David Cook is the award-winning city columnist for the Times Free Press, working in the same building where he began his post-college career as a sportswriter for the Chattanooga Free Press. Cook, who graduated from Red Bank High, holds a master's degree in Peace and Justice Studies from Prescott College and an English degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. For 12 years, he was a teacher at the middle, high school and university levels. A Marshall Memorial Fellow, Cook published in magazines (The Sun, Utne Reader, Geez), academic journals, an anthology on homelessness ("Personal Struggles, Professional Lives: Ethics and Advocacy in Research on Homelessness" — Lexington Press) and an anthology on grandparents and grandchildren ("Grandparenting with Heart" — North Atlantic).
It can be difficult building and organizing community.
by David CookIn 1969, one year after Martin Luther King was assassinated, the Hon. Bennie Harris — our city's first African-American city court judge — called together a group of local black men.
by David CookNot long ago, the door to the music store opened. And a deaf man walked in.
by David CookOn Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
by David CookIt was a wonderful sight.
by David CookWhen did you first realize you were black?
by David CookJust yesterday it was a crib. Or a bike with training wheels. Then, a bike without.
by David CookYou're all county commissioners, and last Sunday, you each no-showed one of the most important events of the year.
by David CookDon't want to talk impeachment. Not yet.
by David CookEvery so often, I get a phone call from a particular Chattanoogan, someone you may know. In fact, if you're an elected leader, he's probably calling you, too.
by David CookThis is a story of starving artists who are starving no longer. Of a building — one of the most beautiful in the city — once in turmoil, now beginning to thrive. And the man — the really great man — holding it all together.
by David CookIn a summertime poll, nearly 65% of Hamilton County residents wanted a tax increase to fund education.
by David CookHeard from an old friend a few nights ago. Name's Will. He's a hard-working Chattanoogan, an unforgettably generous family man and friend. Politically, he's fiercely independent, pledging allegiance, as he puts it, to neither Adam Smith nor Thomas Jefferson, but God.
by David CookWhere is the way out?
by David CookMore than 20,000 plastic water bottles and 150,000 aid station cups were used during last weekend's Ironman, according to race officials.
by David CookFounded in 1979 by the Episcopal Church to help the "poor, homeless, hungry, battered" in Chattanooga, Metropolitan Ministries — or MetMin — turns 40 this year.
by David CookI'm not sure most patients can name the new CEO of Erlanger Health System.
by David CookThe more I think about it, the angrier I get.
by David CookIn July, a group of 50 suit-and-tie African-American preachers, ministers and supporters stood outside the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, declaring it was time for Jim Hammond to resign.
by David CookWriting this column has taken me powerful places; I've met presidents and rock stars, visited prisons, protests and places so secret I can't say in print.
by David Cook