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Quillbilly

Sgt. George Jordan — Buffalo Soldier

Sgt. George Jordan — Buffalo Soldier

I’m working on a couple of podcast episodes about the Buffalo Soldiers, the Black cavalrymen who rode for the U.S. Army after the Civil War. One of them tells the story of Sergeant George Jordan. Jordan was born enslaved in Williamson County, Tennessee, just southwest of Nashville. He

A Succulent Chinese Meal

A Succulent Chinese Meal

The other day a new restaurant opened in Chattanooga. Ox2 Buns & Noodles. It’s wedged between Best Buy, Hamilton Liquor, and Fresh Market, out near Hamilton Place. I’d eaten there back when it was one of those Chinese places indistinguishable from the next, the kind with laminated menus,

Will Rogers Was America(n)

Will Rogers Was America(n)

Will Rogers, who died on this day in 1935, was the very definition of American. Born to a Cherokee Nation family in Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Rogers joked that though his ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower, they "met the boat." Dog Iron Ranch,

Scandal? What Scandal?

Scandal? What Scandal?

Scandal: a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it. -Merriam Webster Dictionary Prior to the modern era, Presidential scandals didn’t really exist, at least not to the point of capsizing an administration. Oh, there was lasciviousness, political malfeasance, and financial

Book Excerpt: MARINOVICH: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction

Book Excerpt: MARINOVICH: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction

MARINOVICH: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction By Todd Marinovich with Lizzy Wright Published by Matt Holt Books/BenBella Books Hardcover Prologue If you could be anyone in Los Angeles, who would you be? It wasn’t a complicated poll — classic fodder for the Mark & Brian Show.

After the Flood

After the Flood

Yesterday, Chattanooga hit a high water mark you don’t want to brag about—6.37 inches of rain in a single day. The airport logged it. The videos told the rest of the story: I-24 under water. East Brainerd a river. East Ridge and Gunbarrel swallowed up. And if

Little Miss Sure Shot and the Great Cocaine Pants Heist

Little Miss Sure Shot and the Great Cocaine Pants Heist

I bet you didn't learn this one in school. During the sweltering August heat of the summer of 1903, Annie Oakley—"Little Miss Sure Shot" herself—stole the pants of a black man and sold them for a few cents at a Chicago pawnshop. Oakley had