Archive By Section - Columns
A scorned South Carolina hero
April 11, 2014 was a very important day in the history of South Carolina. Few people noticed that anything much happened – but I would argue that this was the day we as a state did two very important things.
The Colbert Report
WASHINGTON -- In selecting Stephen Colbert to replace David Letterman as host of the "Late Show," CBS has waged war on America's heartland -- or so proclaims that Palm Beach font of heartland mirth, Rush Limbaugh.
Diamonds are the ‘better gang’ now
Americans love their sports. We especially love baseball, basketball, football and hockey. We love the Super Bowl, March Madness, the Stanley Cup and World Series.
Focusing on finding the best healthcare outcomes
Recently, I attended the Congress on Healthcare Leadership presented by the American College of Healthcare Executives, and I was most impressed by one presentation: Building the New Healthcare Delivery System. In particular, I was struck by the fact that healthcare executives from across the country were focused almost exclusively on this new world of healthcare and its impact on how the organizations they lead are designed.
Beautiful in a different way
She was not a pretty woman in the days of her youth. Her lips were too thin, her forehead too high and her eyes so round that they seemed to bulge into the lens of the glasses she wore.
‘NEGU’
Life requires courage. Courage doesn't always roar like a lion. Sometimes courage is a quiet voice, unassuming in all its resilience and fortitude, the gentle giant among us, the self-effacing titan in our presence. Remember the line, or was it a show on television -- "kids say the darndest things?" For the moment, I'm going to change it to say, "Kids do insanely courageous things." I always find it an amazing occurrence when certain people or groups of people are put in our paths. They dissect our "straight" lines for reasons often unknown to us. Most of us just ...
Time again to grab from the mailbag
If you're glad spring is here and you're looking back on this winter as one of the worst ever, you're right. But if you want a few weather statistics that are really cruel, try these on for size:
The bigger they are…
I have been watching with great interest this week the news reports on the trial of former Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker. As many of you know, I came here from Pageland in Chesterfield County in late December and when I first went to work there in early 2011, Parker was the sheriff. So, I knew Parker well through my work.
Southern charm
WASHINGTON -- After writing close to 3,000 columns, I've learned that people sometimes read what they're looking for, often as a result of a headline, rather than what I wrote.
Judge weighing bond in Black River Road killing
A circuit court judge is in the process of deciding what bond to set, if any, for a Sumter County man accused of killing a Camden man during a March 22 incident on Black River Road. Robert Wendell Simon, 22, of Dalzell is accused of shooting Antwan Dixon, 25, of Black River Road. Simon turned himself in to the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) on April 1 where he was served with an arrest warrant for murder.
The beginning of a beautiful relationship
This past weekend, I participated in the first organized race event of my life and what a special race I chose. The annual Cooper River Bridge Run is in its 37th year of life and saw approximately 40,000 people cover 6 miles of pavement and asphalt to cross its finish line this Saturday.
Let’s talk about sex in S.C.
Now that I have your attention, let's narrow the focus a bit and talk about sex education in South Carolina. It may not be as titillating, but it's still really important.
Demonizing the Kochs
WASHINGTON -- Rush Limbaugh can relax. The popular "demon of the right" has been replaced at least through the midterms by the Koch brothers, Charles and David.
The little girl with red dirt feet
Most husbands, if they carry a photo of their wives, like for it to be one of glamour and beauty. That would not be my husband.
Simon Baruch’s Reminiscences of a Confederate Surgeon
After the death of Dr. Yates Snowden, long time history professor at the University of South Carolina, his papers were placed in the South Caroliniana Library. After being accessioned, they were given a general description for the card catalog. Pamphlets and other publications were removed and given an individual card catalog description.
Articles by Section - Columns
Got Putin, yet?
WASHINGTON -- The new "agreement" between Russia, the U.S. and our allies is exactly what the former KGB agent ordered.
Just keep walking
Sylvia Plath said, in her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them." While I do fully agree with the literary force of genius that is Plath, if that had been my statement, I would have written it: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath or a long walk won't cure, but I don't know many of them."
Giving Back
Recently, I was listening to a talk radio host railing about how public schools "no longer teach values." This issue seems to be a mantra of sorts for some folks in the media, many of whom I suspect haven't been anywhere near a public school in years. As someone who is in public schools every day, I can't for the life of me figure out what this view is based on. I know it's not based on reality.
Easter Memories and Hope
It is each of the many Easters of my life that I remember more clearly than any other holiday. Christmases blur together with only a few standing out in my memory such as the one when it snowed all day, the year I lost my voice completely, and the two times that I wasn't home – one working in Washington, D.C. and another in London.
Noted and passed - April 21, 2014
** Thomas Ravenel, the former state treasurer who served prison time for cocaine distribution, now stars in a reality television show called "Southern Charm." Ravenel stumbles through the show in a haze of alcohol and bad judgment. He and his girlfriend, who's 30 years his junior, recently had a baby in Florida. Ravenel says he intends to revive his political career by running for the U. S. Senate from the Palmetto State. The guys in Vegas would probably lay some long odds on his chances for success.
Outrageous
You know what the most commonly used word in the English language seems to be?
“Robert Mills: Designs for Democracy”
Robert Mills was the first American born and trained architect. He called himself "Robert Mills, Architect of Public Buildings." Indeed, Mills established a new scale and standard for public buildings in Washington, D. C. when he designed the Treasury Building, the Patent Office, and the General Post Office in the 1830s and early 1840s. In other parts of the country, Mills designed buildings that were sensitive to regional values and local architectural traditions. Always his attention was on permanency and fireproofing for his public buildings.
I don’t ride anything that can make its own decisions
Camden is, without a doubt, a horse town. Kershaw County is a horse county and the love for horses extends throughout this great area of South Carolina. However, it stops at my door.
My preperation for Easter
Easter is a holiday of two extremes. On one side is a covert celebration of springtime with cute bunnies and pretty dresses and Easter egg hunts and chicks and flowers and lambs. On the other is a lamb being slaughtered on Passover. There is a bloodstained cross on which a Jewish man is dying who proclaimed that he was the Son of God, and that he had to be killed so that God's wrath against my sins could be carried out not against me but against him.
Erasing the race card
WASHINGTON -- One approaches the race fray with trepidation, but here we go, tippy-toe.
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