Columns

Fernandina Beach Arts Market is back

Saturday sees the return of the Fernandina Beach Arts Market adjacent to the farmers market on North Seventh Street in historic downtown. You can expect to find some of your favorite vendors in both markets.

Let’s rethink ‘New Year, New You’

Now that another new year has started, we are inundated with ads and messages offering to help us become a “new you” this year. The problem with those messages is that the current you is amazing. You are smart and talented; you are enough.

Now and Then

One thing we have desired of the Lord that we will seek after is that we may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. Taking a closer look at our priorities and passion is very much in order.

Rethinking the value of prudence in a digital culture

President George H.W. Bush was known for, and famously parodied for, the way he used the phrase, “… wouldn’t be prudent.” With it, Bush was saying that certain policy decisions, however appealing, weren’t likely to produce great results.

Grateful for our abundant energy

It’s been icy cold outside so far this winter in Northeast Florida. But it’s warm inside. We should be grateful for our abundant energy here. Other places aren’t as fortunate.

James Thomas: A true American hero

In 1998, Tom Brokaw, then the sole anchor of NBC Nightly News, authored a book entitled “The Greatest Generation.” The book’s title was derived from his experiences while visiting Normandy to commemorate the 40th (1984) and 50th (1994) anniversaries of the WWII D-Day landings.

A calculated risk

Sometime ago, I read about a woman who had endured a tragic year. She lost loved ones, both to divorce and to death. She bid farewell to her former forever home, the source of her youthful, white picket fence dreams.

City mismanagement

Fiscally conservative cities are easily outperforming those with the chaotic liberal policies of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. There, taxes are high, liberties are low, and the quality of life diminishing.

Three key ingredients to retirement

Q: I am a 59-year-old male about to retire from a 30-year state job I loved. I never had any outside interests other than supporting my family and raising the kids. I don't think I would be good at retirement. Any suggestions?

Turning the page to 2023

Thank you to those that joined me at the Open Table Dinner on Christmas Day at the Nassau County Council on Aging. About forty-fifty people, most of them unfamiliar with the others except for a spouse or companion, celebrated the bounty of this community: fellowship, food, and spirit.