Blind acceptance is the mortal enemy of creative thought. I see it all the time in my day job. “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” may possibly be the most irksome, wrong-headed statement ever uttered in a business environment. It’s like saying, “I vote [insert political party] because us Johnsons have always voted […]
Semicolons are odd things. I’m fairly certain I use them correctly, but when I do, they almost always get edited out of my prose. I suspect a prejudice exists against semicolons; Editors are confused by them and therefore don’t use them. (Some grumpy editor will read that last sentence and tell me I should’ve used […]
Adverbs often tell us what we already know. She ran quickly through the woods. He crept quietly through the window. The ship’s horn blasted loudly. In each of these cases, the adverb could be omitted from the sentence and the meaning would be the same, right? In fact, the sentence would altogether better. Use […]
You’d think that, as a photographer, I’d have my camera at the ready always. Problem is, I’m a daddy before a photographer, which means my priority is usually the logistics of transporting my family here and yonder on Sunday mornings. So again, this morning, I found myself in at a beautiful location — Providence United […]
I admit it. I’m “eat up” with David Crockett. Since researching the five or so years that Crockett lived in the Belvidere area of Franklin County, Tenn., for a July, 2011, Cooperator story, I have become fascinated and — oddly enough — emotionally invested in both the American myth and historical record of Crockett. Like […]
In a presentation I put together a couple of years ago entitled “9 to 5 Creativity,” I compiled a top 10 list of practices that are “sure-fire” ways to make you — yes, YOU — more creative. What?! Creative?! But I’m not a creative person! My job doesn’t call for creativity, and my life is […]
(Note: I wrote this two years ago, but I feel the sentiment is more important than ever. Carpe diem!) Our 10-year-old daughter, Ava, learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this weekend. Wow, you might be thinking. She’s just now learning? Why did she wait so long? And my answer would be this: […]
The year was 1981, and I was 15 years old. My dad and I had spent the day working on our Christmas tree farm at the base of Booger Mountain (in Taylorsville, N.C.) with two other hired hands — Randy and Jeff — who were both around 20 years old. It was late summer, and we […]
How long has it been since you took a simple walk? I think there is more benefit in the act of putting one foot in front of the other than we may realize. This isn’t about physical fitness. It’s about mental and spiritual well-being. I live in a house that is also inhabited by a […]
We didn’t know them personally. We only knew the faces and the voices. They didn’t know that we existed at all. So why is it so dad-gummed sad?It’s been a rough few months for me. As of last night, I’ve lost my two favorite Andys — Williams, at 84, and Griffith, who died July […]