Billy Field (Photo by Joe Will Field)
Today’s guest columnist is Billy Field.
What’s the first history lesson you ever had?
For me, it was the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. “Yes, mother, I did chop down the cherry tree. I cannot tell a lie.”
Turns out, that story was not true. But parents didn’t tell it for historical fact, they told it for the moral lesson, the importance of telling the truth. Continue reading Alabama: It’s time for our children to be taught the truth →
Adam Stermer
Today’s guest columnist is Adam Stermer.
I moved to Alabama in High School.
I was immediately struck by the natural beauty of the state, and having spent most of my short lifetime relocating often, I was excited and nervous to begin learning about my new home.
Meeting people and making new friends was a reality I was familiar with, but it’s never easy. While there were expected differences from places I’d lived in the past, one experience stands out. Continue reading My life doesn’t revolve around Alabama and Auburn football →
Richard Dickerson
Today’s guest columnist is Richard Dickerson.
What can Birmingham claim that no other city in the world has?
Some folks may say it is healthcare…
Others may point out our incredible restaurants.
However, other cities may claim the same.
So what is totally unique to Birmingham? What should be our face to the world? Continue reading What can Birmingham claim that no other city in the world has? →
Ryan Hankins
Today’s guest columnist is Ryan Hankins.
I don’t think Paul Ricœur, the French philosopher, ever visited Alabama.
It’s his loss. Had he come to the Yellowhammer State, he could have seen remarkable examples of his most famous philosophical idea– the hermeneutic of suspicion. Or more simply, an approach to life grounded in suspicion, to assume there is always some hidden meaning or ulterior motive at work. Continue reading So much distrust and suspicion in Alabama–Are we about to see a new day? →
The westbound Amtrak Crescent streaks through the Titusville neighborhood in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)
I actually wrote this column last year, but decided not to publish it.
It just seemed too farfetched.
But now that the Senate has passed a trillion dollar infrastructure bill , this could be Birmingham’s and Alabama’s big opportunity. Continue reading Birmingham bullet train to Atlanta →
Libby Lassiter
Today’s guest columnist is Libby Lassiter.
My family moved to Birmingham from Chicago in 2005.
We went from a booming metropolis of ten million people to a quiet city one-tenth its’ size. Continue reading The Birmingham I never expected →
Jefferson County
A graph of Jefferson County’s population over the past 50 years looks eerily like the EKG of a dead man.
It’s a straight line that goes neither up nor down. It lays dormant like a dead body.
Unfortunately that flat line now appears to represent the good ‘ole’ days. Continue reading How to turn around a shrinking Jefferson County →
Chervis Isom (Photo by Hugh Hunter)
Today’s guest columnist is Chervis Isom.
Everyone who resides in or near the City of Birmingham is aware of our city’s brutal history relating to race relations between Blacks and Whites and the civil rights struggle by its Black residents against the Jim Crow laws. Continue reading Historic hatred of Birmingham Catholics ends in murder →
Terry Barr
Today’s guest columnist is Terry Barr.
This may be a surprise to you young folks, but Birmingham has always had great restaurants–especially when it comes to fresh seafood and barbecue.
When I think of what I want, it’s the food back home. Continue reading My heart aches for all those Birmingham restaurants →
Doug Martinson
Today’s guest columnist is Doug Martinson, II.
Tom Cosby, a long time Birmingham Chamber of Commerce champion, penned a column recently to proclaim that Huntsville is never going to be Alabama’s largest city .
Though Mr. Cosby probably had the best of intentions, he appears to be completely unaware how much Huntsville has grown and prospered. Continue reading Huntsville man stands up to Birmingham →
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To begin a conversation about a better Birmingham