Kate in Knoxville

On the Tennessee River!

My mom and I went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to a popular destination called Cades Cove. It’s an 11-mile loop that you can drive, bike, or walk around, with historic buildings and hiking trails of varying length and difficult off the main loop.

We stopped for gas on the drive there, and this is what the gas pump looked like:

We decided to do the Abrams Falls hike, which was rated as moderately difficult. It is a 5-mile (roundtrip) hike that takes you to the 20-foot Abrams waterfall:

And, of course, I took a few pictures like this along the way:

Knox County spends most in state on indigent legal services

Without commenting on the quality of the journalism that went into this piece, this article is interesting. Mark Stephens is my new boss, and this is the climate I am entering into on September 1. 

I decided to create some art for my apartment, inspired by this album artwork from Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest. The original artist is William J. O’Brien. It’s actually a drawing, I think with colored pencils: 

I bought the paint, canvas (12” square) and brushes from Jerry’s Artarama, which is just down the street from where I live. The colors in mine are a bit different, in part because I knew I’d never be able to match it exactly, but here’s the finished product with the cd sleeve for comparison:

Progress photos: 

I have a lot of paint left over, so I’m going to buy more canvases and make a few more with different patterns, to hang with it. This was my first time with a real canvas and fancier paints, so maybe I’ll get more adventurous as I do it more. 

One more picture, with flash:

Ronald Reagan Spotted Sporting Hitler Mustache In Tennessee

Thanks, Moni, for this link.

Every moment was amazing, but I am only allowed to talk about a few of them…..

• Three men who had spent a considerable amount of time in Angola (and some of that time on death row) spoke to us and spent time in classes with us. One of those men was John Thompson, of Connick v. Thompson. It was a humbling experience. 
• Took a tour of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. One of the best museums I have ever been to, and across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Another humbling experience. 
• Starz Karaoke Lounge. We went there twice, because once was not enough. The only wine they had were 2 boxes of Franzia, kept in a fridge behind the bar. I opted for bottled beer, from the same fridge. 
• Samford University has a planetarium. It was across the street from the building (also a chapel) where we had our classes. I snuck in there a few times during our lunch breaks. 

I spent the last 2 weeks in Birmingham, Alabama at the Southern Public Defender Training Center. It was intense; it was exhausting; it was fun. 

A documentary called Gideon’s Army is being made about the movement, and it got picked up by HBO. Here’s the trailer. 

GIDEON”s ARMY 8 MINUTE TRAILER from Dawn Porter on Vimeo.

(bar exam)

Next time you see me, I’ll be in Birmingham… 

Counties in Tennessee with a population over 68,000:

Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Sevier, Shelby, Sumner, Wilson, Rutherford, Sullivan, Washington, and Williamson. 

Apparently the Tennessee bar examiners expect us to not only know that list, but also be able to identify every possible city/town within each of those counties, so we know when to apply the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. 

I don’t think so.