If you know me, then you know what I do. I paint big portraits of people that I admire on the sides of buildings. Nikola Tesla on the North Shore. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Boulevard named for him. All the men of the Fallen Five on McCallie Avenue. Today, I'd like to continue this habit on a smaller scale for you. Let me paint you a picture of Hollie Berry, a person who I admire a great deal, with pixels on paper.
I met Hollie on the Walnut Street Bridge back in 2012 and was delighted to learn that I was already a big fan of hers.
I'd been enjoying her oversized drawings of animals in the damp, early morning grass every time I walked the bridge. She called them “Dewdles”. But this wasn't the last time that I saw Hollie try out an absolutely novel medium or approach to art. Since I met Hollie Berry, she has floored me with her work in origami, bookbinding, encaustics and most recently fire. Yes, fire. Hollies' latest, greatest works are made by carefully, skillfully burning plywood with torches and a spatula.
Hollie Berry is fearless, and this is what makes her so special. There is nothing she won't try. No challenge that she won't face. Nothing that she doesn't do 100%. If she says she is going to do something, then by God, she does it. You can count on it. I have no doubt that she'll bring this same drive, determination and grit to the Red Bank Town Council. You can see it in her now. She's out knocking on doors. She's participating in food drives. She's doing the homework and putting in the hours. All this for a chance to make her hometown better. If I still lived in Red Bank, I'd give her that chance. I think you should too.
Kevin Bate
Chattanooga
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After a long conversation with Hollie Berry, I strongly support her position(s) for the future of Red Bank. The city needs to assert itself as independent of "big sister" Chattanooga.
Why, even with the USPS "37415" located prominently on Dayton Boulevard, just a few hundred yards from my home, many people still insist that I live in Chattanooga.
Red Bank has no bus service, no county public library access. Unlike "Hixson" (does Hixson really exist? I cannot locate their city administration) which expands by simply putting up new signs, poor old Red Bank is badly neglected.
Bill Laudeman