Last week I read a Los Angeles Times article about Central Americans and their boxes of Polo Campero, filling airline cabins with the aroma of deep-fried chicken on flights to LAX. Apparently, this has been going on for years. Relatives who would otherwise avoid freeway traffic gladly brave rush hour to pick up their chicken-carrying kin. Never mind that Pollo …
Have you heard about the woman who kept a library book for 63 years? I read this bizarre story, thanks to email from Candace, a friend who saw it in The New York Times. The recent article told of 74-year-old Betty Diamond who had kept an overdue library book in her possession–carrying it with her wherever she moved–for more than …
Every spring I conduct a search and destroy mission for old tax records. This year, it was 2012. Those papers had been kept for more than the required seven years, so it was past time to set a match to the dead files. In the process, I came upon two check registers. For you young folks, a check register is …
Blame it on these unusual times. Several weeks ago, I came upon a Facebook ad inviting me to the Bible in a Year Podcast with Father Mike Schmitz. The invitation came at the end of January, that dead-of-winter time when we all need something special to keep us going. My own church wasn’t meeting in person, and still isn’t. During …
Getting COVID vaccine has become something of a test. My first shot wasn’t until this past Friday, so obviously I lost the race. Most everyone I talk to had their shots weeks ago. In late December the news was full of images of politicians, celebrities and other more-than-equal personalities “setting an example” by being first to take the vaccine. I’m …
When my friend J. T. said he’d found a slave narrative involving his family, I had to know more. A former slave named Parker Pool recalled Yankee soldiers coming through Johnston County in 1865. Pool, J.T. explained, worked his ancestor’s farm in the Smithfield area. The slave account was part of the Federal Writers’ Project, a collection of narratives compiled …
I wish I had an unlisted number, with all the robocalls about my vehicle warranty. If you have a pulse, you know the drill. The phone rings. Caller ID displays Hendersonville or Spruce Pine or Forest City so you’ll think it’s someone from this region. For a while I thought the calls had something to do with my vehicle being …
By now we’re all familiar with the images of Jan. 6 when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol—the broken windows, the angry rioters on a rampage threatening Vice President Pence and other officials. Five people died in the melee, including a policeman. The nation was outraged, and rightly so. Such calamities light up social media, and this one has been …
After surviving 2020, I dread to speculate what this year may bring. If you listen to some forecasters, 2021 may turn out to be 2020’s ugly sister. I hope not. This COVID year brought one misfortune after another: shutdowns, layoffs, record downpours, Hurricane Zeta—even a rare Carolina earthquake. Bad juju run amok. Last spring, when face masks were becoming a …
I’m a purist when it comes to Christmas trees. They should be real (or at least green) and feature large colored bulbs, shiny glass ornaments and tinsel. It’s true, many of us try to recreate Christmases from our preschool years. My memories predate the aluminum tree craze of the 1960s. In case you missed 1962, every other house at had …