The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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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 union not to have a lottery. They do this every year. I write about it every year. They meet, and talk, and wring their hands, and second-guess themselves. They open it up for public discussion. Then they get anxious and table whatever plan they were considering and agree to start over from scratch...
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 feelings of loneliness and erode self-esteem. Social media has proven to offer the opposite of what the name states, allowing users to isolate while constantly comparing themselves to others. This has been exacerbated further by the pandemic. There has been a rise in suicide attempts, depression,...
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 winter homes in South America to raise their young. They fly the same instinctual path across the Gulf of Mexico. The first scouts start arriving in south Alabama in late January and early February. Those who consider themselves landlord’s of the purple martin, are already watching the afternoon s...
[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 deputy with the Wilcox County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Madison “Skip” Nicholson, was killed by a gunman while responding to a domestic-violence call in the Yellow Bluff community. Chief Deputy Trenton Gulley was also injured, but is expected to recover. The whole county is shrouded today in sadness...
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 more commonly known – I think about it being the first day of the season of excess. It, and the first day of the Christmas season, have somehow become one in the same. Last year, things may have been less excessive because of COVID. This year, it could be less excessive because of the excessive amount of...
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 responsible for the availability of Christmas gifts, but Americans are being advised by the government to do their Christmas shopping earlier than the usual early this year due to supply chain issues. Approximately half of a million shipping containers carrying everything from fake snow to talking...
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 linger late into October some years. Summer often won’t leave until ushered out by an early frost or chased away by the chilling ghosts of Halloween. By September’s end, most everybody is ready for a change of pace. College football is in full swing, days are becoming noticeably shorter, and the kudzu a...
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 where they were. I was home. The kids were little, they were playing…too young to fully comprehend what was happening. It was before cell phones were common and my husband had called home from work asking what was happening. I was standing in front of the television. I had been glued to the s...
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 would sleep. This is his first night ever away from his mama…and when you are one, being away from your mama is a big deal. His being the baby is about to change. He will have relinquished the title and become a big brother before daybreak. He doesn’t know. He will never remember a time before her. He i...
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 arrival. I knew July was on the calendar. Knew it was next. But when I turned the page in my planner to the month of July…it didn’t seem possible. The clock seems to tick too quickly sometimes. It’s equal opportunity, but it waits for nobody. Turning the page to a new month feels like a fresh start....
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 if I like summer because of the season itself, or if it has more to do with the state of mind. Or maybe it’s just the memories. In Alabama, summer is not defined so tightly by the calendar and temperature as it is activities. School being out adds more freedom for some – for teachers, and student...
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 who garden. There is a realness about them I appreciate. A lack of pretentiousness. I am from people who garden. They were good at it. If I look back at census records of my old family, they were listed as farmers. They have gardened for a long time. Growing up in Sandflat, I would follow behind my...
Sometimes, when I am in Montgomery, I make it a point to go out and have lunch with Hank and Audrey. Usually, I take fried chicken. They don’t ever say too much, and neither do I really. Nobody sings. If you are there and hear lonesome music, it’s probably only in your head … or maybe your heart. I go, I guess, for the silence, or the solace. It is a feeling. There is an energy there. Or maybe a spirit. I’m not sure. It is not something you can reach out and touch or take a picture of, at leas...
Alabama has delivered into the world many an eccentric personalities, one of those being the late Eugene Walter – an entertainer, writer, and chef who engaged in so many varied activities he was known as “Mobile’s Renaissance Man.” He grew up in old Mobile, back when women would dress-up in their finest attire – wear heels and put on lipstick – just to go shopping downtown on Saturday mornings. He could describe it in such a charming, and almost intimate way, that if you read his work even t...
Now that he is in office, Joe Biden has the task of trying to unite the United States. He says it is his intention. He is committed to it. I think it is possible. I really do. I don’t know how much President Biden will have to do with it, but I do think peace is possible. Mainly I think it is possible because I see us getting along. There may be pockets of civil unrest across the country, but mostly it is politicians who aren’t getting along. We the people get along fine. If you can find a way...
The Two Sides of Education in Alabama I sometimes talk – half in jest – about this book I am going to write one day called, “The Two Sides of Camden.” I would call it that because there are two sides of Camden. And the two sides each have two sides as well. These two sides tend to spill out all over the county. They cross the river and seep into the surrounding counties of the Black Belt on all sides. I see it and recognize it here, but it is everywhere across the state. I suppose to some ex...
I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, and it was not a time when self-esteem was widely recognized as being terribly important. We did not all get trophies. We were not all winners. I don’t remember any standout losers either. Some of us tried harder and some of us were more talented or had more ability, some of us practiced more and improved out skills, some people could have cared less. We had one ole boy in high school that could sing pretty good, and we had another that went on to play s...
I’m not saying we should go all the way back to Luckenbach, Texas…but honky-tonks may need to make a quick comeback because cow hugging has become one of the latest wellness trends. I don’t think that there is anything CBD Oil can do for you if you cuddle the wrong cow. The trend started in the Netherlands years ago after a Dutch farmer claimed cows to be very relaxed animals that do not fight or get into trouble. They are described as being patient and sweet. So naturally, it gravitated to th...
Each September, National Suicide Prevention Month is recognized as we draw attention to the causes, warning signs, and treatment options for those affected by this tragedy. You may think to yourself that this annual campaign is certainly important, but how does it impact you? The truth is, we can all help to reduce and prevent suicide. As you know, the Second District is home to thousands of veterans. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of 20 veterans die by suicide...
The temperature in my quiet kitchen early in the morning has felt a few degrees cooler this week. I am still drinking coffee out of a cup with a pink flamingo on it, but summer is being ushered out by fall. Before long, a flurry of leaves will be followed by the first frost. I am from people who did not believe in eating certain foods until after the first frost – like cabbage and collards. Turnips, carrots…root vegetables. These were people who collected cookbooks but didn’t use recipes. I am...
Personally, I started thinking things were getting out of balance in the pet department when they put refrigerators at the end of the pet food aisle to keep the latest dog food cold. I mean, I am all for feeding the animals fresh food, but where does it stop? Or does it? People love their pets. I am no exception. My dog, Buddy Rogers, is a fine dog…although I am not exactly sure what kind of dog he is. It seems pretty obvious that he has a fair amount of pit in him. I say that mainly because o...
Special Guest Contributor - Beth Thomas I had a moment the other day in which everything just became real. The realization hit me rather suddenly, and I had to take a few minutes to process it. I applied to graduate last week, and even though I’ve known that this year of school would be my senior year, it hadn’t really occurred to me until I clicked the “submit” button. I was sent an email telling me someone would be in touch with me in the next few weeks about things I needed to know or do before I could graduate in the spring. It really...
There are two types of writers in the world: those who can write…and those who want to be able to write. Proofreading is just part of the process. If the deadline allows, it is best to have a little space between finishing writing and proofing, but I don’t do that so much anymore…even as Southern as I am. That is no longer the point of proofing. People who can’t write seem to find great joy in pointing out simple sins in the words of those who can. But it is easy to use the wrong form of a wo...
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 South America to raise their young. They fly the same instinctual path across the Gulf of Mexico, arriving in the South in early February. There are two types of people—those who don’t know or notice, and those who have proclaimed themselves to be landlords of the purple martin. It is a tradition bet...
By Beth Thomas, Alabama Gazette Summer Intern As I sat with my friends in the campus library in mid-March at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, we heard a rumor that changed the rest of our semester: school was closing, and we were all going home. Of course, it was a rumor, and we immediately began asking professors if they had heard anything. They gave similar answers: “I heard something about it, but nothing is confirmed. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.” Then, within a blink of an...