Articles by: Andy Brack

Santee Cooper linemen work to restore power after the brunt of Dorian passed.  Photos Courtesy Santee Cooper. © All rights reserved.

BRACK: Give local governments, utilities a pat on the back

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  | Two smells provide vivid memories of Hurricane Hugo.  

The first came just after the storm as the resin scent of snapped pine trees filled a car during a drive along Interstate 26 toward Charleston.  The air smelled like an open bottle of Pine-Sol. Days later, thanks to decomposing piles of leaves, molding carpets, rotting food and mildewed garbage, came the overwhelming stink of rot.  

Fresh and clean, followed by cloying decay.

by · 09/09/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
Laborers returning at sunset from picking cotton, on Alex. Knox’s plantation, Mount Pleasant, near Charleston, S.C.  Photo by G.N. Barnard.  Date of photo likely is 1876-79.

BRACK: This blockbuster report should change your view of history

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  To better understand why South Carolina is like it is, you need to read The 1619 Project.

This blockbuster re-telling of history not taught in schools likely will provide a new understanding about how America became a country — and how enslaved Africans played a vital role — not just a subservient one — in the creation of our democracy.

by · 09/02/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
BRACK: A great send-off for Planet Jimbo

BRACK: A great send-off for Planet Jimbo

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |   Jim Goolsby’s obituary was unexpected in more ways than one.

Celebrate Jim’s life, it said, by putting on your favorite bright and colorful Superhero T-shirt (please no black unless Darth Vader or Batman), and join family and friends at Hampton Park.  There will be food, water and tea, it added, saying you could bring chairs, blankets and coolers (wink, wink.)

by · 08/26/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
Photo by contributing photographer rob Byko.

BRACK: PSC needs to investigate Charleston-area tree butchery

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  The drama over the butchery of trees near power lines is too predictable. It’s time for something to change.

The narrative is, unfortunately, a four-part play: …

by · 08/19/2019 · 3 comments · Andy Brack, Views
BRACK: #PayItForward with #RandomActsOfKindness

BRACK: #PayItForward with #RandomActsOfKindness

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  | With all of America’s turmoil, you might feel discouraged.  Worn down. Like there’s nothing you can do that will really make a difference because the system is so big that whatever you do just won’t matter.

Not true.  You can make a difference.  But you might want to think a little closer to home. More than three dozen Facebook friends this week offered advice on ways to cure feelings that that you can’t be agents of change.

by · 08/12/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
Calvary Church, now an art center, Sutton, Quebec.

PHOTO ESSAY: The skinny churches of the Eastern Townships

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  The distinguishing feature of many churches in Quebec’s Eastern Townships seems to be that they’re skinny with tall steeples that accentuate their comparatively diminutive width.  

Inside, these simple churches have 15 to 20 pews and can hold, we guess, up to 100 people when packed.  Here are a few that we spied on a recent visit. Enjoy:

by · 08/12/2019 · 3 comments · Photo Essay, Photos
Alabama Gov. George Wallace and President Richard Nixon, February 1974.   Credit: Wikipedia, via National Archives.

BRACK: Take the high road and reject hate, fury

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  One of the best things about vacationing in Quebec for the last week has been that we haven’t had to listen to people talk about Donald J. Trump.

Most of the newspapers and television stations are in French, as is much of the conversation overheard while visiting interesting places in Montreal and in villages just north of the border with America.

by · 08/05/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
PHOTO ESSAY: The murals of Montreal

PHOTO ESSAY: The murals of Montreal

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  The unexpected delights of a recent vacation to Canada were the murals that flourished around Montreal.

According to the city’s tourism website, “street art has become one of Montréal’s core visual identities over the last couple of decades, thanks to the marks left all over the city by intrepid artists like Omen, Bonar, Zïlon, Roadsworth, Chris Dyer, Kevin Ledo, Jason Botkin, the HVW8 and En Masse collectives and so many more. Now with two annual graffiti festivals, one of international renown, there’s something to see on virtually every block.”

by · 08/05/2019 · 2 comments · Photo Essay, Photos
From left: Mayor John Tecklenburg and councilmen Harry Griffin and Bill Moody.

BRACK: Griffin, henchmen should pay for stupid $50,000 audit

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  In 35 years of attending and covering public meetings from rural towns to major halls of power, I’ve never encountered a stupider meeting than last week’s audit committee of Charleston City Council.

Apparently, the point by various city councilmen who want to be mayor (those running and those who are puppeteers) was to find something awry in spending by Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg and his office.  Unfortunately for these baldly political operatives working against the common good, the draft findings of the $50,000+ audit were a nothingburger — nothing worth wasting any time over and no evidence of intentional wrong-doing.  Sure, there may have been some administrative oversights, but there was nothing in the audit worth spending more than an average city employee’s annual salary.

by · 07/22/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
BRACK: Redrawing districts as usual could cripple representative democracy

BRACK: Redrawing districts as usual could cripple representative democracy

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher    | The S.C. General Assembly now has a license to steal your vote, courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a late June decision that surprised many students of representative democracy, the high court ruled it was perfectly fine for state legislatures to draw election district lines for partisan purposes.

by · 07/15/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views