The grammar police

By Lynette Sowell   I am a cardcarrying member of the Grammar Police. I can’t help it. I don’t know when it first happened. Way back in school, I was one of those kids who knew how to spell, and somehow along the way I picked up how to use words correctly (for the most part).

Membership in the ‘Old Coots’ is distinct honor

By Willis Webb   There are a number of advantages to growing older. One, of course, is that you are indeed growing older. And, as I always say: “Beats the heck out of the alternative.

Epic Fail

By Renae Brumbaugh   Things aren’t going well for me this week. Twice already, I’ve undertaken projects that have turned into epic failures. Now I’m afraid to do anything, because I don’t know if it will be a third-time’sa- charm thing, or a three-strikes-andyou’re- out thing.

Ben Affleck’s Muslim problem

By Rich Lowry   The latest episode of Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time” performed what was, in effect, an in-studio social experiment.

Football sidelines, press boxes ‘adventures’

By Willis Webb   One of my columns on footballpress box conversations drew a lot of comments from  editor-publishers before it ever hit their papers’ pages. Community newspapers are often not large enough to have a “sports” editor or a staff photographer, so the job(s) become(s) a one-man-show.

True friends of the library

By Lynette Sowell   From the time I was a child who was learning to love learning, who fell in love with the heroes and heroines in books, the library was a magical place.

Bauble Heads

By Renae Brumbaugh   I am a gifted shopper. You think I’mkidding, but I’m not. For me, going to the  mall is my happy place. It’s an almost spiritual experience. I’m usually there to find something specific.

The insipid war on women 2.0

By Rich Lowry   The “war on women” is back, and more tendentious than ever.Democrats are  replaying one of their greatest hits of 2012 in their furious battle to minimize their midterm losses in a political environment defined by an unpopular president and general unease. And why not?

The interloping freeloader

By Lynette Sowell   It comes into your life uninvited, unexpected. You hear about it, that interloper, the freeloader who bothers other families, other people. You watch for it. Or sometimes, this interloping freeloader comes in and you don’t really know how it got there in the first place.

Courage in newspapering brings obstacles

By Willis Webb   “Crusading” newspapers a la the screaming headline variety of the early 20th Century have fallen by the wayside. To be a crusader in any life facet takes a certain amount of courage and, in most cases, a dash of derringdo.