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November 16, 2008
Reflections from a Red State After Obama's Win
For decades and decades, the old Colonial Drugstore in Chapel Hill was a mainstay of the University of North Carolina crowd. Generations of students popped in for pencils and blue books before an exam, or breath mints and condoms before a keg party. The Colonial epitomized the Southern college-town quaintness of Franklin Street, a hoppin' main drag with a small-town feel--picture Mayberry Ph.D. It had big plate glass windows, a tattered awning and squeaking swirly stools at the classic Formica-topped soda fountain. It was there that black students staged a sit-in in the spring of 1960, and there that Martin Luther King visited not long after, igniting Civil Rights flames in this Tarheel town. And it was there, at the Colonial Drug Store soda fountain, that I had my first Big O.
Continue reading Stephanie Hunt's Seeing Red.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments | | Email | |
October 29, 2008
A Halloween Treat
I've always been intrigued by the paranormal, which, along with an interest in the Civil War, made me jump at the chance to author a book about haunted battlefields. What I discovered as I was writing it is that there's basically no way you can discount the existence of ghosts, on or off the battlefield. There are way too many documented accounts of phantom-sightings by unsuspecting tourists, battlefield park workers and others, not only all across the U.S. but everywhere in the world where people died either in, or as a result of, violence.
My research travels took me all the way from the French and Indian War to World War II, with stops at the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Little Big Horn, the Alamo...it was quite a ride.
Read Mary Beth Crain's Ghost Writer.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments (1) | | Email | |
October 26, 2008
When Church Campaigns Go Negative
It's easy to scapegoat in terms of faith, to think that congregations are dying because of preying missionaries and assaulting doctrines. But where does that leave you spiritually? In treating religion like a battlefield, petrified congregations become their own illusory enemies. And in combat, no army is without casualties.
History doesn't remember belligerent faiths fondly, and tables can turn much more quickly in the modern age. Who wants to go to the church of the Crusades, when the devastation it wreaks can be seen in a short period of time? If we're in a religious war, all the combatants may be losing.
Read Matthew Streib's The Poison Seeds Spread by Dying Congregations.
| Posted By John D. Spalding | | Comments | | Email | |
November 16, 2008
Seeing Red
By Stephanie Hunt
Obama's presidential victory is a huge step forward for our nation. But in the Carolinas, it's still North versus South.
October 29, 2008
Ghost Writer
By Mary Beth Crain
Our senior editor talks about her new book, "Haunted U.S. Battelfields," the perfect read for a creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky All Hallows Eve.
October 26, 2008
The Poison Seeds Spread by Dying Congregations
By Matthew Streib
Just as a certain presidential candidate has gone to the extremes of negativity in a desperate attempt to keep his campaign alive, so parallels can be seen on the religious front.
October 11, 2008
Palin Watch V: Troopergate, Poopergate!
By Mary Beth Crain
Confronted with a scathing indictment of abuse of power, Governor Palin thumbs her nose at the "Troopergate" report.
October 4, 2008
Palin Watch IV: Post-Debate Musings
By Mary Beth Crain
This hockey mom belongs in the penalty box.
September 25, 2008
Palin Watch III: Dumb and Getting Dumber
By Mary Beth Crain
As she faced the formidable Katie Couric in her second big time interview, Sarah Palin was palin'.
September 23, 2008
Holy Crap
By Billy Frolick
Joe Eszterhas turns his rapture into a purpose-driven pitch.
September 20, 2008
Palin Watch, II: Secrets and Lies
By Mary Beth Crain
In the Sarah Palin Archives of Deception, "Troopergate" is front and center.
September 14, 2008
Palin Watch, I
By Mary Beth Crain
Have we really turned the country over to C students?
September 5, 2008
Backward, Christian Soldiers
By Mary Beth Crain
The Republicans are touting Sarah Palin as the new symbol of change. They're right--she's busy changing the clock back, way back.
August 22, 2008
A Sheep in Sheep's Clothing?
By John Fea
Eight years ago, John McCain locked horns with the Christian Right. Now he's one of them?
July 11, 2008
Jesse Jackson's Gaffe: Oh, Those Annoying Men of God
By Mary Beth Crain
Bothersome preachers have been a highlight of the 2008 presidential campaign. Where are these bigoted egomaniacs coming from, and how can they be stopped?
July 9, 2008
Just Married
By Stephanie Hunt
After 20 years of marriage, our author ponders the meaning of "I do."
June 23, 2008
Confessions of a Serial Killer's Mother
By Mary Beth Crain
In the midst of spring's grace and summer's radiance, God shows his cruel side.
April 28, 2008
The Rev. Wright Stuff
By Mary Beth Crain
Today's prophets aren't any more popular than they were in the time of another Jeremiah.
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