Jun 26, 2018
Suzanne and I are at the point in our lives when it’s time to sign up for Medicare. Yesterday morning we drove to the Social Security office in West Knoxville and pulled in about fifteen minutes before the place opened. There was already a line, a dozen or so people...
Jun 20, 2018
Yesterday I was about halfway through a particularly busy Tuesday morning volunteer shift, greeting visitors, answering questions, and running the cash register. A young woman who had been standing a few feet inside the entryway came up to the front desk and said,...
Jun 11, 2018
Rebecca Solnit’s “A Field Guide to Getting Lost” is part personal memoir, part history lesson, and part perceptive reflection, which those of you who are familiar with her work know she does very well. “The word lost,” she says, “comes from the Old Norse los, meaning...
Jun 9, 2018
To the east the sky is white through the trees, the sun still just behind the mountain. I’m out on the back deck, my cup of tea is hot, the air is barely moving, and the birds are going at it, staking claims and laying out boundaries that I can’t begin to recognize,...
Jun 3, 2018
Half a dozen of us were in the AGT tent at the Lenoir City Crafts Festival today when a man came up to our front table. He was a large man and had an American flag on a dowel, maybe stuck through his belt, maybe carried in his hand. I’m not sure. I was seated toward...
