Year: 2021

I have not been following politics as closely as in the past. Like many of you, I need a break from the absurdity and indefensible partisanship. Like most of you, however, I can’t escape politics completely, given the print press and 24 hour television news cycle. My response vacillates between sadness and disbelief to anger….

  Our recent visit to Little Cumberland Island piqued my need to share some information and additional photos with those of you who might not be familiar with Georgia’s wonderful coastline or its many barrier islands. There are about fifteen islands off the 100 mile coast from Savannah on the South Carolina border to St….

I’m writing this morning from Little Cumberland Island, one of the many barrier islands off the 100 mile coast of Georgia. The island is actually the north end of Cumberland Island National Seashore, two islands south of St. Simons Island. It is a private enclave of roughly forty cottages, most occupied sporadically, helping to keep…

Much has been written about the impact of the pandemic. We have taken stock of its legacy—how we coped this past year and what it did to us as people. While such ruminations are understandable and worthwhile, we need to do the same about our state of politics in Washington and across the nation. We…

Joining the chorus of appraisals after a year of the pandemic, I feel compelled to add my testimonial. Like so many people who have come through this nightmare unscathed, I have learned a lot about myself and life in general. At the same time, like many of you, the time has given me the opportunity…

Perhaps the Covid Monster will have the last word and will paraphrase Mark Twain’s saying that “reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.” Given the human folly of recklessness and the threats of new variants and mutations, who knows. There may still be serious surges, and the success of the current vaccines may be…

Every day I try to read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. She does a good job of keeping up with current events and placing them in historical context. Last week she wrote about the “liberal consensus” that existed after World War II before its demise beginning in the 1980s. According to her definition,…

I’ve been out of pocket for a couple days. A good friend stopped by, and we went down to Amelia Island to rendezvous with family before taking a day trip exploring the “old Florida” away from the coast. It was a nice respite after months spent holed up; fully vaccinated, we felt emboldened to strike…

This morning the sun came out. That is, my morning read gave me hope that sanity might prevail in our politics. The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by a leading Republican moderate and the editor wrote a rebuttal to Trump’s recent lies. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy in an Op-Ed entitled “An Open Congress…

The question of voter suppression is increasingly front page news across the nation. Nowhere is this more dramatic than here in Georgia. The Republican-controlled legislature has introduced two bills to restrict voting in the state by ending automatic voter registration, weakening absentee voting and banning drop boxes for mail ballots. Coming on the heels of…