Have you ever been out to dinner with a couple that just cannot stop bickering? He's slurping his soup too loudly. She's telling that same story for the "one-hundredth" time this week. They're both making you miserable. Everyone at the table but them can see that they're not really mad about soup or stories. Those … Continue reading We keep the wolves away.
It’s funny, the things that we remember in life, and the things we don’t. Smells, sights, jokes, awkward moments, all of these sometimes stick with us far more clearly and with greater longevity than some of life’s greatest peaks and valleys. This is a recounting of five insignificant but enduring memories from my … Continue reading Greatest Hits
The old liberals are my heroes. Thomas Paine, Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson did more to make better the lives of the poor and downtrodden than nearly anyone in modern history. But at some point between Woodrow Wilson and AOC, the liberal ideology was commandeered by the true enemy of the cause of conservatism, the … Continue reading A critique of modern liberalism
Last week I read an editorial in the New York Times entitled Abortion and the Future of the New South. The article, written by a young woman from New York, was mainly about what she referred to as "the Brooklynization of the South." After much outrage toward and panning of traditional southern values, she purported that her … Continue reading In defense of my home
Maple Street USA, mid-summer. A tree lined little world of front porch swings, barbecues, the laughter of children and the bell of an ice cream vendor. This is how Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling set the stage for his masterpiece, the episode of his series that first catapulted it into television history titled The Monsters Are Due on … Continue reading The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.
Alfred Lord Tennyson famously wrote that, "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." I'd be willing to bet Tennyson was not a Tennessee fan. From the mid 1980s to 2007 the University of Tennessee experienced an unprecedented era of success through several different sports teams. Coach Pat … Continue reading The Curse: the lost decade of Tennessee athletics (part 1)
Have you ever lost a bet that you couldn't back up, and wound up looking like a fool? Maybe it wasn't for money, but for something else of value that you couldn't deliver. I have. It was the late fall of 2012. Derek Dooley had been fired, and for the third time in five … Continue reading Wars and #Grumors of Wars: the Russia probe collapses.
Coming of age in any time period is difficult. It is the continual disruption of routines brought about by changes in employment, break-ups, disasters and uncertainty. Growing up is getting it wrong until you get it right. But navigating adolescence and young adulthood in today's America comes with a unique set of challenges. My generation … Continue reading Faith, hope and love.
I am a letter writer. Throughout my young adulthood and adolescence, whenever one of my close friends or siblings have made a major life transition, I've sent them an intimate word of exhortation. This week I made the decision to leave Knoxville, the place I call home, to pursue my career down I-40 in … Continue reading The world’s biggest small town.
"War is politics by other means." - Carl von Clausewitz For nearly as long as I can remember, politics has been my cardinal passion. As a boy I would petition my grandfather again and again to tell me the stories about Sam Houston and the evil General Santa Ana. In the tenth grade when other … Continue reading Chaos is a ladder: the state of American Politics.
