This past week, as I tried to carve out time to work on my next novel while also following the crisis in Ukraine and the Senate hearings on the new Supreme Court nominee, I was [...]
Black Soldiers in WWI: Underappreciated Then and Long After
One of the important supporting characters in a new novel I expect to publish in the fall is a Black veteran of World War I. He got me to wondering how much, or how little, [...]
Is This Nineteen Twenty-Two?
What year in America does the following describe, 2022 or 1922? Loved ones gone in a pandemic; racial violence plaguing towns and cities; veterans home from war but still suffering the effects of battle; careless [...]
Christmas in a Small Town: Connected Experiences and Memories
If you were to ask your family and friends, or perfect strangers, what’s the best thing about the Christmas season, what would they say? Being with loved ones? Lights and decorations? Santa Claus? Christmas dinner? [...]
Watermelons Again, but Don’t Tell St. Peter
Looking back can be fraught with peril. Among other things, it can make you tell stuff you ought to leave lying where it is. A few weeks back, after a visit with relatives I hadn’t [...]
Lies, Tall Tales, Watermelons, and the Gateway to Hell
When I was a kid way back in the middle of the last century, someone—I don’t remember who, but likely one of my Southern Baptist Sunday School teachers—said if you told lies, you’d go to [...]