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Columns

  • Maps help clear path through writer’s block

    I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve got a Thanksgiving gluttony hangover or because last week’s column left me exhausted, but this week I’m facing a wicked case of writer’s block.

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  • Thankful for friends who become family

    It’s funny to me that we should have a story on our front page this week and last with a connection to my old stomping grounds of Darlington County, S.C. It’s where I lived for most of the past two decades and where I met the man who became one of the best friends I’ll ever have in my life.

    It’s only right as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week for me to introduce you to Dwight Dana, who inspired the name of my weekly column.

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  • Enjoying the cold is far better than having a cold

    Now that I’ve spent most of my life in the Carolinas, I tend to dismiss weather forecasts that call for snow, even in November. Most of the time, it seems, it only takes the rumor of a few flakes to send the natives scurrying for bread and milk. Then, if there’s a possibility of the slightest bit of accumulation, schools and businesses consider delays and closings.

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  • Some of us still remember where we were when JFK was shot

    “Where were you when JFK was shot?” was the question that used to resonate throughout the country as a standard reminder of a time-stopping event nearly every American could recall.

    But the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination looming this week is a stark reminder how time has soared ahead.

    I still remember.

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  • Celebrating my oldest, dearest friend’s birthday

    Until my kid brother Jim married and started a family of his own, the birthday of every member of my immediate family fell in the fall. My mom and dad had their birthdays (and wedding anniversary) last month, and Jim’s birthday was this past week.

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  • Explaining what we don’t do so you know what we do

    The caller was frustrated, yelling as he took issue with our recent news coverage.

    “What do you people do there?” he asked angrily.

    I was taken aback — and insulted. What do you mean, what do we do? We report the news! Oh, and field the occasional furious, confusing or delusional phone call.

    I tried to explain how and why we report the stories we do, but he wasn’t having it. He’d made up his mind to be mad, and nothing I said was going to change it.

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  • If only every day could be Halloween

    A week or two ago, one of my friends from back in Florence, S.C., posted online a photograph she’d taken recently of a woman standing in a checkout line at a store somewhere around there. The woman had long pink and black hair and was wearing a long Renaissance-style black dress with lace around the hem and long sleeves with the shoulders cut out — punk rock hair and a witch’s outfit. My friend told the woman she liked her costume. The woman replied, “It’s not a costume.”

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  • October means celebrating Mom and Dad

    October has always been a month of celebration for me, even before we get to Halloween, my favorite holiday. It kicks off with my mom’s birthday, which will have passed by the time you read this column, then my parents’ anniversary, and then my dad’s birthday.

    My parents have supported me in every way from the very beginning. When I started the first grade, right after we moved to North Carolina, there was a kid in my class who picked on me every day. I told my teacher, but since she didn’t see it, she didn’t tell him to stop.

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  • Sunset Beach election outlook: Hot with a chance of controversy

    It began with a debate about town finances and ended with an array of remarks aimed at a controversial mayor four weeks before the election.

    At the start of Sunset Beach Town Council’s pre-agenda work session Monday night, town administrator Gary Parker kicked things off by reading aloud prepared information about the town’s financial health.

    Mayor Richard Cerrato’s belief in a “looming fiscal problem” at town hall shows his lack of knowledge and is an abominable statement to make because it is completely untrue, Parker said.

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  • On trend: Being alone isn’t the same as being lonely

    Judging from recently published reports in journals like Psychology Today and on social media, being an introvert is trendy these days. Until last week, I didn’t realize what a trendsetter it makes me.

    I found out by becoming a proud member of the 2013-14 Leadership Brunswick County class, offered by Brunswick Community College, the Brunswick County, North Brunswick and Southport-Oak Island chambers of commerce.

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