The homeless

It was many winters ago in Washington, D.C., that I saw my first homeless person. He was lying over a warm vent atop the Metro train.

Supporting your hometown business

Something happened recently that reminded me, strongly, of why I have always supported locally- owned businesses.I grew up in a rural town where we had a Sears, J.C. Penney, and a Belk. Every other business in town was owned by local folks. I knew most of them.

Remembering the Centennial Olympic Park bombing

Trivia Question: Where were you at 1:40 a.m. on July 27, 1996? You are forgiven if you don’t remember 29 years ago, but I can tell you where I was. Asleep. Very asleep.It was the midpoint of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

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.

Junior not bugged by polling firm’s snub

I run for reelection every week.

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.America still leads the world economy, is one of...

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.