No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is vicious. ~ Henry Brooks Adams
Last month a professor at East Tennessee State University read a column I wrote on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and thought enough of it to invite me to speak to her journalism class. She asked me to speak on what I think makes a good op-ed. Of my own writing, the column that caught … Continue reading Is Your Opinion Worth Our Time?
A few days ago I reported and wrote one of the only front-page stories I’ve done since being named editor. The story isn’t particularly flashy or sexy. But it took research, reading, real-life conversations with people, and it took a fair amount of work to understand its intricacies before I could actually write the thing. … Continue reading On Writing
Ralph C. Wood is a guy I've heard a lot about. The Baylor professor has shown up multiple times in writings of others I follow and in some casual conversations with friends. The book I keep hearing about is his Flannery O'Connor And The Christ-Haunted South. This week, I began the book both because: • O'Connor … Continue reading Learning About My Christ-Haunted People
I don't know if he meant to, but my friend Matthew Lee Anderson, in the same kind of way you hear on the local nightly news, just said in an ultrasmooth voice, "Now over to you, Michael." In his ever-so-insightful way, Matt called attention to a series of pieces from his Mere Orthodoxy collaborator Jake Meador … Continue reading A Small Town Writer’s Challenge
I was surprised earlier today when I checked the backend of this blog and saw today's traffic is a new record — and it was just mid-day. This, no doubt, comes because my friends Rod Dreher and Kara Tippetts both happened to link to something I wrote yesterday about both of them. And for that I'm … Continue reading Have I Seen You Here Before?
Michael Reneau 