I went to Knoxville this past weekend hoping to come home with a Tennessee victory. Instead, I brought home a sunburn, some Greek baked goods and a reminder that a weekend with an old friend can …

It was nineteen eighty-something and she was twenty-something. We lived in a fourteen by seventy foot trailer at the end of a dead end street called Church Street. We were three kids into a four-kid …

Millie Kirkham was born in Hermitage, Tennessee as Mildred Eakes in 1923. She died in 2014 and sang most of her 91 years, including the last two. Known as the “Nashville soprano,” Millie Kirkham …

There’s something about Weejuns that says something about you. Weejun ad, 1960s Judging from the holes in the bottoms of all my casual shoes, it’s time to buy a new pair of loafers, and …

Didn’t we just start football season? It seems like I was just writing about opening night, looking forward to another season of packed stands, marching bands and hometown rivalries. Now Friday, …

When I turned eighteen, I was a freshman in college. I went to the post office and registered for the draft. It was mandatory, although there hadn't been a draft for about a decade. They'd decided …

The county elections are over with, the new officers have been sworn in, and almost everyone is breathing a sigh of relief. That doesn’t mean there are no long-term county issues to consider, …

May we agree to disagree.  May we be able to believe in our cause without hate for our neighbors. May we be able to discuss the issues of our nation with open minds, hearts and eyes. …

My wife has urged me to write a column on the topic of civics. Let’s start with the definition of the word. Civics is the study of the structure of government and its workings, including the rights …

Well, my lovely young wife has just finished her latest offering in her quest to bake all of the great Southern cakes – this time the hummingbird cake. Well, I should say that I finished it. It …

Does anyone really understand the college football ranking system? As a Tennessee fan, I am perennially frustrated by the preseason rankings. Of course, I also believe Tennessee is better than …

Who’s the most famous Tennessean of all time? It has to be David Crockett, right? After all, he was our congressman twice, and the hero and martyr of the Texas Revolution battle in the village of …

“It is impossible for a hatless woman to be chic.”          Etiquette; The Blue Book of Social Change        by Emily Post (1959)  …

Pretty much anyone old enough to remember September 11, 2001, can tell you where they were when they first heard that something terrible was happening in New York. I was sitting in a …

There was a time in my life when I thought that good ideas and policies in government could change our nation and be a power for good for it's citizens. It was the eighties and I was in my twenties. …

About three weeks ago the New York-based high-tech company named Hugging Face reported a problem. And boy, oh boy was it a BIG problem. Hugging Face’s report should be a warning to the federal …

I came across an article the other day that said baby name “experts” were alarmed at the number of new parents choosing weapon inspired or aggressive names for their sons. …

It has been a pretty crazy week and a half in the newspaper world. Last Wednesday night, a storm blew through Huntingdon and knocked out power to our printing plant. The power outage lasted long …

It’s been a decade since we lost one of the greatest Major League Baseball players ever from West Tennessee. James Lucius Hickman grew up in Henning over in Tipton County. Born in 1937, he was the …

I celebrated my sixty-first birthday last Wednesday. The Retirement Era (Golden Age?) is upon me. I'm not prepared in any way, shape or form for it, financially or psychologically. I'm tired, though. …