Tag: community

  • Butts to the Wind

    Butts to the Wind

    Like much of the nation, I have been following the hurricane news. My daughter was in Wilmington, , NC, on Monday and Tuesday so I followed it in part to keep her informed. As one of her friends remarked to me, "Not exactly the time[..]
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    05 09 , 2019 No Comments
  • Build a Better Community: Invest in Women

    Build a Better Community: Invest in Women

      Over $200,000. That's how much money was raised at the 7th annual Women's Fund of East Tennessee luncheon in mid-April. As the keynote, I was delighted to play a small role in this year's event, which was dedicated the formidable Betsy Bush. Much to my regret,[..]
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    07 05 , 2018 1 Comment
  • If you’re a Nashville fan

    If you’re a Nashville fan

    From 2004-2013, I worked on my first novel, Mother of Rain (Mercer University Press). It was hard work. I was trying to tackle a lot of things all at once. Put aside the fact that I had never really written fiction. I'd been a journalist. An opinion[..]
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    02 04 , 2016 No Comments
  • Life in the Bubble

    Life in the Bubble

    I was driving over the pass today, headed from one state to the next, from one grandson to the next, from one daughter to the next, doing that thing women have done ever since we could stand on our own two feet - helping. It[..]
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    14 05 , 2015 4 Comments
  • Participating in the Remarkable

    Participating in the Remarkable

      Before leaving Georgia the other day, I made a stop in Pine Mountain to visit Miss Lillian. She did not know I was coming, so she let out a small squeal of delight when I walked into the kitchen. “This is my friend who[..]
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    02 10 , 2014 No Comments
  • A Good Kind of Lonely

    A Good Kind of Lonely

      I was talking with a friend recently. She's moved to a new community, started a new job, is in a new relationship. To the casual observer everything looks hunky-dorey. Everything is hunky-dorey most of the time. But there are these moments - moments like[..]
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    17 07 , 2014 5 Comments
  • Guide Mama

    Guide Mama

    Miz Shelby guest blogging from Guatemala.     Over half a dozen children sit quietly at the small wooden table. They all look younger than five. We are gathered at the home of Marta, a Madre Guía or Guide Mother, to watch the women prepare and[..]
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    12 09 , 2013 No Comments
  • God’s Grandchildren: Your Handiwork

    God’s Grandchildren: Your Handiwork

    Church Lady Clothesline by Janie McGee   Some years ago, my daughter Shelby and I were traveling across country. I've gone back and forth so many times, in so many ways -- except boat, never taken a boat across country -- that I can't remember[..]
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    07 07 , 2012 No Comments
  • A letter to Anne Rice

    A letter to Anne Rice

    Dear Ms. Anne: You don't know me, so please excuse the intrusion. I hope you won't think this too forward but I read about your recent remarks about quitting Christianity: "For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a[..]
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    01 08 , 2010 No Comments