Blog
Golden
Good or evil.
Light or darkness.
Right or wrong.
This or that.
To live in a world of duality is to live in a convenient world, one in which inconvenient ideas may be dispatched in favor of simplicity, comfort even…
Independence
Today we celebrate when our founding fathers said no to unconstrained executive power.
Today we celebrate when our founding fathers said no to the idea that any one man could decide the law for himself.
Today we celebrate when our founding fathers said no to a king whose authority to deny the people their rights was so vast that it could not be checked by the judiciary . . .
Ghosts
In an idyllic meadow north of the Cumberland River, the Hartsville Nuclear Plant now looms as a reminder of dreams abandoned, hopes for future prosperity and freedom relinquished to the pressures of a, perhaps, fickle public.
And now, nearly fifty years later, a stone’s throw from that site of broken promises rests the Trousdale Turner Prison . . .
Sure
Simple facts are easily recognizable. There are just things we all, as a society, seemed to have learned and learned well. No real dispute, right?
For instance, we all know that bulls hate the color red, right? I mean, you’ve never seen a bull go after a matador waving a green cloth, right?
Here’s another one: Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on earth. That’s been long established . . .
The Undersides of Trees
A hectic day, east to west, sea of troubles and toil.
On all headings loneliness, sorrow, and uncertainty abound.
The earth is calm when I stare at the undersides of trees . . .
Rage
Controversy sells.
This is bad for artists, bad for writers, bad for people trying to share their creation.
Unless of course, your creation is controversy. . . Then you’re in luck.
Social media algorithms have a lot of us confounded. The fact is, I can post a nothing picture of my face and get a certain number of likes and interactions.
I get way more if I post a picture of my dog’s face (but seriously… LOOK at that face) . . .
Flies
When you get to a certain age, you stop wishing your life away and start wishing that it would slow down. And that can be even worse.
You stop fretting Monday when in you’re in it and start fretting Tuesday because that’ll mean another precious day is gone.
Lately, however, I’ve been reciting a little mantra that has really drawn out some of the sting . . .
Sausage
My vision for the world of Jesse Barrow grew out of some close friendships, two friends in particular who grew up in rural Alabama. Now, obviously these close friends weren’t around in 1911 rural Alabama, but as someone who studies history, I’ve always been fascinated by how our past affects our present. And the older I’ve become, the more I’ve been fascinated by how our present informs how we view our past, which then, paradoxically, informs our present. Both the past and the present can distort the truth . . .
Bar
I took the Uniform Bar Exam on July 26 and 27.
I’m still waiting on my results.
And I’m still having nightmares about it.
That’s not hyperbole—I had another one last night.
In fact, started having nightmares about the bar exam before I sat for it . . .
Advokat
I’m excited to announce that my short story Advokat won the 2021 American Bar Association Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Fiction! . . .
(Mis)information
I’m really struggling.
I’m struggling with coming to grips with a lot of attitudes that seem pervasive in my country, the country I love.
I’m struggling to cope with my own shift in perspective . . .
Re-enrollment
It’s that time of year again…
That time of year that makes a parent’s skin crawl.
If you look carefully right about now, you’ll see fathers and mothers alike closing their blinds, locking their doors, and huddling together anxiously.
Though the flowers are blooming and the pools are open, the minds of parents are heavy with the knowledge that before it’s too late, they will have to re-enroll their child for school.
Not saying that the kids getting back in school is bad.
But the re-enrollment process was apparently designed to remind all of us adults how much we hated school when we were young. . .
Magic
Kindness is
A spouse’s embrace when you’re crying
A stranger’s wave when you drive past them in your neighborhood
A woman who stops to move a turtle out of the street
Kindness is
Music that stirs the heart to tears
A sunset that cannot be owned
Teachers that teach us to read
Kindness is . . .
Prick
Got my second shot today!
(When will I start getting 5G?)
Look, there’s an awful lot of information available today. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and some of it is just what we have.
But if we’re going to be people who claim to care—to care about truth and our shared humanity—we need to be really careful what information we put stock in.
I’ll give you an example that broke my heart just today . . .
Outlet
I’ll be honest… I’m tired.
This semester of law school started the first week of January and finished Friday. Between school and work, I’ve been going six and seven days a week for 18 weeks.
To say I learned a lot in that time would be a drastic understatement.
I learned about…
Tooth
I want to apologize in advance for any grammatical or philosophical loopyness contained in this blog post. I had a stubborn wisdom tooth pulled two days ago and am still dealing with a good bit of pain and, hence, medication.
But there have been some things that have been on my heart/mind the last little bit that I wanted to try to express.
2020 has been some year, no doubt. And as it counts it down, I’ve had a little bit of a chance to reflect, and I’m going to try to shed some light in what’s been an eerily dark tunnel for many of us . . .
Hobbs
Hey everyone!
I wanted to tell you a quick story because we’re unveiling the cover of my novel “The Wages of Grace” TOMORROW!
So, two artists and a rabbi walk into a bar . . .
Ok, maybe there was no rabbi. There could have been, but I’d doubt it.
One artist was my mom.
One artist was a guy I’d never heard of in my life named Derik Hobbs . . .
RBG
The United States has lost an icon.
A big loss for our nation.
Huge.
RBG.
First of all, I want to say that I hate the political storm her passing will inevitably cause.
One of the things that law school has taught me is that, many times, our hard and fast notions of what side of the aisle people are on is totally untrue . . .
Ready
I don’t want to win anymore.
I want to live.
I want to be whole.
And that means laying some things down.
Because…
I’m tired of fighting for my rights.
I’m tired of fighting for my side.
I’m tired of fighting for my point of view . . .
Happy New Year
Well long time, no blog, eh?
I want to say Happy New Year, and provide an update on where things are as far as my life and my writing.
2019 was been a whirlwind of a year that began with recovering from back surgery and tinkering—seriously, for the first time—with the idea of going to law school. The year ended with a couple strong workouts and first semester grades that I’m really proud of. . .