Author: Jim Patterson
First Love: From TV to novels, Melissa Scrivner Love loves writing, first and foremost
May. 23, 2019—Like many children who grew up in the 1980s, Melissa Scrivner Love, BA’02, was raised on James Bond films. That cinematic introduction to the KGB led her to double major in Russian and theater, and to consider two possible career paths: working for the CIA or acting. “Truthfully, though, I was in denial about the...
Song Stylist: Deanna Walker’s new podcast brings her “Blair Hit Songwriter Series” to the masses
May. 23, 2019—Deanna Walker was initiated into the world of hit Nashville songwriting in the usual way. She suffered a broken heart. In the 1990s, Walker’s best friend went through a contentious divorce. An ugly custody battle ensued, which had a traumatizing effect on Walker’s 2-year-old goddaughter. “I just went home and started crying,” Walker recalls. “I...
Mind’s Eye: Piece by Piece
May. 23, 2019—Mosaic artists convene in Nashville, bringing two exhibits to Vanderbilt Mosaics were originally invented about 4,000 years ago to create durable and inexpensive flooring, but they quickly became more art than craft. A highly refined technique developed during the Early Christian (260–525 C.E.) and Byzantine (fourth–15th centuries C.E.) eras, mosaics were used by the new...
Jarred Amato, BA’09, Watering ‘Book Deserts’
May. 23, 2019—Reading, and a child’s access to books, is a precursor to success by all yardsticks. But the lack of reading materials in many neighborhoods across America—regions known as “book deserts”—threatens the educational achievements of countless students. English teacher Jarred Amato decided to do something about it. In 2016 he and students at Nashville’s Maplewood High...
Merrily Van Norstrand Talbott, BS’90, Mints for the Mind
May. 23, 2019—It was while interviewing travelers for a tourist publication in Breckenridge, Colorado, that high school psychology teacher and writer Merrily Van Norstrand Talbott came up with a fresh idea. A woman who thought she was suffering from altitude sickness told Talbott that she found relief after popping, of all things, a Rolaids antacid tablet. “Right...
Accolade: Nafissa Thompson-Spires, MA’05, PhD’09, one of 10 Whiting Award winners
May. 23, 2019—Nafissa Thompson-Spires, MA’05, PhD’09, was announced as one of 10 Whiting Award winners March 20 at a ceremony at the New York Historical Society. Thompson-Spires’ short story collection Heads of the Colored People (2018, Atria/37 INK) has been honored with a PEN Open Book Award, longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award and Aspen Words...
Three Decades of Impact
May. 23, 2019—On clinic day every week, first-year nursing student Brooke Hazen’s 12-hour shift starts at 6:30 a.m. “We’re taking vital signs, helping patients shower and walk, administering shots and IVs, and interpreting lab results,” she says. Hazen is in Vanderbilt School of Nursing’s prespecialty program, which provides a two-year path to a master’s degree for students...
Kim Le, BA’98, Animated Storyteller
May. 23, 2019—After spending nearly two decades as a storyboard artist for Hollywood film and television production companies, Kim Le is guided by a singular imperative: “I want to tell a good story, entertain people, and hopefully make them laugh.” As creative types go, storyboard artists are often the unsung force behind a production’s success. “We basically...
Barbara Tsakirgis, Renowned Scholar of Classical Archaeology
May. 23, 2019—Barbara Tsakirgis, a noted scholar on ancient Greek domestic architecture as well as a strong community advocate for Nashville’s Parthenon, died Jan. 16. Tsakirgis, 64, had been diagnosed with ALS three years ago and died at her home. She was a professor of classical studies, emerita, and history of art, emerita, who joined the Vanderbilt...
Yvonne Young Clark, MS’72, First Lady of Engineering
May. 23, 2019—Yvonne Young Clark, the first woman to earn a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Howard University, the first woman to earn a master’s degree in engineering management from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, and the first woman to serve as a faculty member in the College of Engineering and Technology at Tennessee...
Harold Bradley, ’49, Hall of Fame Guitarist
May. 23, 2019—Harold Bradley, member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, famed guitarist, and cog in the family that led the ascent of country music in Nashville, died Jan. 31. He was 93. Bradley grew up in Nashville and took up the banjo as his first instrument. His older brother, Owen Bradley, who also earned enshrinement...
Alumna Pays It Forward Through Advocacy
May. 23, 2019—Karen White, BA’11, was born to be an advocate. Her first experience in advocacy was for herself at the age of 15, when she left a volatile home life and struggled to support herself through periods of homelessness. “I remember sleeping on the couch in the tattoo parlor I worked at and thinking, ‘This can’t...