As I have matured as a person and professional, I have come to appreciate, respect and even grow fond of those professionals and colleagues, who hold opinions contrary to my own. I believe this is part of the maturation process that, too often, many people resist as it maybe human nature to seek out and […]

Mike Patterson and Son (Huffington Post) Mike Patterson, 43, Rockmart, Ga. died last Friday. I never knew Mike. I had never heard of Mike until I found his obituary in a quick read of news on the Internet. I wish I had known him. You probably didn’t hear much about this story on the mainstream […]

Yesterday I attended the funeral of my first cousin William Chalmers Dorn Jr. Billy to almost everyone. Billy was thirty-seven-years-old and hadn’t lost an ounce of baby fat since he was born. What he had lost,nine months ago, was 85% of his skin in a freakish flash fire that happened when he was outside burning […]

For the sake of privacy the names have been changed. The weekend had been one of field exercises where ROTC guys played Army out on Blood River. It had been cold, damp and miserable. However, as we packed up everyone seemed reasonably satisfied with the performance. James Alphonso Caruso, or “Little Al” as we all […]

A simple act … Our home place in Princeton was on the edge of town on White Street to be exact just down from Southside Baptist Church. By the time I became cognizant of the homestead there were four lots remaining of what was once a farm. We had early in my life an outhouse, […]

“Cross of ashes” by Jennifer Balaska Today is Ash Wednesday, and in the Christian tradition it follows “Fat Tuesday” when some of us stuff ourselves in preparation for a day of fasting. Locally, we do pancake suppers at the church in preparation for the next day. They are, of course, all you can eat suppers. […]