Opinion

A couple of decades ago I could cram for a history exam, carry on a conversation with a dorm room full of people, sing along to the radio and watch MTV in the background (I told you it was decades ago — when there was actual music on MTV) all at the same time. And I could do so with a great deal of proficiency...

It was a day as regular as any. For a Tuesday in September, the weather was particularly pleasant. I couldn’t see a cloud in the sky from Mrs. Tubman’s fourth-grade class, gazing out the window after finishing that day’s journal entry. Mrs. Tubman gave us five minutes at the end of every class to write in our journals. ...

When Wells Crowther was a boy, his father stuck a folded, white handkerchief in Wells’ top coat pocket and said, “This one is for show.” Wells’ dad then gave him a red bandana for his hip pocket and instructed, “This one is for blow!” Wells kept a red bandana with him for the rest of his life...

This past weekend, I visited my family in Texarkana. It’s the first time I’ve made the trip back to my hometown in a year and the first time I’ve seen my mom and nana since Gideon and I got married in January. Usually I’d visit much more often than this, but Gideon has been traveling a lot for his master’s program and I’ve been trying to keep up with everything going on at home. ...

I want to thank the City of Berryville, Mayor Tim McKinney and Chief Robert Bartos for remembering and recognizing the 50-year anniversary of our dad’s death in the line of duty as a chief of police in Berryville. It is kind of bittersweet and sad at the same time...

I am white. My adopted son is black. When I first carried him into the church I was pastoring at the time, a lady looked at him in my arms, gave a twisted smile, and said, “Well hon, just lather him up with sunblock. It’ll keep him from turning into a darky.” Off to Sunday School she marched and I took a chair in the classroom of American race relations...

The long wait is almost over. Football season is just days away. For Arkansas Razorbacks fans, the season actually starts a couple of days earlier than it usually would, with the Razorbacks opening on Thursday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock...

On the walls of the church sanctuaries of my youth were these consecrated tote boards. I don’t know the official name of these accessories, but these placards recorded every jot and tittle of faithful Christian service for all the world to see. The boards recorded the numbers in attendance; the amount of the offering; those who had brought their Bibles with them to church. ...

Regular readers of this column know I am obsessed with my yellow tabby cat BJ. BJ is adorable, loving and kind … basically everything you would want in a friend. The best part is we never fight. BJ can’t speak English, but he does talk to me regularly...

This letter to the editor is in response to the Aug. 15 letter “Concerned for Holiday Island.” I have heard many opinions that are very similar to those expressed by Mr. Irwin; examples include: “the board is incompetent,” “they are only concerned with the golf courses” “HISID is going broke,” and my favorite one is that the board somehow squandered away a $3 million surplus. All of these would be very concerning allegations, but only if they were true...

Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California and Dr. Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, asked participants in a months-long experiment to write down a few sentences each week. A third of the group was told to write about things for which they were grateful. A third of the group wrote about daily irritations, the things that made them mad. The last one-third wrote about general events with no emphasis on the negative or positive...

On Saturday, our nation saw another nightmare come true. White nationalists met in Charlottesville, Va., for the “Unite the Right” march, which quickly led to violence between the protesters and counter-protesters. The violence escalated into the afternoon, when a car drove into a group of counter-protesters. One woman was killed, and at least 34 people were wounded at the march...

It is with deep appreciation that Carroll County Music Group (CCMG) wishes to thank all who attended or performed at the CCMG 10th Anniversary Celebration & Potluck, which was held Sunday afternoon, Aug. 13 at the First United Methodist Church. The celebration of CCMG’s 10 years of steady growth and commitment in supporting education of the arts in our area and of encouraging artistic endeavor among our talented youth was enjoyed by a crowd of over 70 supporters of CCMG. ...

A property owner since 2006, I’ve been to many Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District meetings. I have yet to be satisfied about the results of any meeting as of August 2017. Yes, I have spoken, but like others we were not listened to. A S.I.D.elects people like any small town and the people do not go through a detailed background check. Whatsoever?...

A man kept his two large, beloved dogs in the back yard where they had plenty of room to run, play and lounge about. One morning a squatty little bulldog came down the street, saw the expansive green grass on the other side of the enclosure, and with great effort shoved himself beneath the fence and into the yard...

I don’t know about you, but I begin the year looking forward to the end of it. The fall is my favorite time of the year, mostly because it leads to Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s Eve. My family is big on celebrating holidays, big or small, because it means we can get together for a meal. This year won’t be any different, but it will be the first time I’ve spent Thanksgiving with my family in a long time...

My high school class held its 30th reunion on Saturday. While I didn’t attend, it has been fun catching up with my old classmates via Facebook in the weeks leading up to the event. It has been interesting, too, seeing how some classmates’ appearance has changed dramatically while others don’t seem to have aged at all. ...

It was this first week of August, more than 50 years ago, when FBI agents finally and horrifically discovered the remains of three civil rights workers murdered in rural Mississippi. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been missing for 44 days, and had an informant not told authorities about their burial in a backwater earthen dam, their bodies may have never been recovered...

President Donald Trump dealt another blow to LGBTQ rights last week when he tweeted that transgender individuals will no longer be allowed to serve in the United States military in any capacity. According to his tweets, the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption the transgender in the military would entail.”...

If you read this column regularly, you probably know that I am a long-suffering, incurable fan of the Chicago Cubs. Of course, it seems as if 35 percent of the American population is a Cubs fan these days, but many of them haven’t earned that title. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon when a team is winning, not so much when you follow a team for more than 30 years without a World Series appearance...

You are a human, a highly evolved sentient species composed mostly of water, oxygen, carbon and a few dozen other lesser chemicals. All in all, you consist of about 10 octillion atoms — give or take a few million — that miraculously hold together. I, “homo sapiens” that I am, have a nearly identical makeup as yours: We hold more than 99 percent of our individual genetic material in common...

President Donald Trump has been in office for six months now, and it hasn’t been all that great. While campaigning, Trump promised to defeat ISIS and overhaul the Affordable Care Act. Well, ISIS still exists, and the Affordable Care Act hasn’t been replaced yet...

Editor’s Note: This letter was originally sent to Carroll County Newspapers publisher Bob Moore. Dear Bob, Although I live on the lake just across the border in Missouri, I have adopted Berryville as my spiritual home since that is where I pastored my church congregation for 20 years. ...

Slow internet connections. Lines four deep at Walmart. Anything beyond two-day shipping. Buffering YouTube videos. Diets that don’t work over the weekend. Stories that stretch beyond 140 characters. Pizza that doesn’t arrive in 15 minutes. These are some of the things that madden the impatient mob living in the early 21st century...

One of my favorite musical artists is a gentleman named Robert James Ritchie. You might know him better as Kid Rock. I’m sure that revelation is a little surprising to you. Kid Rock likely isn’t the kind of music you would expect a middle-aged newspaper editor to listen to, but I’ve always appreciated rock music and Kid Rock is a talented musician...

In a story that rivals that of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, the Old Testament tells the tale of how King Solomon was granted a supernatural wish. In a dream, God offered the young king anything he desired. He asked for wisdom. He asked for common sense, for “an understanding mind and discernment.”...

Have you given any thought to what Holiday Island will be like in 10 or 15 years? It’s easy to sit back and congratulate ourselves on finding such a pleasant place to live and enjoy the golf, fishing, boating, hiking, churches, music and theater, etc.  A community garden is even available now. Most of us live on paved roads and enjoy the benefits of utilities and city sewers in place when we buy or build a home. ...

Board games are a big deal in my family. When I say that, I mean it. My most vivid memories center around my grandparents’ dining room table, where we’d play every board game you can think of. Our favorite was Wahoo, a marble game most know as Aggravation...

Bryan Stevenson is an inspirational figure who founded and leads the “Equal Justice Initiative.” The mission statement of his organization reads: “Ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.”...

Last week, a Van Buren man rammed down a statue displaying the 10 Commandments at the Arkansas State Capitol building. I’ve read a lot of misinformation about this case, and I’m hoping to clear it up in this column. Let’s start with the facts. Michael Reed, a born-again Christian who calls himself a “Jesus freak” on his Facebook page, filmed himself driving into the monument and live-streamed it to social media. ...

“Won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom?” Bob Marley asked a generation. In a few minutes of music he retold the story of African slavery, the continued pursuit of liberty, and quoted a line from Marcus Garvey that is now almost a hundred years old...

July 21 will mark the five-year anniversary of my father’s death. It’s been on my mind lately. My dad and I were never close; I’m not sure if that’s because we were so different, or if it’s because we were so much alike. Certainly, there were a lot of things we didn’t agree on. ...