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Seven Days

"Nothing is random, nor will anything ever be, whether a long string of perfectly blue days that begin and end in golden dimness, the most seemingly chaotic political acts, the rise of a great city, the crystalline structure of a gem that has never seen the light, the distributions of fortune, what time the milkman gets up, the position of the electron, or the occurrence of one astonishingly frigid winter after another. Even electrons, supposedly the paragons of unpredictability, are tame and obsequious little creatures that rush around at the speed of light, going precisely where they are supposed to go. They make faint whistling sounds that when apprehended in varying combinations are as pleasant as the wind flying through a forest, and they do exactly as they are told. Of this, one can be certain.
And yet there is a wonderful anarchy, in that the milkman chooses when to arise, the rat picks the tunnel into which he will dive when the subway comes rushing down the track from Borough hall, and the snowflake will fall as it will. How can this be? If nothing is random, and everything is predetermined, how can there be free will? The answer to that is simple. Nothing is predetermined; it is determined, or was determined, or will be determined. No matter, it happened all at once, in less than an instant, and time was invented because we cannot comprehend in one glance the enormous and detailed canvas that we have been given—so we track it, in linear fashion, piece by piece. Time, however, can be easily overcome; not by chasing the light, but by standing back far enough to see it all at once. The universe is still and complete. Everything that ever was, is; everything that ever will be, is—and so on, in all possible combinations. Though in perceiving it we imagine that it is in motion, and unfinished, it is quite finished and quite astonishingly beautiful. In the end, or, rather, as things really are, any event, no matter how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others. All rivers run full to the sea; those who are apart are brought together; the lost ones are redeemed; the dead come back to life; the perfectly blue days that have begun and ended in golden dimness continue, immobile and accessible; and, when all is perceived in such a way as to obviate time, justice becomes apparent not as something that will be, but as something that is."

—Mark Helprin
Winter's Tale, a novel of New York

Knoxville Found

(Click photo for larger image)

What is this? Every week in "Knoxville Found," we'll print the photo of a local curiosity. If you're the first person to correctly identify this oddity, you'll win a special prize plucked from the desk of the editor (keep in mind that the editor hasn't cleaned his desk in five years). E-mail your guesses, or send 'em to "Knoxville Found" c/o Metro Pulse, 505 Market St., Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Last Week's Photo:
Nothing endears you to a city like many years of good, gooey pizza. At least, that's all we can conclude from the enormous volume of responses we got correctly identifying this sign as the totem of the drive-in Pizza Palace on Magnolia Avenue. Many people reminisced about family trips to the East Knoxville institution, with more than a few declaring it "the best pizza in Knoxville." Probably no one knows the place better than Myrtle Alarcon of Strawberry Plains, who says she "worked there for 17 years—and my sister still does." As a P.S., she adds, "Best spagh. in Knoxville." However, the very first right answer came from Erin Frost of North Knoxville (who we believe is somehow affiliated with a certain City Council candidate, but this isn't the political news section, thank you very much). For her good taste in Italian flatbread, Ms. Frost receives a copy of the local Foundation for Global Sustainability's East Tennessee tome What Have We Done?

Meet Your City
A calendar of upcoming public meetings you should attend

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday, Sept. 13
1:30 p.m.
City County Bldg., Large Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular monthly meeting.

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE FORUMS
First District
Thursday, Sept. 13
7:30 p.m.
University Center, Shiloh Room
Cumberland Avenue and Philip Fulmer Drive
Hosts include the Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association, UT Student Government Association and League of Women Voters.

KNOX COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Tuesday, Sept. 18
5 p.m.* Andrew Johnson Bldg., 1st Floor
400 Main St.
Work Session.

CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, Sept. 18
7 p.m.
City County Bldg., Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular scheduled meeting.

Following Danny

Candidates in the 6th District Council race invoke different aspects of Mayfield's legacy

Four years ago, the 6th District generated the only contested City Council race in the city. A charismatic young man named Danny Mayfield came out of nowhere to defeat entrenched incumbent Bill Powell, who was twice Mayfield's age.

Since Mayfield's tragic death from cancer in March, seven candidates have entered the contest to succeed him (interim appointee Raleigh Wynn isn't running). Most of them are 40ish, representing a generation that is more worldly wise than the idealistic Mayfield but all professing the same resolve to create more economic opportunity for the inner city's young people, steering them away from drugs and violence.

The candidate who comes the closest to matching Mayfield in terms of sheer charisma is Boyd Anderson Jr. At a recent candidates' forum, Anderson was the epitome of sartorial splendor in a white suit, gold silk shirt and matching necktie. At 6-foot-4, the former Catholic High basketball star also cuts an imposing figure physically, and he speaks with flair and fervor.

Like Mayfield, he combines religion with his politics. "God wants to bring prosperity to all of us, but we must be self-reliant," he told an assemblage of about 100 at the forum. "We cannot come to the table with the rest of the community unless we have something to deal with."

Anderson also combines religion and entrepreneurship. In addition to being CEO of a food company, he books gospel singing groups on the Black Entertainment Network. Yet he advocates making membership on City Council a full-time job and says he will treat it as one if he's elected.

The candidate who comes the closest to inheriting Mayfield's legacy of activism is Sandra Moore. She has the backing of Mayfield's mentor, Umoja Abdul-Ahad, and shares his close ties with the Black Business Contractors Association. She has devoted herself to trying to get more governmental dollars, especially Empowerment Zone funding flowing to minority enterprises, but she voices a lot of frustration.

"The problem arises when the voice of the people is muted by the will of a powerful few...From the stalled Empowerment Zone, which has yet to really benefit economically the very people whose population made the funding possible, to the redesigns of our downtown and waterfront area, many people have felt for a long time that their opinions just did not matter," she states. Her pledge to constituents: "Accountability to you and making sure the city as a whole is accountable."

Where Mayfield was naïve about the workings of city government when he ran for office, Moore seems quite sophisticated. She learned the ropes as a developer of office properties in her home area of Mechanicsville. Again harping on Empowerment Zone outlays, she contends that, "There is no documentation of expenditures. The city is the main entity accountable as fiscal agent, but no one at the city has a clue how it's being spent."

Attorney Mark Brown perceives himself to be a bridge builder both between generations within the black community and between it and the city as a whole. "Before you can address any issue, you must get out the message that we must work together, that there's more that unites us than divides us," he advised at the 6th District candidates' forum.

Even at age 40, Brown can invoke more experience in local government than any of the other candidates. He's served as a chairman of the Knox County Election commission and vice chairman of the Bernstein commission that shaped recommendations for the city's Police Advisory Review Committee. Before going into law practice, he was president of the Knoxville Area Urban League.

"The question is who's done it, who has the proven record," he asserts. "My job is to represent you, to set policies and procedures that affect you." Where Empowerment Zone funding is concerned, he pledges that, "I would go in and find where the hitch is in getting funding for businesses in my community."

The elder statesperson of the seven candidates (though at 51 she's hardly old) is another lawyer, Sheryl Rollins. Her campaign themes include more and better jobs for the young people of the district, downtown redevelopment and better police relations.

"We really need to focus on good relations with the police department. We cannot have cops who unnecessarily shoot or profile people," she said to loud applause at the candidates' forum. Later, she drew still more applause by proclaiming, "I do not support police brutality. You can't have a 300-pound man sitting on someone's chest and say he died of a heart attack. Half of us in this room would have had a heart attack."

Earlier this year, Rollins led a protest against a redistricting plan that reduced the black majority in the 6th District by adding part of Holston Hills and an area around West High School. Despite ample opportunity to do so, however, she did not offer an alternate plan that began to meet standards for equalizing population among the six districts based on the 2000 census.

Candidate Rick Jan Lomax works at the Clinton Highway Wal-Mart, plays keyboard in a band and lives in Morningside Heights. "I stand with the people," he said in the forum. "I'll take your issues and concerns and evaluate each of them."

There are also two white candidates in this still majority-black district. One of them, Clyde Barnard, is assistant manager of the Pilot store on Magnolia Avenue. "Togetherness, trusting in people, educating people, empathy, achievement and acceptance," were his watchwords at the candidates' forum.

The other white candidate, John Mark Hancock, often sounds more like a conservative Republican running in a suburban district. "We need someone who will run city government like a business," he says, while pledging to oppose any increase in the city's property or sales tax and throwing in his opposition to a state income tax for good measure. Reducing crime, drugs and prostitution were also emphasized at the candidates' forum.

—Joe Sullivan

[Editor's Note: Joe Sullivan endorsed Mark Brown in the 6th District in last week's edition of Metro Pulse.]