We take a look back at the year that was with some of our favorite stories.

For the Rev. Dr. John Butler, faith is larger than one person. It encompasses the entire community.

Pastor Jill Sizemore isn’t very tall, but she’s every bit the commanding figure an ex-lieutenant colonel should be.

Rafiq Mahdi is a striking figure. He’s tall and wears a traditional Muslim tunic that is bright white—without a speck of dirt in sight—and a white hat. But really, he’s just an everyday dad who happens to be Muslim.

They’ve rarely worked together. They didn’t learn cooking together as kids. And the last time the two lived in the same house, 30-something years ago, neither aspired to be any sort of chef. Yet sisters Holly and Peggy Hambright are ...

The late Frank Kolinsky would always say that God don’t make no trash—his response when anyone had anything bad to say about the assemblage of rogues and junkies and gutter drunks that comprised the residential population of the E.M. Jellinek ...

Back in the early ’90s, when Knoxville’s downtown was a barren landscape, the formation of the Central Business Improvement District made a lot of sense. Downtown needed all the help it could get. But now that it’s revitalized, should the ...

Thanksgiving is intended as a day of reflection, when you take a moment from the rush of daily duties to recall how blessed you really are for the things you have (whether they’re all you want). But it doesn’t always ...

For most people, memories of the 70-year-old Secret City that produced the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 exist in crisp, perfectly composed black and white images. These photos capture the intense, patriotic purpose of skilled workers and the ...

This year’s festival includes more than 70 titles—shorts and features, documentaries and scripted films. There are films with environmental themes, like Roots and Hollers, about the ginseng trade. Other films focus on the concerns of cultural minorities (Hombre y Tierra) ...

Has it been 15 years already? It’s true. WDVX, Knoxville’s most beloved roots-music station on your FM dial, hit the airwaves that many years ago with few prospects but a lot of ambition. Now our lil’ public-radio powerhouse is a ...

Yes, we know, East Tennessee is ultra-conservative. But Knoxville has also presented the world with quite a few influential liberals over the years. In fact, several nationally controversial “liberal” institutions, from The New York Times to the United Nations, have ...

Sometimes loving horror movies is lonely. “You see a lot of this stuff on your own,” admits William Mahaffey. But thanks to Mahaffey’s efforts, East Tennessee fans of dread and gore can enjoy an annual weekend of togetherness. Mahaffey, 30, ...

The Knoxville ghost-hunting scene is crowded with would-be supernatural sleuths, many inspired by the cable-TV hijinks of 'Ghost Hunters.' But why do they do it? For our special Halloween number, we go on the hunt with a local team of ...

If you’re not up for first-hand ghost hunting but still want to learn more about Knoxville’s supposed spectral history, then Laura Still is the guide for you.