Fitness

Watch Your Back!

Bulky backpacks can be a burden when it's time to go back to school. Article by Ed Atlas | Photography by Lindsey Baydoun   These days the term “back-to-school” means more than just returning to the classroom. It’s a reminder that a healthy back is important for students of all ages.   That can be tricky. You don’t have to be the parent of a student to know that kids are hauling enormous backpacks, stuffed to the brim, all day long. Add-on musical instruments, athletic gear and, eventually...

Arts + Culture

Arts Take Center Stage

Ensworth students don’t choose between sports, science, and the stage—they thrive in all three. Article by Kellie Walton | Photography by Ensworth School The Ensworth School may be synonymous with impressive academics and championship-caliber athletics, but the excellence doesn’t stop there. Woven into the fabric of the curriculum is an emphasis on the arts – a powerful inclusion that’s directly shaped the lives of many students. We’re not just talking decorated songwriters and professional...

Local Services

A Pup’s Paradise

GoDog West Nashville is Here to Care for Your Canine Pals This Back-To-School Season Article by Lisa Valentine | Photography by Amy Bollman For many Bellevue residents, back-to-school also means back to a routine. Saying goodbye to the carefree, unscheduled days of summer and returning to the balancing act of school pickups, work, after-school activities, homework, dinner, and everything in between can be overwhelming. Amid the chaos, one thing you don’t have to worry about is your dog because...

Fitness

Adventure Awaits on the Harpeth River

Explore and make memories with Sunshine's Adventures Article by Lisa Valentine | Photography by Ed Atlas “Exploring, to me, is more than where you go physically,” says Matt “Sunshine” Keller. “It's what capacity you're willing to go [and] how far you're willing to push yourself on an adventure. How far are you able to take yourself?”   For Keller, the Harpeth River is one of the greatest places to explore in Middle Tennessee and one of the best places to make deep connections and lasting...

Life + Culture

Now Boarding: Iceland

With nonstop flights from BNA, here’s how to hit the highlights in the Land of Fire and Ice. Article by Kellie Walton | Photography by Provided If you step off the plane in Iceland and feel like you’ve wandered onto the set of Interstellar or Star Wars , you’re not imagining things. The country’s eerie, ethereal beauty—vast black sand beaches, ancient lava fields, steamy geothermal pools, and jagged mountains—has made it a favorite filming location for Hollywood epics. But it’s not a movie...

Sports + Recreation

Harpeth River Outfitters

Chris Odum is outfitting area anglers for their next great fishing expedition. Article and Photography by Ed Atlas   Chris Odom moved to Middle Tennessee before it became the trendy thing to do. As a recent college grad, he found work as an IT specialist and, in his spare time, found ample opportunity to indulge in his favorite pastime: fishing the area’s waterways.   That changed in 2017 when corporate downsizing compelled him to turn his passion into his occupation. By 2020, what started...

Arts + Culture

Harpeth Guitar Restoration

Scott St. Dennis Is Bringing Favorite Instruments Back To Life Article by Ed Atlas | Photography by Provided If you’ve played guitar for any time at all, at some point you likely had your hands on a Harmony “Stella” acoustic. Once the nation’s leading guitar manufacturer, Harmony’s Stella was a top seller. They were cheap, a bear to play and could be found stuffed into closets and propped up in corners of suburban bedrooms from sea to shining sea.   While they lacked aesthetics and...

Arts + Culture

Doing His Best

Tonic's Emerson Hart Is Experiencing The Best Of Times At His Old Bellevue Home Article by Ed Atlas | Photography by Lindsey Baydoun A few years ago, a band playing at a corporate fundraising event launched into a stirring rendition of “If You Could Only See,” the 1997 chart-topping hit from alt-rock icons, Tonic.   After the set, an audience member approached the singer, exclaiming, “That’s the best cover of that song I’ve ever heard!” To which the performer replied, with a wry but...

Arts + Culture

Psychologist By Day, Novelist By Night

RJ Jacobs' Successful Side Hustle Proves That Art & Science Can Work Well Together Article by Ed Atlas | Photography by Provided Stories are woven throughout RJ Jacobs’ life: from his early days as an English major to his career as a psychologist and now, his successful side hustle. While in college at the University of Florida, Jacobs dabbled in writing, though he’s quick to laugh it off.    “Candidly, it was terrible. I didn’t have a good sense at that time of what was marketable, or why...

Finance + Legal Services

A Legacy Of Leadership And Family In Business

How State Farm’s Bethany Harbin Became A Bellevue Staple Article by Kellie Walton | Photography by Ed Atlas When Bethany Harbin started working in her father’s State Farm office at just 15 years old, she never imagined it would turn into a lifelong career.    “I thought it would be a part-time job,” she says. “Never thought it would be what I would do.”    But years later, after earning a finance and insurance degree from Middle Tennessee State University and working under different...