TweetWhen I was a young and inexperienced reporter at The Jackson Sun in 1978, I spent a few days covering Roger Murray, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor of Tennessee. It was an immersive experience, one that would seem quite alien to reporters today. I went on the road with him for several days as […]
TweetMy two youngest daughters returned over the weekend from a friend’s wedding in Tel Aviv — that is, one is back home here, and the other is back in Bangkok. I was relieved when they were back in their respective homes. I didn’t really worry about them being in Israel on a rational level. Even when […]
Tweet I want to second the idea expressed in this headline on Kevin Fisher’s column this week: USC Should Lead by Withdrawing from Fraternity System But I’ll differ with Kevin on one point. He writes: I was not a frat boy. For me, the idea of aspiring to be paraded, initiated and humiliated in order […]
TweetAs y’all know, I hate Daylight Savings Time. Hate it. And the demonic DST gods know that I hate it, and they take it out on me. For instance, in recent years, it has started at randomly chosen, earlier and earlier dates. This enables them to do things like this to me: On Sunday, my […]
TweetSPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! OK, I’ve seen the new “Star Wars” now (I deliberately waited until a quiet Monday night more than a week after the opening, and was rewarded by not having to put up with a boisterous crowd), and if you’re much of a fan you’ve probably seen it now, too. […]
Tweet Some stuff for y’all to chew on while I’m doing a bunch of other stuff today: $1 Million Bail for Officer Held in Killing of Black Driver — And the terrible trend continues. Columbia’s summer one of hottest in decades — You may have noticed that already. Slain senator’s widow sets up foundation to honor his […]
Tweet Several years ago, my wife gave me a scanner with an attachment for scanning negatives and slides. I had wanted this in order to start digitizing my vast stash of 35mm film from several decades of personal and professional photography. I’ve never really undertaken the task systematically. The idea of trying to match up […]
Tweet I ran across this picture during the same search that produced the one of Dylan and The Band. Evidently, I did not take this. I don’t remember who did. Anyway, that’s me front and center looking at the camera, with the Groucho mustache, the circa 1965 Beatles hair, the octagonal wire-rims, the distinctly big-collared […]
Tweet Yesterday, I was plowing through a box of old prints looking for something else, and ran across the image above. The little red crop marks in the margins tell me that this ran in The Helmsman, the student newspaper at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis), possibly with a review by me. I don’t […]
Tweet I was traveling back from Memphis and missed last night’s gubernatorial debate. I do have these two releases from the SC Democratic and Republican parties. But somehow, I don’t think I’m getting the full story. First, the Democrats: Harrison: Sheheen Clear Winner of Debate As Haley Caught in Multiple Lies Charleston, SC — SCDP […]
Tweet Hard to believe that Friday marked the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation speech. I was already working at my first newspaper job at the time. I was a copy clerk at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. I spent a good part of that evening running back and forth between the newsroom and the […]
TweetOK, now I’m back to being serious about Edward Snowden… Way back last year when we first heard of him, there was a lot of frantic head-scratching in the intelligence community because espiocrats didn’t see how this low-level employee of a contractor had access to so many different subject areas. Given the way information is […]
Tweet Back when I was in college, I read James Michener’s book Kent State: What Happened and Why, which came out the year after four students were shot and killed there by the Ohio National Guard. This was a time when memories of the event were still pretty raw. That one semester I attended USC before […]
Tweet There are two times of year when I am sorta, kinda a sports fan. One is during the World Series. Sometimes. Depending on who got in. The other time is during the NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament — but only if I’ve filled out a bracket. If I haven’t made predictions, I’m not […]
Tweet I took this quiz to which Bryan drew my attention. It’s one that places you regionally in terms of, well, your terms — not your accent, but by the regionalism expressed in your choice of words. I’m a little suspicious of the result. For the most part, it shows some influence from the places […]
TweetAs y’all know, one of my very favorite leisuretime activities is to go to Barnes & Noble, get a cup of coffee, and browse. And sometimes blog — it’s one of my favorite remote locations for that. I’ve done this in lots of Barnes & Nobles — such as in Memphis; Myrtle Beach; New York; […]
TweetKathryn brought this to my attention. It’s a list, from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, of the top 100 cities that are “the most challenging places to live with allergies this fall in the United States.” As she noted, “We are up there, but better than Charleston or Augusta!” Columbia came in 33rd […]
TweetToday, my wife got a call from the Target Red Card people, demanding to speak to me because of suspicious charges on the card. She told them that if they were just noticing that charges had been made across several states in recent days, that it was fine; we had driven to Memphis and back […]
Tweet What with all the travelling I’ve been doing the last few days (I was working on the coast Wednesday and Thursday, drove to Memphis Friday, drove back yesterday), I’m just now getting to Charles Krauthammer’s column from late last week. I liked his analogy: The war in Syria, started by locals, is now a […]
Tweet This started out as a Top Five List, but there were just too many, even for a Top Ten. Maybe I should have split it into two lists (or even three) or simply been more selective. But I did none of those things. To carry on… There are gaps in my musical memory. For […]