Articles by Section - Columnists
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.
Williams: Teaching diversity
Professor Craig Frisby is on the faculty of University of Missouri's Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology.
Morgan: Sleep cycles a new thought
"What hath night to do with sleep?" wrote John Milton in
Archive By Section - Columnists
How to secede without even trying
As we careen toward the so-called "fiscal cliff," the collective yawn of Americans speaks volumes about the degree to which we've come to accept the dysfunction and gridlock of our political system in Washington. No one expects bipartisan cooperation to save the day. And, the political players are focused more on deflecting blame and surviving the fall than they are on how to avert it.
Let us toast to each other
Once merry-making New Year's bells stop ringing and Times Square clears out, people of Scottish descent make plans to celebrate the Jan. 25th birthday of their esteemed poet Robert Burns at formal dinners with a carefully prescribed format. The evening calls for good Scotch whiskey, poetry readings and a detailed menu to include something called haggis, among other things. By definition, haggis is "a mixture of the minced heart, lungs and liver of a sheep ...
Kim: The last place on earth
Last week has been a strange one. The undercurrent of tragedy following the Connecticut school shooting, combined with the condensed pressure of the holidays, has made it go by in a fog.
Travis: Floyd Street’s charming trees
My husband and I made what I hope is the last effort to denude the yard of leaves right before Christmas. It was either the third or fourth sweep of the yard this year.
Boehner’s “Plan B” doesn’t help the GOP
President Obama and congressional Democrats are still winning the messaging battle in the debate over the impending "fiscal cliff."
Yeah, I’m delighted
Congratulations! If you're reading this, it means you survived the Mayan calendar's alleged prediction of total world destruction. But, if the world has been destroyed, then you're not reading this, and I just wasted a perfectly good "congratulations" on a bunch of cosmic dust. Either way, let's move to today's topic: cloying customer service.
A hundred percent of nothing
JoAnn Watson, Detroit city council member, said, "Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president, and there ought to be a quid pro quo." In other words, President Obama should send the nearly bankrupted city of Detroit millions in taxpayer bailout money. But there's a painful lesson to be learned from decades of political hustling and counsel by intellectuals and urban experts.
Hearing God’s call
The school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed last week, is a tragic reminder of the sanctity of life. Of promising young lives cut short and the uniqueness and preciousness of every single person.
Looking back on a great year
The holiday season is upon us already. I would like to wish the City of Covington a Merry Christmas, as well as a Happy New Year, and I hope that everyone enjoys this special time of year. I know that I myself am looking forward to this Christmas season.
Making sense of the senseless
It's the same each time. After yet another tragic loss of life at the hands of an armed madman, we mourn, ache, cry and seek someone or something to blame.
Will we be transformed?
It is a fledgling tradition, but traditions start somewhere. It is becoming a ritual for us to settle in on successive nights and work our way through a library of Christmas movies. There's "White Christmas" with mellifluous Bing Crosby, antic Danny Kay and sumptuous but stiff Rosemary Clooney who transform a failing New England inn and the fortunes of its owner, a retired general under whom characters played by Crosby and Kay served in World War II.
Understanding American liberty
Authoritarian governments - whether religious or secular - have long sought to curb or even to extinguish religious liberty. On the other hand, the limited American government established by our Constitution respects the institutions of our civil society - including, especially, religious institutions. The American Founding Fathers believed that strong religious congregations and vibrant faith communities were essential to ordered liberty. As a result, Americans have long enjoyed the fullest religious liberty in the world ...
A gift fit for a princess
My youngest granddaughter asked me for a pair of boots for Christmas. Wanting to clarify her request, I asked if she meant cowboy boots. She looked at me as only a child can look at an adult when the adult has not grasped what is obvious to the child, and she said firmly, "No, grandmamma, cowGIRL boots.
Georgia’s good ol’ boys club
OK, so I talk to myself when I'm making my hour long commute. It's usually after something irritates me while listening to the morning news on the radio. Last week, however, I had a pretty constructive discussion with myself. Why do we keep turning to the same people to fix the problems we have within our government? At the federal, state and local levels we consistently turn to the "good ol' boys" to reform our ...
Sing a song of hope
So long as I live in a world where more than 100 people can gather on a Sunday afternoon to sing Christmas carols accompanied by 48 tuba players, I have hope for humanity. That was my overriding feeling at Tuba Christmas last Sunday in Porterdale.
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