Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 27, 2019, 6:07 p.m. It’s been a busy week but also one full of rich, evocative experiences. All week long, I experienced warm reminiscences through the mists of a time that seem superior to what I’m living now. That’s the way memories are. They get better with time. It wasn’t …
Tag: Monte Dutton
‘The Storms of Life Are Washing Me Awaaaayyy’
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, April 19, 2019, 12:19 p.m. When I was a boy, one of my grandmothers was prone to say “it’s about to come up a cloud.” Another line of those storms is about to roll through, flinging out lightning. It sure seems like this happens more often than it used to. Mama …
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Ultimately Worth the Reluctance
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 12:36 p.m. It’s rather a miracle that I even read The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland. From time to time, I get to pick a free download from a list, and it’s possible I thought Rebekah Crane’s novel had something to do with President Grover Cleveland, the only …
A Long Line of Pistols and Sons of Guns
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 11:45 a.m. When my mother told me Notre Dame was burning, at first I thought she meant the football stadium. I switched to a news channel. Pete Buttigieg was talking. He’s the mayor of South Bend. It all made sense. Not. I’ve never been to Paris, but I’ve …
Just Some Writer Staring at the Wall
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 13, 2019, 2:27 p.m. It has not been uncommon for me to express the belief that the biggest problem facing writers is simple. More and more people write, and less and less people read. It’s sort of a double-edged sword, particularly if one happens to write books. Getting them published …
Another Birthday in the Life
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 12:07 p.m. Another year has come and gone. Fate chose mine to pass on the eighth day of April, which left me a week off a fool from the get-go. (The above was quite possibly the first time I have ever typed the word “get-go” without it being …
Hollings Was a Stately Man
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 6, 2019, 12:34 p.m. When I was in the sixth grade at Clinton Elementary School, U.S. Sen. Ernest Frederick “Fritz” Hollings visited my classroom. From the view of an 11-year-old in a desk chair he couldn’t get his leg in now, Hollings looked as tall and thin as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, …
Making Sense of Pat Conroy
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, March 28, 2019, 11:56 a.m. It took a long time to read My Exaggerated Life, the oral biography by Pat Conroy as told to Katherine Clark. It’s based on hundreds of conversations between the two. Conroy approved of it, though it wasn’t published until after he died of cancer on March …
Foundered on the Rocks of Paradise
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, March 25, 2019, 12:52 p.m. I’ve been reading three books at the same time. One is in hardcover. One is in my Kindle. One is in my phone. The last two could be read in either. For no apparent reason, I read one strictly in one and one strictly in the …
Oh, Wow
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, March 15, 2019, 12:22 p.m. Oh, wow. We say, “oh, wow,” too much. The last time North Carolina went 3-0 against Duke was 1975-76. Oh, wow. Wait a minute. The Tar Heels and the Blue Devils don’t play in basketball three times every year. This is the first Clemson football team …
Nightrider's Lament 