(It’s even harder when you have to say it in Chinese) July 25, 2002 — Well, I don’t have the plague. Not yellow fever, psychosis or leprosy, either. How do I know this, you ask? Did I feel a case of the plague coming on and run off to the …
Read moreApril 13, 2002 — My dear old next door neighbor, Nell Thompson, passed away Sunday. And I didn’t even realize it until Wednesday afternoon. I’ve spent the long hours since trying to figure out how that could happen. I learned of the sad news while reading the newspaper. I saw …
Read moreFebruary 14, 2002 — “Not again!” Johnson High sophomore Megan Dunahoo was screaming. She lay on the basketball court clutching her right knee. Yes, Megan, again. For the second time in less than a year — almost a year to the day, in fact — Dunahoo suffered a season-ending torn …
Read moreNovember 6, 2001 — When my beloved New York Yankees lost in Game 7 of the World Series on Sunday, two streaks came an abrupt end. The Yankees’ three-year championship run is done. Finished. Kaput. So is my reign of baseball bragging rights in The Times newsroom, where tomahawk chops …
Read moreThis column appeared as part of an in-depth four-day series of stories in The Times entitled “The Cost of Smoking.” April 2, 2001 — Smokers, I salute you. It takes dedication to become addicted, a willingness to endure the headaches, the hacking and the horrible smell. It’s a reverse withdrawal, …
Read moreJanuary 23, 2001 — The sharp steel sank inside the soft stump and my soul screamed. The mountain man inside of me awoke. I began to second-guess all the other Sundays of my life — the ones not spent hurling axes and knives at pieces of wood. All those hours …
Read moreTimes staff writer Dan Washburn recently spent 24 hours with the crew of Hall County Fire Services Station 7, getting a unique insight into the inner workings of the lives of Hall’s firefighters and emergency workers. Put down your cup of coffee and save a stranger’s life. Quit everything you’re …
Read moreNovember 7, 2000 — From the moment I walked into Sweetwater Billiards in Duluth, Jonathan Forrester was all business. He was sizing me up. He was trying to figure out what, if anything, I knew about darts. I knew a little. Back in college, I threw my share. Not many …
Read moreOctober 10, 2000 — There’s just something about little girls and horses, I suppose. Never has a Sporting Life column spurred more reader reaction than last month’s story about 8-year-old Honey Beth Campbell and her horses, Hunker and Godfather II. There were letters to the editor, e-mails and calls. “Even …
Read moreJune 20, 2000 — It was barely light out, not yet 7 a.m., as Team Reality Bikes arrived at the transition area of the Hi-Tec Adventure Race Sunday at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Ga. Team members Bill Oyster, Brian Grizzle and Anna Barnett walked their bicycles forward sleepily. …
Read moreDecember 7, 1999 — “You’re in pretty bad shape there,” Jim Jennings said to me matter-of-factly. He was describing the predicament that lay before me on the green felt of his pool table. He could have just as easily been describing my somewhat larger problem at the time: I was …
Read moreOctober 12, 1999 — “Hiking,” I mumbled under my breath. “Hiking?” my teammate responded incredulously. We were warming up before our noontime game of basketball at the First Baptist Church Family Life Center. “Well I’ll be,” he continued, shaking his head in disbelief, chuckling. “Of all things, hiking puts you …
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