By Radley West A few years ago, if you had told me that one of the most freeing lessons I would ever learn was that nobody was coming to save me, I probably would have rolled my eyes. But it’s true. We spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting forContinue Reading
Photo: A stack of 1964 Reader’s Digests, a trip back in time. Courtesy of Brenda Bancroft. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I read my mother’s Reader’s Digests from cover to cover. It’s hard find one today, but if you do, it will take you back to another era. And itContinue Reading
Photo – Winnsboro’s clock tower, the country’s longest-running clock By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net In my journeys across the South, Georgialina, in particular, I take note of clock towers, watchtowers, and steeples. How can I not. They command the eye. They set me to thinking. I’ve written many timesContinue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net “As night deepened all he could see was the shifting line of fire, like some malfunction in the wiring of the world.” —William Gay, Provinces Of Night. “In the draws the smoke coming off the ground like mist and the thin black trees burningContinue Reading
By Radley West Something happens to them in the summer. During the cooler months, life is reasonable. We go on walks at normal times. We spend time outside without unnecessary drama. Everyone behaves predictably. Then summer arrives, and the decision-making declines. For example, the humans now insist on walking atContinue Reading
Photo: A dirt road runs where an old locomotive steamed into Blackville. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net The road looks just like one on Granddad’s farm running into hardwoods where a spring bubbled in shade. Come sundown in Granddad’s battered old car, we’d ride that road through trees toContinue Reading
By Radley West Things I Never Thought I’d Say as a Coach in the Summer Radley West is married to Dr. Andrew West and together they own Anytime Fitness Lake Murray and 33/18 Chiropractic Associates. Radley is a gym owner and personal trainer with more than 20 years of experienceContinue Reading
SCDNR’s basic aquatic competency swim lesson initiative building safer futures for all South Carolinians By Tom Mullikin Swimming lessons that many of us grew up with are not something that all families have always had access to, and if the parents themselves haven’t learned to swim – and many haveContinue Reading
Time was, you could buy a casket from a country store. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net A do-it-yourself casket for a pet is as close most get today. I’ve heard of people paying a carpenter to build a casket for a dog, and I get it. Just placing aContinue Reading
By Radley West This will be an unpopular perspective, but stay with me. STRESS IS MANUFACTURED. Before anyone throws their coffee at the newspaper, let me clarify something. I’m not saying difficult things aren’t real. Bills are real. Deadlines are real. Family responsibilities are real. Relationships are real. Life canContinue Reading
Where a $20 bush axe killed the music. Jackson Station Rhythm & Blues Club October 1977—April 1990 Where the music died. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Now and then a kind of gravity draws me to an old building. I’m driving south on SC Highway 25 near Hodges. HurryingContinue Reading