I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church. We didn’t wash each other’s feet, but we did do the whole dunking routine. In retrospect, the Methodists, down the street, were much more for civilized with their sprinkling! Not ones symbolism, we went for the full-contact baptism. Our family was the poster family for being in church anytime the doors were open. Sunday. Wednesday. Budget meetings. Funerals. And, especially revivals. That all said, my parents (to my everlasting thankfulness) kept their country-bred common sense. Growing up in south Alabama, Baptists railed against… Read more Country-bred Commonsense →
As a child, one of my favorite Bible stories, maybe because I loved to fish, included a big storm, a small boat, rough waters, and some fishermen. The disciples were… Read more Time to Get Out of the Boat? →
It was 1963. I was 16 and a sophomore trying to make the Semmes High School baseball team. Ronnie Flippo, last year’s starting catcher, decided that he was not going to play his senior season. That left the team with no catchers – experienced or otherwise. None. Zip. Zero. I had played catcher a few times in middle school. Coach Mosely asked if anybody had played the position before, I raised my hand, and as they say, the rest is history! My first game as a varsity catcher was against… Read more Commonsense and Common Courage →
I live and write in a 55-and-over retirement community in Cornelius, NC. Recently, I was invited to join a discussion group with other community neighbors. I am pretty sure that I am the token conservative! That’s just fine with me, because that is a role, as a retired professor, I am intimately familiar with. I also am the token Southerner! Imagine that. In Cornelius, North Carolina. Seems we are being overrun by Yankees, who have moved south to be with their grandchildren. Actually, they are indentured servants of their children so they… Read more The Nation’s Redheaded StepChild? →
Almost two weeks ago, I got a message from a dear friend asking if I would be willing to adopt her precious nine-year-old Brittany, Chloe. She and her husband experiencing life’s difficulties where they just could not give Chloe the attention and love she had always known. No need for the reasons – they are reasons that will affect most of us. LET’S JUMP BACK FIVE YEARS IN THIS STORY. After we filled out an application to potentially acquire Boomer – we had to demonstrate some high standards of dog… Read more The Rest of The Story →
Perhaps you saw this headline last week: The Bee Is Declared The Most Important Living Being On The Planet by the Science Times (https://www.sciencetimes.com/). My Southern mind’s first thought was, How nice, which is a euphemism for bless your heart to all you folks at the Science Times. I do really like bees, and I agree that they are really one of the most important species in our world. Then my Southern mind’s conservative thinking frontal lobe took over, and I asked myself, Really? Which is a euphemism for “What the …?” Although, I try to use scientific reasoning in most… Read more The Fetus and the Honey Bee →
Are you a parent who dreads talking with a teacher about your child?Or are you a teacher who dreads talking with a parent about a child. this blog is for you! I used my almost thirty years of dealing with both, and I composed the list below hopefully to make the whole process much easier My child is not a number, a score, or a statistic. I want a great education for my child even if I did not care about it when I was in school. I trust you… Read more 25 Things Parents Would like School People to Know →
