Someone wrote and asked a question that comes up from time to time, a question for which I stumble, even stutter, for answer.

She wasn’t thrilled when I told her I had been invited to write an occasional column for a local publication. After more than three decades in the Bell System and three arduous years as part of the staging of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, she thought it time to enjoy a long-awaited reti…

No resolutions for me this year.

When I was a child, my bedroom was twelve feet down a short hallway from my parents’ room.

As each year closes, I like to write a column sharing some headlines I would like to read in the new year. This year, I have just one. I envision it being in a sharp, fat, bold font at the top of the mast and reading simply: 2020 IS OVER!

Out with the old, and in with the new. I’m ready to give 2020 the boot.

Normally, I stay away from New Year’s resolutions but this past year has revealed a flaw in me so deep I have no choice but to face it and resolve to fix it.

Has there ever been a year that better informed what the next year’s work ought to be? Perhaps, but the to-do list for Georgia in 2021 clearly takes its cues from the mercifully ending 2020.

I could literally kiss liberty or hug freedom right now.

It’s hard to capture what went on at the three ethics board hearings/meetings held over the last month. I picked up my pen on several occasions to write what should have been a news lead only to set it back down and scratch my head.

There he was, every day, standing outside his special learning class, watching as high school teenagers streamed the hall into our fourth period classes.

As the 2020 Christmas season has approached, I have to admit I have not been in the Christmas spirit. Due to the issues caused by COVID-19 and all that the pandemic has done to our beloved community, I just could not get into the cheery spirit this time of year brings.

I don’t know what you’ve asked of Santa Claus for Christmas, but one thing ought to be on everyone’s wish list: a big dose of optimism. After the year we’ve had, a belief that brighter days lie ahead would be welcome for all.

Don’t shoot the messenger but Donald Trump has lost his bid for a second term as president. He doesn’t have enough votes in the Electoral College and that is not likely to change. Whether the election was fair or not is for others to try and prove.

magical time at my house.  My grandparents created traditions that were passed on to my parents, who passed them on to their children. I have now passed them on to my own children, so they may pass them on to my grandchildren one day.  

What is wrong with me? Why does my life feel like it’s falling apart?  Why don’t things ever work out for me?  Why am I so depressed?  Why am I so angry?  Why do I have so much anxiety?  Will I ever have peace?  Will life ever just be normal?

Americans love rankings, love to see where we stand compared to our rivals. The AP college football poll, to name one famous ranking, exists ostensibly to determine the best team – but also to sell newspapers, because Americans eat that kind of thing up.

A dear friend of mine, Lori, was cleaning out her house, preparing to downsize. She sent a text that she had left some things in my mailbox.

Gravel roads, it would appear, are more beloved by people than one might think.

Grateful. Blessed.

As a clearly difficult year winds to a close, allow me to say how thankful I am for … last year. And the year before that. And, really, all the years dating back to my first Thanksgiving in 1978.

Whew. What a year, right?

It was a cold January day in Tokyo many years ago when an Air Force family wrapped up in their warmest duds to see the sights. The young mother, not being superstitious, but thinking “it couldn’t hurt” lifted her 4-month-old baby girl high to the giant belly of the Buddha statue and rubbed t…

Pardon me for stating the obvious but 2020 has been a dumper of a year and I can’t wait to see it in the rear view mirror.

When I think of simpler times, I think of that place.

Wow!  What a year!  Remember December 31, 2019 – back when we were all reflecting over the past year and facing 2020 with excited expectation?

A lot of us complained about how we were forced to choose between these two candidates for President – the lesser of two evils – but what if two good men or women had been running?  Who would you choose then?  

My Aunt Louise Jones Justice was the matriarch of our family. As the oldest of the nine siblings in my Mama’s family, she filled the role well.

I’m weary and stressed. Are you?

A friend lamented the other day of the losses of her youth, which included a firm jawline and hair color, which didn’t require a monthly touch-up.

Because this column runs across the state on different days of the week depending on where you may happen to be, some of you will be reading this before Election Day, on that day or a day or two afterwards. Therefore, I am going to wait on responding to the results until we can all see them …

Every October for the past five years Pierce County Schools, The Southeast Health District, and Pierce County Family Connection have held Teen Maze, an orchestrated production of the outcomes of making both good and bad decisions in various scenarios. Teens see first hand how their decisions…

A handwritten card arrived the other day. As I pulled out the small, beige card, I noticed it had a Johnny Cash stamp on it. 

As you may have heard by now, a group of young men from the University of Georgia, the oldest state-chartered university in the nation, located in Athens, the Classic City of the South and home to more Rhodes Scholars than a coon dog has fleas recently engaged in a scrum with a group of semi…

Continued from last week… 

Don’t you hate it when you get to the end of your ballot, and suddenly you’re faced with an unfamiliar constitutional amendment or referendum?

I would say great minds run in pairs, but when it comes to my friend and Great American, Stewart Rodeheaver, that does him a disservice. Simply put, his mind is a couple of laps ahead of mine.

Achoo!!

RING! RING! RING!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and one year ago, The Blackshear Times asked me to relate my experiences soon after I was diagnosed with lobular carcinoma – a breast cancer that only effects 10-13 percent of patients. 

Down, off the coast of Georgia, on an island called St. Simons, live several of my favorite people. One is named Edward.

What a stupid debate.

I try not to write about whatever all the ponderous political pundits are pontificating about at the time. I am just not a “me too” kind of guy. But, I am going to have to make an exception this week and mention the recent presidential debate. To call it a debacle is being too kind. To the c…

When it happened, I was out-of-town on business, hundreds of miles away. It was a terrible feeling of helplessness.

I’ve pondered and researched for years how our habits drive behavior and how these same habits can form generational practices within the family.  

It is my duty to report to you on the state of the state in which you find yourself. I am talking, of course, about the Great State of Georgia.

Mom life is far from glamorous.

Editor’s note: Final installment of a four-part series.

September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness month so let’s review the numbers – 132 Americans die by suicide each day. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in ages 10-34.

I don’t know about you, but I find the political ads on television these days refreshing. At least we have something to look at beside ads for ambulance-chasing lawyers. (I try to find the silver lining in every cloud.)