The 100 Guy

I’ve lived that Jefferson quote since I was a teenager.

My dad wanted me to be a lawyer or doctor.

Some of my friends were elated by the Republicans’ $1.9 trillion tax cut in 2017.

Other than in intramural boxing class or my best friend’s single slug on the second grade playground – I’ve never been in a fistfight.

A group of lifelong friends gathered outside for a socially distanced dinner to celebrate my birthday last month.

A favorite moment when I’d meet with business owners (in-person, pre-pandemic) occurred when I’d casually mention I’d sold my business (three years ago this month).

Amidst pandemic, economic collapse, racial disparity and political warfare, do you wonder how America would be faring if we instead followed what God asked us to do?

Major religions all share the tradition of making a pilgrimage – a journey to increase knowledge of self, nature and/or God.

Two years ago, I spotted Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne exiting our plane at DCA. “I never stop celebrities,” I told him, “but in my world of journalism, you’re a rock star!”

When Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites from slavery, 10 plagues changed his mind.

What will families remember from this pandemic pause? Tension? Peacefulness? Will a predicted baby boom be confined, as young parents jest, to firstborn?

When people gather near the Mississippi River to watch a sunrise or sunset, they often grow silent, watching the miracle respectfully as another day is dedicated.

Americans have been divided for much of our history. (See the election of 1800.) Today, with social media and tribal cable channels, it might appear a bit more acute.

A few weeks ago, I helped with my granddaughter’s nighttime routine. It always starts the same way: she selects four…

In my 20s, when I was put in charge of a 25-person marketing team spread over two floors at The Charlotte Observer, I observed our biggest weakness was communications. Ironic, since we were in that business.

I hopped off the Southern Crescent from UVA, hurried to my Great Aunt Bolling Spalding’s funeral and fell in with…

My introduction to chitlins was at the The Big Dinner sponsored by Washington County Sheriff Harvey Tackett. A friend later…

“Twenty years ago, there were only five cars on this street — and they belonged to store owners,” said Bubba…

To get there, drive 40 miles south down Highway 61, until the hills suddenly drop onto the flat, rich plain…

My seventh grade English teacher’s homework assignment was one sentence by William Faulkner. Simple, right? It carried on for five…

Thanks to B.B. King’s relentless touring schedule – appearing in 342 shows in 1956 – he was known worldwide as…

The first blues song I heard growing up on Atlanta college radio was “Cross Road Blues,” 1936, by genre progenitor Robert…

Opened in 1945 when there were not many other African-American-owned businesses in Indianola, Club Ebony has succeeded through three owners…

Before 1895, Dockery Plantation was, like much of the Delta at the time, a swampy tangle of gum and cypress…

When the Grammy board searched for the most appropriate location to build its first museum outside L.A., they could have…

Listen carefully in the juke joints, restaurants or the impressive interactive museums in Tunica, Cleveland, Clarksdale and Indianola, and you’re…

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail stops in 15 states, few as chilling as Mississippi.  Just driving along the miles of Delta…

In my first newspaper reporting job, each morning I’d stop by the office of Greenville, Mississippi Police Chief Robert Skinner,…

As a child, I thought the Confederate flag was cool. I didn’t know it meant anything. On my first day…

Working as newspaper reporters in 1978 in Greenville, Mississippi, David Saltz and I jumped on a last-minute media invite to…