Charleston Currents

Review: Station Eleven

Mandel deftly weaves these complex threads into a chilling tale that is by turns darkly comic, horrifically bleak, and achingly brilliant. A beautifully crafted post-apocalyptic survival story for grownups.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/16/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews

A look at women’s suffrage in S.C.

Excerpted with permission from the S.C. Encyclopedia: The enfranchisement of women in South Carolina was first discussed publicly during the Reconstruction period. A women’s rights convention held in Columbia in December 1870 received a warm letter of support from Governor R. K. Scott.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/09/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

Review: Reunion

“Hannah Pittard deftly describes the emotional turmoil and communication struggles between family members forced to interact. “

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/09/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews

Thomas Lynch Sr.

“While attending Congress in early 1776, Lynch suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to participate in legislative affairs. In 1776, the South Carolina Provincial Congress elected his son, Thomas Lynch, Jr., as a delegate to the Continental Congress in order to assist his father. “

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/02/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

“Between its lyrical prose and fantastical plot, this magical realist tale is absolutely entrancing. And the overriding theme of the story—“Love makes us such fools”—hits just the right note, both melancholy and hopeful.”

by Special to Charleston Currents · 02/02/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews

Poem: Great Blue Heron

“I see you are back again, my teacher.
Your stillness in silence, today’s lesson,
speaks of finding focus within life’s blur.”

by Palmetto Poem · 02/02/2015 · 1 comment · Features, Palmetto Poem

Flat Nose, the tree-climbing dog

“The Lord has something to do with this dog” was the only way Barney Odom could explain the extraordinary powers of his bulldog Flat Nose, whose ability to climb trees brought international attention to Darlington County in the late 1980s.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 01/26/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

Review: Reunion

This book was difficult to read at times, if only because the characters were each dealing with issues that made me both anxious and hopeful they could be resolved. It’s extremely well-written and a moving narrative about a modern family.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 01/26/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews

Coretta Scott King (center) with strikers, Charleston, South Carolina, 1969, courtesy of the Avery Research Center. Left to right: Julia Davis, Mary Moultrie, Coretta Scott King, Rosetta Simmons, Juanita Abernathy, and Doris Turner. Photo from 1969 via the Avery Research Center at the
Lowcountry Digital History Initiative.

45 years ago: Charleston hospital workers’ strike

By George Hopkins | In Charleston in 1969, issues of race, class, and gender coalesced in a strike of more than 400 African American hospital workers, mostly female, against the all-white administrations of the Medical College Hospital (MCH) and Charleston County Hospital (CCH). The strike against MCH lasted 100 days during spring and summer; the one at CCH went on for an additional three weeks.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 01/21/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, S.C. Encyclopedia

Review: Astonish Me

Astonish Me (by Maggie Shipstead) is a beautifully written book that gives readers a glimpse into the complicated political and professional nuances of the professional ballet world.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 01/21/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews