A recent editorial in The State newspaper took Gov. Henry McMaster to task for pushing state educators to reopen their facilities for face-to-face instruction by early September while also prodding South Carolina’s parents to commit to having their childr

John Lewis and I first met in October 1960 at the organizational meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. We were 20-year-old college students bound and determined to speed up our nation’s pursuit of “a more perfect Union.” Dr. Martin Lu

As temperatures reach into the 90s and above, thunderstorms and lightning become daily realities in South Carolina. Cloud-to-ground lightning is a powerful static electricity discharge between the base of a cloud and the earth’s surface. The static electr

By now everyone expects that Congress will pass another stimulus package. The calculus is simple: we are in a recession in an election year. Lawmakers will pass something so that they have something to talk about when they head home to campaign in the fal

South Carolinians have faced unprecedented issues in the past few years, from floods, to tornadoes and hurricanes, to now the COVID-19 pandemic. In some way or another, we have all felt stress and anxieties with this virus. To say that life is not what it

A friend recently saw her ex for the first time in years. It was time to make peace. Past time really. She saw his truck when she pulled into the church parking lot. She wanted to turn around but made herself find a spot and go inside. She knew where he w

A few weeks ago, The New York Times ran an article noting that with the US preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and massive unemployment, “its competitors are moving to fill the vacuum, and quickly.” Russia, China, North

Growing up in eastern Georgia deep in pines, I wakened to the wail of chainsaws six days a week. Yellow McCullochs and red Poulans sliced through green resinous pines as Dad and his partner, Bobby Cooper, tested saws they had fixed. Not repaired, mind you

Last week Charleston joined Columbia and Greenville in passing regulations requiring the wearing of masks in public areas. Other municipalities, both large and small, around the state are considering similar ordinances. The ordinances are being passed in

Author’s note: This story was originally published in Saying Grace Over Edible Underwear, 2016. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent – and the ugly. Cousin Zach was always getting into mischief with authority figures like school principal

Following is the third of three editorials in a series entitled “COVID-19 Creates a Double Crisis for People of Color.” The COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the health, social fabric and economies of our communities, our country, and in fact the world. In 2

My back-road explorations take me to little eateries tucked neatly in the middle of nowhere, whistle-stop places. Country folks run these deep-fried, lonely roadside stops so you’d think they serve fried green tomatoes. Like some character in a Fannie Fla

Following is the second of three editorials in a series entitled “COVID-19 Creates a Double Crisis for People of Color.” Congress passed three major pieces of legislation this year, providing more than $3 trillion in stimulus and relief to help prevent t

Following is the first of three editorials in a series entitled “COVID-19 creates a double crisis for people of color.” The COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the health, and economies of our communities. But two very powerful revelations have occurred becaus

A botanical superstar lives in the South. It’s exquisite, ephemeral, and periled, in that much of its habitat lies beneath lakes. I’m writing about the rocky shoals spider lily. As status goes, it’s a national plant of concern, but you’ll find it in just