get kicked in the teeth by the world and stand up again, compassionate enough to lay down his life for his friends.
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For those of you who are familiar with J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, “The Lord of the Rings,” you can consider the Logos Tutoring Program as a training ground for potential members of the Dunedain.

By Ferris Robinson

You probably know Tammy Puryear from the Lookout Mountain Club. She’s worked as its catering director since 2003, making sure every wedding, family reunion, anniversary, rehearsal dinner and important gathering goes off without a hitch. Under her experienced and watchful eye, the food is always delicious, the tables are set just so and the event is sure to be fun, flawless and fabulous.

But did you know she’s a farmer as well? She lives on four acres, and one of them is devoted to growing things like kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets and chard. She sells her organic produce to a few upscale restaurants, but also sells it to folks who want the benefit of organic, fresh-picked, minutes-from-the-farm produce but don’t have the wherewithal to grow it themselves.

Truly, I’ve never seen vegetables of the quality Tammy grows in any grocery store – no matter how upscale. Take her kale for example. Kale is not the kind of food I like to pop in my mouth. I have to season it with olive oil and vinegar and honey and chili powder and more honey and add just a tad more of all of the aforementioned. But when Tammy held the bag of kale out for me to see, I actually grabbed a leaf of the thick green ruffled vegetable and yes, I popped it in my mouth. And I didn’t spit it out.

Later, I made a big kale salad with cranberries and almonds and blue cheese and tossed it with a little olive oil, red wine vinegar and honey. But truthfully, it didn’t need as much as I used.

I’ll get cucumbers, beets and baby tomatoes this week from Tammy, and hope I can get whatever she’s picking fresh from the field the week after that. She clearly knows what she’s doing, and she’s committed to farming organically. She buys her seed from a small store in McMinnville that only sells organic seed. And she learned everything she needs to know from her father, UC Puryer, who farms Sequatchie Valley in a place called Coppinger Cove. Proud as punch of her efforts and success, he is quick to share his farming tips with her.
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Tammy also is a beekeeper, and currently has four hives. And, yes, she is willing to sell the honey. If you’d like to treat yourself to some fresh veggies that are truly tended with love and care, call Tammy at (423) 432-0214.

Friday, August 16, 2019
6:30pm at the Commons 
Lupi’s pizza and Kona Shaved Ice food trucks
Bring friends, blankets, and chairs!
You will want money for the food trucks or a picnic dinner!
The movie will begin at sunset around 8:45pm. 
Enjoy socializing with neighbors before the movie. All are encouraged to attend!
Love Lookout Merchandise will be for sale!

Mark your calendars for Thursday, September 5, for the 11th annual National Treasures: Party at Point Park, hosted by National Park Partners. This year’s theme is “Partner with YOUR Park,” and guests are invited to enjoy a casual evening of dinner, drinks, and music set against the stunning views from Point Park. Festivities will kick off at 5:30 p.m. and will once again feature the only time all year for guests to have pictures made at the iconic Umbrella Rock.

National Treasures co-chairs Becky Browder and Lana Freeland are leading an experienced event committee and coordinating the donation of over 60 items for the silent auction. From restaurant gift cards to one-of-a-kind experiences and specialty baskets, guests will have a wide variety of choices at every price point. The delicious buffet supper will be catered by C&W Café and include southern-style barbecue and all your comfort food favorites, along with some healthy plant-based options. Clumpie’s ice cream cart will be on hand for an after-dinner treat. Throughout the evening, guests will be treated to the smooth sounds of Chattanooga’s own Power Players, featuring Johnny Smith, playing R&B favorites with contemporary classics mixed in.

National Park Service Superintendent Brad Bennett will be on hand to visit with event attendees, and interpretive national park rangers will be stationed at Umbrella Rock to share stories of how this became the area’s first major tourist attraction, as well as the history of the Ochs Museum. Totaling around 9,100 acres, the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park is the largest public open space in the region and was the very first National Military Park to be dedicated in the country.

Our National Park remains the largest tourist draw in the Chattanooga area, with nearly 950,000 visitors in 2018 spending time among the six units of the park: Chickamauga Battlefield; Lookout Mountain Battlefield; Missionary Ridge; Moccasin Bend National Archeological District; Orchard Knob, and Signal Point. “We are grateful to have First Tennessee Foundation and McKee Foods returning as our Presenting Sponsors,” remarks Tricia Mims, executive director of National Park Partners. “The support of the business community and their recognition of the economic impact of the Park, totaling nearly $70 million in 2018, is deeply appreciated.”

Lookout Mountain’s own Keith Sanford, a regular guest of National Treasures, encourages his fellow residents and all who enjoy the peaceful beauty of our National Park to support the event. “Our community is so fortunate to have these tremendous natural, cultural, and historic resources in virtually every direction you look around town,” says Sanford. “This even is a great way to give back to the National Park that gives so much to our area.”
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Tickets to National Treasures are $75 each or $130 per couple, with a portion of the ticket cost being a tax-deductible donation. “Host Partner” sponsorships are available at $500 and include four tickets to the event. The deadline for purchasing tickets is Friday, August 30. For more information, call (423) 648-5623 or go to npp-ccm.org.

By Melissa Cairns
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“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow…” The essence of this encouraging proverb can be traced as far back to Chaucer in the 1300s. This fits the one-of-a-kind Fairyland School and the mission of each faculty and staff member beautifully, all nurturing a future generation to do mighty and wonderful things! A beautiful permanent rendition of this quote has come to glorious life in the library.

Beginning at the end of this past school year, the library began a full transformation. Unneeded shelving was dismantled and removed, giving way to a maker-space corner (complete with an epic Lego wall) and a revamped casual seating area with a gorgeous mural and art project, both themed after a much loved story. Coordinating vinyl seat cushions were permanently attached to all library wooden seating (much to the delight of students and librarian alike), and thanks to Walker County Schools, a new coordinating carpet replaced the over 20- year-old one in the space.       
    
The crowning glory and highlight to the renovation are the three-dimensional trees and outdoor scenes in the main meeting space and casual seating areas, created by a team of local artists (CORE Associates from Dayton, Tenn.). In the main meeting space, where all Fairyland students gather weekly to encounter the love of learning through reading, a life-size oak tree with autumn leaves and a chair built into the trunk have come to life on one side, and a rock outcropping with a stone archway is on the other side, both wrapping around the top and framing a beautiful, pre-existing painting of the outdoors.  A small, wood-stamped concrete stage was constructed at the base, creating a scene of an outdoor view on Lookout. Thanks to contributions from the incredible Fairyland family, the project also includes an additional small tree in the casual seating area featuring a painting and memorial book art themed after “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” by William Joyce. There will be a grand opening of this new space on Saturday, August 10, from 2-4, and the community is invited.   
 
This project is a big one for this author-librarian, as a tiny, acorn-sized fraction of it has been in my head and heart since I started at FES 15 years ago. I was asked to do an ideal library design for a grad school course, and, after looking at the large painting of the outdoors I’d read by each day, this is what developed. Its outcome exceeds anything I could have ever imagined. I am beyond thrilled at the fruition of this project and can already see what a safe, wonder-instilling, sanctuary of a space this will be to generations of Fairyland family members. On their behalf, I couldn’t be more grateful.     

Without the vision of Dawn White and David Manser from CORE Associates, constant support and encouragement from parent volunteer coordinator Deanna Willingham and PTO president Sarah Lehn, the financial support of our PTO, and the Fairyland family and community, the Fairyland Forest would not exist. Additional thanks go to a score of parent, staff and community volunteers, including Emily Scoggins, Mary Evans, Monica Landis, Debbie Shannon and Jenny Wells and their families, as well as FES staff members Beth Bradford, Morgan Lingerfelt, Elizabeth Millirons (along with artistic skills of her sons Harrison and Emory) and Amanda Roach for volunteering some of their precious summer hours to this large, multi-faceted project. The space is unique, beautiful, and more than ready to be filled with students who will read, wonder, think, learn and grow!

The legacy of a feral cat named Alice lives on through the Alice Fund, a local nonprofit that provides medical care and supplies for cats in need.
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Art’s Meow, The Alice Fund’s signature fundraising event, includes a wine reception and work from 30 area artists who will portray cats, as well as other works.

The opening takes place Friday, August 2, from 5-8 p.m. at the Exum Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 305 W. Seventh St. The show will hang through August 25 and may be viewed Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Go to thealicefund.org for more information. ​