An Effigy Of Rock
December 8, 2022
By Tom Poland Something like sixty years had passed since I saw it. This time, however, I saw it from above. The WPA built a beautiful tower of stone…
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Tell your story
December 8, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Back when I was in my early 20’s, I heard a guy speak at a camp and he gave a message that he called “The 7…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life, on-the-move
Lecture to relate the largely untold story of the men lost on HMT Rohna in 1943
December 6, 2022
On Nov. 26, 1943, HMT Rohna – HMT for His Majesty’s Transport – was attacked by German aircraft in the Mediterranean off North Africa. She was hit by a Henschel…
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Museum to remember Pearl Harbor on Saturday, Dec. 10
December 5, 2022
It was, as usual, a beautiful Sunday morning in Hawaii. But it didn’t last long. At 7:55 a.m., the first wave of Japanese warplanes came flying over the Waianae mountains.…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life, military, non-profit, on-the-move, veterans
Time
December 1, 2022
By Tom Poland You know the song. “Time Is On My Side.” The Rolling Stones released it in 1964. Time was on my side back then, yes it was. It’s…
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Luke entering Jerusalem
November 29, 2022A Biblically themed watercolor and the work of artist Paul Turnbaugh By W. Thomas Smith Jr. I love art; always have. No, I’m not an artist in terms of design…
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Our attitude is ours
November 22, 2022
By Jeff Becraft On Thursday of last week, we took our other Texan grandson, two-year-old Levi, to the Aquarium in Dallas. This was quite an adventure… in more ways…
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The Truth Behind Thanksgiving
November 21, 2022
By Christophe Boucher Associate professor of Native American History College of Charleston Just about everyone can get behind the themes of Thanksgiving – gratitude and sharing. But those weren’t…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: education, life, on-the-move
Pancho Villa’s Fighting South Carolina Gamecocks
November 21, 2022
By Tom Poland I’ll file this column under the category, Fowl History. Did Mexican Revolutionary War General, Pancho Villa, ride a train to Calhoun Falls, South Carolina to buy fighting…
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The Relentless Grind
November 17, 2022
By Tom Poland Football’s Hidden Injuries Winter Haven Florida, February 1996—I covered Cypress Gardens’ 60th anniversary for Ski World magazine. It was Florida’s oldest theme park, one where Southern…
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What is your definition of a champion?
November 17, 2022
By Jeff Becraft I once asked our son’s baseball coach to speak to a group of guys I was working with through Fairway Outreach. We had taken them out…
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Mud, Crushed Granite, And Memories
November 10, 2022
By Tom Poland Nostalgia pulled at me hard. On the second Sunday in September, I decided to see three things that were no more. And so I drove up…
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Epic Moments
November 9, 2022
By Jeff Becraft A couple of weeks ago, I talked about an epic moment in a grocery store. This week I want to talk about another epic moment that…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life
The Rock It! Co. names Katherine Underwood Director of Marketing
November 9, 2022
The Rock It! Co., an immersive marketing and event production company for tech and software organizations, is pleased to announce and welcome Katherine K. Underwood as Director of Marketing. Underwood…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, upstatebizsc Category: business-services, entrepreneurship, life, local-industry, marketing-and-communications, media, on-the-move
Aluminum, Glass, Rum, War, & Hemingway
November 3, 2022
By Tom Poland When Timelines Cross The vessels resemble, cousins of a sort, my worn canteen and its shiny glass companion. The two came to me by dissimilar routes.…
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For combat veterans, the differences are outweighed by their common experience
November 2, 2022
The “troubled Vietnam veteran” became a trope of television in the late 1970s. These guys had been through the wringer, and many came home with something called “post-traumatic stress disorder.”…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life, military, on-the-move
The importance of community
November 1, 2022
By Jeff Becraft In the last month, we have had 3 different family members get covid… in Maryland, South Carolina, and New Jersey. And if you throw in a…
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AAF Midlands is hosting its annual Oyster Roast & Auction – Nov 17
November 1, 2022
The American Advertising Federation of the Midlands is hosting its annual Oyster Roast & Auction on Thursday, November 17th from 6-9pm at Swamp Cabbage Brewing Company. The Oyster Roast &…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, philanthropy, social-scene
Drowning The Past
October 27, 2022
By Tom Poland What We’ve Lost I spent a lot of time on Clarks Hill Lake (Strom Thurmond Lake), during my teenage and college years. I camped, boated, and…
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Teamwork – effective and fun!
October 27, 2022
By Jeff Becraft One of the most epic moments in my life happened in a grocery store. It was on an alumni trip back in the Youth Corps days. There…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, op-ed, the-arts
When we go through life and we try not to lose
October 20, 2022
By Jeff Becraft In Super Bowl XXXII, the Green Bay Packers played the Denver Broncos. The Packers were the defending Super Bowl champions. This was during the Brett Favre…
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Old Island Haunts
October 20, 2022
By Tom Poland Add Hazel’s Café to the List Old island haunts. The fever to develop islands didn’t destroy all of them. In a few instances, someone decided, “Not…
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For soldier Glen Inabinet, Vietnam was full of surprises – Lunch and Learn Friday, Oct. 21
October 18, 2022
For Glen Inabinet, serving as a soldier in Vietnam, 1969-70, was just one new experience after another – experiences for which he had not been trained. He had trained as…
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The Feared Invader
October 13, 2022
By Tom Poland Let’s talk invasive species. One will bite you. You can bite the other. You can eat it, but given time it will entomb all you possess. Fire…
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First Female Real Estate Agent in Spartanburg – a Tribute
October 12, 2022
A Tribute to my Grandmother, First Female Real Estate Agent in Spartanburg, SC: Diecy Gray Brennemann 1918-2022 By Taylor Vick, CFA / Grandson of Diecy / Blue Ridge Asset Management…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: commercial-real-estate, life, local-industry, on-the-move, residential-real-estate
The CCC
October 6, 2022
By Tom Poland FDR’s Tree Army If my mother didn’t like something, she’d tell you. If she liked something, you knew that too, and she liked the Civilian Conservation…
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Today is the day
October 6, 2022
By Jeff Becraft One of the biggest causes of stress in my life is time. Which is kind of odd… because every single person has the exact same amount…
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Relic Room lecture to explain how soldiers were trained for the war in Vietnam
October 3, 2022
One of the things America has done particularly well through its history is turn civilians into soldiers. In World War II, for instance, the U.S. Army went from fewer than…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: life, military, on-the-move
Museum to host 31st annual SCMMS Toy Soldier Show on Saturday, Oct. 8
October 3, 2022
If you think a “toy soldier” is just one of those rubbery little green guys you bought from the dime store when you were a kid, you’ve got a lot…
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Courage is not the absence of fear
September 29, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Walter Payton was one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. At one point, he was the all-time leader in rushing yards until Emmitt Smith…
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The Pull Of The Macon Music Scene
September 29, 2022
By Tom Poland I find my mind drifting back to Macon, and then I find myself driving kudzu-bordered roads. Macon, Georgia sits in the middle of Georgia. It’s not…
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Just Say Something kicks off October with the 6th annual Red Ribbon 5K
September 21, 2022
It’s that time of the year again! Just Say Something is starting off the month of October with its 6th annual Red Ribbon 5K at Sugar Creek. Sponsors include Amica;…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: education, food, life, non-profit, on-the-move, sports
A simple act of compassion can shift a person’s life
September 21, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Last week I talked about the Heritage Trail tour of local gas stations. This week we’ll wrap up that historical experience. (Some of the names have…
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Book Event Season Is Upon Us
September 21, 2022
By Tom Poland She asked, and I told her. “What’s the writing life like?” “It’s a sentence to solitary confinement. You work in isolation for long periods, and that’s…
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Embracing the moment
September 15, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Our youngest daughter, Hannah, doesn’t like to eat at chain restaurants. She likes to eat at local restaurants to get the local culture. I mentioned a couple…
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The Power Of Moonlit Imagery
September 15, 2022
By Tom Poland Herman Melville created Moby Dick, the great white sperm whale that bit off Ahab’s leg. James Dickey had a 12-point white buck that swam from island…
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The National Park Nearest You
September 8, 2022
By Tom Poland Here in the classic South, we have two choices when it comes to national parks. We have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and…
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Kung fu and lizards
September 8, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Growing up, we would watch a show called Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. An older guy named Marlin would wander out into the fray of wild creatures and…
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Start Planning Now: 7 Things You Have To Do On A Trip To The Hammock Coast
September 2, 2022
The weather along South Carolina’s Hammock Coast is near perfect in the fall. The summer humidity recedes and with average high temperatures of 77 degrees in October and 70 in…
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When Mobility Matters Friends and Colleagues Step Up
August 31, 2022
Marcia Butler is a classroom teacher at Young World Day Care in Clinton. She works with the 2-year-olds in the morning and the afterschool kids in the afternoon. Working with…
Read MorePosted in: laurenscountybuzz Category: life, on-the-move
Today is the day to love those around us
August 31, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Today is a day we have never seen… and we will never see it again. I have written before about Rev. Joe… back in May when…
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Botanical Beauty—For Women Only
August 31, 2022
By Tom Poland What’s behind a name? Lots most of the time. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s a mystery, but often it’s botanical. I’ve not met a woman named…
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The Gospel. Sunday Piano Memories
August 25, 2022
By Tom Poland The old book and instrument of wood and ivory need each other. In fact, they share what biologists call a symbiotic relationship. In my recall of…
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Doing something for someone else
August 24, 2022
By Jeff Becraft This morning, I pulled a mug out of the cabinet. On it is a moose and the words “Upper Peninsula.” I got it when Brenda and…
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When It Floods, And You Are In It
August 24, 2022By Cathy Rigg Monetti The Daily Grace The third time an emergency alert awakened me, I reached for my phone. It was dark, darkest dark, the bright light just outside…
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Ferns, Nature’s Colonists
August 18, 2022
By Tom Poland Ferns bless us with classic Southern settings but doing so isn’t always easy. Random winds pick up fern spores and scatter them, their destiny determined by…
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Blink Book Review #11: A Double Dose – “Enough Already” by Valerie Bertinelli and “Back to the Prairie” by Melissa Gilbert
August 17, 2022
This is the eleventh in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell My recent beach reading consisted of memoirs by two actresses from my childhood…
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A new toothbrush
August 17, 2022
By Jeff Becraft Back in June, my wife gave me an electric toothbrush for Father’s Day. I am convinced that this toothbrush should be registered with the U.S. Geological…
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Formosan subterranean termites confirmed in Aiken County
August 11, 2022
Local entomologists recently announced the discovery of Formosan termites for the first time in Aiken County. While subterranean termites are common in the Palmetto State, the Formosan subterranean termite species,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: environmental, life, on-the-move, residential-real-estate
Gardening in the South: Tips for Success
August 11, 2022By Emma Houston Southern gardeners have to contend with hot summers, humid conditions, and sometimes heavy clay soils. But despite these challenges, gardening in the South can be extremely rewarding.…
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