art, Chattanooga, community, Diversity, Entertainment, History, Music, women

Heart of Jazz

Written By Ali Lemmons

Lisa Baker is performing at the Barking Legs Theatre with her jazz band, The Knotty Professors. Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (Photo by Kylee Boone)

Lisa Baker’s guitar is an extension of her own body. From the decorative swirls running along its length to the initial “L” sewn on the strap, it’s a tangible display of her love of jazz. And she’s rarely found without it.

“It kind of goes everywhere with me, period,” she laughed. “Going to the beach, take my guitar.”

Baker, a jazz performer and adjunct professor of music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has had a heart for jazz music ever since she can remember.

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Family, teachers, women

Rolling Pages

By Cassandra Castillo

A Little Bookish is a portable library truck that’s promoting the benefits of reading to people around the Chattanooga area. Once an elementary school teacher from Michigan, owner Miranda Atkins, is now making a difference in her own unique way—one page at a time.

Often sitting in the driver seat of her white step van, Miranda Atkins flips through the pages of her latest novel, waiting for a customer to walk onto her teal steps in search of a new read. 

Atkins, the owner of A Little Bookish, thrives on selling books simply out of her love for reading.

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Family, Food, History, Love

A Family Thing

By Hannah Blair Hurt

Joe “Dixie” Fuller prepares his peach cobbler for his family restaurant Zarzour’s. Sunday, November 20, 2022. (Photo by Hannah Blair Hurt)

Walking through the door of Zarzour’s Cafe on Chattanooga’s Southside feels a bit like walking into a time capsule containing four generations of Zarzour family history, owners of the small brick building for over 100 years. The shelves and walls are adorned with an array of heirlooms and memorabilia, from family photos, celebrity autographs and newspaper clippings to Charles Zarzour’s naturalization papers from 1946, signed in Arabic.

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art, Chattanooga, Environment, Sustainability, women

Trashy Treasures

By Madelyn McCrary

Alecia Vera Buckles paints a piece of wood for one of the upcoming projects that she has been working on. Tuesday, November 8, 2022. (Photo by Madelyn McCrary).

Adorned with bright colors and spunky personality, local Chattanooga artist Alecia Vera Buckles has found a way to create functional and sustainable art from an uncommon medium: trash. 

“I finally feel like I’m touching the toes of where I want to be in my career and that is truly one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve ever had,” Buckles said in a recent Instagram post. 

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UTC

Rising Rock Radio Showcase
Graphic By Kylee Boone.

Rising Rock is excited to parter with Scenic Roots at WUTC again this semester to showcase some of our top audio pieces. To listen to Scenic Roots, visit https://www.wutc.org/scenic-roots.

Here, you will find all of the audio pieces written and recorded by UTC students in Rising Rock during the Fall 2022 semester.

Legacy in the Cedar

Brittany Santiago sat down with Steve McBryar, Dunlap resident and chainsaw sculptor, to talk about his woodcarving passion, chainsaw antics and how carving with power tools is actually relaxing for him.

Reciprocal Blessings

Curtis Cecil and Kelly Flemmings, owners of the Soddy Daisy Community Library who started with just four books, created a community library that is overflowing with love and books. The two of them talk to Haley Bayer about their emotional connection they have formed to the community that the library has given them. 

Gender Equality in Tennessee: The Fight Continues

Workplace harassment is a global problem with an unsure solution. In this piece, Madelyn McCrary speaks with an anonymous source about their experience with workplace harassment. The two discussed the lack of equality in the workplace, her experience with workplace harassment, and the difficulty of getting into crisis centers.

Row As You Grow

This piece will explore the art and dedication of rowing from Chattanooga rower, Lily McDowell. Lily spoke with Madelyn McCrary about the passion that she has found through rowing that has changed her life for the better. 

Heather’s Story

Athena Miller chats with Eli Rushing about the worst night of her life. Catastrophe struck while she and her friend Heather Kounthapanya were crossing the street for some late night City Cafe. Miller talks about the fallout from the incident that hospitalized her friend and gives her perspective of the events that followed.

Miss Nola’s Gumbo

Brittany Santiago sat down with Tacia Taylor, owner of Nola Girls Gumbo, an authentic cajun cuisine food truck in Chattanooga, TN. Taylor reflected on what she gets out of cooking while also relaying that her true passions lie elsewhere.
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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Environment, Food, Sustainability

The Race to Zero Waste

By Kylee Boone

Sadie McElrath fills her jar of beans while holding her baby Zion as her two daughters Jubilee and Shalom help her collect groceries in the process. Thursday, November 10, 2022. (Photo by Kylee Boone).

The average American throws out approximately 4.9 pounds of trash per day, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. For nearly half a decade, married couple Sadie and Zach McElrath have striven to defy this statistic through a journey toward producing zero waste within their family of five.

The journey began when the two were listening to the radio and heard of someone who was working toward that same goal.

“I heard this college student can fit all her trash for our whole year into a single jar,” Sadie McElrath said. 

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Animals, Chattanooga, community, Environment, Love, outdoors

Birds of Prey

By Haley Bayer

Alix Parks engages with Telly, a non-releasable Black vulture, in their usual handshake. Saturday, November 25, 2022. (Photo by Haley Bayer) 

Past the bustling noise and city lights of Chattanooga lies a home on Signal Mountain for all types of birds of prey on their way to recovery.

That home belongs to Alix Parks, the owner of Happinest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Raptor Rescue, 501c3 non-profit That used to accept everything from squirrels to rabbits, raptors and even songbirds. But after training a few other rehabilitators on other species, Happinest has become strictly a raptor rehabilitation center. 

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Healing, Health, Nurses, women

Sight & Hope Restored

By Anna Truss

Kathleen Stephens stands on a hill in front of the dock in the Chickamauga Dam Day Use Area. Wednesday, November 23, 2022. (Photo by Anna Truss).

While many people plan to retire fully by 65, that dream is not always a reality for everyone. Kathleen Stephens, a resident of Hamilton County, TN, is still a full time certified nursing assistant at the age of 79.

“I still work full time and I thank God for that because I can see what I’m doing, because before I wouldn’t have been able to see,” Stephens said.

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art, Chattanooga, community, Dance, Sports

Dedicated to Dance

By Madison Van Horn

Pierceton Mazell stretches in the studio at Chattanooga Ballet. Thursday, December 3, 2022. (Photo By Madison Van Horn).

The world of ballet is more than just sugar plum fairies and pirouettes. With years of training and a deep passion for artistry, professional dancers like Pierceton Mazell revolve their lives around dance.

“A lot of people haven’t been exposed to this type of lifestyle,” Mazell said. “Dancers are professional athletes without the benefits of professional athletes. You know, it’s a passion project and it’s a lifestyle job.”

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