Year: 2021

Writing about immigration got me to thinking about the large number of Mexicans who have been migrating here before there was literally a United States. Spanish speaking people and Mexicans have been coming here since the late 16th century, long before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. After the Mexican War in 1848, there were far more…

Recently, I read an interesting article in which the writer commented that our politicians and media could make “a cultural issue of a bologna sandwich.” The words struck me as an apt expression to describe the politics of immigration from almost the founding of our republic. Shortly after Biden won and began outlining plans for…

This is the first time I have brought one of my dogs to the beach for the winter. Well, there was the case of Rucker, but that was short-lived after, as a young dog, he ate one of the palm trees. That was the exception. Since then I’ve left him in the care of the…

I cannot help myself from commenting on The Wall Street Journal again. I have been reading it faithfully every morning for almost a year now and sometimes can’t help feeling that it is part of the problem. Yes, I know this is a strong and gutsy thing to say about one of our most respected…

It is almost impossible to escape the crazy ongoing political news everyday. Unquestionably, we are all tired of hearing about the continuous turmoil brought on because of the election of Trump in 2016. Trump’s perfidy has seemingly managed to affect just about everything and threatens to corrupt the very foundations of our democracy. This week…

The most conspicuous absence on the island this winter is the Canadians. Every year we see lots of snowbirds from our northern neighbor in residence here. Their absence is part of the bad times brought on by the pandemic. Most, if not all, are stuck in their frozen environs due to the pandemic and government…

Perhaps if I was a Lakota Sioux, an ultra-fundamentalist Christian, or just compulsively superstitious, I might believe that the United States had done something awful to deserve the twin scourges of Covid-19 and Trumpism at the same time. Fortunately, I’m none of these, but I do wonder about our bad luck. Despite the recent success…

I imagine life here on St. Simons is much like everywhere else. We seem to be living our lives in slow motion. Gone is the routine of jumping up and going here and there to shop, have lunch, or just hang out. Our days are planned around getting groceries and other necessities and trying to…

Like most people, I suppose, we’ve been cooking at home almost every night since last March. We don’t feel comfortable going out to restaurants, and ordering in pizza has its limitations. Much of this time, I’ve been the “chef de la casa,” trying to come up with different menus night after night. It’s been a…

I sense that the Democrats’ obsession with Donald Trump might work to bring about their defeat. In the six days since President Biden’s inauguration both the print and television media have been abuzz with non-stop condemnation of the previous president. Such, in my opinion, is overkill. The would-be-king is dead; let’s move on. We have…