Writer | Journalist | Storyteller
“Thanksgiving is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.”
Everyone wants to be home for the holidays, even if only in our dreams, or so says the old carol. Thanksgiving and Christmas are especially difficult times to be away from home. Our thoughts are packed with memories and emotions that at times, quite literally, define who we are, and where we come from, or at the very least say a lot about what we wish were true. Nostalgia is defined by the dictionary as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place...
“You can’t really dust for vomit.”
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
by David Todd McCarty | Friday, November 20, 2015 We have a saying in the McCarty family: Often wrong, but never in doubt. No one has ever accused a McCarty of not having a strong opinion. Even in the face of insurmountable odds, we’re sure we’re going the right way, have the right tools for the job, and understand clearly how to achieve the goal at hand. That’s not to say we haven’t ended up at the bottom of a cliff, or on the wrong side of the barrel of a gun in the course of our efforts...
“When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.”
We love lists in this country. We like to make them. We like to read them. If this wasn’t true click-farms like BuzzFeed and Huffington Post wouldn’t post so damn many of them. The lists don’t actually have to be that good because it’s all about the headline. If you click on the headline, they get paid. They don’t really give a shit if you read it or not. Actually that’s not true. They want you to forward to a friend with the phrase, “I can’t stop laughing.” These are a...
“When I die, I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my grandpa did.
Not like the screaming passengers
in his car.”
There is really no more American holiday than Thanksgiving. It embodies everything we think of as good about America. Celebrating a bountiful harvest. Giving thanks. Sharing with family, friends and neighbors. The promise of good things to come. Some of you might be thinking, “What about the Fourth of July? What about celebrating the birth of our great nation? Independence Day? Isn’t that the most American holiday?” No. It’s not. Allow me to explain. Lots of countries have an Independence...
I love violence in movies. I love a good fight scene. I love watching kick-ass military elites take out a platoon of enemy combatants. I cheer for the good guys and curse the bad guys. And there’s nothing like a scene where the good guy knows karate and just goes through six bad guys like they’re mentally challenged puppies. But it’s a fiction; a fantasy. None of it’s real. The problem is we’ve allowed that fantasy to creep over into reality for decades and now we’re paying...
Writer | Journalist | Storyteller
