Articles written by Amanda Walker
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Tears & Laughter: Always a Southerner, never a Royal
A huge portion of America has probably been clinging to their throw pillows and couch cushions just waiting for the final details of King Charles’ coronation in the United Kingdom to be announced....
Tears & Laughter: It's Spring, time for frosty days to go
The lessons of baseball and life begin in Spring – play by the rules, try your best, and the sun will still come up again if you lose. Farmers keep pace with the changing seasons. The American food...
Tears & Laughter: Well, that's just life
I was a big fan of Little Lulu when I was a kid growing up in Sandflat. Little Lulu has been around a long time. She was introduced in comic strip that first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in...
Tears & Laughter: The best place in Alabama to have a flat tire
Imagine if you will two women driving down the Florida Highway. My friend Shirley and I had spent a few leisurely hours spinning the reels at WindCreek before buying a few chances on the Mega...
Tears & Laughter: All resolutions begin in the heart
Thirty-two years ago, I lived in Montgomery. I was freshly enrolled as a full-time student at AUM, and a part-time waitress at Country’s Barbecue. I was 18. Barbara, who was 45 at the time, was...
Tears & Laughter: My official Christmas column!
Every year I claim to myself that I am going to write an official Christmas column. A column good enough to run every Christmas when the days just prior become so rushed and busy. Something classic...
Tears & Laughter: It's Carnival Season
I bought a purse last week I will probably never use. It is small. A simple zippered change pouch. I don’t need it, and it doesn’t particularly suit my taste. It is not my shade of pink....
Tears & Laughter - Rx: Laugher – take as needed, endless refills, no expiration
Remember how legendary columnist Lewis Grizzard used to write about how he could hardly wait for Cathy Rigby to go through menopause so she wouldn’t be in commercials advertising feminine care...
Tears & Laughter: The IRS may hire 87,000 new agents, but do not worry
In Camden…poor little small Camden, we have limited restaurants of any kind. Fried chicken is widely available. There are more places to buy fried chicken than there are gas stations or red lights,...
Tears & Laughter: All grown people need a place of their own
I heard a report last week suggesting one way to deal with inflation is to live with your parents. As a parent, I would suggest that this might not be a viable plan. And let me go ahead and make a...
Tears & Laughter - Guns for Hire and Wet Nurses Needed
I don’t encourage a whole lot of dabbling in soul searching, but consider questioning your relationship with whoever it was that encouraged you to vote for Joe Biden. I didn’t. A lot of us...
Tears & Laughter - Your Wallet, Your Voice, Your Vote
Nina Jankowicz, the executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board resigned Wednesday. She explained in her resignation letter that it was because the future of the board was uncertain....
Tears & Laughter - American Heartbreak for Ukraine
It is difficult to watch Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t it? Since the beginning, citizens of the world have watched helplessly. As individuals, it can feel as if there is practically nothing...
Tears & Laughter - An Alabama Lottery Proposal Loses Value Every Year
The Alabama Legislature has once again introduced a lottery proposal that would give voters the opportunity to choose whether or not Alabama can have a lottery. It is one of the only states in the...
Tears & Laughter: How to be Social Without the Social Media
The United States surgeon general has issued a report stating the negative effects social media platforms are having on mental health, especially in teens and young adults. The platforms generate...
Tears & Laughter: Waiting and Watching for Purple Martins
Even before daybreak, you can hear them singing their happy sounding songs from inside their swinging gourds. The purple martin song. It will soon be their season. They return every year from their...
Tears & Laughter: Be Ashamed to Tell Others to be Ashamed
[Editor’s note: Introduction is from December 1, 2020] Before I launch into my topic this [month], I want to acknowledge what happened in Wilcox County yesterday. A long time, much-loved, retired...
Tears & Laughter: The First Day of the Season of Excess
I’m sure I heard it somewhere, but I can’t remember where. Or maybe I read it. I don’t know. But for a few years now, when I think about the day after Thanksgiving – or Black Friday as it is...
Tears & Laughter - Christmas is Not Trapped on a Ship Off the Coast of California
The White House cannot guarantee Christmas gifts will be available this year. It is warning that you many not get what you want. It has never occurred to me before to consider that the White House is...
Tears & Laughter - For the Love of Autumn
This week’s cooler air has been refreshing after a long Alabama summer…a summer that is likely not through. These first dips in temps are just teases. We know this. We know Southern summers...
Tears & Laughter - We are woke, but are we awake?
It depends on how old you are, but most people in the United States can tell time by the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. There was before, and then there was after. Everybody remembers...
Tears & Laughter - Life is a fleeting thing
There are voices in other rooms tonight. Soft voices. Young voices. Granddaughters’ voices. Their brother – the baby – is asleep in an adjoining room. We were all worried if he could sleep, or...
Tears & Laughter - The Hydrangeas are Blooming
It is July. The hydrangeas are blooming. It has always struck me odd how it is that we can know something is coming up…we know it is on the way, and yet, we are still taken back a little by its...
Tears & Laughter - The Good Times of an Alabama Summer
Summer means different things to different people. To some it probably means nothing more than long days and hot nights. Unless you are a fan of the two…which I happen to be. I’m not sure anymore...
Tears & Laughter -Growing Tomatoes & Thumping Watermelons
By this time of the year, gardeners have already tilled their ground and formed their rows. They have sown seeds that by now sprouting and growing. The watching and waiting has begun. I like people...