Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on GOD. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what HE wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Be more CHRIST like and don’t confirm to worldly doings.
TODAY’S WORD
There’s a price to pay to become all we were created to be. You may not be able to do what others do, to watch what they watch, or to do your business as they do business. To always do the right thing, you’ll need to go the extra mile. People may not understand why you won’t talk behind someone else’s back, get caught up in reckless conversations or why you won’t slack off at work with them, or why you won’t laugh about certain things. It’s not our business to judge them, but don’t become like them. Don’t lower your standard. Value GOD’s blessing more than what another person thinks of you. If you don’t feel good about something, if you have to talk yourself into it and make excuses as to why it’s okay, it’s not worth it. You’ll never go wrong taking the high road.
Have a made-up mind. “I’m going to be a person of integrity and honor GOD in all I do. I’m not going to compromise what I know GOD says.” Be the person whom GOD rewards.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
FATHER, thank YOU that when I fix my attention on YOU and do what’s right, YOU change me from the inside out. I’m not going to be pressured into compromising, and I’m not going to live like everyone else. I will not lower my standard to please someone else. In JESUS’ Name, Amen.
Two candidates running for Hamilton County district attorney had an opportunity last Tuesday night to lay out their platform to voters.
Republican candidate and current Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston and Democrat John Allen Brooks faced off from 7-8:30 p.m. during “Conversation & Votes,” a Zoom event hosted by the Chattanooga Hamilton County Branch of the NAACP.
The event was also streamed live on the NAACP’s Facebook page.
According to the Rev. Ann Jones Pierre, local NAACP branch president, Republican candidate Coty Wamp “declined the invitation.”
In a published statement, Wamp–who serves as general counsel for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office–said, “Unfortunately, I had another speaking engagement with the Tennessee Valley Republican Women that has been planned since December.”
Explaining the ground rules of “Conversation & Votes,” Rev. Pierre noted, “This is a conversation, not a debate. Our purpose is to give information.”
Questions for the candidates came from the NAACP as well as concerned citizens, Rev. Pierre said.
When the candidates were asked by moderator Dr. Edna Varner why voters should choose them, Pinkston–who has served as district attorney since 2014–said, “I’m a prosecutor, not a politician,” citing his advantage in the race because of his experience within the department.
Pinkston also pointed out that the NAACP honored him in 2019 with the Thurgood Marshall Award in the area of Law Enforcement for Civil Rights and Community Activism.
Pinkston was the first white recipient of the award, the highest honor bestowed upon an individual by the local NAACP.
Brooks, former County Commissioner and chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, said, “Protecting the rights of the most vulnerable motivates me. It is extremely important to treat everybody professionally.”
Pinkston has recently come under fire for having his wife and her brother working in his office, and late last month placed the two family members on leave following a state ruling against his office for nepotism.
“It’s a question for the voters,” Pinkston said of the nepotism charge. “And understand, too, that a family member could be the most qualified for a position. Or may not have been a family member when hired.”
Brooks had similar thoughts on the subject .
“Nepotism isn’t against the law in the county, so it’s up to the voters,” he said.
Both candidates also had similar views on the role of the juvenile court system, mental health, drug addiction and privatation of the prison system (both were against).
The primary election will take place May 3, with Pinkston and Wamp being the only Republicans on the ballot.
Officials at Network Transport unveiled a plan to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion among its workforce during a special grand opening celebration Tuesday for the company’s new headquarters.
“We are an inclusive company,” Network Transport President David Ferguson told a group of about 15 community leaders, including staff of the Chattanooga News Chronicle, during a 10:30 a.m. interactive presentation. “Our desire is to have our workforce be a reflection of the community we live in.”
Network Transport’s diversity challenge is a top priority, said Ferguson, a 25-year veteran in the trucking industry. Some of the recommendations the company is looking at include internships for local high school students, special recruitment events where company information is presented in an easy-to-understand and concise manner, and developing relationships within the African American community, among others.
“We believe the African American community has a wealth of talented people who don’t know about the opportunities in the logistics industry,” Ferguson said. “We want to change that.”
Network Transport Chairman Marc Kramer and Chief Commercial Officer Bob Poulos also spoke during the presentation.
Attending Network Transport Grand Opening, from left: Faith R. Edwards, Executive Editor, Chattanooga News Chronicle talking with Network Transport employee Bernard King, III; and Bria Sibley, Community Forward Schools Coordinator, City of Chattanooga. (Photos: Chronicle Staff: F. Stoudemire).
One of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, Network Transport currently employs 82 people, but Ferguson projects that the logistics startup will be creating 100 new Chattanooga-based jobs within its “Freight Alley” operation over the next 12 months.
“We look forward to working with the principal owners of Network Transport and support the vision of its leaders and of their interest in inclusion and equity,” said Lurone “Coach” Jennings Sr., Mary Walker Foundation executive director and Chronicle Media Group vice president of Strategic Growth.
Following a sit-down lunch, Jennings and other Chronicle executives toured the freight brokerage company’s new headquarters, which spans 14,000 square feet of Class A space within the CBL Center at 2034 Hamilton Place Blvd. Prior to the move, Network Transport had run its Chattanooga operation within 4,400 square feet of office space downtown, in the Loveman’s building on Cherry Street.
“Looking at where we are today and where we know we are going in the future, this move came at the right time and it’s brought us to the right place,” said Ferguson, who previously served as chief operating officer at Lipsey Logistics and president at Riverside Transport in Chattanooga.
Founded in 2016 by trucking industry veterans Ferguson and Ben Gordon, Network Transport has grown into a cutting-edge transportation and logistics provider, producing more than $121 million in revenue in 2021.
Network Transport, which became part of the Soar Transportation Group in July of 2020, is headquartered in Chattanooga with satellite offices in Dallas and Salt Lake City.
More than 150 people attended the company’s grand opening on Tuesday.
High school students work the room at a speed-networking event last Thursday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Students from Hamilton County high schools mingled and passed out business cards during a speed-networking event last Thursday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
By Charlie Reed
Katreya Lewis professes to be shy.
But you wouldn’t know it watching the high school sophomore work the room at a speed-networking event last Thursday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
A student at Tyner Academy and president of her class, Lewis has career plans and wants to go to college.
She moved closer to accomplishing both goals at the high-energy mixer that paired about 70 students from Hamilton County high schools with 40 business professionals from Chattanooga, including faculty and staff from UTC.
“I surround myself with people who are outgoing and that help me talk to people more,” said Lewis, who aspires to become a speech pathologist or recreational therapist.
Dressed to impress, the students mingled and passed out business cards before entering the musical chairs-esque networking line. The teens moved from one seat to the next for three-minute sessions with each of the stationary professionals.
The students had to shoulder the bulk of the conversation by talking about themselves and asking career-oriented questions for two-and-a-half minutes, with the last 30 seconds reserved for feedback from the professional at hand.
“Students, you are sitting next to business professionals who are working at some of the most prominent companies across our city,” Stacy Lightfoot, vice chancellor for diversity and engagement, told the crowd in the Tennessee Room at the University Center.
“So as you experience this and engage with our community leaders and our UTC faculty, we hope that you all see yourselves as part of the fabric of this institution and the economic fabric of Chattanooga.”
The event was co-sponsored by the UTC Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Education Equal Opportunity Group, a nonprofit based in Nashville. EEOG developed the Career Speed Networking Program and works with school districts and companies around the state to create meaningful and positive experiences for students.
The goal, said George Thomas, CEO of the group, is to inspire students and expand their vision of what’s possible for their education, their careers and their future in general.
“EEOG is deliberate and intentional about forging unlikely relationships between successful business leaders from the public sector and the private sector and young people,” Thomas said.
“You cannot be what you cannot see,” he said. “Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.”
“I’m a living example of the truth of the old truism, ‘if there’s a will there’s a way!”
– LARRY VICKERS
When I answered my phone last week, the voice on the other end had a familiar sound to it as did his laughter. Out of the blue I found myself on the line with Paris resident Larry Vickers, a fellow I grew up with, a guy whose talents I’d always admired.
You see, as a 20-year-old from a small, segregated town in Virginia, little did Larry Vickers know when he stepped off the bus into the glitz and glare that met him in New York City where his God given talents would take him. And neither those of us who proudly claimed him as one of our own, our native son.
So, after close to a half century of performing on stages across the globe, Vickers finds himself these days at peace and happily settled into his beloved Paris, the world’s epicenter of fine wines, culture and fashion.
Why Paris? Well, like his counterparts in other creative fields – among them James Baldwin, the great Jazz and Blues performers of their times and other figures of the Harlem Renaissance – stints in Paris provided validation, renewal and, for some, an escape from the stifling realities of racism in America.
“Coming from a small southern town where we were conditioned to saying, ‘yes sir’ and constantly being told ‘no,’ one of the first things I had to learn was how to say ‘yes.’ That lesson stuck with me when I think about the many opportunities that came my way throughout my career.”
Not long after taking his first step onto the New-York City scene, Vickers landed his first professional job as a dancer in a dinner show staring Hollywood star Alexis Smith. “That was a huge confidence builder,” he said. Before long Vickers traveled to Paris and began his professional career at Bruno Coquatrix’s Olympia Music Hall.
He later returned to America where he was rapidly getting noticed and was given the featured dance role in the Broadway musical “Purlie,” choreographed by Louis Johnson and staring the Tony Award winners Cleavon Little and Melba Moore.
“The truth is that I did not just show up on stages and TV sets,” Vickers pointed out. “There were people of color who opened doors for me. One person even intimated that I reminded him so much of his younger self.” It was Lester Wilson, best known for his choreography for “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta, who was instrumental in getting Larry the opportunity to dance on Don Cornelius’ “Soul Train.”
In 1970, he met Sylvie Vartan, the French pop singer, in New York who invited him to Paris to dance in her show “Sylvie Vartan at the Olympia.” While there he began doing television specials, commercials and movies. In one television special he met Line Renaud and became her choreographer for her international touring show.
When Vickers returned to New York to scout for talent for Renaud, he was selected to be one of the five dancers for the “Gypsies in my Soul” European tour with Shirley MacLaine. In 1975, he was invited by Lester Wilson to dance in the MGM movie “Funny Lady” staring Barbara Streisand and Omar Sharif.
As a dancer with increasing fame, Vickers appeared on TV specials with Cher and danced with Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli and on the Mary Tyler Moore Hour. He was a featured dancer in “The Wiz,” a movie starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
Later he danced with Ann-Margret on her disco single, “Love Rush,” before returning to Paris to choreograph the comedy “Envoyez la musique” at the Porte Saint Martin Theater. He then choreographed a television movie, “Ca Vous Plait,” starring Jean-Pierre Cassel.
Vickers next stop was Hollywood where he joined the production of the CBS television special “Uptown” starring Cab Calloway. That season, he choreographed shows in Monte Carlo featuring American stars Clint Holmes, Fats Domino, Donna Summers, Sammy Davis, Jr., Whitney Houston, Gregory Hines, Grace Jones and Kool and the Gang.
After staging Grace Jones for a gala in Monte Carlo, Vickers accepted the request from fashion designer Miquel Cruz to stage his fashion show featuring Jones in eight major cities and countries and then was engaged to perform for the Italian Oscars in Switzerland featuring Sophia Loren and Giorgio Armani.
He later relocated to Florida where he staged the first presentation of the Miss Universe pageant for the American Heart Association. While there he was the casting director for the film “Versace murder,” and staged and choreographed Eddie Murphy’s “Holy Man” with Jeff Goldblum and Priscilla Presley.
After his stay in Florida, Vickers returned to his hometown Staunton, Virginia, and transformed his former high school into a cultural center. There he co-produced the French American Gospel Music Workshop, hosted guests from France and celebrated the last show of the seven-year exchange at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris.
Today Larry continues to express his talents and influences between cinema, television, cabaret, videos and fashion. He is working on a musical tribute to legendary female Blues and Jazz singers and an original opera, “Seven,” the evolution of music and dance based on the Greek myth of Orphee and Eurydice.
Yes, Larry Vickers! Little did he know.
And little did we know, although we always had a hunch.
Tensions between Hamilton County Assistant District Attorney Coty Wamp who is also a Republican candidate for the office of Hamilton County District Attorney and the Chattanooga NAACP came to a boiling point last Friday when the organization’s president demanded an apology from Wamp.
Chattanooga NAACP Branch President the Reverend Ann Jones Pierre said Wamp called the historic civil rights organization “divisive” and accused it of mistreating police officers, and of providing statistics on its website about police crime against black residents, but no corresponding statistics reflecting crimes committed by blacks against blacks.
Wamp “does not understand the purpose of the NAACP and should apologize for misleading the public,” Rev. Pierre said last Friday.
“As a branch of this 113-year-old organization, we are nervous when a candidate for the office of Hamilton County District Attorney states that she cannot support the NAACP,” Rev. Pierre said. “The DA must be impartial and work for the people of Hamilton County and those people include members of the NAACP.”
Wamp, the lead counsel for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, refused to apologize–instead doubling down by holding a press conference last Friday afternoon where she went on the attack.
“It really was conversational, and I stand by every single thing I said during that probably 35 to 40 minute talk we had,” Wamp said, referring to a recently surfaced 43-second audio clip where she was heard speaking last Tuesday night to the Tennessee Valley Republican women at Wally’s restaurant–while DA candidates Republican Neal Pinkston and Democrat John Allen Brooks were addressing the NAACP.
“So you all know, there was an NAACP forum tonight for my race between the three candidates,” Wamp told the Republican women. “There is a Democrat running against us. There was a forum and I had committed to this in December. I was happy to be able to come here.”
She continued, “But listen, the NAACP has accomplished some good things in the last hundred years, but one of them is NOT the way they’ve treated law enforcement. And I just can’t stand behind it right now.”
The war of words between Wamp and the NAACP first began to heat up when Rev. Pierre alleged that Wamp had refused to find a date that all three candidates for DA could appear before the NAACP for a virtual “Conversation & Votes” forum.
Wamp disputed this, saying she was already booked for the Republican Women’s Club event when Rev. Pierre extended to her the last-minute NAACP invitation.
“The D.A.’s office is committed to justice and the NAACP is committed to justice, therefore, there should be no reason that the NAACP is not supported.” Rev. Pierre said.
“One of the main reasons I’m running for office is to help the black community in this city,” Wamp said. “I’ve committed to the black community more than I have any other community in this county, period.”
The primary election will take place May 3, with winners from the party primaries meeting in the general election in August.
“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard will be joining the full-time faculty at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Starting fall semester 2022, he will teach two courses, one on the commercial side of the music business and one on the performing side, said Stuart Benkert, head of the Department of Music.
On March 7, Studdard presented a masterclass at a rehearsal of the UTC Singing Mocs. Winner of the 2003 season of “American Idol,” he listened to the group’s performance, gave advice and offered singing tips.
“I think when Ruben came to do a masterclass, he proved to everyone that he is not only a great performer but an excellent teacher,” Benkert said.
“He immediately connected with the students in a relevant and meaningful manner. He improved their level of performance and increased their awareness of what it takes to be performer.”
When course enrollment for fall semester begins, students from all majors can sign up, not just music majors.
Studdard returns to UTC on March 28 to hold another masterclass with the Singing Mocs, and the public is invited.
During the masterclass, sponsored by the Department of Music in collaboration with the UTC Division of Diversity and Engagement and the Tivoli Foundation, Studdard will recall his career in the music industry and guests can watch as he coaches the Singing Mocs to refine their performance.
The masterclass event is from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Walker Theatre. Tickets are $10 for the public, and UTC students will be admitted free with a valid student ID. A $50 VIP ticket includes a general admission ticket and access to an after-class reception.
By Beth Ann Malow Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University
As people in the U.S. prepared to turn their clocks ahead one hour in mid-March, I found myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time.
About a third of Americans said they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. An overwhelming 63% to 16% majority would like to eliminate them completely.
But the effects go beyond simple inconvenience. Researchers are discovering that “springing ahead” each March is connected with serious negative health effects.
At 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, 2022, clocks spring forward one hour. They fall back at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022. iam2mai/iStock via Getty Images Plus
I’m a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and the director of our sleep division. In a 2020 commentary for the journal JAMA Neurology, my co-authors and I reviewed the evidence linking the annual transition to daylight saving time to increased strokes, heart attacks and teen sleep deprivation.
Based on an extensive body of research, my colleagues and I believe that the science establishing these links is strong and that the evidence makes a good case for adopting permanent standard time nationwide – as I testified at a recent Congressional hearing.
Missing sleep, worse health
“Falling back” – going from daylight saving time to standard time each November by turning the clocks back one hour – is relatively benign. While some people may feel thrown off balance and need a few weeks to recover, research hasn’t linked it to serious impacts on health.
Springing forward is harder on the body, however. This is because our clock time is moved an hour later; in other words, it feels like 7 a.m. even though our clocks say it is 8 a.m. So it’s a permanent shift to later morning light for almost eight months – not just for the day of the change or a few weeks afterward. This is particularly notable because morning light is valuable for helping to set the body’s natural rhythms: It wakes us up and improves alertness.
Although the exact reasons are not yet known, this may be due to light’s effects on increasing levels of cortisol, a hormone that modulates the stress response or the effect of light on the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotions.
In contrast, exposure to light later into the evening delays the brain’s release of melatonin, the hormone that promotes drowsiness. This can interfere with sleep and cause us to sleep less overall, and the effect can last even after most people adjust to losing an hour of sleep at the start of daylight saving time.
Because puberty also causes melatonin to be released later at night, meaning that teenagers have a delay in the natural signal that helps them fall asleep, adolescents are particularly susceptible to sleep problems from the extended evening light of daylight saving time. This shift in melatonin during puberty lasts into our 20s.
Adolescents also may be chronically sleep deprived due to school, sports and social activity schedules. For instance, many children start school around 8 a.m. or earlier. This means that during daylight saving time, many young people get up and travel to school in pitch darkness.
The “western edge” effect
Geography can also make a difference in how daylight saving time affects people. One study showed that people living on the western edge of a time zone, who get light later in the morning and light later in the evening, got less sleep than their counterparts on the eastern edge of a time zone.
This study found that western edge residents had higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and breast cancer, as well as lower per capita income and higher health care costs. Other research has found that rates of certain other cancers are higher on the western edge of a time zone.
Scientists believe that these health problems may result from a combination of chronic sleep deprivation and “circadian misalignment”. Circadian misalignment refers to a mismatch in timing between our biological rhythms and the outside world. In other words, the timing of daily work, school or sleep routines is based on the clock, rather than on the sun’s rise and set. This video takes a deeper dive – all the way back to 1895 – into the history of daylight saving time.
A brief history of daylight saving time Congress instituted daylight saving time during World War I and again during World War II, and once again during the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The idea was that having extra light later into the afternoon would save energy by decreasing the need for electric lighting. This idea has since been proved largely inaccurate, as heating needs may increase in the morning in the winter, while air conditioning needs can also increase in the late afternoon in the summer. Another pro-daylight saving argument has been that crime rates drop with more light at the end of the day. While this has been proved true, the change is very small, and the health effects appear to outweigh the lower rates of crime.
After World War II, it was left to state governments to set the start and end dates for daylight saving time. Because this created many railroad scheduling and safety problems, however, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966. This law set the nationwide dates of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October.
In 2007, Congress amended the Uniform Time Act to expand daylight saving time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, dates that remain in effect today. The law allows states and territories to opt out of daylight saving time, however. Arizona and Hawaii are on permanent standard time, along with Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa. Now, many other states are considering whether to stop falling back and springing ahead.
The question then becomes: Should they pick permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time?
The strong case for permanent standard time Americans are split on whether they prefer permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time. However, my colleagues and I believe that the health-related science for establishing permanent standard time is strong.
Standard time most closely approximates natural light, with the sun directly overhead at or near noon. In contrast, during daylight saving time from March until November, the natural light is shifted unnaturally by one hour later.
Based on abundant evidence that daylight saving time is unnatural and unhealthy, I believe we should abolish daylight saving time and adopt permanent standard time.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
(Romans 8:28)
And we know that to them that love God All things work together for good, for those who are called according to HIS purpose.
TODAY’S WORD
For those of us who really love God should never be discouraged for long.
Because when you take a minute and reflect on a few of HIS promises, you will remember what said. Like, HE will never leave or forsake us, HE will be with us until the end of time. Even when we fumble the ball, God will give you another chance. God got your back. Keep being faithful to the LORD you can’t go wrong. Your consistent obedience to HIS word always impresses GOD because it demonstrates your love and respect for HIM. When you pray without ceasing, God sees that you enjoy talking and listening to HIM as much HE enjoys listening to you. Our Heavenly Father got our back and I know without a doubt.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Oh GOD thank you for always having my back, my front, my top and bottom. I trust you with all my heart and lean not to my own understanding. YOUR love for me will always conquer my challenges. Thank YOU LORD for always being there for me. In JESUS Name AMEN.
“It’s Not Worth It”- In the Huddle
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
(Romans 12:2, MSG)
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on GOD. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what HE wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Be more CHRIST like and don’t confirm to worldly doings.
TODAY’S WORD
There’s a price to pay to become all we were created to be. You may not be able to do what others do, to watch what they watch, or to do your business as they do business. To always do the right thing, you’ll need to go the extra mile. People may not understand why you won’t talk behind someone else’s back, get caught up in reckless conversations or why you won’t slack off at work with them, or why you won’t laugh about certain things. It’s not our business to judge them, but don’t become like them. Don’t lower your standard. Value GOD’s blessing more than what another person thinks of you. If you don’t feel good about something, if you have to talk yourself into it and make excuses as to why it’s okay, it’s not worth it. You’ll never go wrong taking the high road.
Have a made-up mind. “I’m going to be a person of integrity and honor GOD in all I do. I’m not going to compromise what I know GOD says.” Be the person whom GOD rewards.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
FATHER, thank YOU that when I fix my attention on YOU and do what’s right, YOU change me from the inside out. I’m not going to be pressured into compromising, and I’m not going to live like everyone else. I will not lower my standard to please someone else. In JESUS’ Name, Amen.