The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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I read articles about the Black Belt sometimes that make me feel like we should all immediately pack up and leave. I don’t know where we should go, but we may not make it if we stay. I read one yesterday that was really playing us up. It said we are poor, dumb, and tend to have a life expectancy that is nine years shorter than the rest of Alabamians. I knew we were poor and dumb, but I was surprised about those nine years…because we eat a lot of greens down here. I cook a mean pot of greens mys...
While I do understand that the toilet tissue shortage has been caused by panic buying in response to the coronavirus, I can’t help but to blame Auburn fans to some extent. How much tissue have y’all wasted on those trees at Toomer’s Corner? And now look at us. I saw a couple of women on the news a few days ago who were tied up fighting over a 12-pack of Charmin. That didn’t worry me though. People having to be taught the proper way to wash their hands and all of the cancellations are freakin...
Most people – I think – are paying attention to the 2020 election. Whether watching Trump riding on what seems to be a rising tide, or following the Democratic primaries and caucuses, everybody is watching to some extent even if only for entertainment. Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders is doing better than expected. Even the confused and chaotic Democratic party seem shocked at how well he is doing as attempts to usher in Michael Bloomberg continue. I am not a socialist myself. I was int...
Krystal is the South’s oldest fast food restaurant chain. They have been making little square hamburgers since 1932. Having been around for so long, everybody seems to have a Krystal story. If for no other reason, you can go through a drive-thru and have a big bag of them riding shotgun with you for just over $5. Krystal has always been a friend to night people. Back during the late 80s and early 90s people liked to line dance. People still like to line dance I suppose, but back then it was e...
Over the Christmas season I only lost the car twice. Once I was looking on the opposite side of the mall from where I had parked. I kept setting off my alarm with my keyring, but was too far away to hear it blaring. I finally found it by process of elimination. The next week I lost my friend’s car. The main reason I lost her car was because I had lost her for a while too. We went to separate checkouts thinking that would be quicker, only it wasn’t. Once I had checked out I headed on out to the...
I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend that neighboring Clarke County is trying to become as corrupt as Wilcox County. Good luck. That is a high bar to set, but it is obtainable. If you will put losers at the helm of leadership, you too can sit back and watch your county’s statistics begin to sink. And it doesn’t have to be just Clarke. Any county that wants to fail should follow our lead. One of the first things you will want to do is find people in your community who have failed i...
Everybody puts up a good front don’t they? Or at least they try to. And that is probably what we are supposed to do for the most part. Just by human nature we tend to put our best selves forward. Even if we are train wrecks. We certainly do in the South. Someone can be grieving, broke, lonesome, depressed, bored, and hopeless, but if you ask them how they are doing, they will say they are okay. Or, they will say, “I’m good,” – knowing full well they are having to hold a Bible in one hand and...
I was recently a guest on a podcast and some of my readers – specifically my mother and daughters – listened to it. A couple of their friends who were trapped in the car with them at the time had no choice but to listen too. The main thing we were supposed to talk about was a column I had written on the difference between being Southern and being country, but ended up we talked mostly about the wastewater situation in parts of Lowndes and Wilcox counties that were headlining the news that wee...
Free has become a popular term here as of late. It is a new trend and an old favorite. Not free as in freedom. Not free-minded, or free-spirited, or being a Freebird. I mean free – as in no cost. I don’t know about everywhere, but in Wilcox County if you will come out with some free hotdogs you can draw an attentive crowd. This has been proven countless times. I seldom accept anything free. It’s one of my hang-ups. But one of my exceptions was at the old Impact Wilcox meetings. For all they...
In response to the fast-paced lives Americans tend to lead, countless books and articles have been written offering ways to simplify life and minimize stress. Typical lifestyle change suggestions include unplugging from social media and television, reconnecting with nature, and taking time out to meditate and pray. Minimalism is encouraged in both commitments and possessions. Learning to say no – to yourself and to others – is imperative. These articles pull attention because more and more peo...
They tell me the road was paved right before I moved here. Prior to then it was dirt. It is still not nice enough to call a farm-to-market road, but once upon a time there were cotton field along each side. I guess that is why nobody here ever complains too much about the potholes. The road is one way in and one way out. Nobody just happens to be passing through. If someone is seen, they are known…or they are lost. At the end of the road after the pavement ends, and down a short drive, is a h...
I did not realize during the last election that we were electing legislators to try and overturn Roe vs. Wade. Just like most Alabamians and all Christians, I would say I am pro-life. Some people say it because they sincerely are, and others because they feel they have no choice. When Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973, it ruled that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment gave women the right to privacy. It is up to each individual woman what she chooses to do with her body. Nobody has to...
I had been handling things pretty well, until we went to the Piggly Wiggly last week. And I’m hardly alone. There are mothers everywhere feeling like I feel. It’s the road all parents walk. We know from the time they enter the world that they are going to grow up. That is our entire purpose, preparing that child to be independent. I managed to get my oldest daughter down the aisle without falling apart. And the second daughter moved out at 20 without me having a complete breakdown. Now she is...
Few of us knew before the new gas tax that the Alabama Legislature was capable of moving any bill through both houses and having it signed by the Governor in one week. Governor Ivey announced it on the Tuesday night she delivered the State of the State address, and the next Tuesday she signed that baby into law with people standing around protesting. Governor Ivey has said in the past that she would like to give the people of Alabama the chance to vote on a lottery. Senator Jim McClendon (R) has...
Based entirely upon my casual observation, women seem to be more susceptible than men, and children ag it on, but for some reason many people who have never so much as grew a turnip patch suddenly get the urge to raise chickens when daytime temperatures start climbing toward 70. All that has to happen for someone to catch chicken fever is to visit a farm supply store. A woman can go in there, maybe just shopping for a new pair of bib overalls, and then, innocently enough, she will see the cute l...
There seems to be a recurring subject in the headlines from various news outlets over the last few weeks concerning the American dream. Evidently it is out of reach, not available to everyone, and otherwise unattainable. I had to look it up to see what is has even become. I feel like it keeps changing. Growing up I didn’t have a dream. Mine was more of a goal. I wanted out. I marked the last 5 months of my senior year of high school off the calendar like a prisoner. I walked on the stage and g...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last month announcing that for the third consecutive year the life expectancy of Americans is dropping. Another statistic that emerged from the report was the fact that more Americans died last year than any other year since such findings started being counted – over a hundred years ago. That alone is disturbing, but if you consider why this is happening it becomes even more concerning. The reason so many of us are dying and the r...
I cracked-up in the middle of a root canal a few days ago. I didn’t just giggle. No. I went all out. I laughed until the dental assistant, the dentist, and an assistant in training who was just observing this fine spectacle all laughed too. This of course from my perspective and angle – at that moment – was hilarious. Things have sure changed. When I was a kid, my mom came home from work one day and announced that there was a new dentist in Grove Hill and she had made us appointments. My broth...
As I write this, there are people in the southeast corner of the state who are still cleaning up downed trees and are without power. There are farmers in the wiregrass region who have suffered extensive losses. Our hearts go out to all of them, and to our neighbors in Georgia and the Florida panhandle who were in the direct path of Hurricane Michael. Floridian columnist and author, Carl Hiaasen, has long confessed that a huge portion of his work has been inspired by actual headlines out of his h...
The Wilcox County line sign is missing on Highway 41 in Hybart. I stopped once to take a picture of it. I guess that’s why I noticed its absence. I’m sure others have noticed too. It has been gone for several months now. I keep waiting to see how long it will take for it to be replaced. Currently, we are building on at least six months or two seasons, depending on how you want to look at it. By this time of year, yellow butterflies are darting along the sides of all highways leading into Wilcox...
We build houses like we will be here forever, but it is all very temporary. “Fleeting,” I think is what the Bible says, “The twinkling of an eye.” We are given, on average – if we are lucky – about 78 years. This average of course is not always accurate. You can’t depend on it. It is more unpredictable than Alabama weather or hormonal women. Nobody gets promised any tomorrows. There will come a day for each of us when there will be no next week. It is all a balance between the uncertainty of tim...
Travis came into my life in 1990, when he was two and I was 18. His mother was not involved at that stage in his life and my life had not prepared me for being a stepmother. But I changed my schedule at AUM, and switched from working nights at Country’s Barbecue to working days at Colonial Bank. I would drop Travis off at daycare before 8:00 and pick him up just after 5:00. Up until now, I don’t think I have ever written a word about those years of my life. It is not as if 18 to 23 didn’t exist...
One reason Wilcox County stays broke is because people steal. That is not in any way meant to take away from the gross mismanagement we’ve come to call normal, but theft happens too often and audits are too few. The latest sin to slither out of the courthouse emerged when the bank called retiring Probate Judge Jerry Boggan and informed him that funds were not sufficient for the checks that were being presented. Now I don’t know, but I would think that in that very moment, the Honorable and kin...
It has been almost 40 years since I spent my last summer with Fannie. She would not believe the lives we live now. Even in the 70’s she lived somewhere far back in time. It was partly, I suppose, because she was in rural Marengo County. We lived only minutes away from one another, but we were worlds apart…minus the weekdays we would spend together. I would often arrive at her house early enough the fog would still be rising over the farm fields. It would slowly lift, surrendering to the golden b...
To all the boys who don’t feel smart on paper. I call them the lost boys, these young people who seem in one way or another to be left behind or forgotten by what we tend to consider as traditional school standards. Of course this includes a certain number of girls too. I overheard one of my son’s friends talking last week. He was talking about his own self saying, “I am so dumb.” I couldn’t help but interrupt and tell him that he most certainly was not dumb, and to not say that. He told me t...
