I’ve been writing for sport and name recognition since sixth grade or so. You might think I’d improve with time, but I was just as good then as now. Sarah Simpson (for whom the teachers learning center was named) was my English teacher two of three years at Halls High School. She found no humor or irony in my critiques of the Latin/geometry teacher or the pompous school administration. Red slashes bloodied my offerings. And I kept writing.


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I applied three times to work at the old Knoxville Journal:

• Guy Lincoln Smith Jr., legendary editor, said he needed someone older than 16. “But I got here as soon as I could drive!”
• Dick Evans, interim after Smith died, said the paper already had a woman. “We have to hire reporters we can send to hotels at night to interview visiting dignitaries,” was the gist of his rejection.
• Bill Childress, young new editor, hired me on the spot after throwing a pile of press releases my way that I quickly typed into crisp summaries written like every other story in the Journal. And why not? I had been practicing since sixth grade.

Doug Price (Journal photographer who went on to found Knoxville Printers, Bargain Mart and HP Videos) and I bought the Shopper in 1971. I sold it to E.W. Scripps in 2005. Fired by Gannett in 2017, I started KnoxTNToday.com. And I sold it to Susan Espiritu in mid-2024. I’m under contract to compile obituary links and community news for KTT, but Susan doesn’t want political opinions. Since that’s sort of what I do, I emailed Bubba. And for the grand ol’ sum of $zero$, I’m in.

This is no time to be silent. Think I’ll keep writing.