"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, November 18, 11:57 a.m. New assignments abound. For twenty years, most of my time was spent writing about race cars. I started writing books. I taught myself to play guitar and found I had “a handy knack for rhyming,” which led to songs. I started writing novels. I never wrote about …
Continue reading How the Checkered Flag Fell at the Beauty Pageant
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, September 23, 2018, 10:45 a.m. I fell asleep with the TV on last night, which is not unusual, and it awakened me this morning, when I wanted to sleep longer, because, in a semi-conscious state, I got irritated. Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and …
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, September 20, 2018, 11:40 a.m. I had jury duty but wasn’t selected. Since every day, I put together arrest reports and talk to law enforcement officers about various crimes, I suppose this is hardly a surprise. In this part of the state, Florence, which hit the Carolinas coast as a hurricane …
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, September 13, 2018, 1:55 p.m. Florence is coming to town. In fact, it looks like it’s going through Florence (the city) on the way. Not Florence Nightingale. Not Aunt Florence. They are both no longer with us. Hurricane Florence is very much alive, but I hope it’s on its deathbed by …
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, September 6, 2018, 1:15 p.m. Not much of me has been literary in recent days. Oh, there has been beauty in my world. The Red Sox’ seven-run eighth-inning rally and Brandon Phillips’ ninth-inning home run against the Braves was, as Dennis Eckersley is fond of saying on TV, “a beautiful thing.” …
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, August 23, 2018, 10:11 a.m. Two days ago, I ate at KFC for the first time since the horrible commercials started. I bought a three-piece, Original Recipe, Big Box Meal. It was all dark meat. I like white meat. I deserved that. Why do I hold silly commercials against restaurants where …
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, August 5, 2018, 10:22 a.m. People seem habitually, chronically and incurably mad at one another. They are divided into warring camps. My theory is that everything is slowly becoming a sport. My team is made up of incredibly gifted student-athletes who will follow up a national championship by huddling up to …
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 10:27 a.m. The world is in a haze, and it has nothing to do with the West being in flames. The West is always in flames. It’s the figurative and literal reason for the haze. I have become inured to wildfires. I’m inured to Russian interference, cops shooting …
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 8:56 a.m. When I was growing up, many local businesses closed on Wednesdays. That gradually diminished over time – for a long time, some still closed on Wednesdays at noon – but most locally owned businesses are closed for at least a day each week. Some restaurants that …
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, June 30, 2018, 4:02 p.m. I’ve been working my ass off. No, that’s not right. I’ve been wearing my ass out. Mainly I’ve been sitting down. I’m in the process of learning how to manage the county website. It’s not the official county website. It’s a news site, or two that …
Continue reading When the Roll Is Called in Homeroom, I’ll Be There
