The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. â Within days of moving to the nation’s capital in 2004, I was the last reporter hired by States News Service operating out of a cool newsroom on Pennsylvania Avenue, a couple of blocks from the White House. It was right near a Metro tunnel,…
Books
Part 4: On Unfulfilled Hopes, Shattered Dreams and the Big Easy
Part 3: On Unfulfilled Hopes, Shattered Dreams and Journalism
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the themes that emerges from this life analysis is that kids need heroes to inspire and emulate. That’s why it’s so important for young women to have role models, along with African Americans and other minorities in America. All I can do…
Part 2: On Unfulfilled Hopes, Shattered Dreams and Baseball
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Do you ever feel like you are marking time, waiting for something to happen? Something that is supposed to happen, but the timing is not yet right? I was thinking that recently when watching the movie “Field of Dreams.” “The one constant through all…
The State of the News Media and What That Means for Democracy
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — Thomas Jefferson,…
Exploring the Mind of the Raven and the Bird’s Role in Human Culture and Evolution
“This is an amazing book by an amazing author. Heinrich is a naturalist of the first rank, champion ultramarathoner, woodsman of skills seldom seen in modern times, and not least, as Mind of the Raven illustrates, a nature writer of uncommon talent. By living with the ravens for many years, literally at home and in…
Operation Zap: A Novel and Film by Aaron Murphy
Editor’s Note: In 1992, while working as a staff writer and reporter for a chain of newspapers on the Gulf Coast, I stumbled onto a dangerous story involving electromagnetic fields and pulses being developed by Naval Intelligence in Pensacola, Florida. The stories I wrote about it were so controversial that a rogue agent working for…
The American Crisis: By Thomas Paine – 1776
Editorâs Note: We publish this here today in honor of Presidentâs Day, and especially to honor George Washingtonâs brilliant plan to cross the Delaware River and attack the British Red Coats at Trenton, New Jersey on the night of December 25, 1776, which turned the tide and gave the American Revolution the public opinion boost…
Common Sense: By Thomas Paine – 1776
Reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King
By Bob Reilly – Rideshare by Robert: Every Ride’s a Short Story, contains stories, observations, inspirations, and reflections resulting from a 7-Year, 25,000 ride journey before, during and after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Here’s one story from the book: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Passions were running high, and confusion, fear and chaos reigned. And as…
Two Independent Thinking News Writers Pass On in Knoxville
Editor’s Note: This news comes with no personal regrets, since I didn’t know either of the deceased. But I knew Jack Neely some when writing for Metro Pulse myself, one of the most interesting alternative weeklies in the country in print and online in the late 20th century. It’s a sad day when anyone dies,…
President Barack Obama, Idiocracy and Our Epistemological Crisis
By Glynn Wilson – This is something I’ve been thinking about and writing about for a long time, but now former President Barack Obama and The Atlantic are talking about it. In an exclusive interview by Jeffrey Goldberg, the former president identifies the greatest threats to the American experiment in democracy, explains why he’s still…
Alabama Scientist Mark Hainds Publishes Book as First to Hike Mexican Border
By Glynn Wilson – Like many a fellow traveler before him inspired by the American landscape, Missouri country boy turned middle-aged Alabama forester Mark J. Hainds grew impatient with his life of teaching, raising a family, and conducting research to conserve and propagate the return of the longleaf pine forest in the South, long ago…
The Arc of the Moral Universe Doesn’t Bend Toward Justice Without Pressure
Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights, by Doug Jones, All Points Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press and MacMillan Books. Book Review – By Glynn Wilson – The inspiration for the title of Doug Jones’ emotional, inspiring and detailed account of the legal cases that brought…
Every Day Is a New Low in Trump’s White House
The president steps over bright ethical and moral lines wherever he encounters them. Everyone in America saw it when he fired my boss. But I saw it firsthand time and time again. Editor’s Note: Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, was named acting director of the bureau after President Donald Trump fired…
Movie Review and More: Gary Webb, Dark Alliance and Kill the Messenger
By Glynn Wilson – Surfing around on Netflix for something to watch during the holidays, it came to my attention that the film Kill the Messenger was available. At the outset let me say that the Gary Webb story is one I’ve purposely avoided getting involved with for many years, even though I followed it…
Appomattox Court House: Robert E. Lee Surrenders to Grant, Ending Civil War
By Glynn Wilson – APPOMATTOX, Virg. — We didn’t make it here in time for Memorial Day, but National Park Service rangers and volunteers say nearly 500 people showed up for the playing of “Taps” and holiday weekend programs. I don’t know for sure, but considering that Confederate sympathizers seem to generate more engagement these…
Kodachrome on Netflix: Author Tom Wolfe Dies at 88
Contemplating the State of Things on Thoreau’s 200th Birthday
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. â Henry David Thoreau is one of the founding fathers of American activism and civil rights as well as science and environmental writing. Clearly my own life and career are inspired by my own reading of Thoreau. I mean I got rid of most of my worldly possessions about…
Setting the Record Straight on the Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Western pioneer and cowboy myth is huge, but not so much from the Native American perspective. By Glynn Wilson – Editor-in-Chief – EDITOR’S NOTE: There are two kinds of people in the world. Which kind are you? Do you like reading the pretty little patriotic myth? Or would you rather see a real journalist…