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 …
Tag: writing
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 …
Less Wounded Now
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, March 6, 2019, 12:15 p.m. Treatment is going well. Not rehab for any addiction. Not radiation or chemo or anything like that. No shrink. The wound on my leg is almost healed. Soon I won’t have to surround it in clear plastic every time I take a shower. A man reaches …
Life Gets Artificial
Clinton, South Carolina, January 21, 2019, 12:02 p.m. I was just reading a book (My Exaggerated Life, by Pat Conroy as Told to Katherine Clark), because it’s MLK Day and I thought I ought to do something beside editing news releases and obituaries and compiling a crime report, and I heard a crash. It was …
Both Sides Now
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 9:53 a.m. Money can’t buy love. Lack of it damned sure can’t. It has, however, put me in a much better mood. Last week was the culmination of months of negotiation, ably handled by nephew who has business sense, that began when the mayor asked me if the …
Another Year Begins on High Notes
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, January 4, 2019, 10:52 a.m. I don’t make resolutions. Progress is a day-to-day matter. I just do what I need to do every day. Everyone has to roll with punches to some degree. The year just completed was one of turnaround. I have high hopes that the one ahead will bring …
An Historical Novel of Wartime Intrigue, Rendered Skillfully
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, December 25, 2018 I’m quite ashamed of myself. Ordinarily, I would have devoured The Torch Betrayal, by Glenn Dyer, in a couple weeks. It was a casualty of the increasingly frenetic pace of my life over the past months. I’ve been out and about, writing stories about local affairs, editing news …
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One More Year in Review
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, December 24, 2018, 1:31 p.m. I’ve been working on stories about the year in review, so I guess I might as well take up the subject of my own. Milestones come at intervals by definition, I suppose, but they’re not necessarily significant just because they end with a “0” or a …
At Least There Was No Big One
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, December 22, 2018, 2:10 p.m. If law enforcement used yellow flags, they would have been waving on Spartanburg Highway, Musgrove Street Extension, or South Carolina 56 North, depending on which way one wants to identify the thoroughfare. Two crashes, neither involving serious injuries, occurred within two hours of each other, about …
Anger Cuts Either Way
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, December 13, 2018, 10:44 a.m. I was on the way to the Laurens Commission of Public Works meeting and thought it was going to make me late. I am obsessively punctual and often fret about being late for meetings, so much so that invariably I wind up being there 20 minutes …
Nightrider's Lament 