I have reached an age where I read more news on social media about cancer impacting those around me than about the exploits of their children. That's how it is when you're gaining on age 59. Two years ago this week, we lost my aunt Nancy Kate to cancer. A friend just the other day … Continue reading Remembering Mike: Great tunes for an even greater cause
Month: June 2018
Playing referee for the ‘national psychosis’
A couple of weeks ago I was having a conversation by phone with my 86-year-old mother. At some point, and I'm not exactly sure how we got there, I told her bluntly, "Mom, people just aren't worth talking to anymore." I was only joking -- in part. She was probably appalled, even though she's known … Continue reading Playing referee for the ‘national psychosis’
Throwback Thursday: Remembering Dean Smith, the extraordinary man
I wrote this in September of 2012, well before legendary college basketball coach Dean Smith died on February 7, 2015 at age 83. I saw an old book (written in 1980) about Smith at the annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. I saw, bought and read it as problems in the UNC athletics programs … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Remembering Dean Smith, the extraordinary man
Thanks to the county for honoring an important promise
A few years ago, back when I was a newspaper guy and someone seen as worth talking to about important stuff in the community, a group from the Alamance Friends of the Library asked for a sit-down at the Burlington Times-News office. I had no idea what they wanted to discuss but I was more … Continue reading Thanks to the county for honoring an important promise
The leadership to make Alamance County competitive in the modern world
A couple of weeks ago, Alamance-Burlington Board of Education member Brian Feeley made this observation on his political Facebook page: One penny. A one-cent raise to the property tax rate will avoid forced school budget cuts at a time when our county is growing. Someone I respect recently joked that “political leadership” is an oxymoron. … Continue reading The leadership to make Alamance County competitive in the modern world
Inside Elon’s Schar Center: It’s ‘unreal’
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Photo gallery at the end. "Unreal," Don Bolden said. "This is just . . . unreal." I had to agree. Don, my longtime friend and former boss, was getting his first look inside the massive (160,000 square feet!) Schar Center. He's a longtime Elon supporter and basketball fan who also spent more than … Continue reading Inside Elon’s Schar Center: It’s ‘unreal’
He lived a long time with that new heart
Early June in 2008 was hotter than most. That’s saying a lot these days, when the late spring and early summer months seem to turn up the swelter to “darned near unbearable” more often than in the past. Or so it seems anyway. I was taking a walk. Not all that unusual. I like to … Continue reading He lived a long time with that new heart
Throwback Thursday: The man who actually invented ‘The Wave’
This is a column I wrote way back in June of 1997 about life in my hometown of Danbury, North Carolina in the 1960s and '70s when I was growing up there. Danbury in those days was full of interesting people, charming rogues and, well, characters. All were and still are special to me in … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: The man who actually invented ‘The Wave’
A weekend of surprises and a delight in Beaufort
We returned Sunday from an all-too-short long weekend in Beaufort -- the one in North Carolina. It was our first visit there in two years. So there were bound to be some changes. On this trip four things surprised us. First and foremost the long-awaited four-lane, high-rise bridge connecting the Carteret County mainland to Beaufort … Continue reading A weekend of surprises and a delight in Beaufort
Madison's Avenue 