Jay Glass Today’s guest columnist is Jay Glass.
When you read about lynchings and the KKK in Alabama, you expect to be reading about incidents that happened 100 years ago. But this chain of events happened between 1979 and 1987–just 34 years ago.
Certain acts can have important unintended consequences.
An example of such a profound delayed effect with far-reaching social ramifications would have its origin in downtown Birmingham on the afternoon of November 29th, 1979 in front of Newberry’s in the 200 block of 20th Street North. Continue reading 1979 Birmingham murder leads to lynching and end of Alabama KKK →
Richard Friedman Today’s guest columnist is Richard Friedman.
Two weeks before he died, Myron Radwin was in his room at Grandview Hospital recovering from surgery when something unexpected happened.
Shortly thereafter, at home and in declining health, Myron and his daughter Holly Mazer, who was in his hospital room that day, recounted the story. Continue reading 100-year-old Birmingham man meets angel two weeks before his death →
Don Erwin Today’s guest columnist is Don Erwin.
To those of us optimistic about Birmingham (city and metro), the 2020 census numbers were like a bucket of cold water thrown in our faces.
Why weren’t the numbers better? Continue reading Census numbers kick Birmingham in the gut–but… →
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 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 →
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