David Cook: Dreams of a gang member
Josh is 25. He started smoking dope when he was 13, never graduated high school and last week was in trouble with the law, again.
David Cook: A prayer for losing
Years ago, when I was a sportswriter for the Chattanooga Free Press, I had the opportunity - the honor, really - of getting to cover sports on nearly every level. High school. Middle school. College. Even a pro game or two.
Cook: Don’t be a stranger, Tim McGraw
A few minutes after 10 a.m. Tuesday, Tim McGraw -- wearing a light-red T-shirt, dark shorts and a ball cap with a big orange "E" (betcha it's the logo for Ensworth Academy, the Nashville school his daughter attends) -- stepped out of what had to be the world's longest tour bus and walked 100 yards or so down the rusted U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry property.
David Cook: Ulysses S. Grant, Ted Nugent and Mary Lee Rice
So tired am I of hostile politics and negativity, which steal our joy and optimism like thieves in the night.
David Cook: Justice is blind, but gagged?
Gag (verb) to restrict use of the mouth by inserting a gag; to prevent from exercising freedom of speech or expression. - Merriam-Webster Dictionary
David Cook: The one and the only Howard
I'm sitting on the gym bleachers with two students during a break in their Wednesday morning wellness class -- the topic was a healthy body mass index -- when I hear the word for the first time.
David Cook: We can cut $71 billion from our energy bill
Ten days ago, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield announced an executive mandate to reduce the city government's overall energy usage by 25 percent by the year 2020.
Cook: A teenager walks into a bar and other good stories
A teenager walks into a New York City bar. He looks as bad as bad can be. Hasn't slept or eaten in days and, when he takes off this outlandish red hunting hat, you can tell he's already going gray in places. And he's not even 18 yet.
David Cook: Life lessons from Wally’s
"You've got to move fast," said Debbie Cantrell, in an understatement equivalent to Dale Earnhardt Jr. saying I should buckle up or Paula Deen suggesting a few Rolaids.
David Cook: If you wire it, they will come
It was - forgive the pun - a bit of a disconnect, leaving the highly wired Gig Tank celebration - full of smartphones, venture capitalists and big-ideas from all over the world - and walking out into the downtown streets, where everyday folks who'd forgotten their umbrellas were hustling to lunch, hoping to get indoors before the noontime rain fell.