Nashville Scene
Every Nashville Unseen post is a counterpoint to a piece in the Nashville Scene. This is the full index.
The Art of the Deal Comes to Grassmere Park
O'Connell reached for the one government power Trump has spent his career loving, in a blue rosette.
Source: "Mayor Files Legislation Seeking to Acquire Zoo-Area Property," Nashville Scene
Media · Frame CritiqueThe Scene Gave a Hackberry Tree More Charity Than It Gave Riley Gaines
Phillips extended curiosity to a weed and contempt to a person, in the same column.
Responding to: "Nothing Has Meaning to the Right-Wing Grifters," Betsy Phillips · Pith in the Wind
Metro · BudgetPhillips Wrote 1,000 Words on the TIRRC Fight Without Saying "TCA 7-68" Once
Sexton raised a statute. Phillips responded with where he sleeps. Neither answers what Metro Council has to.
Responding to: "Why Do Blackburn and Sexton Care So Much About Nashville's Business?", Betsy Phillips · Pith in the Wind
Metro · BudgetBefore Metro Votes $735K to TIRRC, It Owes Nashville an Answer on the Sanctuary-Cities Statute
The Scene framed Sexton and Blackburn as "blasting" the mayor's budget. They asked a real legal question Metro has not answered.
Responding to: "Blackburn and Sexton Blast Metro for TIRRC Funding," Nashville Scene · Pith in the Wind
Politics · RedistrictingThe Scene Built Four Cover Stories on a Legal Theory a Court Had Already Rejected
The "Seeing Red" package says the Memphis maps are racist, wrong, and "should not be enforced." A unanimous three-judge panel disagreed two days before it ran.
Responding to: "Seeing Red: Outnumbered State Democrats Fight Redistricting in Court," Nashville Scene Cover Package
Faith and PoliticsThe Cover Story Calls Traditional Christianity Fringe. In Tennessee, It's Still the Clear Majority.
The Nashville Scene's Cover Story profiles progressive clergy as Tennessee's moral voice on Christianity. Evangelicals are 45% of the state. Mainline Protestants are 12%. The framing pretends the majority is the deviation.
Responding to: "Progressive Clergy Find Purpose in Downtown Nashville," Nashville Scene Cover Story
Politics · Tennessee DemocratsThe Memphis Outrage Is Choreographed From Washington
The anger is real. The script around it is being written in DC. Motycka's piece accidentally tells you who's coordinating Tennessee Democrats' redistricting messaging.
Responding to: "Anatomy of a Gerrymander: Memphis Split in Three," Eli Motycka, Nashville Scene
Politics · RedistrictingTennessee Republicans Aren't Trump Loyalists. They're Just Winning.
Phillips' theory is that the special session proves the TN GOP is in Trump's pocket. The simpler theory: partisan opportunity, not religious devotion.
Responding to: "Opinion: The Tennessee GOP's Boundless Trump Loyalism," Betsy Phillips, Nashville Scene
Politics · Tennessee LegislatureWhat the Scene's Gavel Down Coverage Carefully Avoids
Six articles, one frame: Republicans bad. The actual 2026 session was more interesting than that, and the Scene's own reporting proves it.
Responding to: The Nashville Scene's six-part "Gavel Down" cover package on the 2026 General Assembly
PoliticsNashville Scene's Gerrymandering Panic Ignores One Inconvenient Truth
The left suddenly discovered partisan redistricting exists. But only after Tennessee Republicans started winning with it.
Responding to: "Opinion: GOP Gerrymandering at Any Cost," Betsy Phillips, Nashville Scene