Symbols are important in the South, but can be misread

The late Frank Gannon had a theory about the South. Down here, he said, everything is symbolic. “If you walk into a bait shop and you don’t have a hat on,” he wrote in his book Yo, Poe, “I bet you nobody asks you anything friendly about bream. Nobody will ask you how your mommanem is.

Don’t politicize our TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established by Congress in 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development in seven states that were heavily impacted by the Great Depression. TVA is a business owned by the government.

Called to preach and other things

The Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Langford – late Dean of the Duke Divinity School – wrote an essay on God’s calling to humanity.  To greatly paraphrase his words he simply said, God is calling all humans into a relationship with God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

N.C. county races turn on governance

As the fall homestretch of the 2020 election approaches, you’re probably not spending much time considering the implications of county-commission races in North Carolina.  But I am. I’m just that weird. Our state boasts some of nation’s most-watched electoral contests this year.

The U.S. Census makes sense to us

Graham Countians may be about to shoot themselves in the foot.  The 2020 U.S. Census is coming to conclusion. In fact, the White House wants to shorten the door knocking by one month. We would not need door knockers if people responded by mail or electronically.

Avoid prolonged sitting and standing

Does your job require you to sit and/or stand for a longer period of time?  Be careful, it can cause you to suffer later from hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are usually caused by increased pressure in the lower abdominal area related to prolonged sitting.

The Cactus (Mullein) Cowboys

Long before the advent of the multitude of electronic toys today that so many people are hooked on, young children busied their spare time with toys of their imagination and the great outdoors.   By saying in their spare time, I mean when they weren’t busy with farming chores.

Watching the news

It was the first time I had been in a gathering since the first of March.  About 200 of us were there in the funeral home chapel recently, to pay our respects to a friend and loved one. I sat on the back row, a bit nervous and wearing a mask. Seven others were masked.

Gunfight at the Graham County corral

Last week, there was a figurative gunfight at the Graham County corral.  The actors weren’t Burt Lancaster playing Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas playing Doc Holiday. The location wasn’t a desolate town called Tombstone in the Arizona Territory.

Ode to the Honda: the little Civic that could

After leaving church services on July 19, I did something I knew was coming, but could never anticipate: I cleaned out and bid adieu to my 2000 Honda Civic. Surely by now, most Graham County residents have witnessed me chugging around in my luxurious four-door sedan.