There are events that are so significant that virtually everyone can tell you where they were when they happened. The loss of Kennedy, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, the moon landing, and of course 911. But the death of Elvis came to mind recently when someone mentioned...
My mother must’ve kept everything my sister and I ever made for Christmas. Some things were put together in school, but most were done in Sunday School. Same is true for anything we ever made, regardless of the time of year. Decades later at a Christmas gathering, if...
It was Flag Day 1987. I was opening the mic for the first time as a new announcer on KTBB AM 600. It was the early part of my radio journey, and I was excited to be moving up in the industry. KTBB was the second radio station to be licensed in Tyler, Texas. A station...
“Oh, waiter. There’s a bean in my chili.” So goes the encounter every Southerner dreads when he orders a bowl of red and is served chili with beans. There are certain missteps in the South that are unforgivable. Asking a girl out without clearing it first with her...
I write this from my chemo chair as I undergo another day or treatment in my cancer journey. I’m blessed by friends who drive me to treatment and rides back home. The treatment itself is lonely. I sit in the chair while they hang bag after bag of meds for infusion...
When I was a kid in the early 1970s, the Fouke Monster was around every corner. At least, that was how I saw things as a 10-year-old. For those who aren’t familiar with this Sasquatch-like creature, the Fouke Monster allegedly roamed (some say, still roams) the river...
I didn’t want to do it. It had been on my calendar awhile and as it got closer, I wanted to be part of it less and less. You know what that's like, don’t you? We only have so many open spaces on our calendar and when there is something on there that we don’t want to...
The old question, “Where would you go first if you had a time machine?” is an easy one to answer for me. I’d visit all of my favorite long-since-gone childhood cafes, diners, and restaurants. Not all, but one stop may soon be possible, without the help of H.G. Wells....
You meet people in the South who like spring, summer or winter, but virtually everyone below the Mason Dixon Line loves fall. I can speak to my affinity for the fall season, which in Ashdown, Arkansas, is at least three weeks. Four if you’re lucky. Fall is that time...
