Over the next 10 days, Nashville Banner senior writer Leon Alligood will examine the life of a young quadriplegic named Michael Dixon.
Paralyzed by a stranger's gunfire, Michael has found meaning in his tragic circumstances through the love of his family.
This series, told in chapter format, will look back at the nightwhen Michael was injured, and look forward as he chases new dreams.
- Keywords:
- gun violence
- guns
Leon Alligood
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Leon Alligood is a state news reporter for The Tennessean, a position he has held since the Nashville Banner, the afternoon newspaper, ceased publication in 1998. He worked there for 11 ½ years. Prior to his arrival in Nashville, he began his career with stints at two weekly newspapers.
Assignments have taken him as far away as Afghanistan and Iraq, but usually he is found covering the small towns of Middle Tennessee. Over the years his writing has won numerous state, regional and national honors. He is a Georgia native and a graduate of the University of Georgia. He is married and his wife, Bertie, is an 8th grade teacher and they have two grown sons, Arthur and Shep, and a dog named U.G. Lee.
Larry McCormack
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Larry McCormack, a photojournalist with the Tennesseean in Nashville, got his start in small town newspapers. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University in 1980 with a degree in Mass Communications he worked for the Daily News Journal in Murfeeesboro until July 1981. He then moved to the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle until 1983 when he accepeted a position with the Nashville Banner, where he stayed until it closed in 1998. He has been with the Tennessean since 1998 and continues to photograph business, news, sports, fashion, food, and everthing that is required in this challenging field. Though he started photographing in black & white he has advanced through color and for the past 11 years has been producing all his images with a digital camera and processing with a computer.
Request Publications
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Tragedies & Journalists
A 40-page guide to help journalists, photojournalists and editors report on violence while protecting both victims and themselves.
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Covering Children & Trauma
When children are victims of violence, journalists have a responsibility to report the truth with compassion and sensitivity.