Regular readers of this column may recall that I have written about how difficult it is to be a dog owner when daylight saving time begins and ends.

My two little dogs have clocks in their heads (or perhaps, more accurately, their stomachs) that inform them when it is time to get up and when we…

Note: The Community Collaborative on Children, Youth and Families shared this column in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.

Many people know that I work with children, but I am often asked “What exactly do you do?”

So, I explain to them that I work as a licensing coordinator…

All the hoopla about the new royal baby is unseemly and ridiculous. At least on this side of the Atlantic.

You can understand why the British might care. Every five minutes they spend hearing about the royal baby is five minutes they don't have to hear about Brexit. They will also have to watch…

When are the 20-plus Democratic presidential candidates going to come to North Carolina?

We are suffering from their absence as they concentrate on the early primary and caucus states. “Suffering” is my term. Others may count their absence as a blessing.

Joe Biden has already been here,…

I received a nice email recently from David Sloan, a writer and publisher who lives in Key West, who said he enjoyed my column about my personal Music Man.

The piece described Mr. Parisi who long, long ago organized junior bands at several Key West elementary schools, including mine. Parisi first…

There are way too many trucks on the highways, and the proliferation of free shipping means even heavier traffic.

Amazon seems to be taking over the retail world. It’s kind of sad watching clothing retailers and department stores shuttering in record numbers. In my shopping district, Kmart is…

Merriam-Webster just added 640 new words to its dictionary. Contemporary words like "go-cup" and "vulture capitalism."

The problem is, we all know how to spell those words and what they mean. After all, we invented them. Who needs a dictionary to look up the words we already know? And sometimes you…

Mountains of bitter controversies in the areas of race, labor, student unrest, and higher education administration were to confront Robert Scott after he became governor of North Carolina in 1969.

Those mountains were just too much to cover in my recent column prompted by Rob…

Things are really hopping at Greenville’s 600 W. Third St. Actually a beehive of activity has been going on there for the last seven years that I’ve only recently absorbed.

I recommend that anyone interested in helping others get a good start or hopeful re-start in life research the…

One of the life accomplishments I enjoy embellishing for my kids is having never been unemployed since my first job bagging groceries at Food City. True, I was 14 days from qualifying for a driver’s license. But I can tell my kids that I started working at 15 and have never been without a job…