Steve Haruch

Nashville

Writer, Editor and Producer at Freelance

Writer | senior producer @nashvillebanner | 📚 Greetings From New Nashville + People Only Die of Love in Movies (@vanderbiltup) | not active here 🦋

Articles

Phil Bredesen: Former Tennessee Governor and Nashville Mayor

2 weeks ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Phil Bredesen is a big believer in the public good. As mayor of Nashville, he pushed to create more public spaces, like the downtown public library. He also sought to invigorate the core of the city, in part by bringing big-time sports to town. (Wait until you hear the story of how he got to the final handshake on an NFL franchise.) As governor of Tennessee, and through his work with the Land Trust for Tennessee, Phil has also worked to acquire and preserve public land.
Don Cusic: Writer, Author of Chet Atkins Biography

3 weeks ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Music historian Don Cusic has played many roles — songwriter, producer, novelist, professor. (Not to mention putting in a stint at a newspaper in Cookeville many years ago.) Decades ago, he pulled into Nashville in an old VW bus that doubled as his home until he found his footing writing about music. Since then, Don has written 28 books, ranging from a biography of Roger Miller to an encyclopedia of cowboys. His latest delves into the life of one of Nashville’s most influential figures.
Steven Womack: Writer, Former Watkins Film School Instructor

1 month ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Five years ago this week, Watkins School of Art, Design & Film held a socially distanced commencement ceremony amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It would the last in the school’s 185-year history, as it later merged with Belmont University. Steven Womack taught at Watkins for 25 years, and he details his time there — and the school’s demise — in a memoir titled Death of a College.
Kelley Henry: Death Row Defense Attorney

1 month ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

With the state of Tennessee set to restart executions this month, federal public defender Kelley Henry is even more busy than usual. Her client Oscar Smith is the first man scheduled to be killed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Her team has exhausted its legal options, and Smith is set to be executed on May 22. He will spend 14 days on death watch, instead of the customary three.
Bonus Episode: 'The High Cost of Low Wages in Nashville'

1 month ago | nashvillebanner.com | Steve Haruch

This week, the Metropolitan Social Services department released a report based on its annual community needs evaluation. The title of this year’s report: “The High Cost of Low Wages in Nashville.” Coinciding with its release, the department hosted a community gathering at West End Community Church, featuring a panel discussion on the report’s findings and possible solutions.
Major Jackson: Poet and Teacher

1 month ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Major Jackson is the author of six poetry collections, including, most recently, Razzle Dazzle: New & Selected Poems. He is a professor at Vanderbilt University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Coming to Nashville to teach was a homecoming of sorts β he spent many summers here as a child. For two years, spanning 443 episodes, Major was the host of the podcast The Slowdown, which gave him the space to introduce new poems and poets to a devoted audience on a daily basis.
Michael Shane Neal: Portrait Artist

2 months ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Michael Shane Neal knew from an early age he wanted to be an artist. But there were no artists in his family, so he wasn’t sure how he’d turn that into a career. After taking classes in the basement of a dormitory at Lipscomb University, he had a chance meeting with someone who knew the famed portrait artist Raymond Kinstler. And after a trip to New York, a mentorship was born. Shane credits Kinstler with showing him the way to an artist’s life.
Rev. Matt Steinhauer: Pastor and Advocate

2 months ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Rev. Matt Steinhauer was among the dozen or so clergy who interrupted a House committee meeting earlier this week by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He was eventually escorted out by Tennessee State Troopers. What brought Matt to the Cordell Hull State Office Building that day was a belief that public education is for everyone, and that the bill under consideration β which would allow school districts to turn away or charge tuition to undocumented children β goes against the teachings of Jesus.
NEH funding termination's impact on Middle Tennessee

2 months ago | nashvillebanner.com | Steve Haruch

When Humanities Tennessee announced that its grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities had been terminated, it sent shockwaves through Nashville’s literary community. NEH funding, which amounts to about $1.2 million annually, supports programming that includes the Southern Festival of Books and the book review site Chapter 16. In the wake of the news, other NEH grantees around Middle Tennessee checked their inboxes and their spam folders, relieved to find no such termination notice.
Andrew Leeper and Will Minkoff of Nashville Severe Weather

2 months ago | nashvillebanner.com | Demetria Kalodimos |Steve Haruch

Middle Tennessee weather can be unpredictable — and dangerous. When things get iffy, a trio of “suburban dads” keeps the information flowing. But once the watches turn to warnings, they really get serious: That’s when they start livestreaming on YouTube, tracking storms in real time and letting their audience know when to shelter and when it’s safe to carry on. Nashville Severe Weather started as a Twitter account to keep locals informed of potential rainouts and worse.