First there was Daniel Boone. Boone’s real exploits on America’s frontier made him a legend in a new country whose people were ever pushing westward, driving the boundaries of their nation to the Pacific and beyond. The history of our country’s push westward has never been easy to write, wrapped up as it is with […]

Alzheimer’s. Just the word scares you to death, doesn’t it? A few years ago, I saw an article that described and gave examples of a new mental test that can make a very reliable preliminary diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. I read every word. I answered every question. I will tell you why in a […]

What does my brief appearance last month on stage in “The Murphey School Radio Show” have to do with Christmas memories? It is a little bit of a long story, starting with the confession that for a long time I wanted to be a ventriloquist like Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Okay, “The […]

Harder, isn’t it, when the loss of a best friend or a loved one comes at holiday time? Maybe we already had a present picked out. And we are left wondering what gift for us might have been in the plans of our lost one. Harder still, isn’t it, when an accident or health crisis […]

It is time to talk about books again. If you are looking for some special holiday gifts for some hard-to-give-to friends, I may have some help for you, thanks to UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch’s programs during the next few weeks. Here is a book for lovers of history or politics: One of North Carolina’s most […]

 Just as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is poised to expand again, North Carolina’s basketball victory over South Carolina in Las Vegas last week brought back memories. They are memories of a time when the ACC was young and South Carolina was part of the small family. Well, sort of. That “sort of” story is […]

We are following in the footsteps of Greece and Italy. Just like them, we have lost control of our nation’s budget, and along with them, our economy is tanking. Just like them, we have a bunch of people who are hooked on government subsidies and unwilling to give up any part of them. We also […]

November 11, 2011. It will be remembered by many of us as the day Carolina beat Michigan State in the inaugural NCAA Carrier Classic on the deck of the Navy aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson. Others of us still remember the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when the […]

There was a time when events near Kinston a few days ago would have been headline news. Here is what happened. A Russian military-style cargo airplane took off from the Kinston Regional Jetport loaded with a North Carolina woven product worth millions. The product was transported to France where it will be assembled into a […]

What are the top screwups that politicians make? Joe and Terry Graedon, radio hosts of “The People’s Pharmacy,” have a new book, “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.” Could politicians and doctors be making the same mistakes? Here is the Graedon’s top 10 list of medical screwups and the similar errors our […]