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 feels like a very long funeral in America right now. So much heartache and hurt. Often, it seems more than we can bear.
by David CookSeveral years ago, when Rod Francis first moved to Chattanooga, he began noticing with fresh eyes those big brown historic signs all around town, marked with three words:
by David CookThe three Republican candidates for county mayor and two candidates for district attorney have discussed a variety of issues: crime, education, jobs.
by David CookOf all the sentences I've written in my career, this one may be the most surprising.
by David CookI have never been elected to public office, but I imagine there is a moment in the lives of all elected politicians when one's individual will and agenda come into conflict with the will and agenda of the people you were elected to serve.
by David CookNot long ago, David French, the political commentator, author and veteran — he's probably my favorite conservative writer — wrote a stirring essay that reminded us of the importance of the Ninth Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
by David CookMeet William Burleson, a high school senior in Charlotte, N.C., graduating this spring, with plans to major in English and psychology in college.
by David CookTwenty minutes into the first county mayoral debate between our three Republican candidates, the moderator from Hamilton Flourishing asked a question about crime and violence.
by David CookDaffodils are such brave and encouraging flowers. Each winter, I see their green stalks emerging out of the still-cold ground, usually after some premature warm spell, and I think: You're too early. Return to cover. You've been duped.
by David CookWalking. Pedaling bikes. In sagging cars with backseats packed and stuffed with clothes, cans of food, anything, everything.
by David CookI first met Thich Nhat Hahn some 20 years ago; someone gave me a book of his. I'd never read anything like it before.
by David CookNot long ago, my good friend goes into the auto parts store, looking for a new catalytic converter, when this guy walks in. White. Twenty-something. Shaky, with an unstable energy that says to the world: danger.
by David CookPerhaps we're wrong.
by David CookTwelve months ago, a group of 200 of us began a sort of liturgical and social experiment: We spent a year reading Martin Luther King Jr.
by David CookIs this the year our Confederate statue finally comes down?
by David CookNeed a unique Christmas gift?
by David CookWhen my wife was pregnant with our two children I felt many things: elation, trepidation, awe.
by David CookLet's look back at Thursday.
by David CookHe was 17. A child, essentially.
by David CookEight years ago, I first met Joe Jenkins.
by David Cook