By Tom Poland I played trumpet in the Lincolnton High School band. Well, that’s not true. I was in elementary school, not high school, so the band must have had another name, and I never played the trumpet. I tried. I would quit the band to play football

By Tom Poland In Sunday drives’ heyday, air conditioning was gaining momentum but you’d be hard pressed to find air-conditioned stores and homes in rural areas. Oh, you might see a window unit or two but central air was rare. Breezes blew back windows’ c

By Tom Poland Hollywood props, of all things, took me back to family roots in Georgia. I was bored, a rare malady, for which the cure is a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western (so named because Italians directed them). A scene in Pale Rider featured a famili

by Thomas L. Knapp In March, US president Donald Trump promised the American public that US troops would be leaving Syria “very soon.” Nine months later, he threw Washington’s political establishment into turmoil by finally ordering the withdrawal he’d p

By Tom Poland Christmas Day blesses us with good times with family and food, and, yes, it’s a day of giving, but how many gifts, among the many, do you remember? Not many I bet. Well, some gifts stand tall in memory. I’d think country boys remember thei

By Tom Poland Growing up before weather satellites was great when I was a kid. Come winter, I’d go to bed unaware that rain was washing in from the west and cold air descending from the north. A colossal winter collision was in the making and the next mo

By Tom Poland The cold season is upon us. The need for heat is upon us. What type heat do you prefer? As long as I can remember, my parents heated their home with gas. As long as I can remember, a propane tank as big as an atomic bomb sat beneath the hic

Every great tree begins as a small seed. The great tree that became the nation of Israel began the same way. God chose a shepherd boy and raised him up to become the most powerful King in Israel’s history. David, the son of Jesse, had a heart after God’s

Author’s Note: Paula Deen’s story appears in the fall 2018 issue of Shrimp, Collards & Grits magazine. This column concludes the series. Today, art joins cooking as one of Paula’s passions. “There’s a lady in town—the ‘Shell Lady,’ who shelled our gas la

The November elections produced a small enough blue wave for the Democrats to take control of the House, which was a big loss for President Trump since every House Committee chair will now be a Democrat who will stifle his agenda....

On Veterans Day, we stop and remember our veterans who have given us so much and all those who are presently serving. John F. Kennedy once said that “as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, bu

By Tom Poland When you see glistening oyster beds what comes to mind? An oyster roast? A mucky, perilous place? A driveway white with sun-bleached shells? Well, some folks see art. Here we have a beautiful bust, what could be a Roman gladiator wearing ar

By Tom Poland The race to the moon. Another thing today’s kids miss. Was there anything more exciting than the race to put a man on the moon? It started on a cold October night back in 1957. Mom and Dad and sister, Brenda, and I stood out on a frosty law

By Luke Nichols Dealing with loved ones can be difficult sometimes and that only gets harder when they have a problem with drugs and alcohol. A big part of dealing with a loved one’s addiction is getting them into treatment. But what if they are unwillin