By Radley West A few years ago, if you had told me that one of the most freeing lessons I would ever learn was that nobody was coming to save me, I probably would have rolled my eyes. But it’s true. We spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting forContinue Reading

Photo: A stack of 1964 Reader’s Digests, a trip back in time. Courtesy of Brenda Bancroft. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net I read my mother’s Reader’s Digests from cover to cover. It’s hard find one today, but if you do, it will take you back to another era. And itContinue Reading

For the past 18 years, I have unlocked the doors to the same gym. I’ve watched members walk through those doors as nervous beginners and transform into confident, healthier versions of themselves. I’ve celebrated weight loss victories, strength gains, new friendships, weddings, retirements, and even a few grandbabies along theContinue Reading

Photo – Winnsboro’s clock tower, the country’s longest-running clock By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net In my journeys across the South, Georgialina, in particular, I take note of clock towers, watchtowers, and steeples. How can I not. They command the eye. They set me to thinking. I’ve written many timesContinue Reading

By Sarah Ostergaard It’s summer and school’s out. But education doesn’t take a rest. Members of the Social Studies Standards Revision Committees are volunteering their time and expertise to draft new standards for SC’s K-12 Social Studies courses. The final draft of the revised standards is due later this month,Continue Reading

By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net “As night deepened all he could see was the shifting line of fire, like some malfunction in the wiring of the world.” —William Gay, Provinces Of Night. “In the draws the smoke coming off the ground like mist and the thin black trees burningContinue Reading

Photo: A dirt road runs where an old locomotive steamed into Blackville. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net The road looks just like one on Granddad’s farm running into hardwoods where a spring bubbled in shade. Come sundown in Granddad’s battered old car, we’d ride that road through trees toContinue Reading

SCDNR’s basic aquatic competency swim lesson initiative building safer futures for all South Carolinians By Tom Mullikin Swimming lessons that many of us grew up with are not something that all families have always had access to, and if the parents themselves haven’t learned to swim – and many haveContinue Reading

Time was, you could buy a casket from a country store. By Tom Poland, A Southern WriterTomPoland.net A do-it-yourself casket for a pet is as close most get today. I’ve heard of people paying a carpenter to build a casket for a dog, and I get it. Just placing aContinue Reading