Time was, you could buy a casket from a country store. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net A do-it-yourself casket for a pet is as close most get today. I’ve heard of people paying a carpenter to build a casket for a dog, and I get it. Just placing aContinue Reading
Where a $20 bush axe killed the music. Jackson Station Rhythm & Blues Club October 1977—April 1990 Where the music died. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Now and then a kind of gravity draws me to an old building. I’m driving south on SC Highway 25 near Hodges. HurryingContinue Reading
By Robin All One of the most common mistakes beginning golfers make is improper alignment. Many players check their aim by placing a club or alignment stick along their toe line and attempting to point it directly at the target. While that may seem logical, it can actually create problems.Continue Reading
By Sarah Ostergaard On May 18 Governor Henry McMaster signed into law House Bill 5073 to prohibit South Carolina public school districts and public schools from requiring teachers to assign a grading floor higher than a student’s actual performance. Districts and individual schools can no longer require a teacher toContinue Reading
The one-room schoolhouse, legendary, and iconic. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I visited the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina in Pendleton a few weeks back. If you’re a product of the rural South as I am, the museum takes you on a long walk down memory lane.Continue Reading
By Radley West There’s something about the end of the school year that feels like a deep exhale. Schedules loosen, mornings slow down, and suddenly the structure that held everything together just . . . disappears. For a lot of people, that includes their activity. During the school year, movementContinue Reading
By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Summer 2022, St. Simons Island, I’m sitting around the pool when my niece, Harper, and her friend, Stella, ask me to tell them a story. I had seen a photo of a tuxedo cat smoking four cigarettes at a time. I make up aContinue Reading
One of the first things a new golfer hears is to “keep your head down” and “keep your eye on the ball.” While well-intentioned, that advice can sometimes be misunderstood. The player in today’s example shows many solid fundamentals, but at the top of the backswing, his face is noContinue Reading
By Sarah Ostergaard The deadline for teachers across South Carolina to sign or reject annual contracts to teach in the same district next year was May 10. Did you know? Teachers make this decision without entirely knowing very important details: (1) salary changes (salary increases vs. insurance cost increases), (2)Continue Reading
By Radley West Every year around this time, there’s a shift. People start thinking about summer. The weather gets warmer, the layers come off, and suddenly there’s a sense of urgency that wasn’t there a few months ago.This is when things get interesting. I’ve watched people try to make upContinue Reading
Photo: Beyond the fence, an open battlefield filled with longleaf pines in 1780e. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net Old battlefields seem more like parks. Trying to imagine cannon and cries of the wounded? Difficult, but not always. Farmers’ plows unearthed so many Minié balls at Shiloh, the soil turnedContinue Reading
By Robin All Since we are sending tips for seniors to play better golf, the stiffness of the shafts in your golf clubs, can make a big difference in both direction and distance. All seniors need to be fitted as we are all not the same size or strength andContinue Reading
Photo: Old Photographs By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net “You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.” Cormac McCarthy’s words. Lord knows I’d like to forget some things, namely certain people I’ve known. Memory is a blessing and a curse but we areContinue Reading
By Radley West Hello. It’s Tipsy. I’ve been observing the humans again. Recently, one of my humans wrote an entire newspaper article about walking. Walking. A subject I consider one of my primary areas of expertise. Naturally, I was excited to read it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered thatContinue Reading
Photo: Wilson’s Laundromat, The stories this place could tell. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net My first time home from college I took a bag of dirty laundry to Mom. She tossed it out the door. “You’re education has just begun. From now on wash your own clothes.” Thus didContinue Reading
No one hears the wind chimes. The parking lot stays empty. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I call it the Roll Call of The Waiting. Inactive churches in need of friends. Friendship, Dothan Methodist, St. Simon’s Episcopal Church, Halfway Creek, Workman Methodist, Graham’s Methodist . . . the rollContinue Reading