If you don’t know me yet, hi, I’m Leslie. And stepping into this role feels like coming home.
Here’s the quick-as-I-can-make-it version: I grew up in Fountain City, went to UT, and the day I wandered into the Daily Beacon newsroom something clicked. Meanwhile I worked at a little pizzeria called Tomato Head, one of a few downtown outposts for artists, activists and other assorted misfits. Downtown was in its tumbleweed era and it all felt like our personal playground.
By the mid-2000s, on the heels of a 99%-finished James Agee-themed graduate thesis, I’d become managing editor of Knoxville Magazine and, later, editor-in-chief of Metro Pulse. Things were changing fast downtown, and I credit the alt-weekly with teaching me what it means to love a place hard enough to ask it better questions. I resigned just before Scripps bought it and eventually did exactly what I worried it would do: gutted it and shut it down. The loss was a blow to Knoxville’s creative and civic life, and a reminder of how fragile local journalism really is. We’re fortunate that Alan stepped in around this time, founding Inside of Knoxville.
My career has had a few chapters since then. I’ve freelanced around, including a front-page story in the Washington Post on the 2016 Gatlinburg fire. I spent a decade as an international equestrian sports journalist. Pretty niche, I know. It was a great way to spend my 30s, from covering the Olympic Games and fox chasing with British royalty to barely surviving a survivalist horse race in Mongolia. Globe-trotting was great fun but once our kiddo came along (oh yeah, I married my Tomato Head manager — in Krutch Park with Jack Neely as our officiant, followed by a party in the Sunsphere), I was ready to stick a little closer to home.
I came back downtown and did a stint in PR. It felt weird to pitch stories to journalists when all I wanted to do was write them myself. Then I started writing for Alan. As it turned out, the timing was just right for both of us. And now, somehow, I find myself back where I began: writing about the city I never really left.
‘Your Urban Connection to the City We Love’
I’m fully committed to continue covering our city center in the ways and with the thoroughness that we have all come to depend on from Inside of Knoxville. As this transition has approached, I’ve also been thinking a lot about what “urban” means.
When Inside of Knoxville started 15 years ago, “urban” meant downtown in the most literal sense: a few square blocks where the lights were starting to come back on, one new coffee shop or condo at a time. But cities don’t sit still. They grow, stretch and shift shape—sometimes in beautiful ways, and often in complicated ones.
Nowadays our coverage unfurls outward across the river into South Knoxville, out Magnolia, down Broadway, up Central. Some of these areas are gaining visibility and investment for the first time in decades. And that brings questions, too: Who’s shaping our future? Who’s at the table? Who’s still waiting to be heard?
To me, “urban” is less a physical footprint and more about what’s possible when people live closely together. When communities collide and collaborate, and stories overlap. So that’s what I hope to continue here: honoring the pulse of the city while listening closely at its edges and between the lines. Seeking out the full picture, not just the shiny parts. Making space for more voices, and staying curious about where we’re going and how we get there together.
To do that well, we want to hear from YOU.
Inside of Knoxville is entering a new chapter, and we want to make sure it reflects the people who actually live, work and care about this city. This survey only takes a few minutes, and it’ll help us shape coverage that speaks to the people reading it.
Have an “urban” story to share? You can reach me directly at lesliewbateman@gmail.com. Also, I’m holding open office hours every Wednesday during the month of June from 4-6 p.m. at Public House, so please stop by for a drink. I’d love to meet you.
Thanks for sticking with us and for loving this city enough to read, reflect and root for it.
See you around,
Leslie