Mitchie Takeuchi answering questions from the audience at Central Cinema on August 7.  Wolf Naegeli/Hellbender Press

Screening of the feature-length documentary with Mitchie Takeuchi at Knoxville’s Central Cinema

Knoxville — As part of its Bearing Witness program to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atom bombings, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) organized a viewing of The Vow from Hiroshima and conversation with its co-producer/writer Mitchie Takeuchi. Takeuchi is a second generation ‘hibakusha,’ the Japanese word for atom bomb survivors. Her father, Dr. Ken Takeuchi, was a military surgeon and founding president of Hiroshima’s Red Cross Hospital from 1937 to 1947. He was at the hospital and badly wounded, but survived. 

The film follows the story of Setsuko Thurlow, who was 13 when she barely managed to crawl out from the rubble of her school before it was overwhelmed by the fire that burned most of her schoolmates alive. Setsuko became the foremost international proponent for the abolition of nuclear weapons. She was part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ delegation that received the 2017 Nobel Peace Price in Oslo. In her acceptance speech, she said:

80^th Anniversary events organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance

Visit the OREPA website for details and more events.

80^th Anniversary events organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance

Peace pilgrimage from the Great Smoky Mountains

Peace Walk: Bearing Witness to Hiroshima, August 4–9, 2025

Names and remembrance ceremony

Wednesday, August 6 | 6:00–9:00 a.m.
Location: Across from the Y-12 Security Complex main entrance way in Oak Rige
Join us to honor the victims of Hiroshima with a morning of names and remembrance, bell ringing and a visual tribute of paper cranes; please be sure to bring a chair. 

Photo Lecture & Artist Panel

Wednesday, August 6 | 6:30 p.m.
Addison’s Bookstore, 126 S. Gay Street, Knoxville
An evening with Yvonne Dalschen, Black Atticus and guest artists reflecting on the legacy of Hiroshima through art, storytelling and music.

Visit the OREPA website for details and more events.

Pollinators play a vital role in maintaining our ecosystems, economies and agriculture. Here’s a bee in flight at the UT Gardens in Knoxville.  R. Lazarian/UTIA

Get your buzz on in Knoxville or two other locations in the state during Pollinator Week June 16-25

Lauren Tolley is a University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture marketing and communications associate. 

KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee Bee Campus Committee, a group comprised of UT faculty, staff and students, in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and UT Gardens, invites communities across the state to celebrate national Pollinator Week at a series of “Garden Buzz” pollinator events on June 17.

Pollinator Week is an annual celebration in support of pollinator health, initiated and managed by the Pollinator Partnership. This year’s theme is “Pollinators Weave Connections” — highlighting the essential roles pollinators play in creating and expression of human culture, the food we enjoy and the beauty that surrounds us. Pollinator Week is June 16-25.

Similar to UT and TVA’s collaborative Garden Buzz celebrations in previous years, the 2025 Garden Buzz celebrations will offer participants opportunities to learn more about pollinators in Tennessee through educational activities. Attendees can also learn how to start their own pollinator gardens with locally grown plants that help support a thriving ecosystem.

Knoxville Community Media (KCM)

KCM’s Community Engagement Calendar provides information about both, date-specific events and the regular programs & services provided by nonprofit organizations.

Many people still think it is necessary to have a TV cable connection to watch community TV programs. But that’s old history.

One does not even need to be in the City of Knoxville or anywhere near it, nor have a TV set anymore.