Cloud Nine Higher

Following the November 2022 elections and the January 2023 battle for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the stage is set for the next two years of government at both the federal and state levels. Representative Jim Cooper is now officially retired, and Davidson County is now represented by three different representatives: Andrew Ogles of Maury County - Fifth District John Rose of Cookeville - Sixth District Dr. Mark Green of Clarksville - Seventh District (Representative Green represents me and is the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee for the 118th Congress) Per FiveThirtyEight.com, most Americans did not follow the recent prolonged election for speaker closely.  Expectations for the next two years are low.  In my view, discussions about the budget deficit and national debt would be productive. Neither party has been innocent when it comes to spending beyond our means. As the top officeholder in his party, Speaker McCarthy, although not though...

2022 was one awesome year for Cloud Nine Higher . At this point last year (January 2022), I reflected on four fabulous pictorials in 2021. Rachal, Moxie, Breeana, and Whitney Be were indeed fabulous. Whitney Be would return for a reprise in January 2022 and then again in December 2022. Depression stemming from other realms of my life stunted the growth of my illustrated blog. God wanted me to move forward. My spirit was willing, but my flesh was weak. Change began on June 7 when Brittany of Fayetteville, having responded to a call for models on Facebook, came to Nashville to interview. The June 18 "American Summer" pictorial featuring Brittany and Khatt resulted in some magic on social media that carries forward to this day. As I write this blog post, a certain photo taken on the rooftop of The 500 Fifth in downtown Nashville is in a Facebook advertisement that has reached 27,425 users and attracted 1,016 page likes. The fun was only beginning. When Brittany and Khatt arrived...