Morgan the Magnificent
The young woman sits in my truck passenger seat. She is 19. Her hair is red. Scottish red. Luminously red. People always comment on her hair first.
Americana
Have Shoes, Will Travel
I have been doing a lot of walking. More walking than I’ve ever done in my life. More walking than I thought possible.
A Walk in Birmingham, Alabama
I awoke early and went for a walk with my dog. The sun wasn’t up, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness of Birmingham.
Help, My Family is Stressing Me Out
I have here a letter from 19-year-old Erin, who lives in Bristol, Virginia.
“Dear Sean,” she begins, “I want to be happy, but I’m not…
“My family is stressing me out, big-time. Especially my mom.
The Elephant and the Ants
Once upon a time there were three little ants. The ants had an unusual home. They lived atop an elephant. Long ago the ants’ mother had reasoned that an elephant would be a wise place to lay eggs to keep them from danger.
The Storm Saturday Night
It was a big storm. The television showed weather updates. The radar looked like red-and-yellow vomit.
“Find shelter!” the weather guy kept saying. “There’s a tornado on the ground in Calera!”
George Washington and the Ides of March
Thirteen upstart colonies had declared themselves states, and united in a loose federation to fight for independence from the greatest military power on earth. And they handed over the reins to George Washington, to make it happen.
Oh My Dog
“Dear Sean,” the letter began, “there’s a dog in my neighborhood who was lost and followed me home.
I Would Walk 500 Miles
In a few weeks my wife and I will be walking 500 miles unless we die before we finish. We will be walking the Camino de Santiago, a medieval religious pathway across Spain. We will be on foot. With backpacks. And we shall not be called “hikers,” but in the ancient Spanish tongue: “Locos Americanos con mochilas.”
Letter From a Humble American
Husbands and sons. Carpenters and clergymen. Some rich, some poor. Some carrying the nicest firelocks money could buy. Some wielding nothing more than a pitchfork. I was playing my fife for them.
A Man Named Paul
Paul William Bryant was born in the late summer of 1913 in a Cleveland County, Arkansas, backwater. His hometown of Moro Bottom wasn’t even a town, technically. Only seven families lived there.
Not Everything Needs to Be a Federal Government Project
Under our 47th President, the sensible people in charge are looking at all of the spending in which the federal government engages. With the FY2024 federal budget deficit at $1.83 trillion — that’s trillion, a thousand billion, or a million million dollars — and FY2025 possibly going to be more, the Trump Administration is taking …
The Washington Post Conflates Current House Painting Fashion With Race
The Washington Post published an article on neighborhood gentrification on Sunday, and a lot of readers, to judge by the comments, saw it as completely racist. Perhaps, just perhaps, not everything is about race. The house color that tells you when a neighborhood is gentrifying A Washington Post color analysis of D.C. found shades of …
The Life and Times of Dothan Mardi Gras
Today, I am Grand Marshal of the Dothan Mardi Gras parade. Truthfully, I don’t know what a grand marshal’s official duties entail, but apparently you are required to hold beer wherever you go.
The Fabric of Society Suffers Another Blow
Joann’s bankruptcy is both a casualty of a cultural shortcoming and a contributing cause of that shortcoming’s growth. It is a vicious circle.
Patriotism – What Happens When a Nation Forgets Its Rituals?
From standing for the National Anthem to pledging allegiance to the flag, national rituals shape our identity, unity, and shared vision. But what happens when these traditions fade? Fragmentation, division, and a loss of purpose.
My Experience of Attending a White House Reception.
“The President requests the pleasure of your company at a reception in honor of NATIONAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH to be held at The White House on Thursday, February 20,2025 at two-thirty o’clock.
George Washington – Legislator
The great George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732, and served about seventeen years as a delegate in the Virginia colony’s House of Burgesses. He is remembered for many other things as well. The Father of his Country was known as a successful merchant, farmer, and horticulturalist, a prominent frontier …
El Camino de Santiago and Me
The math teacher and I went for a five-hour walk through town while wearing huge backpacks and yet we are not Marines. We are just middle-aged married people.