Like most of you, I grew up at a time when there were not today’s “culture wars,” opposition to getting shots to stay healthy, or attacks on the nation’s capital with the intent to overturn a presidential election. I also had the good fortune to spend a career teaching and writing about history without fear…

I have mixed feelings about being back on St. Simons for the winter. The weather has been splendid with temperatures in the 70s and 80s and plenty of sun. Who could complain, it’s winter. Still, there’s a nagging sense that all is not well in paradise. It was over two years ago at this time…

This essay is copied from yesterday’s Globe and Mail (Ontario Edition). It is an opinion piece, titled “Divided They Fall,” taken from Stephen Marche’s latest book, The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future. Submitted by George Shafer, Almonte, Ontario. The question facing those who care about the United States is how, not if,…

As the new year quickly approaches, there is much consternation across the land. The diagnosis of the past year and prognostications for the next year have already begun. Political pundits, left and right, are in fine form spinning the future favoring their ideological and partisan views. Cocksure and arrogant with their solutions, the national malaise…

Last evening we watched “Don’t Look Up,” a December 2021 release, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett. It is a disaster movie that is an especially interesting satire on contemporary American society. The story line is about an unheralded astronomy professor and his young Ph.D student at Michigan State who discover…

This is Betty’s Christmas card for this year. It depicts what was a block of kiosks for local merchants here on St. Simons Island – a pet store, ice cream parlor, barber shop, jewelry store, hot dog stand and more. Recently the shops were relocated to make way for a museum of Western History and…

The fall season at Potlatch has been winding down for several weeks now as the weather has gotten colder and the trees shed their leaves. It marks the end of months of enjoying the woods, porch sitting and working the land. It’s not long until the dog’s water pail freezes over regularly and the heat…

Enclosed is today’s article by Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, describing in detail how the Arbery case unfolded. Heather Cox Richardson Nov 27 On Wednesday, November 24, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, a jury found Gregory McMichael (65), his son Travis McMichael (35), and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan (52) guilty on 23…

The outcome of the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial in Glynn, County, Georgia, has brought both jubilation and cautious optimism for the future of race relations in the South. It was with a sigh of relief that I listened to the guilty verdict for the three defendants. Perhaps, the reputation of Georgia was burnished a bit…

It is a beautiful, crisp Thanksgiving morning here at Potlatch with the sun just starting to peep through the trees. It’s been cold recently for these parts with the weather hovering around the freezing mark. The flowers, especially the hibiscus and impatiens, have been dispatched for the season, but there has not been a hard…