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).
We have reached the end of privatized prisons in Hamilton County.
by David CookWhy aren't we all wearing masks?
by David CookIn July 2019, after a video surfaced of white officers beating, kicking and strip-searching a handcuffed Black man, 50 or so Black leaders stood on the Hamilton County Courthouse steps with one clear message for the sheriff.
by David CookCan I see them as I see my own children? Trayvon? Ahmaud? Emmett? As a white father, can I see George Floyd as a brother or son?
by David CookIn these very difficult days, many of us have deepened our spiritual practices, like prayer and meditation. And yoga.
by David CookWhite Chattanooga, I know so many of you. Love so many of you.
by David CookMinneapolis is burning. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for all things, even burning.
by David CookOn Memorial Day, I think of my grandparents; he fought in World War II Italy and she, at home, raised two baby boomers, one of whom became my mom. My grandparents are buried at the National Cemetery, which will remain flagless Monday, a jarring pandemic image.
by David CookFor 30 years now, running has been part of who I am and what I do. There's freedom: on trails, at races, through neighborhoods and downtown. I've run thousands of times with hundreds of people in dozens of cities.
by David CookIn mid-March, as the pandemic hit Chattanooga and hard times got harder, Troy Rogers bought $100 in groceries and called his friend, Tony Oliver, with a challenge:
by David CookGo back? To normal? I'm not sure I want to.
by David CookMay 1 will not only be a reopening. It will be a sacrifice and gamble, a very big game of Hamilton County roulette.
by David CookNot long ago, walking through our garden, I found a nest of pine needles and twigs, domed together like a little hut in the southern corner of a rectangular planter, where mint grows each summer.
by David CookDid we just save 3,000 lives?
by David CookNo one is coming to save us.
by David CookWell, this isn't the birthday we imagined for you.
by David CookI broke down. A few days ago. I was doing something small around the house, so small I won't even mention it.
by David CookThis, too, shall pass.
by David CookOn Monday, Lauren Robinson Neal looked at her pots of orchids — red, white, and pink blossoms exploding from green stems — and declared that they, and she, had seen enough of winter.
by David CookYes, I'm voting.
by David Cook