Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007.
Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama.
Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she wrote for the The Shelby County Reporter, the The Tuscaloosa News, The Anniston Star and the Hartford Courant.
This year, she was named as a national finalist for the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity. She is also the 2010 winner of Society of Professional Journalists' Green Eyeshade Award for feature writing and the 2010 winner of the Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors' award for feature writing.
Joan enjoys watching Lost on DVD, driving, eating spaghetti and listening to country music, but her true love is telling stories in newsprint.
Contact Joan at 423-757-6601 or jgarrett@timesfreepress.com.
Recent Stories »
On the 99th day of Occupy Chattanooga's campout, protesters on the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn are fairly quiet. The ranks are thinning. The picket signs are stacked neatly inside a tent.
Every morning Robert Richelson makes a smoothie for his wife. “Sweetie?” he asks while she gets ready for work. “Do you want blueberries? Blueberries and banana? Strawberries and blueberries?”
Tucked away in the far recesses of the Internet, a strange black market for chicken pox has been forming in Tennessee and nationally by parents who fear that required vaccines will harm their children.
Students at UTC are being told to retake classes they may not need to repeat and, in some cases, fork over more money for the added courses.
Hamilton County public school teachers, administrators and support staff will be honored this spring in a new award program intended to highlight top-performing educators.
Before the neighborhoods and stores in Bradley and McMinn counties needed rebuilding, before insurance companies were on speed dial and chain saws buzzed sunrise to sunset, Connie Wright's life was fairly quiet.
Caleb Powell waited as long as he could before he bought "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim." He knew what would happen to him once the video game was in the console. People were rumored to disappear for weeks in the game's world where they could do anything, be anyone and go anywhere.
In 11 days, Powerball tickets in Tennessee and Georgia will double in cost to $2 per play.
Eight months ago, Cotton Perry's Ringgold, Ga., mechanic shop, the one he worked to build for 32 years, was ripped apart by a tornado.
Parts of the two-story Mosaic church building on Market Street look like a church. A tall wall is hung with paintings of gold crosses, images of Jesus, messages from the Bible and dancing children. Chairs are set out in rows.
