The Georgia fiction writer Flannery O'Connor is more relevant to the turmoil of today's American culture than she was in a life cut short by lupus in 1964. This idea is apparent in a just-released documentary about her short 39-year life, titled Flannery, which now is available online. In her day, the two novels and … Continue reading The throttling grace of Flannery O’Connor →

As a child, my family and my church spent an extraordinary amount of time warning my friends and me to avoid "devil music." Near the top of the list were the songs of Little Richard. And like every Southern child at the time, I immediately scoured stores for his recordings so I could taste the … Continue reading The jubilant riffs of Little Richard →

Four dead in Ohio. And a searing image: A young man face-down at Kent State while a young woman screams over his body. Fifty years ago today that sequence of events began. Dominoes started falling on the home front, just like the ones in Asia. As they fell, they dragged America from the exuberance of … Continue reading Fifty years after Kent State →

When is it safe to end social distancing? Does history tell us anything? Perhaps it does. Just over a century ago, there were events similar to what is happening today. Pandemic influenza swept the globe in 1918 at the end of World War I, much like coronavirus has done today. The so-called Spanish flu spread … Continue reading What does history teach about pandemics? →

Most newspaper articles leave the victims of coronavirus faceless and nameless, little more than abstract numbers in a growing tabulation. At least they do until you see the face and the name in the obituary and realize with horror that it was an old friend. Jim and I reached that point today. A family phone call … Continue reading The Time Before & the Time after Coronavirus →

On March 2, 1987, I walked into the building of the Florida Supreme Court just four days after finishing the Florida Bar Exam. Thirty-three years later, I still am at work there. My jobs inside the state's highest court have changed quite a lot over time. In 1987, I was a staff attorney helping Justices … Continue reading Thirty-Three Years →

Going back to beginnings later in life is never easy. But at some point in every life it is necessary. -- To see the place of origin. The place where the ripples in time began, where the stone fell into the millpond, spawning circles that grow and grow. Echoes that continue even to this day. … Continue reading Ripples in Time →

Twenty years ago today the news flashed. JFK Jr. was gone. Lost in a tumult of salt waves on a short flight that would have gone unnoticed except for his high birth. No one would have blinked an eye if John had not overstepped his own limits. It was the hubris of the Greeks, hidden … Continue reading Twenty Years On →

In my mind, my Uncle Joe Weaver is forever linked with Eveready 9-Lives flashlight batteries and the Little Dipper in the night sky. Quirky memory, I know. I have a lot of those. Uncle Joe is in so many of them. He died today. It hit me hard. For a moment, it felt like the … Continue reading Polaris →