Daily Archives: June 5, 2022

Sue Wasserman| Word from the Smokies

This spring, I finally began my stint as the 2022 Steve Kemp Writer-In-Residence. Coordinated and funded by Great Smoky Mountains Association, the residency allows writers to live near, work in, and draw inspiration from the Great Smoky Mountains for a period of six weeks.

Beginning this residency, at least for me, is like being a kid in the proverbial candy store. My eyes pop, thinking of all the delicious possibilities. The only challenge, given the brief time frame, is choosing what to focus on.

That thought was behind my request to use the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, a park event held every year at the end of April, as a jumping off point. Given the diverse offerings, Id be able to dabble not only in nature, but in the parks history as well. I thought if I could get a quick taste, I could hone in on places and topics that resonated most.

Thanks to Ranger Brad Free, Elkmont has become one of those places. Prior to the pilgrimage, I knew absolutely nothing about what existed beyond the turn here sign.

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But the avid history buff, who loves wearing his cool ranger hat, immediately piqued my curiosity when he told our group, Elkmont is not lost, nor is it the ghost town you might have read about on the internet. As we walked, he proceeded to tell the story of William Bailey Townsend, who amassed close to 80,000 acres for his Little River Lumber Company and the town that sprung up around it.

Elkmont came to life through Frees stories of the loggers who worked six days a week for meager pay, of railroad engineer Rooster Williams who bought one of the earliest airplanes and crashed it while showing off for the community, of the professional ringers brought in to win company baseball games, of the exclusive Daisy Town community, which emerged as a getaway for Knoxvilles elite and whose structures the park is currently bringing back to life.

It was with a more powerful sense of place that I arrived back a few mornings later for a wildflower walk along the Cucumber Gap Trail. As much as I thought I wanted to learn more about each plant, I realized we would never see much of the trail at the rate our group leaders were botanizing. A new pilgrimage friend named Lisa and I sensed it was time to set out on our own.

Since neither of us had intended to wander off, we hadnt looked at a trail map. When we came to a fork in the trail, we invoked eeny-meeny-miny-mo, and turned left up the hill.

It worked. Thanks to two gents who passed us, we discovered Cucumber Gap was a loop. And, oh, what a loop it was.

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Clearly, the trail earned its name for the abundance of Indian cucumber root blossoming everywhere we looked. Having sampled the root over the years in other locations, I knew it was not only edible, but delicious. I wondered if the loggers had stumbled on them and added them to their diets. Given their meager pay and excessive cost of living, I imagined foraging and hunting must have played a role in their lives.

Did they, I wondered, have the opportunity Lisa and I had to ooh and ahh over patches of umbrella leaf or large flowered trillium? Were they blown away by the excess of showy orchis that blossomed in clusters, the likes of which Ive never seen along the Little River? Or was the ooh-ing and ahh-ing, if it indeed even happened, left to the wealthier Daisy Town residents who had nothing but free time when they arrived at their vacation homes?

When we reached the Little River turnoff, I was curious about how flat the trail now seemed. It dawned on me that the train tracks were probably housed here along the river. This was just an educated guess, however, until a passerby ranger confirmed it.

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Despite being whipped as we closed in on our fifth mile, my step felt lighter for having made that connection. Having a little sense of history helped me to better appreciate the bits and pieces of old structures we encountered on this last section of trail. Lisa and I wondered who had lived here. Were these vacation properties or lumber company structures? Were the wildflowers scattered across the grounds now, scattered across the grounds then?

The only thing of which Im certain is theres so much more to learn, both about the flowers currently thriving on the trail and the people who once thrived in the community. I have a strong hunch I will be richer for understanding both.

Sue Wasserman is the 2022 Steve Kemp Writer-in-Residence in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the author ofA Moments NoticeandWalk with Me: Exploring Natures Wisdom.She has also written for theNew York TimesandSouthern Living. She currently lives in Bakersville.

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Word from the Smokies: Discovering the intersection of history, nature - Citizen Times

This weekend, listen to a collection of narrated articles from around The New York Times, read aloud by the reporters who wrote them.

Written and narrated by Mark Yarm

In spring 2015, the documentary filmmaker Bobbi Jo Hart came across a short profile of June Millington, the singer and lead guitarist for the pioneering 1970s all-female rock group, Fanny. Despite growing up in a hippie household in California, Hart had never heard of them or that Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label.

When she first learned about Fanny online, she had a visceral reaction: It really pissed me off, she said. It was just another example of amazing women that we dont know about. Hart reached out to former band members about the possibility of a documentary but determined at the time that the Fanny story didnt have the forward-momentum narrative she was looking for.

Then, in January 2017, Hart spotted June Millington at the Womens March on Washington. The sighting spurred Hart to call Millington, who had some news: Three members of Fanny were about to make a new album on an indie label. The moment for a film had arrived.

Top Gun: Maverick turns and burns its way into theaters this week, landing 36 years after the 1986 original.

Thats a lot of time to form a lot of questions about the new film and its relationship to its predecessor: How similar are the stories? Whos back? Do we hear Danger Zone?

Here are the answers.

Written and narrated by Molly Young

The culture has an enduring fascination with sharks: Jaws and its sequels; the Discovery Channels Shark Week; the movie where Samuel L. Jackson gets eaten by a shark; the movie where Blake Lively almost gets eaten by a shark; the movie where Ian Ziering dives into a sharks mouth with a chain saw and then chainsaws his way out.

I have shielded myself from shark information under the logic of What I dont know might be able to hurt me, and thats precisely why I dont want to know it, Molly Young writes.

Molly waded into unwanted territory thanks to the gentle guidance of David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, whose new book is called Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive With the Worlds Most Misunderstood Predator.

Written and narrated by Jesse McKinley

He is a postdoctoral fellow from Pittsburgh, a bartender turned political mapmaker. Now, Jonathan Cervas is suddenly New Yorks most unforeseen power broker.

Last month, a New York State judge chose Mr. Cervas to create new district maps in New York for the House and State Senate after maps approved by state Democratic leaders were declared unconstitutional.

Mr. Cervass new maps radically reshaped several districts, scrambling the future of the states political establishment for the next decade.

Written by Dan Barry and Karen Zraick | Narrated by Dan Barry

In 2018, Marco Martnez, a teenager newly arrived from Ecuador, died after being crushed against a ceiling by a mechanical lift. A year later, Michael Daves, who was living in a mens shelter and struggling with substance abuse, died after falling through a hole.

And now Yonin Pineda, a 29-year-old from Guatemala, lies unconscious and gravely injured. His diligent Mexican foreman, Mauricio Snchez, 41, is sprawled dead beside him, his face mangled, his chest torn open, his blood staining broken concrete.

The men were transforming a century-old Bronx ice house into a charter school.

No other construction site in New York City has had this many separate fatal incidents since at least 2003, when the Department of Buildings began keeping electronic records. But despite the pattern of deaths, the consequences have been negligible.

The Timess narrated articles are made by Tally Abecassis, Parin Behrooz, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Jack DIsidoro, Aaron Esposito, Dan Farrell, Elena Hecht, Adrienne Hurst, Elisheba Ittoop, Emma Kehlbeck, Marion Lozano, Tanya Prez, Krish Seenivasan, Margaret H. Willison, Kate Winslett, John Woo and Tiana Young. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Ryan Wegner, Julia Simon and Desiree Ibekwe.

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The All-Female Band That Made History and More: The Week in Narrated Articles - The New York Times

Baxters Where Everybody Knows You Name

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) Let Me Be Frank Productions show troupe based in Green Bay will present the new comedy musical, Baxters Where Everybody Knows Your Name, starting next week at the Meyer Theatre in downtown Green Bay. Info: meyertheatre.org.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. June 10, 11, 17, 18; 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 23; 7:30 p.m. June 24; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 25.

The show is a takeoff on a real place that operated in the 1970s and 80s at the corner of Dousman Street and Broadway in Green Bay.

The press release says, Welcome to Baxters restaurant, where everybody knows your name! Mr. Broberg manages the establishment with the assistance of the cooks, Pat and Tom. Waitresses Amy, Lisa and Sarah, keep customers happy with their innovative team serving strategy. With this crew of characters, Baxters is definitely the place to be in the 1980s. The restaurant features new dishes never seen in Wisconsin, like cheese and bacon skins, zucchini sticks and even margaritas. Are they original recipes or rip-offs of another establishment perhaps TGI Fridays? Like everything else in the world, the best ideas are the ones that are stolen. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? It may only be a matter of time until Baxters is called out for corporate espionage.

One fateful evening, Paul and Kasey Friday enter the doors of Baxters. The couple snoops in undercover, posing as customers, to research Baxters. Where are they from, what do they want, and when will their cover be blown?

The June 10 performance is a benefit for Discover Green Bays new visitors center.

In the cast are Frank Hermans, Pat Hibbard, Tom Verbrick, Paul Evansen, Amy Riemer, Lisa Borley, Sarah Hibbard and Kasey Schumacher,

The band consists of Dennis Panneck (guitar), Pat Hibbard (bass), Tony Pilz (keyboards), Andrew Klaus (drums), with Ross Loining on lights and Kelly Klaus on sound.

Song selections include Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Cheers Theme), No Time, You Really Got Me, Call Me, Its a Heartache, Jack & Diane and a Lady medley.

This show was first scheduled before the COVID-19 pandemic gained a grip.

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Franks show group to visit Green Bay pub history - WeAreGreenBay.com

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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McKinney organization aims to keep history alive with Juneteenth pop-up display - Star Local Media

Just 89 days from now, West Virginia will kick off the 2022 college football season against its biggest rival.

The revitalization of the Backyard Brawl 11 years after the last time the two programs met on the gridiron is one of the most highly anticipated games of the Neal Brown era.

With that in mind, it gives us a good opportunity to look back on some of the best, or most-anticipated, season-opening games in program history.

Editors Note: This list features games played from 1950 to the present, as prior to that West Virginia largely began its season against regional opponents that are now Division-II schools.

The second year of the Will Grier era at quarterback got off to a fantastic start.

West Virginia and Tennessee fans engaged in plenty of back-and-forth chatter leading up to the game, which only heightened the anticipation for the first contest of the season.

Grier and company were up 10-0 after the first quarter and outscored the Volunteers by 20 after halftime to secure a 40-14 season-opening victory.

Grier completed 25-of-34 passes for 429 yards and five touchdowns. David Sills V and Gary Jennings each eclipsed 100 receiving yards and caught at least one touchdown.

This is one of those games where a couple of plays made a world of difference.

Coming off a 4-8 season, expectations varied for the Mountaineers entering the 2014 campaign, which started against an Alabama program that had won three of the previous five national championships.

The Crimson Tide held just a three-point lead heading into halftime, but the Alabama defense limited the Mountaineers to just six points in the second half. Nick Sabans squad earned a 33-23 win.

A dropped pass near the goal line on WVUs first drive cost the Mountaineers some points, and wound up leading to one of the bigger What if? games for the program in this century.

It did begin a dominant season for wideout Kevin White, who hauled in 13 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown against Alabama.

To date, its the most recent playing of the Friends of Coal Bowl.

It also was the first game played following the 70-33 shellacking of Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

Behind the programs all-time leading passer in Geno Smith, West Virginia dismantled the Thundering Herd defense in the 2012 season opener.

Smith completed all but four of his 36 pass attempts, threw for 323 yards, and added five total touchdowns. Shawne Alston led the WVU rushing attack with 123 yards and a pair of scores.

The Mountaineers just missed hitting the states interstate speed limit, winning 69-34.

From the most recent playing, to the return of the Friends of Coal Boal.

The 2006 playing of the WVU-Marshall rivalry game marked the first meeting between the two in-state programs since 1997.

Rich Rodriguezs Mountaineers started the season as the No. 7 team in the country, and his starting quarterback, running back, and full back were on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Steve Slaton, part of that famed trio, ran for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns. Pat White completed 10-of-14 passes for 168 yards. Defensively, West Virginia limited Marshall to just two scores in the 42-10 victory.

It was a dominant start to a dominant season, during which WVU rose to as high as third in the national polls, and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the country.

Its not often that the No. 1 team in the country comes to Morgantown. But that was the scenario to kick off the 1998 season.

A total of 68,409 fans the third-largest crowd in Milan Puskar Stadium history crowded around Mountaineer Field to watch the 11th-ranked Mountaineers host the top-ranked Buckeyes.

Despite a high-powered home offense that included Marc Bulger, Amos Zereoue, and Anthony Bect, it was Ohio State that flexed its abilities on offense. The Buckeyes scored 17 points in the second quarter, which propelled them to a 37-17 victory over Don Nehlens group.

Of note, Zereoue became WVUs all-time leading rusher in this game.

Some fans will remember this as the first football game between West Virginia and Marshall since 1923, ending a 74-year drought of gridiron matchups between the two in-state programs.

Others will remember it for one man, and he wasnt wearing the home uniform.

That man is Randy Moss.

Despite recording just 85 receiving yards in the game, Moss continued to show why he was one of the premier talents in the country. His second of two third-quarter touchdown grabs gave Marshall a 31-28 lead.

Zereoue, however, rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-sealing score as part of the Mountaineers 42-31 win.

On November 24, 1995, West Virginia shutout rival Pittsburgh, winning by a final score of 21-0.

Just over nine months later, the Mountaineers blanked the Panthers again. This time, it happened in Pittsburgh.

Zereoue got the scoring started, as he took his first-ever carry against Pittsburgh 69 yards down the field for a touchdown. The Mountaineers led 17-0 at halftime and went on to win by a final score of 34-0.

That was 54 unanswered points scored by the Mountaineers between the 95 and 96 editions of the Backyard Brawl.

It is also the last time that WVU and Pitt played in any season before mid-November.

That is, until September 1, 2022.

1988 is arguably the most famous season in WVU football history. It marked the first of two undefeated regular seasons under Nehlen and it led to West Virginias only appearance in college footballs national championship game.

None of that happens, though, if the Mountaineers stumble out of the gates against Bowling Green.

The 16th-ranked Mountaineers started by scoring 24 points in the games opening quarter. There was no looking back from there, as West Virginia cruised to a 62-14 victory on a nearly perfect day in Morgantown.

While the game itself may not have been all that highly anticipated, especially with games against Maryland, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech on the horizon, it did get WVU off to a good start to what became a historic season.

Don Nehlen versus Barry Switzer.

West Virginia at Number 9 Oklahoma, playing in front of 75,008 Sooner fans.

Advantage Mountaineers.

Oklahoma was the overwhelming favorite heading into the game, but Jeff Hostetler and WVU had other plans.

Hostetler tossed for 321 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for the Mountaineers. After trailing 14-0, West Virginia ripped off 20 straight points, including 10 in the final 15 seconds of the first half.

The Mountaineers used a big fourth quarter to earn its first-ever win over the Sooners by a final of 41-27. Nehlen later said that the victory over Oklahoma that day, pretty much put West Virginia on the map as a major college football team.

The 1969 WVU football team had a pair of players Bob Gresham and Jim Braxton who went on to play in the National Football League on its roster.

It was a roster that had the makeup for putting together the best season of the Jim Carlen era. And it delivered.

Starting with the season-opener against Cincinnati, the 1969 Mountaineer team scored 30 or more points in seven of the 11 games it played that season. WVU scored a season-best 57 in a lopsided, 46-point win over the visiting Bearcats.

West Virginias lead was 34 points by the time Cincinnati finally got on the board in the third quarter.

WVU went on to complete its first 10-win season since 1922.

There was no way of knowing then the type of a football career Navys quarterback would ultimately have, but fans on hand at Old Mountaineer Field on Sept. 21, 1963, would soon believe it.

West Virginia welcomed the ninth-ranked Midshipmen to Morgantown to begin the 63 campaign. Leading the way for Navy was that seasons Heisman Trophy winner, Roger Staubach.

WVU didnt have much of an answer for Navy that day, as Staubach completed 17-of-22 passes, and handed the ball off to a bevy of skilled tailbacks.

No. 9 Navy won easily 51-7 to kickstart a 4-6 season for WVU.

Another season that got underway against the Panthers. For the second year in a row, the Mountaineers would face a nationally ranked Pittsburgh team.

Statistically, West Virginia out-played Pitt in every way that afternoon, except for one. Quarterback Mickey Trimarki threw four interceptions.

WVUs defense held the Panthers to just 96 yards of total offense, but couldnt keep Pitt out of the end zone in the third quarter.

Four interceptions and a missed PAT in the second quarter were the difference.

Pittsburgh 14, West Virginia 13. A near-capacity crowd at Old Mountaineer Field filed out disappointed.

That was not the case in the season-opener two years prior. This time, the Mountaineers were on the road against a ranked foe.

South Carolina held the No. 15 spot in the preseason rankings that year. But Art Lewis group was coming off an 8-2 season, and was keen on repeating that success.

Weston, West Virginia native Fred Wyant led the Mountaineers on scoring drives in each of the first three quarters. Wyants one-yard scoring run gave WVU a 13-0 lead at halftime, and an identical scoring run in the third quarter put West Virginia ahead by 20.

The unranked Mountaineers defeated the Gamecocks by a final of 26-6 in the first of two road victories over ranked teams in the first three weeks of the season.

It also avenged a loss from November of the previous season, which was the only blip in an otherwise perfect regular season.

West Virginia was Number 16. Pittsburgh was Number 17.

This marked the first time in the history of the Backyard Brawl that both teams were ranked on the date they squared off.

Wyant scored from one yard out to put WVU ahead, but Pitt evened up the score at seven points apiece before halftime. A short field goal gave West Virginia the lead in the third quarter, and another rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter put the game away.

WVU went on to win each of its first seven games of the year and fell just seven points shy of going 9-0 in the 1953 campaign.

West Virginias victory in the 53 playing of the Backyard Brawl also marked the first time in 30 years that WVU had beaten its archrival in back-to-back seasons.

WVU begins the 2022 regular season versus Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on September 1.

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Looking back on the most-anticipated season-openers in WVU football history - WBOY.com

With many cities kicking off their June Pride festivities this weekend, we thought we could take the time now to look back at some of the most important moments in Texas Pride History.

The June Pride month commemorates what is now known as the Stonewall uprising, an important moment in the history for LGBTQ liberation. After the Greenwich Village bar the Stonewall Inn was raided by the New York Police Department on June 28, 1969, LGBTQ patrons (many of whom were people of color) and their neighbors rioted for over six days.

In Texas, Pride events have been happening since the 1970s. Austin Monthly chronicles how organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Womens Liberation held events in 1970, a year after the Stonewall riots. Austin Mayor Jeff Friedman would declare a Gay Pride Celebration Week in June, 1976.

The first official Houston Pride parade occurred in 1979, but OutSmart Magazine gives a great overview of events that happened in the years prior that made an official parade possible. One person who marched in 1976 was Annise Parker, the activist turned mayor of Houston.

The following year in Houston in 1977, a seminal event occurred for the LGBTQ community in June: Anita Bryant came to town. Bryant, a moderately successful singer and a onetime Miss Oklahoma, found a second career as a hateful anti-gay rights activist. Houstonia provides a rundown of the boycott that took place outside the Hyatt Regency, where Bryant was performing. Over 10,000 showed up to the boycott, making it one of the largest public events in Houstons history at that time. In 1980, Florida Orange Juice officially canned Bryant as their spokesperson.

Dallas held its first official Pride parade in June 1980 (though there was an important and impromptu march from gay rights organizers that occurred in 1973). An organization of LGBTQ bars and nightclubs called the Tavern Guild took over the parade in 1983 and moved it to September to honor the court case Baker v. Wade, which overturned a Texas sodomy law (which would be later reversed by a court of appeals).

As the AIDS epidemic tragically escalated throughout the 1980s, many Pride events in Texas took on a more dire need. San Antonio held its first Pride Picnic in 1982. San Antonio Magazine notes that first event happened as a result of the activism of real estate developer and nightclub owner Arthur Hap Veltman.

Veltman died of complications from AIDS in 1988. A recent documentary from filmmaker Noi Mahoney examines his legacy on the San Antonio LGBTQ community. One of Veltmans colleagues, Gene Elder became the director of the Happy Foundation Archives, a resource named after Veltman to document gay and queer history in San Antonio and Texas. The University of Texas at San Antonio houses much of those archives.

Though not directly related to Pride, an important court case known as Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University was upheld in 1984. In 1976, Texas A&M refused to recognize the group Gay Student Services on the basis that homosexuality was illegal in Texas. A court of appeals sided with the student organization, and the Supreme Court declined to take the case, thereby upholding the court of appeals ruling. Texas A&M unveiled a new LGBTQ+ Pride Center last year.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton declared June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. He issued the same proclamation in 2000, and President Obama continued the tradition when he took office in 2009. President Biden proclaimed this month as LGTBTQ Pride Month, while also noting the recent heinous attacks on the LGBTQ community.

In Texas, Beaumont hosted its first Pride Event in 2014. Hundreds attended the parade and block party that June. Later that year in August, 24-year-old Texas Tech student Kat Cade organized a pride event in Lubbock, which was covered by Texas Monthly.

Though many activists will point out that Pride Month has morphed into a strange corporation-fueled rainbow celebration with nebulous ties to the protests it once inspired, Texas has been the scene of many important events for the LGBTQ community. And the activism is important.

Texas was the site of numerous anti-LGBTQ bills during the last legislative session (and the subsequent special sessions that followed) including a transgender sports ban championed by that went into effect earlier this year. According to Equality Texas, there were 30 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in the Texas legislative session, an increase of 50 percent from 2019.

The Texas GOP has also backed investigations into the parents of trans children, as well as their medical allies. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has also indicated he wants to bring a bill similar to Floridas Dont Say Gay law to Texas for the next session.

Pride is a celebration, but it also commemorates a protest. Now more than ever, Texas will once again become the site of protests and activism against anti-LGBTQ laws.

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A Brief History of Pride in Texas - The Texas Signal

Sports are defined by moments of What If... Since the inevitable end to Utahs football and basketball seasons back in January and March, Ive been obsessed with watching ESPNs 30 for 30 documentaries or going on YouTube and watching NFL Films Top 10 What if moments as well as other sports documentaries.

After watching these it inspired me to apply those same theories to Utah sports and ask the what-if questions to a number of Utah Sports moments. For example, what if Urban Meyer stayed at Utah and didnt leave for the Florida job, Rick Majerus continued coaching at Utah, or what if Coach Whit left for another job.

Id like to start the series as soon as possible but I also wanted to open it up to our community and get your thoughts and insight. I dont plan on this being an intensive what-if scenario dissecting every potential fallout but more of my general thoughts as well as an open dialogue from all of you. Its also just a great way to kill time over the summer and get more excited for the return of Utah Football.

With that please post your comments about some potential What if moments in Utah Utes sports history and tune in to this thread over the summer.

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What If......? - Moments in University of Utah Sports History - Block U

Historian and TV presenter David Olusoga has said that rightwing newspapers characterise him as an activist and critical race theorist to delegitimise his voice, despite there being no basis for these claims.

Olusoga, whose work has explored black Britishness and the legacy of empire and slavery, said that people feel perfectly comfortable making these comments about me without being able to point to a single reference or footnote in my books. He said that in reality he is an old-fashioned empirical historian who fundamentally tells stories and tries to create empathy and a public understanding of history.

He told an audience at Hay festival: Why the need to describe me as a critical race theorist? Why the need to describe me as an activist rather than a historian? These are all about delegitimising peoples voices.

Olusoga was speaking as part of a debate on how cancel culture has become a blood sport, but said that the phrase did not capture his experience, since it is usually attributed to students, who he thinks are falsely accused of fomenting cancel culture, when in reality it reflects a growing intolerance in rightwing newspapers.

He was also asked for his views on the response to historian David Starkeys comments that slavery was not genocide. Starkey subsequently resigned from his post at the University of Cambridges Fitzwilliam College.

Olusoga said he was conflicted because while what Starkey had said was appalling and inaccurate, he felt its sad that somebody who is a great historian was getting into those debates.

He blamed Starkeys tone on the influence of the Moral Maze, BBC Radio 4s provocative show that has run since 1990, for elevating opinion over expertise. Its taken some who have great expertise away from that expertise and into that carnivalesque world of commentary, he said.

The panel was hosted by the editor of Prospect magazine, Alan Rusbridger. The former Guardian editor said he had observed during his six years as principal of Oxford Universitys Lady Margaret Hall how the increasingly polarised and vitriolic tone of public debate had resulted in a growing fear among academics that one misplaced word or tweet would lead to a pile-on.

Prof Jonathan Bate, who was also on the panel, said that how controversial issues are discussed varied in different countries. While in the UK there is a great deal of heat around trans issues, this is not so fiercely debated in the US, where he teaches at Arizona State University. The hot button in the States, for entirely understandable reasons, is race, he said.

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Speaking generally, he worried that history goes in cycles and an age of liberation is followed by an age of puritanism and that the current mood of polarisation was bringing us into a new puritanism.

Fellow panellist and comedian Shazia Mirza said that when she started out in comedy 15 years ago, death threats were considered serious but that social media had made them so commonplace that they were considered a badge of honour among comedians.

If you get a death threat or hate mail its considered that youre doing well, it means youre making people react, people are talking about you; youre having an effect on people, she said.

She added that although people say that comedians such as Jimmy Carr, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais have been cancelled, in reality its a myth. They are definitely not unemployed, they are still working, earning millions.

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Cancel culture a reflection of rightwing papers intolerance, says David Olusoga - The Guardian

Red SoxThe Athletics, openly angling for either a new Oakland stadium or a move to Las Vegas, are drawing fewer than 8,000 fans per game in 2022. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

COMMENTARY

After Thursday night, the Red Sox are going to have a hard time making their latest series in Oakland notable beyond it happening around its competition across the bay.

Some Red Sox may have been at Game 1 of the NBA Finals; Alex Cora, in a bit of an eye-popper quote, said earlier in the week it was even cost prohibitive for his players. For those that were, itll be quite a 24-hour jump from the $1.4 billion Chase Center on the San Francisco waterfront to a place where the possums run wild and free.

What today is known as RingCentral Coliseum is a relic of a bygone baseball era, and wont be long for the majors if the Athletics bosses get their way. The sports fifth-oldest stadium only eight remain that pre-date Baltimores Camden Yards is almost universally maligned, with the possum story of a few weeks ago joining the feral cats, the sewage overflows, the intimacy tarps, and just the general aesthetic of the place since it was renovated in the mid-90s to win back the Raiders (for a couple decades).

The older of you may remember when the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was one of the sports jewels, the site of the 1987 All-Star Game right before the Athletics won three straight pennants behind the Bash Brothers, Rickey Henderson, and some long-haired Hall of Fame closer.

And almost all of you likely remember some sliver of Red Sox history in Oakland, because for a place theyve only visited once a year for most of the last two decades, theyve sure had a lot of memorable games there.

Thus, if I may take a moment to not lament the 2022 Red Sox bullpen, a few memories of afternoons and late nights gone by watching Boston spend part of a West Coast trip in the East Bay.

May 27, 1968 Why not salute the first? Especially when, with a crowd of just 6,875 announced for what months earlier was still the Kansas City As, the seats were about as depressingly empty as theyll probably be on Friday?

So, Boston really needs a stadium? They ought to parcel the new one out here into three U-Haul-It trucks and send it to home, quipped the Globes Clif Keane in the next days paper.

Playing the day after Oakland brawled with the Tigers, the reigning American League champs beat the As, 3-2, with reigning MVP Carl Yastrzemski smashing the longest home run in the brief history of the park. (The Oakland Tribune estimated it at 450 feet.)

Two additional notes: May 27 was a notable day in baseball history, as that same night the American League formally voted to split into divisions for the 1969 season, and the National League awarded expansion teams to Montreal and San Diego. (The NL wouldnt agree to divisional play until a month later.)

Also, Bostons second game in Oakland included the 1968 debut of 67 Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg, used in relief after hed torn up his knee skiing the previous Christmas. Though hed pitch parts of the next 12 seasons, at 26, his best days were already behind him.

Oct. 7, 1975 The Red Sox and Oakland have a relatively beefy playoff history. That aforementioned As dynasty of the late 1980s included a pair of championship-series sweeps of Boston, the 1990 version ending with Roger Clemens Ninja Turtles on his cleats, goatee on his face ejected in the second inning.

In 2003, the Red Sox completed a comeback from the Division Series brink in Oakland, Manny Ramirez crashing a game-winning home run and Derek Lowe closing it out with a celebratory crotch chop.

A shoutout, though, to their first postseason meeting, when the Red Sox ended the reign of the three-time World Series winners with an ALCS sweep of their own. Rico Petrocelli put the Sox up in the fourth, Dick Drago got a pivotal double play in the eighth, and Boston won, 5-3, to set up a World Series with the Big Red Machine.

June 7, 2007 The Red Sox and As have played nine 1-0 games at the Coliseum, the visitors winning six of them, none more notable than the one played 15 years ago Tuesday.

When Curt Schilling shook off Jason Varitek.

The big-money Sox were already up nine games in a division race they were never much challenged in on their way to a world championship, but were on a season-worst four-game losing streak that getaway Thursday. They had only four hits that day, but David Ortizs first-inning solo shot off Joe Blanton was enough as Schilling played the stopper, needing only 90 pitches to reach the ninth without allowing a hit.

You likely know the rest: After retiring current As manager Mark Kotsay and Jason Kendall on groundouts, Varitek called for a first-pitch slider to Shannon Stewart who, coincidentally, played his last major-league game exactly one year later on June 7, 2008.

Schilling wanted to throw a fastball. He did, and at 95 miles per hour, it was his fastest of the day. Stewart ripped it past a diving Alex Cora into right field.

I was sure [Stewart] was taking. Tek was sure he was swinging, Schilling told reporters after finishing his third and final one-hitter. I was wrong. . . . And Ive got the big what if for the rest of my life.

I think Eric Hinske said it best, Mike Lowell noted, when he said, Ive never seen our pitcher throw a shutout and we win, 1-0, and were all disappointed.

It was actually the second time a Red Sox pitcher lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning at Oakland Coliseum. Marty Pattin, whom the Red Sox got as part of the trade that sent Lonborg and George Scott out of town in 1971, tossed a one-hitter at the As on July 11, 1972. The only damage was a Reggie Jackson one-out single in the ninth.

No confirmation on whether Pattin, as Bill Lee wrote he frequently did in The Wrong Stuff, threw up after the first inning.

April 21, 2018 Cora, to be clear, had no chance at Stewarts single, but that didnt keep him from lamenting what might have been.

Have I been this close to being a part of [a no-hitter]? he told reporters that day. Not 10 feet.

Eleven years later, another trip to Oakland changed that . . . sort of. Sean Manaea no-hit his rampaging Red Sox, whod opened 17-2, outscoring opponents by nearly four runs per game. That included pounding what would become a 97-win As team in the Friday series opener.

Thats baseball. We talk about being humble and staying hungry, Cora told reporters that Saturday night. Well, we were humbled.

It was not without controversy. Sandy Len reached base in the fifth on a pop up that Marcus Semien, racing toward the outfield, got a glove on. (It was ruled it an error.) In the sixth, Andrew Benintendi appeared to have a hit when he beat out a swinging bunt up the first-base line, but was called out after an umpire huddle for leaving the base line.

In the moment, it was the start of a three-game losing streak, and the Red Sox dropped out of the first place about a month later when Manaea beat them again at Fenway. Their history, however, would not be denied.

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In likely one of Bostons last trips to Oakland Coliseum, a reminder of the Red Sox history there - Boston.com

ST. CLOUD The Alexandria baseball team is one win away from securing its fifth state tournament entry in program history and first since 2018, and the Cardinals have two chances to get that win.

Alexandria is the lone unbeaten team left in the Section 8-3A playoffs after beating Willmar (15-7) 8-1 at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud on Saturday afternoon. Willmar, Sauk Rapids-Rice and Rocori were all eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday.

The Cardinals (18-5) will play sixth-seeded Little Falls (12-11) at 4 p.m. on Wednesday back at the MAC in St. Cloud. Little Falls beat Rocori 2-1 on Saturday and would have to beat Alexandria twice on Wednesday to win the section. Alexandria beat Little Falls 4-0 on May 20.

We cant overthink it too much with us beating them last time, Alexandria senior infielder Reed Reisdorf said. They have nothing to lose. We still have to put all our stuff out there and throw our best game at them.

Alexandria jumped on Willmar early with a second-inning, solo home run from senior JD Hennen.

Brock Lerfald and Caleb Runge drove in third-inning runs with a single and double, respectively, to make it 3-0.

Alexandria then blew the game open in the top of the sixth with four runs. Nate Hammerback doubled to lead off that inning with his third hit of the game. Reisdorf drove in a run with a perfectly-placed squeeze bunt, and Lake Hagen then cleared the bases with a three-run double to make it 7-1. Reisdorf singled in the games final run in the seventh.

That felt good, Hagen said of his sixth-inning double. There was an altercation the last inning, and it felt good to put it in their faces a bit.

Willmar scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth on an overturned call at the plate. Mason Madsen, Jason Malmgren and Carter Schow all singled for Willmar to load the bases with one out.

It was the first time all game that Alexandria senior pitcher Parker Jendro had been challenged, and he got Cullen Gregory to fly out to Grady Anderson in right field for the second out. Willmar sent the runner from third as Andersons throw home brought Hagen a little bit up the third-base line as he caught the ball and placed the tag.

The runner was initially ruled out to end the threat. But both umpires talked things over and ultimately ruled that the runner was safe.

Alexandria head coach Jake Munsch vehemently disagreed with the overturned call as he talked with the umpires before both teams got back on the field. Jendro struck out Brandt Sunder in the next at-bat to get out of the inning with two Willmar runners left on.

They said I was guarding the plate, Hagen said of the play at home. I was playing the ball and it came right to me. He slid into my leg and the call was overturned.

That could have been a big moment in the game for Willmar. Instead, Alexandria came right back and put up the four runs in their next half inning to all but end it.

For sure (it motivated us), Hagen said. We came into the dugout, had a little talk. I think it did motivate us, yes.

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press

The eight runs were plenty for Jendro on the mound. The senior right-hander was dialed in from the get-go as he did not allow a hit until the fourth inning when Ian Koosman singled.

All five of the base hits Jendro allowed were singles. He struck out five and pounded the strike zone without allowing Willmar to make much hard contact all game.

After being used primarily as a reliever on the mound in 2021, Jendro has stepped up as a starter and become a huge part of an Alexandria pitching staff that came into Saturday with a team ERA of 1.93.

Jendro has now throw a team-high 37 innings this season, striking out 34 with an ERA of about 2.50.

Hes a beast, Hagen, Alexandrias catcher, said. He paints corners. He was painting them all day. He made me look good. He did his job today.

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press

The win puts Alexandria in a good spot heading into Wednesdays championship round. If Little Falls were to win game one, the two teams would play again right after that to determine the Section 8-3A champion.

Alexandria won the regular-season matchup with Little Falls, but it was a 1-0 game through five innings before the Cardinals struck for three runs in the sixth. Flyers senior Zachary Gwost threw six strong innings that day to keep his team close, but JD Hennen and Jendro combined to allow just one hit with 11 total strikeouts.

They had a pretty good pitcher, Reisdorf said of Gwost from that game. We struggled with him right away, but once we got going a little bit, our team is really good at rallying around each other. Once one person gets going, everyone gets going.

1/4:Alexandria first baseman Nate Hammerback tosses the ball to pitcher Parker Jendro as Jendro covers the first-base bag on a ground ball during Alexandria's win over Willmar in the Section 8-3A playoffs on June 4, 2022.

2/4:Alexandria first baseman Nate Hammerback makes the catch against Willmar on June 4, 2022 with second baseman Brock Lerfald backing him up.

3/4:Alexandria's Caleb Runge fires a ball to first base for a double play after making a catch in left field against Willmar on June 4, 2022.

4/4:Alexandria's Brock Lerfald slides safely into second with a stolen base as Willmar's Cayden Hansen leaves his feet to try to haul in the throw in the Section 8-3A playoffs at the MAC in St. Cloud on June 4, 2022.

Alexandrias state tournament appearances have come in 1972, 1975, 2017 and 2018. This group is motivated to add another section championship to the record books going into Wednesday.

Its a dream weve all wanted to do, Hagen said. I think this will be our year.

Link:

Baseball: Alexandria one win away from fifth section title in team history after rolling over Willmar - Alexandria Echo Press