Rich: The dinner table

It’s just a memory now.And, perhaps I won’t recall it precisely because of the decades that have passed, but I will tell it as best I can.I was what people used to call a “late in life child,” so my siblings were much older.

Yarbrough: The elephant in the room? It’s our Okefenokee

Don’t look now, but there is an elephant in the room. Well, it’s not exactly a room. It is our state government. And it’s not an elephant, either. It is our Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which they want to pretend isn’t there and wish we would, too.

Crane: I stand with Greenland

As chronicled in the Sagas of Icelanders, Norwegian sailors (often called Vikings) founded two small colonies near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, Canada, and a second site in southwestern Newfoundland.Archaeological sites centuries later place these early settlements and the attempted colony...

Crane: Dine out more, or prepare to eat in

With the cold and flu season in full force, it seems complicated to believe the start of the global Covid pandemic is now more than five years in the rearview. The pandemic impacted economies worldwide, and almost every industry sustained injury, though some more than others.

Rich: The family we became — part 2

Nashville suburb, the two superbly talented families came together and produced a night of such startling magic that I frequently held my breath.

Yarbrough: Observations for three great-grandsons

Dear Henry, Noah, and Samuel Knox Wansley: It looks like it’s your turn to receive some unsolicited advice from an old man who has been dispensing it since your daddy and his cousins were about your age. That has been a long time.

Greene: Twenty-five years of bowling alone

In 2000, Robert Putnam observed something peculiar. More Americans than ever were bowling. But fewer people were bowling in group leagues. It was a simple observation. Our desire to go bowling alone is a metaphor for the postmodern decline of human connection.

Crane: So thankful, so blessed

As 2025 began, I marveled at — among other things — still being here.Due to a few of my life choices along the way, I wasn’t entirely expecting to live this long, thinking that a jealous husband or overzealous political supporter of any number of those I have opposed might take me out early.Yet,...

Letter to the Editor: Public trust problem for PDA

Dear Editor,At the Dec. 9thPutnam Development Authority meeting I attended, the renewal of an expired Tytan contract was on the agenda.

Rich: The family we became – part one

During the years of our lives, we will know extraordinary days sprinkled with laughter; ordinary days touched by a blessing or two, and, less happily, days that are filled with tribulation or just plain annoyance.But, the magical days?