By the time that you read this, I’ll be home from a trip of some 2500 miles to, from, and within Arkansas, our home state. Hubby and I are thoroughly sick of air travel these days, and we always drive when we can. We enjoy that, especially checking out the state of the South and its economy. We can tell you, it’s good. People are prospering to an extent that never would have been predicted when I was young.  Read More 

I’m writing this from Arkansas, on the long screened porch of my sister’s cabin on the Arkansas River. It is miles away from anywhere, and so very quiet and dark at night that it’s easy to pretend that you are a Cherokee who lived here two hundred years ago. In fact, the area probably was busier in 1814 than it is now in 2014.  Read More 

I usually don’t comment here in “In Context” on the subjects that flood all of our inboxes, but I’m going to do so about “Fangate.” As everyone knows by now, Governor Rick Scott pitched a petulant fit because former Governor Charlie Crist had a small fan under his podium at their recent debate. The rules had prohibited “electronic devices,” and Scott tried to use that legalistic argument to refuse to come on stage.  Read More 

Did you happen to hear the NPR radio interview with the Middle Eastern man who objected to the recent Nobel Prize winner, teenage Malala Yousafizi? Afghanistan’s Taliban shot her because of Malala’s brave insistence on girls’ education, and her family went with her to Britain where she has survived the near-fatality. She covers her hair and wears long dresses, but that conventionality was not nearly enough for the preacher who was interviewed.  Read More 

Except for a couple of hours playing bridge, I spent the weekend at my desk to finish up the captions for the one hundred illustrations that (I trust) will be in my upcoming book on the history of Florida women. All of the images will come from the Florida State Archives, which has a very user-friendly website. If you have time on your hands, just go to “Florida Memory” and look at pictures.  Read More 

We all need editors, even those who don’t write. We need editors to separate the wheat from the chaff, to guide us through this world of too-much-information.  Read More 

What I hear from most of you who talk to me about my columns is that you prefer the offbeat: the recent pieces on cabbage palm or female mayors, for example. You seem to want the historical more than the current, so I won’t mention that Forbes – certainly no liberal magazine – recently deemed Barack Obama “the best economic president of modern times.”  Read More 

Hubby was fortunate enough to sit on the stage with James Michener once, years ago when that greatest historical novelist was the speaker for USF’s graduation. Because everyone talks during the hours-long reading of graduates’ names, Hubby had a chance for a good conversation with this brilliant writer.  Read More 

Although it’s always hot, I love the AFL-CIO’s Labor Day picnic at Boggy Bottom BBQ Ranch. The Lupton restaurateurs who own this big piece of land have done an increasingly wonderful job of preserving Florida’s natural environment, while making just the right amount of improvements – misters, fans, and shade – to provide comfort.  Read More 

I’ve got mayors on my mind. I didn’t intend to. As I drove home from speaking in Safety Harbor on the anniversary of women’s right to vote (August 26, 1920), I thought I’d probably write more on that. When I sat down at my desk, though, the smiling face of former Pittsburgh mayor Sophie Masloff grinned up from Sunday’s Times obituary section.  Read More