Articles by Section - Columnists
You only live once
Last month, I got caught in the massive hail storm while teaching in Stockbridge. I took a picture of the larger than a golf ball-sized hail that pummeled the houses and cars in the Monarch Village neighborhood.
Morgan: Authors turn lives into fiction
Take a life, any life, even your own. Write down all the known facts and documentation of that life, much but not all of it taken from public record: birth, parents, hometown, siblings, education, college transcripts, career, titles, marriage, children, divorce, volunteer positions, achievements, military service, address, church membership, diaries, daybooks and perhaps old letters retained by the sender or recipient.
Cushman: Goodness over evil
My sister Kathy texted the news of the Boston Marathon bombing not long after it happened.
Random thoughts on random topics
It turns out that you can go home again. I recently established a chair in crisis communications leadership at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at my beloved University of Georgia. UGA President-elect Dr. Jere Morehead, along with Dink NeSmith, chairman of the Board of Regents came for the ceremony and both made my family and me feel warmly welcomed on campus.
Spring into the yellow season
I suppose it is never a normal spring. But it does seem like we have gotten more rain than usual this spring. Not that there is anything wrong with that as Seinfeld would say. I am sure we will be hearing dire predictions of drought soon enough, and all the rain we have had lately will be forgotten.
Spring fever mind games
I wish the weather would stop playing games with us here in the South. It wasn't more than a few weeks ago that I slipped into a pair of short pants for puttering around the house.
Gun debate highlights voter distrust
Gun control advocates sound puzzled by congressional resistance to relatively modest gun control legislation. Many cite a poll showing 90 percent of Americans support more background checks and suggest the National Rifle Association is the only reason Congress won't implement the will of the people.
The mortgage complaint window is open
Got a beef with your mortgage company or loan servicer? Lots of people do, and thousands of them have been turning to a federal complaint hotline for action - or at least a quick response from the lender.
Black unemployment
A couple of weeks ago, Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson, speaking at The National Press Club, said the nation "would never tolerate white unemployment at 14 and 15 percent." Black unemployment has been double that of white Americans for more than 50 years. The black youth unemployment rate is more than 40 percent nationally. In some cities, unemployment for black working-age males is more than 50 percent. Let's look at this, but first let's ...
Carter: For all who persevere
This isn't as easy as it looks - this putting together of ~750 words with a coherent thought every week.
Morgan: The astronaut and the fire truck
An imaginative sort who spies a bright red fire truck parked outside a church might think one of two things: Either the congregants are burning up with the Holy Spirit and keep a fire truck on hand to cool things down once in a while, or the truck is a warning the fires of hell are close unless they toe the line.
Thatcher's death marks end of an era
When Margaret Thatcher was elected England's first female prime minister in the spring of 1979, I was 12 years old and my father had been a congressman for less than four months. To me, it seemed as if it would be only a short while until my own country followed suit and elected a woman to serve as president.
Yarbrough: UGA's best-kept secret
They are the best University of Georgia athletic team you have likely never heard of.
The dumps of home improvement
My husband and I have lived where we are now living for more than 40 years. More than half my life.
Carter: Bike for your health
I enjoy my bicycle. There's nothing like the freedom of rolling through the countryside propelled only by the power of my own legs, feeling the warm sun on my skin and the cool wind moving over my body, engaging the world with all five of my senses.
Archive By Section - Columnists
It’s all about you
If your only exposure to a newsroom has been through movies or television, the business of crafting a newspaper must seem exotic, fun, and hectic, an occupation pursued by people with perfect teeth and unmoving hair who look an awful lot like Robert Downey Jr. or Rachel McAdams. Reality, of course, is different.
Smile: Change comes, eventually
Well, I've done it, and I never thought I would. I've held onto a beloved pair of shoes long enough that they're back in style. They didn't get much wear when I bought them some years ago, so I was loathe to toss them. But, hey, now I can step out in them and look a little bit fashionable without spending any money. It's really not my way, however, to keep around shoes or clothes ...
A strange state of political affairs
In a weird election year, you might think the weirdest place of all is Delaware, where the Republican nominee for the Senate has aired TV commercials to reassure voters, "I am not a witch."
Looking for hope in the wrong places
Last month, at a CNBC-sponsored town hall meeting in Washington, President Barack Obama was forcefully questioned by Velma Hart, one of his supporters from the 2008 campaign. An African-American and the chief financial officer of AMVETS, a veterans' group, she made clear her disappointment with his performance as president.
Vent and help your heart
It's no secret to my wife and close friends that I let things upset me from time to time. Quite often it's the case that I get upset the most over things which I have little or no control of, whatsoever. And when emotionally upset, I tend to rant like a spoiled child who can't have his way. It's very amusing to those witnessing the tirade.
Trust government?
in elected office wonder why average Georgians don't trust any level of government. We try to sound sincere and factual when presenting a proposal to citizens. Then we go and do something so outrageous that we should wonder how anyone gets re-elected. Such is the situation with the arbitrary renewal of the highway toll on Georgia 400.
Ghosts and their stories endure
The first ghost I ever saw was, I found out later, my dad, hiding under a sheet, behind a bush, and making scary noises.
Debatable news judgement
What I saw Sunday in Athens was one thing. When I read about it in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday, it was another thing entirely.
When preachers turn funny
Life used to be so simple. Preachers delivered fire and brimstone visions of Hades to scare the pants off people, and comedians pulled down their pants to make people laugh like... well, you know. Both sides lived by the rule that preachers don't throw pies and comedians don't do funerals, but that's all over. My own preacher, Dr. John Beyers, is as good a minister as you'll ever meet, but he's got a character flaw ...
Grace Notes: Pray persistently
We're getting down to the wire here. The final inspections on our building should be taking place next week, and, God-willing, we'll be able to move in on Oct. 17 with a service that starts at the school we've been using and ends at the new place. Just about everything is done, or well on its way. You can probably guess the last item on the to-do list. It's the same as the first item was: Pray.
Saluting Georgia’s citizen-soldiers
Five years ago this week, I was in Iraq in a dirty, foreboding piece of real estate known as "The Triangle of Death." That is not a misnomer. I almost found out the hard way.
Homework needed on ballot amendments
Pay attention to the constitutional amendments We've been concentrating so closely on the governor's race that it's easy to forget several amendments to the state constitution will also be decided by the voters on Nov. 2. Constitutional amendments can be confusing for a non-lawyer to understand and they are sometimes misleadingly worded when they appear on the ballot. But at least one amendment could be a matter of life or death. <p ...
Obama lacks the common touch
The latest campaign tactic is for President Barack Obama to meet ordinary Americans in their backyards to discuss the happenings of our country.
Violent video games cheapen lives
When I was young, my parents tried to guard me against traumatic exposure to death.
Making the Internet “safe for wiretappers”
President Obama wants to make the Internet "safe for wiretappers." To do so would require re-designing the Internet and be worse for all of us. By design, the Internet doesn't work like a telephone. If you write a letter and tear it into three pieces and send one piece down Floyd Street, another down Washington Street and one down Highway 278, that is how the Internet sends messages. When your message arrives, all the pieces are put together. Just like the Internet.
- LOCAL
- NIE
- Local Home
- Business
- Archives
- Education
- Covington
- Oxford
- Porterdale
- Social Circle
- Eyesore of the Week
- Newton County Jail Log
- Pets of the Week
- Restaurant scores
- BOC Media
- LEGALS
- SPORTS
- Alcovy
- Eastside
- Newton
- Social Circle
- YMCA
- Recreation
- Sports Columnists
- Oxford College
- OPINION
- Columnists
- Our Thoughts
- Letters
- RELIGION
- Columnists
- LIFE
- Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- Births
- Engagements
- Weddings
- Health
- Home & Garden
- Special Print Sections
- Academic Achievement
- BOC
- VIDEOS
- STATE
- OBITS
- PHOTOS
|
Powered By
|