William Bartram’s Wild Azaleas

  April 28, 2021
Tom Poland

  By Tom Poland   Blooms, blossoms, and bracts splash color everywhere you look this time of year. Daffodils and now dogwoods and azaleas add their voice to the spring…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

  April 20, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Sunday night the moon hung full and bright over treetops. Like some silver dollar hurled into the night she floated full and beautiful, though pollen gave…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

A Seashell Tradition

  April 14, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   There it was. A grave covered in seashells. It’s as close to a burial at sea as an inland dweller will get. My sister, Deb, told…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Artist Minute – Patricia Kilburg, Visual Artist

  April 14, 2021

The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: podcast, the-arts

A Chapel and a School

  April 8, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   The Historic Sweet Easy Smith Chapel found me Sunday. Though it’s on Smith Chapel Road and sounds like a no brainer, directions for my first attempt…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Clothesline

  April 1, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland     The Gentle Cycle A neighbor suggested I join a community website where people post about restaurant openings and closings, shady repairmen, and snakes. “What kind…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Warehouse Theatre raises the curtain on a new look

  March 29, 2021

The Warehouse Theatre, a premier professional theatre located in the historic West End of Greenville, SC, unveiled a new logo today, introducing a new look for the 47-year-old regional theatre.…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, the-arts

The Flower World’s Beautiful Blonds

  March 25, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Daffodils. They’re the beautiful blonds of the flower world and if it’s possible for a flower to smile, daffodils do. They bring to mind young women…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Artist Minute — Bill Mitchell, Billiam Jeans

  March 22, 2021

The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, podcast, the-arts

Winter’s Lush Green Carpet

  March 17, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   It’s an unusual plant. No flowers. No roots, but what a green velvety plant. Green moss mystifies me. When I come across it I stare. Always.…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Greenville 9th grader is S.C. Poetry Out Loud champ

  March 15, 2021

Greenville High School 9th grade student Emily Allison is the 2021 South Carolina Poetry Out Loud champion after winning the annual recitation contest’s first virtual competition. Allison’s body of work…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, the-arts

National Smithsonian traveling exhibition now open in City of Westminster

  March 12, 2021

The City of Westminster has been selected as the only upstate stop for displaying the SC Humanities “Water/Ways” Exhibit. The Exhibit is now open at the Historic Westminster Train Depot,…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: agriculture, economic-development, energy, environmental, government, hospitality, life, local-industry, media, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts, utilities

A Natural Motown Mystery-Miracle

  March 4, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   If you think this story is about Berry Gordy’s 1960’s record label that gave us “Baby Love,” “My Girl,” and “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” you’re…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Harbinger.

  March 4, 2021

By Cathy Monetti ABOUT MARCH, I HAVE ALWAYS felt ambivalent. This admission comes as a surprise, even to me, for March is the month that relieves us from the coldest…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Stoves Of My Life

  February 26, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland     Early on, my grandmothers cooked on wood-burning stoves and, later, electric ranges. Cooking with electricity. That must have seemed a marvel to them. I never,…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Badwell Trilogy

  February 17, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Faint, yet menacing, came the sound. I stood as still as the stones around me and listened. From woods northeast it came again. Coyotes. Well, it…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Announcing the 2021 S.C. Governor’s Awards for the Arts recipients

  February 15, 2021

The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is announcing seven qualified recipients of South Carolina’s highest award for high achievement in practicing or supporting the arts. The South Carolina Governor’s Awards…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, the-arts

Tough Guy, Soft Heart

  February 11, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Jack Palance—A City Slicker The book world brings interesting people my way. Some are nobodies. Some are famous. Jack Palance was famous, a Hollywood tough guy,…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Greenville Theatre announces 2021 Board of Directors

  February 4, 2021

The Greenville Theatre Board of Directors has named Christi Mobley as the  2021 Chairperson. Mobley will lead an 18-member board. Additional executive committee members are: Gray Morgan, CFO of Windsor…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, the-arts

See Life In An Old Way

  January 28, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Along A Back Road My sister, Brenda, gave me a cool shirt for Christmas, “Take The Back Roads,” one of those Life Is Good shirts. That…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

A Mess of Collards

  January 21, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Last week an email from my friend, Pat Branning, known for her gorgeous Shrimp, Collards, & Grits cookbooks, sent me on a quest. Pat and I…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Illusion—Looking Young Forever

  January 13, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Late, late afternoon it was. She walked into the restaurant and lit it up. A beautiful woman will do that, light up a place, but she…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Artist Minute – Scott Gould, Author

  January 11, 2021

The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: podcast, the-arts

Insignificant Treasures

  January 6, 2021
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   The things we collect. When I am gone my daughters will think their dad was a bit touched. Just why did he hang onto a rusty…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Winter Is Upon Us

  December 21, 2020
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   As I write it’s 38 degrees and rain is falling. We always seem to be just a few degrees away from snow. This winter a light…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

SCETV to air BJU performance of Handel’s Messiah 

  December 21, 2020

South Carolina Educational Television will air Bob Jones University’s December 2019 performance of Handel’s Messiah on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, at 8:30 p.m. Under the direction of Dr. Warren Cook,…

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Posted in: upstatebizsc   Category: education, on-the-move, the-arts

Six emerging artists to receive inaugural S.C. Arts Commission grant

  December 17, 2020

Visual artists working in ceramics, sculpture, and photography and performing artists working in dance and music are inaugural recipients of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s new Emerging Artist Grant. For…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: on-the-move, the-arts

If Another Earth Exists

  December 16, 2020
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Shifting Gears, End Of The Road

  December 10, 2020

By Tom Poland   Driving a straight means real driving. Need to pass a slowpoke? Down shift to third and hit it. By 5th gear he’s in the rearview mirror.…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Lander University faculty, students prove arts flourish even in pandemics

  December 6, 2020

Throughout history, artists have found ways to continue their work during plagues and pandemics. Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch, famous for “The Scream” painting, survived the Spanish flu. The illness…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz   Category: education, on-the-move, the-arts

Amazon announces 2020’s Best Books of the Year

  December 3, 2020

On November 19, Amazon announced 2020’s Best Books of the Year, selecting Brittany K. Barnett’s “A Knock at Midnight” as the top pick. The inspiring true story is a brilliant…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Nature’s Engineers

  December 3, 2020

By Tom Poland   Back when I worked in wildlife cinematography, I tried to film the beavers on an old woodland pond back home. I’d get up before dark and…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

The Sad Ballad Of Moses Corley

  November 23, 2020

By Tom Poland   Each Thanksgiving, I Remember Moses We all cross paths with a person we can’t forget. And so, a man by the beautiful name of Moses Corley…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

Where Big Trees, History, and Preservation Live

  November 19, 2020
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   October 26 found me on a history adventure courtesy of Ralph Scurry. Ralph and I met at a book talk in Edgefield several years ago. Ralph…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts