By Molly Braedon McConnell, special to Charleston Currents
sometimes i take off my glasses throw away the contact lenses in my cabinet and i blur my eyes on purpose cross them play double-dutch with my pupils the lack of focus makes things better i can’t explain it how those little moments in between it all make everything soft like living room drapes in old movies …
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Anyone who doesn’t believe government doesn’t change needs to look to the South Carolina Senate. Compared to what it was 20 years ago, it’s almost a hot mess today.
Two of the differences are easy to see. First, some once familiar names that dominated headlines – Drummond, Fair, Courson, Ford, McConnell, Hayes, Leventis, Martin, McGill, Ravenel, Washington, Wilson, Thomas – are no longer there. Of the states 46 senators, only 11 serving today were in the chamber 20 years ago.
This must be in a swamp, if you believe the sign. But where? Send your guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo: Our April 29 mystery, “Green art,” came from longtime photographer and reader Charles Boyd of Hanahan, who spied the topiary in Walterboro near a body shop. It wasn’t, as many guessed, in Bishopville where artist Pearl Fryar has a world-renowned field of carved shrubs and trees.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | I wish there were ways to scare the living daylights drivers riding on my tail without them causing problems for or harm to other drivers.
I wish one could gain the benefits of exercise without actually having to exercise.
I wish it were possible to eat a lot of chocolate without ingesting any calories, fat or sugar.
IN THIS EDITION:
FOCUS, Gunn: Learn how to avoid enemies of change to realize success
COMMENTARY, Brack: While I breathe, I hope and I wish
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
PHOTO ESSAY: Nesting birds at Magnolia Plantation
GOOD NEWS: CofC offers new digital writing program
FEEDBACK: Guests and new permanent residents
MYSTERY PHOTO: Green art
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Fort Prince George
CALENDAR: From shows to tea rooms … and more
Our website has been broken for the last few days for a reason related to a broken database, according to our web host. We still can’t figure out what they were talking about, but after a few hours sparring with technical support, they clicked some kind of button and everything seems to be working. For now.
Because we were down Monday, we postponed our next publication until Monday, April 29. We appreciate your patience. But if you’re jonesing for something to read, check out these features:
New column. There’s a new column by editor and publisher Andy Brack that would have been posted on April 22. An excerpt:”People can have policy differences without being socialists. And if you’re worried about socialism, what do you make about Trump, a tower of jelly whenever it comes to Russia and former Communists running that country?” …
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Democrats better watch it or they will screw up a huge opportunity to retake the White House in 2020.
With all of the toils and troubles of incumbent President Donald Triump — the lies, the mobster culture, the scandals, the Mueller investigation, the misogyny, the drama, the incessant twittering, the blatant corruption, the continuing attacks on the foundation of our democracy — one might think he would be easy political pickings. But with a solid electoral base of about 40 percent, all that Trump has to do to win in 2020 is prey on fear to pick up 10 percent and fuel dissent about Democrats. Scary.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | “The ox is in the ditch.”
That’s an adage frequently offered by Fritz Hollings, South Carolina’s larger-than-life former governor and United States senator who passed away April 6 at age 97.But what did it mean?
Meet the Press host Tim Russert once asked Hollings with a twinkle in his eye.Hollings, who often used colloquial sayings to make a point, explained that when an ox hauling a wagon went into a ditch in the olden days, it took more than the ox to pull the wagon out of the ditch. It took several people working as a team to make things right.
So when Hollings, who retired in 2005 after a 38-year Senate career, talked about oxen and ditches and national budgetary, trade or jobs problems, he was saying the country needed to pull together and work as a team to get us out of a particular ditch.
There might be a little guessing going on with this photo, but you might recognize the guy with the big smile. Any idea what this photo is and around when it was taken? Send your guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo: Our April 8 mystery, “This mystery may be too tough” was a beach scene sent in by Hanahan reader Chuck Boyd. And it was pretty tough as only two people guessed correctly that it was a sign on the Folly Beach fishing pier pointing to an artificial reef.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | No one in modern time has given as much to South Carolina as Fritz Hollings. In seven decades of public service – starting as a young officer in World War II to becoming governor to being elected seven times to the United States Senate, Hollings has given back in big ways.
Most recently, he made news [in 2015] after he asked for his name to be taken off of a federal judicial annex in Charleston and for it to be named to honor the late U.S. District Judge Waties Waring, the courageous civil rights jurist from Charleston who paved the way for landmark school integration in the United States.
Through the years, Hollings has left a huge mark that is still paying dividends today. He’s the guy who pushed through stable funding for schools in the early 1950s and later started the technical college system, which attracts companies like BMW and Boeing. …
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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