This must be the place: 'Such a long time to be gone and short time to be there'
Hello from Section 117 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. I’m here on assignment covering the “Concert for Carolina,” a flood relief fundraiser put together by country megastars and Western North Carolina natives Eric Church and Luke Combs. Some 82,000 folks filled the outdoor venue, while around $25 million was garnered during the performance.
Giving the present to the future
No book review today. Instead, some words about the importance of words — yours.
If you’re reading these words and live in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, or parts of Georgia and South Carolina, then you survived the Great Flood of 2024.
Stecoah Harvest Festival
The annual Stecoah Harvest Festival will return Oct. 18-19 to the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville.
Teaching teens in a tumultuous world
Recently I had the privilege of sitting and talking with a group of adolescents who weren’t my own children or my friends’ children. These were teens who I knew well enough to where they felt comfortable with me, but not so well that I was privy to their ongoing emotional patterns or personal stressors.
Lessons learned in the wilderness
My last column was written just before I returned from Wilderness Trail. I’m not sure what propelled me to sign up for this adventure, other than I felt it was time to challenge myself.
Taking time to strengthen my gratitude muscle
Gratitude has become something of a buzz word and because of that, it seems that some people roll their eyes at the concept.
This must be the place: Ode to the written word, ode to putting the paper to bed
It’s a lot quieter this week at The Smoky Mountain News. Not just because of the unusually warm weather this past weekend sparking folks to frolic and head for the hills.
Human gratitude runs deep in our DNA
Over 10 years ago, I was part of a cohort at Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church who read a book called “A Simple Act of Gratitude” by John Kralik.
Five things a month to smile about
In what feels like a previous life, I was a mom blogger. After the birth of my youngest son, now age 10, I created a blog called Zealous Mom. This was during the early years of blogging when it was all about content and connecting with others in the blogging community as opposed to pushing out posts on social media and seeing how many likes and views it could get.
A promise to keep on keepin’ on
How does one best express gratitude?
That thought kept coming up as I sat down to write a column for this week’s paper. After the rush of a holiday season that was so different, I found myself in our quiet mountain house on an unseasonably warm and sunny day pondering the year to come with more than a little excitement. This is going to be another memorable year, and I can’t wait to push forward.
