Back in the early ’60s, in the early days of the civil rights movement, Atlanta earned a reputation as the City Too Busy to Hate. To the west and south of the city, black people were suffering from deeply ingrained racism. In Atlanta itself, the economy was booming, and many of the most prominent leaders …
When I was young, there wasn’t much I liked about Texas. I had never actually been there, but it seemed like bad thing after bad thing came out of the Lone Star state. You might be surprised to learn the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas wasn’t the first. Eleven months before that, …
THE HEART OF TEXAS WAS MUCH BETTER THAN I REALIZED Read More »
We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks, we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground … The southern states aren’t the only ones trying to suppress votes and turn their minority into a plurality, but give them credit. They’re so damn good at it. Take the literacy tests of past times. A white laborer could …
I always thought we were reasonably lucky that Osama bin Laden got the 9/11 attacks wrong. “What?” you ask. “He brought down the Twin Towers and damaged the Pentagon. How did he get it wrong?” Seriously? Absolutely. Bin Laden brought down symbols of American business and of our military. He didn’t even do that much …
“STICKS NIX HICK PIX.” Back in the 1930s, Variety did an article about how movies about rural culture weren’t popular with folks who lived in the country. The four-word rhymer might be the most famous headline ever that wasn’t about a serious historical event, at least until the New York Post came along with its …
In 16 years as a sportswriter, I covered all sorts of interesting events, from high school football to the Super Bowl, from youth baseball to the World Series. But I have to agree with the people who say the best two days a year to be a sportswriter are the ones that make up the …
In 1971, when Richard Nixon was doing his best to repay Southern states for their electoral votes, he nominated a Florida judge named G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. Carswell never made it, largely because his record as a judge practically defined mediocrity. Yes, that actually used to matter. One Republican senator, Roman Hruska …
“Mister Potato Head! Mister Potato Head! Back doors are not secrets!” If you ever saw “War Games” in the early ’80s, you probably know that quote had nothing to do with the real MPH, but was one computer nerd insulting another as Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy looked on. Actor Eddie Deezen might have been …
When I started this new website late last summer, the main purpose was NOT blogging. I had been blogging on one site or another for 20 years, and I even made some money at it for the old All Voices website. And of course I had been writing for newspapers from coast to coast for …
TWICE IN A LIFETIME, I’M CAPTIVE ON THE CAROUSEL Read More »
I saw an interesting factoid on the graphic you’ll see later in this article. It was a survey of 1,007 adults to see how many of them could the five freedoms enumerated in the First Amendment. No more than 4 percent of them could name them all.. That’s right, 40 person out of 1,009 knew …
