January February 2023

Often seen as the Smokies' little sibling, the Big South Fork rides like an emergency $20 bill in my wallet. As leaf peepers crowd the usual, high-altitude routes, I sneak off into this gorge to feast on colors that flow downstream…
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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities The 1960s, so long ago, left lasting impressions for those in this country who stood…
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It's not the stories that I often tell that haunt me, the fun ones around the campfire celebrating the success of a good sporting trip. No, the ones that keep me up at night are those where pure instinct took over and adrenaline coursed…
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With thousands of fans in Knoxville, consistently exceptional shows over his career, and a 2021 album, Body Language, that we simply adore, there's no doubt that Blake Shelton's show in February at the Thompson-Boling Arena will be a…
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Kathie Odom’s success as a plein air painter holds a life lesson for all of us. A University of Tennessee art school graduate, her career led her to creative endeavors that weren’t fine art: framing, faux finishing, decorating, and…
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Lightening the Load, One Client at a Time Story by Jennifer Duncan It was 30 years ago that the Lavelle Law Firm came into existence. Dominick Lavelle, the firm’s founder, had been an engineer and later on in life a teacher and…
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Making Home Look Like New Again Story by Jake Kormish | Photography by Nathan Sparks I've been in business as a home painter for almost 30 years. Just before I started my career in painting services, I sat on my break at…
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Retro rental in Knoxville transports visitors to the Frank Lloyd Wright heyday For years, Michelle Flanigan-Hill has taken leisurely drives by the Vista Road houses in Louisville, Tennessee. These 1950s-60s mid-century modern homes…
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With a wealth of new and returning talent, the Lady Vols aim for the Final Four. In a November visit to the Rotary Club, Lady Vols Coach Kellie Harper noted that the excitement of the football season had reminded her of the late…
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A nostalgic reflection on how commerce transformed a once-wild patch in Farragut On an overcast spring day in 1984, a two-tone Buick Century station wagon carrying my dad, two sisters (ages 17 and 7), our two dogs, a very pregnant cat,…
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