Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, June 6, 2018, 8:07 p.m. I haven’t had a day like this since my daddy died. They happened all the time when I was a kid, and he was in his natural prime. Daddy would ask me to help him with a couple things, say it wouldn’t take 30 minutes, and …
Tag: Monte Dutton
As the Thunder Rolled and the Lightning Struck
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, June 2, 2018, 11:02 a.m. I thought I had plenty of time to get to Clinton High School’s graduation ceremonies. I got my hair cut, and I didn’t make myself an appointment online, and the lady said it would probably be at least a 40-minute wait. Haircuts are spur-of-the-moment decisions for …
Continue reading As the Thunder Rolled and the Lightning Struck
It’s the World Gone Crazy …
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, May 17, 2018, 3:02 p.m. I don’t care whether I hear Laurel or Yanny. I don’t know where I go to hear it, or, for that matter, them. Whoever or whichever they are. As I get older, I get less inquisitive about such matters. I am not without curiosity. I just …
‘I’m Mad as Hell and … So Is Everybody Else’
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 10:22 a.m. Sameness has become weird, which is unsustainable because if the weird becomes the same, it will cease to be the weird. One would think there would be limits. To this point, one would be wrong. Life reminds me of a Tom T. Hall song called “Everything …
Continue reading ‘I’m Mad as Hell and … So Is Everybody Else’
The Right Stuff of the Vanities
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 3:38 p.m. For many years, I thought The Right Stuff was the best non-fiction book I ever read. Now I consider it neck and neck with William Prochnau’s Once Upon a Distant War. When I wrote a novel about a pot-smoking songwriter fleeing the feds, I used The …
The Charm of Sports this Spring
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, May 10, 2018, 10:40 a.m. Spring sports are winding down. Here in town, and throughout this end of Laurens County, all we have left are some girls competing in the state track meet and boys playing for the state tennis championship. Even football, for which the town is known, rises and …
If Only News Had a Scorebook and a Means of Keeping Score
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, May 2, 2018, 11:03 a.m. My preferred form of journalism is sports. It’s the source of most of my experience. Recently I’ve been writing lots of news. It’s interesting. I derive some satisfaction. I’ve done it before from time to time. On Tuesday night, sitting in the home grandstand of Wilder …
Continue reading If Only News Had a Scorebook and a Means of Keeping Score
Guilty Pleasure in a Guilty Pleasure
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 1:25 p.m. Green Goes Forth. The protagonist and narrator is a guy named Joe Green. He grows “green,” which is one of many code words and synonyms for cannabis. No need to write a paragraph of them. The title is a double entendre. Appropriately, Green Goes Forth is …
Around these Parts, Things Are Roughly the Same
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 1:45 p.m. Baseball season has begun. Tax season has ended. The Red Sox are off to the best start in team history. That’s good. My taxes are filed. That’s good, too. When the federal refund crackles across fiber-optic lines into my bank account, it will be better. A …
Continue reading Around these Parts, Things Are Roughly the Same
This Was a Friday Night that I Ain’t Got No Money
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 14, 2018, 1:30 p.m. Friday was incomplete on the sports front, that is, unless going to a gathering to support youth tennis counts as sports. It didn’t seem particularly sporting. The food was great. A bunch of people got together to play their guitars and sing songs. I talked with …
Continue reading This Was a Friday Night that I Ain’t Got No Money
