The classic 1969 short film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's eternally controversial horror tale:
For a film now over fifty years old it holds up exceptionally well. I think every college freshman English class in America shows this to its students. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot a very young Ed Begley Jr. in th...
Saturday, June 27, 2020
On race and human nature
Several years ago I went to hear James Earl Jones give a lecture. He
said something I will never forget. "Who am I? Obviously, I am partly
African descent." But then he added "I am also part Cherokee. And
also part Irish. Who am I?" Jones elaborated that he was a person of
many ethnic backgrounds, and that "it is not right to call me an
African-American." It was more important to be simply an American, with
all of the nuances that come...
Saturday, June 20, 2020
On race, history, honor, and statues
This might upset some people. I can understand. Bear with me here though...
In 1828 the United States Congress passed what came to be called "the
Tariff of Abominations". It was meant to protect northern industry.
Instead it inflicted enormous harm on southern manufacturing and
agriculture, especially the cotton industry. And no place was more hit
by the consequences of the tariff than South Carolina.
This led
to the Nullification...
Friday, June 12, 2020
Fried chicken... in an air fryer!
A few weeks ago Amazon delivered a Ninja Foodi air fryer/pressure cooker into my grubby little paws. Since then I have had a fistful of fun cooking just about everything in it! Hot dogs come out exactly like baseball park wieners, and I'm getting the hang of baby back ribs. This past week a friend told me that you can cook steak in it. I didn't believe...
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Regarding "racial justice"
A thought that occurred tonight:
The notion of "racial justice" is a wrong one. The problem is that to have any kind of justice at all there must be a baseline standard against which to compare and contrast and ultimately judge. "Racial justice" does not really possess that. Which race is the standard? Black, white, Hispanic, Polynesian, Brazilian... what?
I will posit that "racial justice" introduces far more problems than...
Tuesday, June 09, 2020
This article was a heartbreaker to read...
Let me preface this by stating from the start: I know fully well that bad cops exist. There is a city in North Carolina that I am forever going to loathe going through because of one incident that involved both city police and county sheriff's personnel, and that was almost twenty years ago (oh the perils of being a puppy-eyed cub reporter getting knocked around by...
Friday, June 05, 2020
A photo for our time
I've posted this photo before. It seems more timely than ever.This picture ran in newspapers across America in the winter of 2012. It depicts a family friend and fellow farmer, John, along with my father Robert Knight.This photo hangs on the wall in my office at my job. There is rarely a day when I don't stop to admire it. It says so much, without saying...
Thursday, June 04, 2020
Have been thinking more about the George Floyd case...
Some additional notions that I have been pondering, though I said earlier that there would probably be nothing more that would be remarked upon:1. The death of George Floyd was a tragedy, make no mistake about it. But it was not necessarily a racially-motivated death. It is now coming out that the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck already had an established...
