“Home is where our story begins.”
– Annie Danielson
I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was twelve. I was deeply impacted by the personal story of an incomprehensible situation and ultimately, her tragic end. At the time, I slept in a room over the garage in my home, listening to records by Captain and Tennille, reading books like “Are you there,…
One of the most satisfying benefits of traveling is learning the local lore and history of a place and its people. On a recent trip to South Carolina, I stumbled upon the Robert Smalls house and learned of his amazing life. The discovery of this history is exhilarating even as its obscurity is troubling. My…
One of my favorite quotes by a writer trying to explain the drive to write is from Flannery O’Connor: “I write to discover what I know.” I love this quote for its optimism, especially whenever I have writer’s block. I’ll let this quote guide me through a meandering trail of thought about what I might…
The instinct to create the future by honoring the past dwells inside each of us. I recently toured The Whalehead Club (for the umpteenth time) and learned of a woman, a sage, who recognized the value of the house’s dozen or so Tiffany designed and lily-shaped, sconce globes and tucked them into the attic for…
This is it. The Monroeville Courthouse, the place that inspired Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird and the place where her own father, inspiration for the fictional character Atticus Finch, is said to have held court. Attitcus helped us understand the color of justice and holds a seminal place in our American literature as…
On a recent visit to Thomas Jefferson’s second home, Poplar Forest, I was prepared to learn something interesting about Jefferson. I was expecting to feel at home here in this cozy get-away, so comfortable that I could envision hanging out with TJ here. I was not disappointed. Despite being a public figure, Jefferson was quite…
