Ending a bad dye job

Colorful candies and cereals, cheese slices brighter than the color of any real cheese, mac n’ cheese without any real dairy, these are the food staples of my childhood and adolescence.And now, though still standing, I’m also battling a highly aggressive form of colon cancer.

Jay, the good shepherd

It is conventional wisdom that you should never do business with family. And, for the most part, that is probably true. Unless that family member is an honorable, God-fearing man like the one that my niece, Nicole, was wise enough to marry and bring into our family.

Junior not bugged by polling firm’s snub

I run for reelection every week. Even though the editors appreciate the fact that I am a dead ringer for a young Brad Pitt and occasionally I’m correct on the difference between affect and effect, they want eyeballs right where you happen to be looking at this moment.

The intelligence quotient

Tink was in his office, supposedly, working. We both have home offices because we are both writers and work from home. I am a serious writer who composes prose for books and this column.You would be surprised how much harder it is to write this column of 650 words than it is to write an entire book.

The Tinker diaries

In my office is a beige wicker suitcase with brown leather straps.Inside are 32 handwritten diaries produced by Charlie Tinker during his years working at the White House for his cherished friend, Abraham Lincoln.In another area, squirreled away by Tink, is a hand-duplicated set of those diaries.

Divided we stand

Dropping in and out of family and friend celebrations of our nation’s birth over the long holiday weekend, and as we enter the 250th year of this “great experiment,” I am troubled by the tension and at times outright hostility which exists among us.

The magical romance of trains

Whenever Tink and I visit Greenwood, Mississippi, one of our favorite places, we stay at the small Alluvian Hotel.“Please, Denise,” I ask the front desk manager, “put us as close to the train as possible.”She laughs delightedly.

Trump’s big, beautiful bust

Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)won the position as the 55th House speaker on the 15th ballot in January 2023, after House Republicans won a narrow majority during PresidentJoe Biden’s2022 midterm elections.

The return

It happened the other night. He returned for the first time in 30 years. His eyes were still dark brown, his hands were short but wide, and his teeth still pearly white but rarely seen because, for him, life was a serious business.

Still time to ensure safer schools

It was the morning of Sept. 4, 2024, when Georgia’s deadliest school shooting was underway atApalachee High School in Winder.