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A Poor Substitute

Attica Scott's article "Agents of Change" [Color Conscious, Sept. 5] failed to mention that the Levi Strauss corporation funds Project Change, the crumb thrown to the community in the aftermath of the company's precipitous and devastating withdrawal from the East Tennessee region.

In fact, Levi Strauss recently announced that it would close the remainder of its plants within the United States. It should be remembered that these closings, given the green light by NAFTA and fast-track authority, disproportionately impact members of minority groups and women who make up a large part of the plants' work force.

While Project Change has done some good things, it is no substitute for a healthy domestic manufacturing environment with good, steady jobs.

Michael Kaplan
Knoxville

Correction

Attendance at the East Tennessee Historical Society museum increased 41 percent during the month of August. The amount attendance increased was incorrectly stated in the Sept. 5 issue of the Metro Pulse. We regret the error.

And the Winner Is...

Knoxville should be the City of Almost, according to our staff

The results are in on our call for a new Knoxville nickname, the former Gateway to the Smokies. We received more than 80 nickname ideas, but we were taken aback that an overwhelming majority of the suggestions were negative. It seems clear that Knoxvillians haven't gotten over their adolescent self-loathing; or that they wanted to publicize a specific complaint, and sure enough, there are things to complain about. TDOT's never-ending and often whimsical road projects seems to be the source of much anti-Knoxville bile.

The positive ones, on the other hand, were pretty bland and derivative. There was a strong lobby, received by fax, for the phrase, Dogwood Capital of the World. One claimed that it was "what it always has been." True, the dogwoods sure are pretty a few days each year, but we ran an Internet search for the phrase, "Dogwood Capital of the World," and found it applied repeatedly to a town called Orleans, Indiana. And never, by anybody, to Knoxville.

Anyway, of the proposals we got, our staff favorite was the City of Almost, submitted by Knoxvillian Bobby Schneider. We're not sure about Schneider's inspiration, but to us it seems a poignant reminder that over and over, we almost get our act together. The 1982 World's Fair was almost successful, if you overlook its bad press and the catastrophic fate of its backers in 1983. Whittle Communications was almost a major long-term business leader to keep Knoxville on a national map. UT almost won an undisputed, scandal-free national championship. Renaissance Knoxville, with its giant terrarium, flying mall, and postmodern skyscraper almost seemed plausible. (Did Scripps ever almost move its headquarters here?) Universe Knoxville is almost viable in this solar system.

Another favorite was Todd Diacon's submission, The Next Best Place, which we liked partly because it can be read two ways: that Knoxville's the next city to be America's Best; or that Knoxville's the next-best place. After Nashville or Chattanooga. Or Gatlinburg.

Schneider also submitted a runner-up, Potentialsville. The Unrealized is understood. We'll keep working on it, if you will.

For his creativity, Mr. Schneider is awarded an autographed copy of Jack Neely's ode to another Knoxville nickname, The Marble City, and a Metro Pulse T-shirt. To bobby, Todd, and to all the other readers who entered our contest—even those who seem to have depressingly spiteful attitudes about Knoxville's very existence—we say thanks.