By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | In the sweltering south Georgia heat and humidity of July 1971, there was one thing I absolutely knew: Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves was going to be at my 10th birthday party.
My hero Hank, my friends and I would play catch and swing on a backyard jungle gym. We’d gorge ourselves on hamburgers, cake and ice cream. We’d laugh and horse around. It was going to be great.
IN THIS EDITION
FOCUS: Remembering Jim Campbell
COMMENTARY, Brack: Boyhood hero Aaron continues to inspire
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts
NEWS BRIEFS: Charleston Animal Society celebrates 8-year milestone
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Interesting wall
CALENDAR: Land trust to benefit from Feb. 11-21 online auction
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Jack Alterman’s new book of photographs is a smashingly awesome retrospective.
The large-format book of 204 pages includes more than 200 photos, some new, some familiar as a frayed, button-down shirt. It’s filled with portraits of people and buildings where crisp, warm light is as much of a star as the subjects.
You’ll recognize Charleston throughout, particularly in portraits of people from all walks of life. You’ll find Joe Riley, Marcus Amaker, David Rawle, Dorethea Benton Frank, Philip Simmons, Jack Bass and Nathalie Dupree. Then comes Harlan Greene, Layton McCurdy, Robert Dickson, Anthony “Tony the Peanut Man” Wright, Tommy Read and Henry Berlin. You’ll find artists Mary Whyte, Jonathan Green, John Doyle and Adrianne King Comer. These are images of strength and character with a smidge of innocence thrown in by the master photographer.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) isn’t exactly a confidence-inspiring agency.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic stretched its capacities and morale, the agency was a mess. The Great Recession of a dozen years ago caused big staffing and funding cuts. Its infectious disease unit, for example, lost half of its funding and 100 jobs, according to an April 2020 story in The Post and Courier.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Here we go again. South Carolina is wading into a divisive abortion debate before anything else happens in the state Senate to appease the GOP’s conservative base. It’s a futile effort that’s ultimately unconstitutional and a huge waste of time and money.
But these legislator knuckleheads don’t really care. They want to ram it through now that the state Senate has 30 Republican votes to 16 seats held by Democrats.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So what’s a Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina supposed to do to keep MAGA-hat conservatives mollified? Particularly after voting against President Trump during certification of the presidential election that led a mob to storm the Capitol?
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | We are blessed in the Lowcountry to have beauty all around — green, teeming marshes filled with a bounty of wildlife, water vistas to soothe the soul, caverns of greenery in maritime forests. Beauty is so abundant here that we sometimes forget its magnificence.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Whenever there’s a letter or card in the mail from Mississippi, it’s bound to be inspirational. And it’s bound to be from a guy you might not have heard of but should know more about.
Meet former Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter, a public sector healer whose decency, goodness and vision for a better South gently motivates people to be kinder and more accepting of each other.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | All South Carolinians should be proud of the display of leadership and the example set by former Gov. David Beasley when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | About a dozen years ago, a think tank challenged Southern legislators to engage on multiple environmental challenges.
Unsurprisingly, they mostly just nibbled around the edges, tweaking this and slapping putty on that. They haven’t confronted climate change seriously or done much to truly embrace renewable energy. Seeking environmental justice for the downtrodden is mostly just a good idea – still. Preserving land and cleaning up pollution get a lot of lip service. In the years since the book, other challenges have emerged — flooding, infrastructure, old dams — but they never get the priority they deserve.
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.
Charleston Currents is brought to you free of charge thanks to the generosity of our underwriters:
Charleston City Paper, an alt-weekly seen by more than 100,000 people, offers the latest on news, views, arts, dining and music. Sign up for newsletters that will keep you up-to-date all week.
Statehouse Report is a renowned statewide policy and politics forecast published every Friday that informs South Carolina’s opinion leaders with key insights and news.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Use our feed
Send us your comments
Recent Comments