Opinion

By Walter Geiger

Though August is only just about to begin, we are busy writing about and covering the start of school. Yes, I’m old but I never started a school year until after Labor Day.

In fact, opening day dove shoots on Labor Day weekend were something akin to the end of summer for us. As we cleaned birds, we knew we would be hitting the books soon.
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By Mike Ruffin

I was a professor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1990s. We had a university-wide faculty meeting just before the beginning of each new school year. The president of the university would address us.

One year—it was probably 1994 or 1995—he said something like this: “Blockbuster Video is one of the great success stories of our time. And it will be gone in ten years.” He said this would happen because people would get their movies by other means, such as through delivery to their computers. I don’t remember him using the word “streaming,” but that’s what he was talking about.
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Watching the first two episodes of HBO’s ‘Sharp Objects’ has been a true education for me in that I was privy to some of the preparation and location scouting that preceded the filming of the series’ exterior scenes here last summer.

Early in the planning stages, I met with Dodd and Taylor Vickers who were location managers for the project and I saw up close how much work went into set preparation and set dressing. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

As the sun arose on Sept. 14, 1814, a man on a ship several miles away from Fort McHenry, which guarded the Baltimore harbor, saw that the American flag still waved over it after many hours of British bombardment. Inspired by the sight, that man, whose name was Francis Scott Key, wrote the first verse of a poem that he later expanded to four verses. And thus was born what we know as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
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They buried Oscar Wimberly the other day after an elaborate funeral service in which many of those whom he touched over his long athletic and coaching careers shared memories of the man known as Wimp.

Wimp was one of the first people I met when I moved to Barnesville in 1979. Suddenly I found myself writing about high school basketball and he was the master of that domain. I gathered his stats every Monday during the basketball season. Wimp was standoffish at first. It took time for him to warm up to you but when he did you had a friend for life.

I always enjoyed our visits. I was young. Wimp had forgotten more about basketball than I knew but I learned.

I loved the tale his lifelong friend Howard Glover shared at the funeral. Ballard and Hudson high schools in Macon had merged and the two of them were among about 150 boys trying out for the basketball team. There were 16 uniforms awaiting those who made it.
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By Mike Ruffin

Latin terms name the two basic choices we have when discussing, debating or arguing with someone.

We can use ad hominem arguments. Ad hominem literally means “to the man” (we would say “to the person”). Someone using an ad hominem argument attacks the other person rather than discuss the issue.
Our other option is to use ad rem arguments. [Full Story »] 

Though they are in storage now, the little signs that trigger my dismay will be back out soon as the General Primary runoff approaches. The wording on the signs does not approach good grammar.

They read ‘Advanced Voting’ and, yes, we have been through this before in this space. ‘Advanced’ voting would indicate some sort of new form of casting ballots that is in some way ‘advanced’ over the previous method. It could be bigger font sizes on the ballot, new technology or even massage chairs to sit in while casting your vote.
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By Mike Ruffin

My Good Wife and I had the very good fortune of visiting the Newseum in Washington D.C. a couple of weeks ago. The Newseum is exactly what its name indicates: a museum of news. According to its website, “The mission of the Newseum … is to increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment. Visitors experience the story of news, the role of a free press in major events in history, and how the core freedoms of the First Amendment — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — apply to their lives.” I highly recommend that you visit it.
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Livia Lanier Geiger was born four years and two days after the miracle birth of her sister May Melton. May Melton arrived after a troubled pregnancy, much prayer and, quite frankly, a series of miracles.

Livia Lanier arrived without any problem. She has been the well-adjusted second child since she was in the womb.

When we whisked May Melton off to her first appointment with the pediatrician, both of us carried legal pads to take notes. The veteran moms in the waiting room laughed at us. Livia Lanier never went to her six-week appointment with the pediatrician. She was thriving and we were busy. [Full Story »] 

By Mike Ruffin

I walked into the church office one morning and checked the voicemail on the prayer line. Someone had left the following message: “Please pray for my friend. She’s having an autopsy tomorrow.”

I will neither confirm nor deny that I laughed out loud.

I will confess to thinking, “I think it’s a little late for prayer.”
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Methinks, thou dost protest too much
-Shakespeare

I am a baby boomer, or so they say. Born in the 1950s, I came of age in the 1960s and was on a college campus in the early 1970s.

The 60s and 70s were tumultuous times. We became very well aware of demonstrations at an early age. Primarily those demonstrations were for civil rights and getting America out of the Vietnam War. Both were noble goals and both were achieved. The demonstrations helped to a point.
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By Mike Ruffin

May 3 was World Press Freedom Day, which is promoted annually by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). [Full Story »] 

I have been to a lot of graduation ceremonies but, although I am a UGA grad, I had never been to commencement in Athens until this past weekend.

What an extravaganza it was. Sorry Jackets, Tigers, Gators, Vols and the rest of y’all but Bulldogs do things with true class.
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By Mike Ruffin

I spent six years of my life preaching in a sanctuary that had a large stained glass picture hanging over its baptistery. (For you good folks who worship in churches that use less water than Baptists and some others do to baptize, that’s where they dunk new believers and the occasional backslider who wants a do-over.) The picture portrays Jesus holding a lamb. It’s one of the most beloved Christian images: Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
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