Alabama Gazette - The people's voice of reason

Even before daybreak, you can hear them singing their happy songs from inside their swinging gourds: the purple martin song. It is their season. They return every year from their winter homes in...

Last week I mentioned in this space how we eat a lot of greens down here in the Black Belt. I am sure other people in other places also eat a variety of greens. There are even people up north who try...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 w...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 th...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 extensi...

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...

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...

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...

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...