No doubt some will cite this as evidence that my Ménière’s has reached the point at which I need a hearing aid. But in my defense, my wife was out in the hallway when she said this, and I was in the bathroom with the exhaust fan running — although the door, I admit, was […]
As previously mentioned, I was in Memphis over the weekend. It was quite a trip — seven of us (all adults; the little ones either traveled separately or stayed home) packed into a minivan. All the way there Friday, all the way back Sunday. Except for a couple of brief stints while I wolfed down […]
Went to the Rendezvous for Charlie Vergos’ famous dry-rub ribs Friday night, and was really surprised when I looked down at the menu. Is it just me, or is that guy a dead ringer for our own Joe Neal, preacher and legislator? I don’t think it’s just me. When I got back and took a […]
Folks, this is just a quick note to tell you that if I seem a little detached from the Blogosphere, there’s a reason for it. My father-in-law died Thursday, and so we gathered up all of our kids and in some cases their kids, and made our way in three cars to Memphis through all […]
FYI, I’ll be celebrating the New Year in Memphis this evening. Things are going fairly well here, although as you can see, the weather’s a bit dingy. I’m writing from the pictured Starbucks, the one at White Station and Poplar. This location has significance for me because my wife worked in this very building back […]
I was sitting in a tiny coffee house on the corner of Poplar and Perkins Extended in Memphis when the drugs failed to kick in. Second cup, no buzz yet, although my leg is jiggling a bit. This High Point Coffee just doesn’t have something that Starbucks has. (As Mike Myers would say in a […]
I get lots and lots of respect these days. I get called “sir” wherever I go. I notice it because when I was younger, I didn’t hear it much except from people who were trying to sell me something. I certainly never heard it in a newsroom, definitely not from people who worked for me. […]
Wow. That was quite an experience, seeing “The Odyssey” last night. It’s one of the few times I’ve been at a film that the audience applauded at the end. I joined in. Christopher Nolan really accomplished something here. I was very impressed, and not a bit disappointed — which is unusual for me, with things […]
Remember a few months ago when I wrote about my college transcript from back in 1975, which I had just received from the university formerly known as Memphis State? Well, it was a cautionary tale that warned youth not to be wastrels and get themselves in a hole, and then have to get almost straight […]
Unbelievably, I just learned about this last night, because as y’all know I’m not paying NEARLY as much attention to news as I once did. Perhaps you’ve been as inattentive as I have. I hope not. But in any case, none of us knows how it’s going to turn out. I’m talking about this. Here’s […]
My brother-in-law in Memphis sent us this link to a tweet by Lamar Alexander, two-term governor of Tennessee, two-year Education secretary, and three-term U.S. senator — one of the last remaining hopes of moderate Republicans until he retired in 2020… In 1974, when I was 34, I won the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee. […]
I almost skipped over my email about “The Musicians We Lost in 2025,” figuring it would be about people I’d never heard of. But no. It turns out that at my age, the people I remember are the ones dying. Which makes a sober sort of sense, I suppose. The NYT’s Amplifier feature does a […]
One or two of you out there are into genealogy. I wonder whether you’ve noticed patterns similar to what I’ve seen, and what you’ve concluded as a result. When you’ve built a family tree to more than 10,000 relatives, you start to notice certain trends. Especially when you look at incoming DNA matches on a […]
It’s been so long since Buford Pusser was a household name that this didn’t make all that much of a splash, near as I could tell (maybe it was bigger on TV, which I don’t see). Fifty years ago, it would have been as big nationally as Alex Murdaugh’s crimes — maybe bigger. Certainly bigger. […]
You don’t want to see certain portions of my college transcript. Or rather, I don’t want you to see them. I had what you might call a very slow start in higher education. When I left Hawaii to travel all the way to Columbia to attend USC, I thought I was ready, and had everything I […]
I mentioned that Paul DeMarco had inspired me to reflect on his latest post with a separate post of my own — or “perhaps more than one.” This will be the second, more tangential, such post. Paul shared this brief anecdote: In another bookstore mentioned above, the name of which I shall not reveal, I […]
When I’ve mentioned it, other people have told me this happens each year. Not that I’ve noticed. This is the first summer it’s made an impression on me, anyway. By “it” I mean this: We don’t have cold water anymore. You turn the handle with the “C” on it, and you get a liquid that […]
A brief Easter reflection. And no, it’s not too late. The Easter Season just started Sunday, and lasts until June 8… My wife told me this one yesterday. Her youngest brother has had the same Nativity set on his lawn every Christmas season of his life — first at his parents’ home growing up, now […]
As you know, I’ve been fascinated by history my whole life (and I still fail to understand why everyone else isn’t). Not as a profession, more of an avocation. I’m into it the way some people are into football. I earned a second major in it at Memphis State, completely by accident — I just […]
We’ve discussed this before, but now we have a fresh reason. From last week: COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s death penalty history could be rewritten March 7 if condemned state inmate Brad Sigmon is executed by firing squad, as he has chosen. Though the firing squad is authorized as an execution method in five states, it has […]