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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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…
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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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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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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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Vintage Enamelware
August 10, 2022
By Tom Poland I was visiting the past at the Lincoln County History Park when I spied a graceful blue enamelware pot sitting among fire logs. Warm memories came…
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Getting others to the top
August 10, 2022
By Jeff Becraft We really do need one another. A few years ago, on our Leadership Weekend, I was attempting to go up the climbing wall. I had tried…
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Blink Book Review #9: “These Precious Days” by Ann Patchett
August 10, 2022
This is the ninth in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell This summer’s reading list has included books beyond the best-seller fiction I usually…
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Blink Book Review #10: “The Splendid Beauty … A Dog and His People” by Rick Bragg
August 10, 2022
This is the tenth in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell A young friend recently asked me to choose my favorite dog book. I…
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Thistles, A Prickly Subject
August 4, 2022
By Tom Poland We’d be walking to a farm pond in quest of bream when Grandmom Poland would spot a thistle. “Watch out for that nettle.” She’d hardly break…
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Blink Book Review #8 – “Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR” by Lisa Napoli
August 4, 2022
This is the eighth in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell This book is the story of four women from vastly different backgrounds who…
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An extraordinary life
August 2, 2022
By Jeff Becraft The more I find out about my Mom, the more impressed I am about who she was as a person. Mom grew up in deep, southwest…
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Boneyards
July 28, 2022
By Tom Poland Their name belies their beauty, though its definition rings true. “Boneyard, | ˈbōnyärd |Noun, informal, a cemetery.” A cemetery they are, the resting places of maritime…
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Saying goodbye to a loved one
July 26, 2022
By Jeff Becraft When Corrie Ten Boom was growing up as a child, she became anxious about death and other things of life. (It has been years since I…
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Blink Book Review #7: “Swimming with the Blowfish: Hootie, Healing and One Hell of a Ride” by Jim Sonefield
July 21, 2022
This is the seventh in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell Memoirs can often fall into two categories – hugely self-aggrandizing or humbly honest.…
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Pulling weeds
July 21, 2022
By Jeff Becraft A few months ago, I was talking about what a rough start my yard was having and the importance of patience and perseverance in that which…
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A Peach Of A Summer
July 20, 2022
By Tom Poland From my orchard of memories a lonely peach tree stands in the front yard of my youth. The tree looked sickly and produced fruit a tad…
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Blink Book Review #6 – “Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen” by Julie Hines Mabus
July 14, 2022
This is the sixth in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell “Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen” opens in 1968 with Patsy Channing awaiting…
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Porch Sitting
July 14, 2022
By Tom Poland It’s a vanishing art, porch sitting. There was a time, though, when folks retired to the porch just to pass the time. As a boy, I…
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Socks in a drawer
July 13, 2022
By Jeff Becraft I am most certainly hampered with furniture disease – my chest has fallen into my drawers. Recently, I have gained 7 pounds… just like that. I don’t…
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So exactly who is smarter here?
July 8, 2022
By Jeff Becraft I am not so sure about the smart in smartphone. I do enjoy the camera, and being able to listen to songs while I mow the…
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The Rocky Shoals Highway
July 7, 2022
By Tom Poland Come May-June I burn the Rocky Shoals Highway up. I drive from Irmo, South Carolina to McCormick County and on into Georgia. My mission? Visiting two…
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Blink Book Review #5: “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott
July 7, 2022
This is the fifth in a series of summer “Blink Book Reviews” by Reba Hull Campbell I recently reread Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” for the umpteenth time in…
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