It’s just past midnight on Christmas Day, and the house is quiet save for the crackling of birch logs in a fireplace. On Netflix. The children aren’t really children anymore, they’re older, but they are nestled snug in their beds. And I am keeping a promise I made several months ago. This piece has little…
Category: Non-sports
Memorial Day: An unexpected search
LOUISVILLE, Ky. Random story. Memorial Day. Guy decides to pull off the expressway, just one of those existential tugs. Right turn into Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. American flags everywhere. People scattered across the white marble landscape, visiting the graves of family members, friends, heroes. He pulls out a camera, snaps a few frames. He kneels…
An ALS love story: One family’s courage, and the light it shares
I held onto this story until Valentine’s Day, because I don’t think I know of a better love story to share. It’s not a Hollywood kind of story. It’s less romance than reality. But love is weaved through every line — love of life, love of family and friends, love of a husband and wife. The story…
On Merton, Lincoln, Kentucky and the Pope’s message to Congress
This post was published Sept. 24, 2015. The lead story of this week, for those who value historical context, was the visit of Pope Francis to Congress. It was the first time the Bishop of Rome has appeared in those hallowed American halls. He came appealing to the highest calling of those seated before him,…
Aaron Harrison, Maya Angelou, Dave Chapelle and the meaning of words
It’s been a couple of days, and I’ve had more than a few people ask me why I haven’t written about University of Kentucky sophomore Andrew Harrison’s muttered comment about Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky after the Wildcats’ loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. The answer to that is that I’m not sure it’s my place. But I’ve…
A remembrance: Lucille Crawford, 1921-2015
This is a return from a weekend spent away with family to celebrate the life of my grandmother, Lucille Garrison Crawford, who died last Wednesday at age 93. I need to get back to the business of sportswriting, but I don’t feel as if I can do that until I put down this short remembrance….
Why I walked away from the only job I ever wanted
I wanted one job when I was growing up. The job I just walked away from. I loved being in the newspaper. The first byline story I ever wrote for The Courier-Journal, I still have in my basement, a Neighborhoods section story about a man in La Grange, Ky., who owned a Model-T Ford. Right…
Manifold Greatness: Reflecting on 400 years of the King James Bible
NOTE: The following is a blog post reprinted from Dec. 23, 2011. I have tried, as best I could, to pay tribute to the King James Version of the Bible in this the 400th anniversary year of its publication. That is to say, while I have used it not often enough, I have on those…
A Letter to Lincoln
Note: This column originally ran in a personal blog, then on the Op-Ed Page of The Courier-Journal on Feb. 12, 2009. Dear Mr. Lincoln, Everybody here in Kentucky is gearing up for the bicentennial of your birth so I thought at least one of us ought to write to you. I bet you’re getting a…