The Big Picture

Wake Up: National Public Sleeping Day is No Excuse for Not Reading This

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Sunday Reader –  By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The east-facing window in this humble abode was enshrouded in fog the first thing Sunday morning, not the famous smoke you sometimes see in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Since it’s National Public Sleeping Day and the weather was not conducive to…

The Return of Prometheus and Frankenstein in Film

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Hold Fast Reader Dear How to hold you reader dear: Regale you with comforting stories of barefoot summer mud puddles past? Excite you with salacious tales of sex scandals and conspiracies holding you aghast? Bore you with straight prose and fifth grade level blurbs of fair and balanced contrast? Or write the flame out of…

All the World’s a Stage: Trump’s Impeachment Trial a Bad Show

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All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining…

The Year of the Rat is Over: Welcome the Year of the Ox

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  Well, the Year of the Rat is over, and the Year of the Ox is here, as of Feb. 12, 2021, the Chinese lunar New Year’s Day. In America, the Rat King Donald Trump has been dethroned, but not banned from running for public office again, and…

What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  So I’m sipping the second cup of coffee Tuesday morning, watching the sun come up over the Smokies, scouring the web looking for an expert to quote, when it finally dawns on me like an epiphany: I must be the nation’s top expert on the press and…

A Failure to Communicate: Where Do We Go From Here?

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“Anything that gets the adrenalin moving like a 440 volt blast in a copper bathtub is good for the reflexes and keeps the veins free of cholesterol… but too many adrenaline rushes in any given time span has the same effect on the nervous system as too many electro-shock treatments are said to have on…

The Frozen Fog of War and the End of the Golden Shower Presidency

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  The news has been churning for a solid a week and a half since 8,000 marauding militiamen and bleary-eyed neo-Nazi thugs marched from the National Mall to the Capitol steps and somehow, with a little help from Republicans and their racist friends in the Capitol Police, actually…

Storming the Capitol Did Not Bring About Freedom – It Destroyed It

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Hate Breeds Hate – Violence Breeds Violence- “Violence never brings permanent peace.” – MLK The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  It’s tragic that Joe Biden cannot say what I’m about to say. Even if he did, at least a third of “the people” would not listen. They won’t listen to me either. But…

Morning Calm in the Sunrise Orange Glow Over the Smoky Mountains

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Democrats Projected to Win Both U.S. Senate Campaigns in Georgia – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — My eyes eased open just before sunrise this morning to that pre-sunrise orange glow coming up over the smoky mountains in view from the upstairs window facing east toward the peaks. You know,…

We Made It to 2021: Now What?

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – We made it. It may seem like a miracle. But in the clear morning light of day on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021, the passing of the new year from 2020 to 2021 may seem a bit anti-climactic, especially if you wake up with a hang over. The…

The Final Say on 2020: White Christmas Quiet

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As the sun comes up over the smokies, reflecting the first morning light off a thick layer of Christmas white snow covering the ground and the trees, it’s amazing how quiet it can be in a city. As much as we love remote mountain…

A Fleeting Glimpse of Life Before and After COVID and Trump

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For a few minutes on Saturday night life in America seemed almost normal. The red, white, blue and yes orange Christmas lights blinked on and off downtown in this World’s Fair university town. The drinks flowed. Gumbo was served. And a live jazz band…

Thanksgiving 2020: Goodbye Donald Trump

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, N.C. — To all the people out there alone on this Thanksgiving holiday (and even those who are not alone or don’t celebrate) it must be said that we all have one big thing to be thankful for this year in the winter of our…