Easter was always about my grandfather. Well, that's probably overstating the case. And of course time changes things. Now it's also about my grandmother and my father and, well, many others, too. But when I was a kid growing up in the mountain town that will always be my first home, Easter was about my … Continue reading An enduring Easter family tradition
Column archive
The funeral for Lee Harvey Oswald, a job nobody wanted
News I saw overnight about the funeral in Porterville, Calif. for the late mass murderer Charles Manson reminded me of another occasion a reviled or controversial figure was put to rest. When presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was killed in the tumultuous days following the murder of John F. Kennedy it was difficult to find … Continue reading The funeral for Lee Harvey Oswald, a job nobody wanted
Remembering the nicest person I’ve ever known
Six years ago this week just about the nicest person I've ever known passed away after a long battle with esophageal cancer. I used to call Tom Woody the Times-News unpaid intern for life because he spent so much time in our newsroom helping his longtime spouse, newspaper administrator and columnist Frances Woody with any … Continue reading Remembering the nicest person I’ve ever known
Throwback Thursday: Tough for rivals to finally acknowledge greatness
Three years ago today a public memorial ceremony was held following the death of retired University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith. I took that occasion to write about growing up in a basketball-crazed area -- North Carolina -- and how it shapes misguided thinking, until it doesn't and common sense takes over. Rivalries … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Tough for rivals to finally acknowledge greatness
1956: The year Elvis visited Burlington and left high school gyms way behind
One of my favorite features we published during my second tour of duty with the Burlington Times-News was this one by Alamance County historian Walter Boyd. It's about the 18 hours music icon Elvis Presley spent in Burlington in February of 1956, including a performance at Williams High School. That story published in 2015, in … Continue reading 1956: The year Elvis visited Burlington and left high school gyms way behind
Throwback Thursday: A coach who set an example for us all
UNC and Duke are in the final hours today before another installment of the most intense rivalry in college basketball is renewed again. Dean Smith, the legendary coach of the Tar Heels, was right in the thick of it for decades. Smith passed away three years ago on Feb. 7. This is the editorial I … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: A coach who set an example for us all
Remembering two incredible women
Over the past few days I ran across newspaper items I wrote in 2009 about the deaths of two significant woman but only available on pdfs. One I never met but who was a legend in her field -- basketball coach and advocate for cancer research. The other was someone very close to me who … Continue reading Remembering two incredible women
Throwback Thursday: Going medieval
This is a column I wrote more than 20 years ago when I used to let the chips fall in every direction. It about something a county elected official said in relation to polluted waters caused by hog farm mishaps or municipal waste. One incident in Onslow County, North Carolina led to a hog . … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Going medieval
Wayback Wednesday column: The thankless job of reporting on porn
We travel far back in time for today’s impromptu due to a major snowstorm Wayback Wednesday column — to March of 1987 — March 25 in fact as the helpful time stamp notes. I keyed in the text of it below so the column is easier to read. But first, some back story. I was … Continue reading Wayback Wednesday column: The thankless job of reporting on porn
Living the words of Dr. King in the worst of times
UPDATE FOR 2021: If the past 12 months tell us anything it's that our nation is now closer to Abraham Lincoln's worst nightmare than the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's hopeful dream. It was an exhausting year of racial strife, unrest and protests amid the ongoing problem of inequity and justice unequally applied to Black … Continue reading Living the words of Dr. King in the worst of times
Madison's Avenue 